Optical properties and light penetration in a deep,naturally acidic,iron rich lake: Lago Caviahue (Patagonia,Argentina)

The optical properties and light climate in the deep and extremely acid Lake Caviahue have been studied in order to better understand its characteristics and the possible influence upon the phytoplankton community. The absorption coefficients for the dissolved fraction were maximal in the ultraviolet (UV) region and the water absorption spectra showed a shoulder around 300 nm, which was attributed to the concentration of Fe(III). No radiation was detected in the water column below 360 nm. The depth of the 1% incident radiation was dependent of wavelength, showing its maximum of 13.3 m at 565 nm, compared to 1.7 m and 4.8 m at 400 nm and 700 nm, respectively. Phytoplankton biomass was low and showed an almost constant profile with depth despite the relative darkness of the water column. Optical climate of Lake Caviahue is not typical of high elevation lakes but is more similar to low elevation shallow lakes of the Andean region. The chemical composition of the water, mainly Fe oxidation state and concentration, is the responsible for the high attenuation of the UV radiation (UVR). Living organisms are protected of UVR because Lake Caviahue waters are a shield against UV-B.     

Mineral magnetic characterization of sediment sources from an analysis of lake and floodplain sediments in the catchments of the Old Mill reservoir and Slapton Ley,South Devon,UK

Research on suspended sediment transport in the catchments of the Old Mill reservoir and Slapton Lower Ley, South Devon, has attempted to discriminate changing catchment sources on the basis of downcore variations in the mineral magnetic properties of lake, reservoir and floodplain sediments. Here, we examine these downcore variations and also explore the variability in catchment sources and the influence of topographic controls on mineral magnetic signatures of topsoils and subsoils. Particle size controls on the mineral magnetic signatures are explored by an analysis of a fractionated sediment sample, whilst the possible impact of diagenesis is assessed by an examination of the Mn profiles in the lake and reservoir sediments. From this analysis it is evident that the mineral magnetic signatures of well sorted floodplain deposits are more likely to reflect the particle size composition of the transported material. By contrast, the mineral magnetic record in the sediment of Slapton Ley appears to be most strongly influenced by dissolution of magnetic minerals. The sediment of the Old Mill reservoir provides the only suitable record for the application of a simple mixing model which is developed in order to quantify changes in the relative contribution of topsoil and subsoil through time. The research has important implications for attempting to reconstruct sediment sources in highly eutrophic lakes and emphasizes the uncertainty in the application of simple mixing models. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fingerprinting upland sediment sources: particle size‐specific magnetic linkages between soils,lake sediments and suspended sediments

Accelerated erosion of fine‐grained sediment is an environmental problem of international dimensions. Erosion control strategies and targeting of mitigation measures require robust and quantitative identification of sediment sources. Here, we use magnetic ‘fingerprinting’ to characterize soils, and examine their affinity with and contribution to suspended sediments transported within two subcatchments feeding Bassenthwaite Lake, northwest England. A high‐resolution soil magnetic susceptibility survey was made using a field susceptometer (ZH Instruments, SM400 probe). Combining the spatial and vertical (down‐profile) soil magnetic data, a subset of soil profiles was selected for detailed, laboratory‐based magnetic remanence analyses. The magnetic properties of the catchment soils are highly particle size‐dependent. Magnetic analyses were performed on the 31–63 µm fraction, for particle size‐specific comparison both with the suspended sediments and lake sediments. Fuzzy cluster analysis groups the soil magnetic data into six clusters, apparently reflecting variations in parent material and horizon type, with three magnetically hard soils as unclassified outliers. Examination of the cluster affinity of the soils, suspended sediments and lake sediments indicates that topsoils of the upper Newlands Valley and subsoils around Keskadale Beck are a major source of the Newlands Beck suspended load, and the recent (post‐nineteenth century) sediments in the deep lake basin. Older lake sediments show strong affinity with a small number of the Derwent suspended sediments and one of the Glenderamackin soils. A large number of Derwent suspended sediments show no affinity with any of the soils or lake sediments, instead forming a coherent, discrete and statistically unclassified group, possibly resulting from mixing between the magnetically hard subsoils of the medium to high‐altitude Glenderamackin and Troutbeck areas and softer, lower altitude Glenderamackin soils. The lack of any affinity of these suspended sediments with the lake sediments may indicate deposition along the Derwent flood plain and/or in the shallow delta of Lake Bassenthwaite. Particle size‐specific magnetic fingerprinting is thus shown to be both highly discriminatory and quantitatively robust even within the homogeneous geological units of this catchment area. Such a methodological approach has important implications for small–large scale catchment management where sources of sediment arising from areas with uniform geology have been difficult to determine using other approaches, such as geochemical or radionuclide analyses. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Calculation Method for the Volume of Landslides and Dammed Lake Sediments Triggered by a Strong Historical Earthquake in the Loess Plateau: A Case Study of Qiuzigou, Gansu Province, Northwest China

The quantitative calculation of the volume of large earthquake-triggered landslides and related dammed lake sediments is of great significance in the study of secondary disasters and focal parameters of strong historical earthquakes. In this study, the dammed lake induced by Qishan M7 earthquake (Lingtai County, Gansu Province, Northwest China) is selected as the research object. Based on the information collected from the 4 boreholes in the dammed lake area, we further take advantage of the low-level Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry and the morphology recovery method,to calculate the volume of the dammed lake and landslides, respectively. Finally, major conclusions are obtained as follows:① the AMS-¹⁴C age at the bottom of the Qiuzigou Dammed Lake sediments is 2 890±30 BP, which coincides with the 780 BC Qishan earthquake; furthermore, the Qiuzigou Landslides seem to have been triggered by the earthquake, forming an enclosed dammed lake deposition environment after the upstream sediments accumulate;② the Qiuzigou landslides are opposite-sliding landslides that have blocked the river valley; in detail, landslide volumes at the right and left banks are 235×10⁴ m³ and 229×10⁴ m³, respectively. The length of the dammed lake is 2.6 km, with a thickness of approximately 43 m near the landslides, and the total sedimentary volume is 573×10⁴ m³; ③the erosion rate of Qiuzigou Landslide Dammed Lake is 0.44 mm/a, the accumulation rate is 15.05 mm/a, and the soil erosion modulus is 593 t/(km²/a), characterized as slight erosion. Quantitative research on the formation of landslides and dammed lakes from strong historical earthquakes is vital for increasing our understanding of the vibrational characteristics and surface action processes of these types of earthquakes.     

Rapid societal change as a proxy for regional environmental forcing: Evidence and explanations for Pacific island societies in the 14–15th centuries

Given the unquestioned impacts of recent/future environmental changes on human societies, it is reasonable to posit that past societal responses could be used as proxies of contemporaneous environmental forcing and might help identify the drivers of these, particularly where independent evidence of the effects of these events is inadequate. Such areas include Pacific oceanic islands for most of which there is evidence of a societal perturbation in the 14th and 15th centuries that saw the outbreak of region‐wide conflict, abandonment of coastal settlements and the abrupt end of long‐distance cross‐ocean voyaging networks. The contemporaneity of these effects across a vast region requires a driver that is external to particular island groups with the only possibility that of oceanic origin, most likely large waves (tsunamis or storm surges) or rapid sea‐level change. The explanation is less important than the principle that societal changes can be used as proxies for environmental activity.