A stratigraphic and geophysical approach to studying the deep-circulating groundwater and thermal springs, and their recharge areas, in Cimini Mountains–Viterbo area, central Italy

The stratigraphic and structural setting of the Cimini Mountains and Viterbo area of Italy has been reconstructed. The architecture of the tectonic edifice, below the Pleistocene Cimino and Vicano volcanic districts cover, is characterized by the Mesozoic–Cenozoic Tuscan Nappe and the similar Umbria-Marche Succession; both are capped by the overthrusted Ligurian Late Cretaceous–Eocene Tolfa Flysch. A shallow unconfined volcanic aquifer is separated, by a thick aquiclude, from the deep confined carbonate aquifer consisting of the Tuscan Nappe and the Umbria-Marche Succession. The volcanic aquifer hosts cold waters, whilst the carbonate aquifer hosts hot sulphate–alkaline earth waters that emerge in the thermal area of Viterbo with a temperature of 30–60°C. The recharge area of cold waters is located in the Cimini Mountains. Thermal waters of the Viterbo hot springs are derived from a circuit of waters that emerge along the River Nera near Narni (about 34 km ENE of Viterbo), with a high salinity, a temperature of 16–18°C, a sulphate–alkaline earth composition, and a discharge of 13 m³/sec, whose recharge area is located in the central pre-Apennines reliefs.     

Surface and groundwater pollution by organochlorine compounds in a typical soybean system from the south Pampa,Argentina

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) use has been restricted or forbidden in Argentina since 1998 and technical endosulfan is the last currently used OCPs on the soybean-wheat production. As they persist in soil for several years after application, OCPs constitute a source of environmental pollution. This work aims to assess OCPs contamination of groundwater (Gw) and streamwater (Sw) in the Quequén Grande River watershed from south Argentinean Pampas in relation to the hydrogeological characteristics. OCPs were analyzed in Sw, Gw, surface bottom sediments, soils and borehole cutting sediments (Cs) by gas chromatograph-electron capture detector. Pesticide distribution in Cs was dependent on the characteristic of the non-saturated zone. Leached pesticides over 3 m in Cs showed the pattern: HCHs = endosulfan > chlordanes > DDTs, and from 3 to 6 m heptachlor was the main group as a consequence of the past use of this compound in the area, mainly on potato crops. Endosulfan reaches Gw during application season as well as during flooding events while a retard effect was observed for Sw. Levels of α- and β-isomers were in certain cases above national (7 ng L⁻¹) and international (3 ng L⁻¹) limits for aquatic biota protection. As the endosulfan sulfate metabolite was present in Gw and Sw and due to its high toxicity, it should be considered in the establishment of water quality criteria for human and environmental protection.     

Denitrification and the stoichiometry of nutrient regeneration in Waquoit Bay, Massachusetts

To determine the removal of regenerated nitrogen by estuarine sediments, we compared sediment N₂ fluxes to the stoichiometry of nutrient and O₂ fluxes in cores collected in the Childs River, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The difference between the annual PO₄ ³⁻ (0.2 mol P m⁻² yr⁻¹) and NH₄ ⁺ (1.6 mol N m⁻² yr⁻¹) flux and the Redfield N∶P ratio of 16 suggested an annual deficit of 1.5 mol N m⁻² yr⁻¹. Denitrification predicted from O₂∶NH₄ ⁺ flux ratios and measured as N₂ flux suggested a nitrogen sink of roughly the same magnitude (1.4 mol N m⁻² yr⁻¹). Denitrification accounted for low N∶P ratios of benthic flux and removed 32–37% of nitrogen inputs entering the relatively highly nutrient loaded Childs River, despite a relatively brief residence time for freshwater in this system. Uptake of bottom water nitrate could only supply a fraction of the observed N₂ flux. Removal of regenerated nitrogen by denitrification in this system appears to vary seasonally. Denitrification efficiency was inversely correlated with oxygen and ammonium flux and was lowest in summer. We investigated the effect of organic matter on denitrification by simulating phytoplankton deposition to cores incubated in the lab and by deploying chambers on bare and macroaglae covered sediments in the field. Organic matter addition to sediments increased N₂ flux and did not alter denitrification efficiency. Increased N₂ flux co-varied with O₂ and NH₄ ⁺ fluxes. N₂ flux (261±60 μmol m⁻² h⁻¹) was lower in chambers deployed on macroalgal beds than deployed on bare sediments (458±70 μmol m⁻² h⁻¹), and O₂ uptake rate was higher in chambers deployed on macroalgal beds (14.6±2.2 mmol m⁻² h⁻¹) than on bare sediments (9.6±1.5 mmol m⁻² h⁻¹). Macroalgal cover, which can retain nitrogen in the system, is a link between nutrient loading and denitrification. Decreased denitrification due to increasing macroalgal cover could create a positive feedback because decreasing denitrification would increase nitrogen availability and could increase macroalgae cover.     

The effects of post-orogenic extension on different scales: an example from the Apennine–Maghrebide fold-and-thrust belt, SW Sicily

ABSTRACT Many structures produced under one single deformation regime, namely extensional, contractional or strike-slip, exhibit remarkable geometrical analogies when analysed at different scales. By contrast, field examples that illustrate the scale effects on structures resulting from superimposed deformations, which were produced under different tectonic regimes, are rare. Yet the change from contraction to extension is known to occur often in the most thickened portions of the continental crust. The Apennine–Maghrebide fold-and-thrust belt of Sicily shows many examples of post-orogenic extensional deformations. Composite structures, resulting from late normal faults that offset folds and thrusts, are observed at four different scales, from regional to mesoscopic, in the south-western portion of Sicily and in the adjacent Isle of Favignana. The recognized analogies in the geometry of these composite structures may provide a key for the interpretation of the features of regional structures, whose deep geometry is often poorly constrained. Moreover, comparison of normalized displacements accommodated by contractional and extensional faults of different scales indicates that self-similarity is not unique to structures produced under single tectonic regimes.     

Analysis of trends and sudden changes in long-term environmental data from King George Island (Antarctica): relationships between global climatic oscillations and local system response

The Western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on earth. It is therefore important to analyze long-term trends and inter-annual patterns of change in major environmental parameters to understand the process underlying climate change in Western Antarctica. Since many polar long-term data series are fragmented and cannot be analysed with common time series analysis tools, we present statistical approaches that can deal with missing values. We applied U-statistics after Pettit and Buishand to detect abrupt changes, dynamic factor analysis to detect functional relationships, and additive modelling to detect patterns in time related to climatic cycles such as the Southern Annular Mode and El Niño Southern Oscillation in a long-term environmental data set from King George Island (WAP), covering 20 years. Our results not only reveal sudden changes for sea surface temperature and salinity, but also clear patterns in all investigated variables (sea surface temperature, salinity, suspended particulate matter and Chlorophyll a) that can directly be related to climatic cycles. Our results complement previous findings on climate related changes in the King George Island Region and provide insight into the environmental conditions and climatic drivers of system change in the study area. Hence, our statistical analyses may prove valuable for other polar environmental data sets and contribute to a better understanding of the regional variability of climate change and its impact on coastal systems.     

Population Dynamics and Secondary Production of Emerita brasiliensis (Crustacea: Hippidae) at Prainha Beach, Brazil

Abstract. The secondary production and population dynamics of the mole crab Emerita brasiliensis Schmitt, 1935 (Decapoda: Hippidae) were studied by taking monthly samples from June 1993 to May 1995 at each of three intertidal transects at Prainha beach, Brazil. The lifespan was ca. 8 months for males and females, but females showed higher growth, mortality, secondary production, and turnover rate. The higher production in spring versus autumn and winter was related to intense recruitment during that period. The population production was estimated at between 39.86 and 46.88 g (AFDW) · m^?2 · a^?1 for the first year (June 93–May 94) and between 150.95 and 156.07 g (AFDW) · m^?2 · a^?1 for the second year (June 94–May 95); the mean annual biomass was 4.91 and 23.09 g (AFDW) · m^?2, respectively. High P/B rates, between ca. 6 and 9 · a^?1, reflected the fast growth, high mortality, and low lifespan of the population, characterized by a high percentage of recently recruited individuals.     

Numerical modelling of the effect of horizontal drains in centrifuge tests on soil-structure interaction in liquefiable soils

Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering - The research presented herein was carried out in the framework of the H2020 LIQUEFACT project ( http://www.LIQUEFACT.eu/ ). This paper presents the results of a...     

Typology of detrital zircon as a key to unravelling provenance in rift siliciclastic sequences (Permo-Carboniferous of Spiti,N India)

Abstract

Detrital zircon populations from Carboniferous to Permian sandstones from the Lozar Section of Spiti, northern India, were analyzed with the typology method in order to obtain complementary information on the source areas of the sediments. Zircon grains were subdivided into several groups and subgroups, according to degree of abrasion and morphological features.

First appearance of detrital zircons with distinct typologic signature within successive stratigraphic intervals provided useful data about the tectono-magmatic evolution of the northern Indian margin during Late Paleozoic rifting of Gondwana and initial opening of Neotethys. The base of the studied sequence (Lower Carboniferous Thabo Fm.) is characterized by a largely cratonic provenance, seemingly from the Indian Shield to the South. In the Upper Carboniferous Chichong Fm., first occurrence of typical zircons from anatectic granites and increasing abundance of granitoid detritus suggest rapid uplift and unroofing of anatectic rocks of probable Cambro-Ordovician age. In the lowermost Permian (Asselian) glaciomarine Ganmachidam Diamictite, euhedral detrital zircons with peculiar features, associated with Cr-rich chromian spinels and mafic to felsic volcanic rock fragments, hint at emplacement of bimodal alkaline magmatic suites. The same sources, possibly including subvolcanic bodies, continued to be eroded until final break-up, documented by the Permian Kuling Group.     

The interplay between basement fabric,rifting, syn-rift folding,and inversion in the Rio do Peixe Basin,NE Brazil

The Rio do Peixe Basin is part of a series of aborted Cretaceous rifts formed within the Proterozoic Borborema Province, onshore NE Brazil in response to rifting between Africa and South America. The basin is remarkably well-imaged and comprises fault-bounded depocentres, the main ones being the NE-oriented Brejo das Freiras and the E–W-oriented Sousa half-grabens. These grabens and their bounding faults are influenced by Neoproterozoic basement shear zones and present a complex framework of secondary normal faults and folds. Recent workers also interpret large reverse faults and regional post-rift shortening driven by far-field stresses from the Andes. For those reasons, the basin represents an ideal setting to investigate the multiphase history of rift basins. We thus combine borehole-calibrated 2D and 3D seismic and magnetic data with section restoration and numerical modelling to investigate the architecture and evolution of this basin. We aim to understand: (i) the controls of the basement fabric in 3D fault architecture and kinematics and (ii) how syn-rift faults controlled the geometry and development of fault-related folds. By doing this, we also investigate the timing, kinematics, and magnitude of inversion in the basin to explore its multiphase history. We demonstrate that (i) the basement fabric controlled not only the strike of faults but also their geometry and polarity at depth, (ii) folds in the syn-rift sequence are attributed simply to syn-rift extension along stepped and/or curved faults, and (iii) inverted and/or reverse faults occur within the basin, but these are minor and appear to have formed during rifting. We explain this minor inversion by a change in plate kinematics related to the onset of the nearby transform margin to the north. These results have implications for understanding the 3D evolution of oblique grabens, the role of structural inheritance, and the recognition of inversion- versus extension-related folds in rift basins worldwide.