The utility of ostracod-based palaeoenvironmental reconstruction was evaluated using instrumental data for Lake Qarun, Egypt.
The euryhaline ostracod Cyprideis torosa was the only species found in the lake’s recent sediment record. This species is known to tolerate salinity levels and water
solute compositions that may prevent colonisation by other species. Oxygen and carbon isotope ratios of ostracod carbonate
from lake sediments covary with changes in instrumental values for lake level and salinity for the period 1890–1974. δ13C-values correlate negatively with lake water salinity (r2 = 0.87) and δ18O-values correlate negatively with measured lake level changes (r2 = 0.41). Other ostracod proxy data provide qualitative information on lake level trends. Fossil assemblage data (juvenile/adult
and valve/carapace ratios and valve preservation) provide information on wave energy. Ecophenotypic variation of C. torosa valves provided some useful palaeolimnological information. Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in ostracods were not found to reflect
water composition, due to the uncoupling of these ratios with salinity in Lake Qarun. Overall, our results highlight the need
to calibrate ostracod proxy data in modern systems prior to their use for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. 相似文献
Large woody debris (LWD) is an integral component of forested streams of the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere, yet little is known about how far wood is transported and where it is deposited in streams. In this paper, we report the results of flume experiments that examine interactions among hydraulics, channel geometry, transport distance and deposition of floating wood. These experiments were carried out in a 1.22-m-wide×9.14-m-long gravel bed flume using wooden dowels of various sizes as surrogate logs. Channel planforms were either self-formed or created by hand, and ranged from meanders to alternate bars. Floating pieces tended to orient with long axes parallel to flow in the center of the channel. Pieces were deposited where channel depth was less than buoyant depth, typically at the head of mid-channel bars, in shallow zones where flow expanded, and on the outside of bends. We hypothesize that the distance logs travel may be a function of the channel's debris roughness, a dimensionless index incorporating ratios of piece length and diameter to channel width, depth and sinuosity. Travel distance decreased as the ratio of piece length to both channel width and radius of curvature increased, but the relative importance of these variables changed with channel planform. Large pieces can move further than our debris roughness models predict if greater than 50% of the active channel area is deeper than the buoyant depth of the piece, or if momentum is high enough to carry pieces across shallows. Our debris roughness model allows first-order prediction of the amount of wood transport under various channel geometries. 相似文献
Many of the relationships used in coupled land–atmosphere models to describe interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere have been empirically parameterized and thus are inherently dependent on the observational scale for which they were derived and tested. However, they are often applied at scales quite different than the ones they were intended for due to practical necessity. In this paper, a study is presented on the scale-dependency of parameterizations which are nonlinear functions of variables exhibiting considerable spatial variability across a wide range of scales. For illustration purposes, we focus on parameterizations which are explicit nonlinear functions of soil moisture. We use data from the 1997 Southern Great Plains Hydrology Experiment (SGP97) to quantify the spatial variability of soil moisture as a function of scale. By assuming that a parameterization keeps its general form the same over a range of scales, we quantify how the values of its parameters should change with scale in order to preserve the spatially averaged predicted fluxes at any scale of interest. The findings of this study illustrate that if modifications are not made to nonlinear parameterizations to account for the mismatch of scales between optimization and application, then significant systematic biases may result in model-predicted water and energy fluxes. 相似文献
Plans to double the proportion of land under forest cover in Ireland by the year 2035 have been initiated. The plan, primarily
financially driven, ignores potential environmental impacts of forestry, particularly impacts on groundwater resources and
quality. Since groundwater supplies almost 25% of Ireland's total potable water, these impacts are important. Field investigations
indicate that afforestation leads to a reduction in runoff by as much as 20%, mainly due to interception of rainfall by forest
canopies. Clearfelling has the opposite impact. Implications are that uncoordinated forestry practices can potentially exacerbate
flooding. Groundwater recharge is affected by forestry, largely due to greater uptake of soil water by trees and to increased
water-holding capacity of forest soils, arising from higher organic contents. Recharge rates under forests can be reduced
to one tenth that under grass or heathland. Groundwater quality may be affected by enhanced acidification and nitrification
under forests, due partly to scavenging of atmospheric pollutants by forest canopies, and partly to greater deposition of
highly acid leaf litter. The slower recharge rates of groundwater under forests lead to significant delays in manifestation
of deterioration in groundwater quality.
Electronic Publication 相似文献
Since the commissioning of the three major deepwater outfalls in Sydney, there has been a dramatic improvement in general beach water quality at Sydney's ocean beaches. This has required the NSW Environment Protection Authority's Beachwatch Programme to shift from assessing the impacts of gross sewage pollution due to nearshore outfalls to more diffuse pollution from stormwater and sewer overflows.
The visual indicators of gross sewage pollution originally used by Beachwatch for the daily assessment of bacterial water quality are now of limited value. General linear models (with multiple effects) were constructed to identify the secondary indicators which best describe the levels of bacterial contamination due to stormwater pollution. Data from four representative Sydney beaches were modelled separately due to the site-specific effects of pollution sources and hydrodynamics. Factors which were built into the models and were known on the day of prediction were rain amount, presence of stormwater material, the maximum daily stormwater rating, drain or lagoon flows at the time of sampling, and the drain/lagoon bacterial concentration two days before sampling.
Results indicate that there is a general linear relationship between visual indicators and bacterial density; however, the reliability of the prediction on a daily basis is poor and rainfall alone as a predictor is equivalent to or better than visual assessment alone. The primary source of information for the preparation of Beachwatch daily pollution bulletins now is rainfall reports from a telemetered network of rain gauges along the coast. This is a more cost-effective approach and has allowed the reallocation of resources to address more directly the problem of stormwater pollution at higher risk beaches. 相似文献
The increased frequency of wildfires in the United States has become a common prediction associated with the build-up of greenhouse gases. In this investigation, variations in annual wildfire data in Yellowstone National Park are compared to variations in historical climate conditions for the area. Univariate and multivariate analytical techniques reveal that (a) summer temperatures in the Park are increasing, (b) January-June precipitation levels are decreasing, and (c) variations in burn area within the Park are significantly related to the observed variations in climate. Outputs from four different general circulation model simulations for 2 × CO2 are included in the analyses; model predictions for increasing aridity in the Yellowstone Park area are generally in agreement with observed trends in the historical climate records. 相似文献
Postcumulus trapped liquid shift in layered complexes produces cumulate minerals with more fractionated compositions than the original primary phases. This effect is shown by olivine compositions from the base of the Mount Ayliff Intrusion, where varying proportions of olivine to interstitial liquid produce a suite of rocks which define a tight linear trend on a binary whole-rock plot of MgO versus FeO. Extrapolation of this trend constrains the composition of the primary cumulus olivine to the range Fo84–86, whereas olivine actually present have compositions Fo77–83. The magnitude of the discrepancy between the theoretical and observed olivine compositions correlates directly with the weight fraction of interstitial liquid. These observations are quantitatively predicted by the trapped liquid shift model. They also argue against significant migration of residual liquid. Trapped liquid shift is documented over a vertical interval of 60 m. It occurred in rocks lying only 1 m above the basal contact of the intrusion and hence must be a comparatively rapid process. 相似文献