Chronological variations in concentrations and isotopic compositions of anthropogenic atmospheric lead in sediments of a remote subalpine pond

Lead concentrations decrease 4-fold in going from the surface of sediments in a mountain pond to relatively small values in layers 130 yr old. There is a corresponding change in the $\text{Pb}{}^{206}\text{Pb}{}^{207}$ ratio in the sediments from industrial-like values of 1.18 near the surface to natural values of 1.24 at depth. Concentrations of Ca, Sr, and Ba remain relatively constant with depth. The excess Pb is shown to be of eolian anthropogenic origin, through isotopic, chemical, and mass balance relationships with metals in aerosols, dry deposition, and precipitation. This proves that inputs of contamination Pb were nearly absent centuries ago in a remote non-domesticated subalpine canyon, but are present today in that ecosystem in amounts more than 20 times the natural inputs and are irrefutably linked with industrial sources. As a consequence of these inputs, present Pb concentrations have been elevated 5-fold in plants and 50-fold in animals above natural levels. These Pb contamination effects are being caused by present-day atmospheric concentrations of ~10 ng Pb/m³. The ecosystem studied here characterizes the vast remote non-domesticated regions of North America, and these findings indicate that such regions are highly polluted by industrial Pb aerosols.     

Origin of high bromide concentration in the water sources in Jordan and in the Dead Sea water

The Dead Sea is worldwide a major bromine provider for industry with an average concentration of 5.2 g/l of bromide compared to 0.065 mg/l in seawater and with a Cl/Br weight ratio in the Dead Sea water of about 42 compared to around 300 in oceanic water. The origin of the high bromide concentration in the Dead Sea has not yet been adequately clarified. In the course of this study, the bromide concentrations in the different surface and groundwater bodies in Jordan were analyzed and the types of rocks with which these waters were in contact were identified. Analyses carried out up to about 30 years ago and recent analyses confirm the natural origin of bromide in the water and also confirm that the analyzed sources are not polluted by anthropogenic bromide sources. It was found that a variety of these surface and groundwater sources contain high concentrations of bromide which discharges into the Dead Sea and contribute to its high bromide concentration. The present study concludes that the late Cretaceous early Tertiary oil shale deposits form the major source of the bromine species in the surface and groundwater feeding the Dead Sea. Some bromide is also contributed by the Triassic and Jurassic rocks containing evaporate salts containing bromides. Phosphate rocks of late Upper Cretaceous age contribute also with appreciable amounts of bromine species to the different water sources and hence to the Dead Sea water. At present, dissolution and erosion of bromide-rich sediments laid down by the predecessor water bodies of the present Dead Sea such as the Lisan Lake are being transported into the Dead Sea and contribute relatively large amounts of secondary bromide to the Dead Sea water.     

Facies,geometry and growth phases of the Valdorria carbonate platform (Pennsylvanian,northern Spain)

The 14 km wide Valdorria outcrop (Pennsylvanian, northern Spain) is one of the few examples of entirely exposed flat‐topped and high‐relief carbonate platforms reported in the fossil rock record. Laterally and vertically traceable stratal patterns expose three phases of growth. Phase I is a 430 m thick platform to slope succession that prograded over 6 km, and is dated as Early Bashkirian (Akavasian–Askynbashian). Phase II aggraded and prograded, exhibiting 180 m thickness of cyclical platform top deposits, dated as Late Bashkirian (Asatauian). Phase III is a mound‐shape structure that developed over the platform top of Phase II as a new phase of platform nucleation. It is 535 m thick and 2 km wide, and dated as Late Bashkirian (Asatauian–Transition interval). The observed changes of growth styles during platform evolution, from a prograding to an aggrading–prograding system, and a rapid aggradational phase, are inferred to be controlled by flexural subsidence in the active Cantabrian foreland basin, at the Variscan orogenic front. The metre‐scale shallowing‐upward cycles of the platform top are most probably due to glacioeustasy, as evidenced by well‐recorded subaerial exposure surfaces superimposed on subtidal deposits, and by a stratal pattern recurrent in a short interval of about 160 kyr. Observations of outcropping Bashkirian cyclothems in an isolated carbonate system, devoid of siliciclastic input, are relevant for a better understanding of the impact of high‐frequency sea‐level fluctuations on the carbonate factory. Moreover, progradation of the platform margin during Phase I reaches a rate of 2500 m/Myr, and 1810 m/Myr during Phase II; rates that are high when compared to other Pennsylvanian examples. The aggradation rate of 447 m/Myr calculated for the Late Bashkirian–Transition interval (Phases II and III; uncorrected for compaction, missing beats and erosion) is uncommonly high in comparison to coeval Pennsylvanian examples. The platform exhibits a self‐nourishing prograding microbial boundstone‐dominated slope. Thus, the slope‐shedding model applies well to Valdorria. However, Phase II recorded eustatic variations able to inhibit the slope microbial boundstone factory during low sea‐level stands; this is marked by common slope red‐stained breccias synchronous to platform top subaerial exposure phases. Contrarily, periods of relative high sea‐level and rapid subsidence in Phase III registered a greater development of cemented microbial boundstone. These observed, partly opposing relationships of sea‐level stands, shedding modes and slope architecture provide an improvement of the currently used slope‐shedding model. The overall architecture of the Valdorria outcrop compares well with that of other contemporaneous platforms, such as Sierra del Cuera and Bolshoi Karatau. Valdorria shares the high‐relief and flat‐topped, steep slopes, cyclothemic patterns and occurrence of karst features with the Pricaspian Basin platforms (Tengiz, Karachaganak and Kashagan), with minor variations in facies distribution of the internal platform. Furthermore, the continuous seismic‐scale outcrop of Valdorria, together with its isolated setting and asymmetrical growth, makes it a very good candidate for potential subsurface analogues of hydrocarbon‐bearing systems.     

Improved assessment of biodegradation extent and prediction of petroleum quality

Biodegradation of crude oil causes volumetrically important compositional changes, which lead to significant deterioration in quality, in particular during the early stages of alteration. To better understand these effects we focussed on a detailed assessment of light to moderate levels of alteration. We investigated a suite of 40 crude oil samples from five different petroleum systems to evaluate the extent of alteration occurring in reservoirs. Based on a comprehensive geochemical characterization, five individual crude oil sequences were defined, where compositional variability is mainly due to microbial activity in the reservoir. In particular, samples from the Gullfaks field (offshore Norway) and from a petroleum system offshore Angola illustrate that conventional molecular biodegradation parameters, such as the Pr/n-C₁₇ and Ph/n-C₁₈ alkane ratios are not suitable for defining the extent of biodegradation in petroleum reservoirs. Here, we suggest a new molecular biodegradation parameter, the degradative loss, that can be used to quantify depletion in individual crude oil constituents. The approach allows improved assessment of the extent of biodegradation in crude oil samples by means of the mean degradative loss. It is demonstrated that crude oil quality, as assessed from API gravity, can be predicted directly from the molecular composition of crude oils. Our data clearly indicate that the degradation patterns of light hydrocarbons and n-alkanes differ in different petroleum systems. This suggests that microbial communities are different and therefore generate different molecular degradation patterns which have to be evaluated individually for each system.     

贵州紫云石炭纪叶状藻礁:藻类繁盛的标志

紫云晚石炭世叶状藻礁发育在碳酸盐台地边缘。叶状藻礁体具有多样性，有叶状藻点礁、多层迭置叶状藻礁和大型叶状藻礁体。叶状藻礁体的建造过程是由叶状藻群落的发展和沉积环境所决定的，叶状藻具有主动建造礁体的能力，构成骨架礁灰岩。礁体建造过程大体上分为三个阶段:①生物碎屑滩的形成；②叶状藻生长及礁体建造；③造礁结束。多层迭置叶状藻礁为以上三个阶段的多次重复；大型叶状藻礁是在礁体发育过程的第二阶段由连续生长的叶状藻五次集中发育建造而成。     

Groundwater vulnerability and risk mapping in a geologically complex area by using stable isotopes, remote sensing and GIS techniques

Groundwater vulnerability and risk mapping is a relatively new scientific approach for facilitating planning and decision making processes in order to protect this valuable resource. Pan European methodology for aquifers vulnerability has recently been developed by assessing all the existing relevant techniques and emphasizing on karstic environments. In the particular study, state-of-the-art methods and tools have been implemented such as remote sensing, isotopic investigations and GIS to map the groundwater vulnerability and pollution risk in a geologically complex area of W. Greece. The updated land use map has been developed from a Landsat 7+TM image elaborated with image analysis software, while the detailed hydrogeologic properties of the area have been recorded with an intensive isotopic study. The local groundwater vulnerability map has been produced following the aforementioned Pan European method, in a GIS environment while the risk map, which was the final product of the study, has been developed after combining the vulnerability and the land use maps. The results indicated that the areas comprised of highly tectonized calcareous formations represented high vulnerability and risk zones while forested areas away from the karstic aquifer illustrated moderate to low vulnerability. Moreover, human activities increase the pollution risk in lowland areas consisting of sedimentary deposits that have been classified as moderate vulnerability. The particular methodology operated efficiently in this study and due to its accuracy and relatively easy implementation can be used as a decision support tool for local authorities.     

The Tragedy of the Karama Dam Project/Jordan

The Karama Dam, with a capacity of 55 Mio m³, was constructed in 1995 on Wadi Mallaha in the Jordan Valley area in order to store water for irrigational uses. The dam was constructed in spite of experts' warnings that this dam geologically, hydrogeologically, seismically, and from the points of view of salinity of its water, its management and the water resources to fill it is totally irrelevant, and that the dam will fail to fulfill its purposes. Now after 9 years of its construction the dam fails to collect water because there are no sources available to fill it. The water the farmers were deprived of to partially fill the dam to demonstrate its success became in the dam reservoir highly saline (20 000 μS/cm). Reservoir bottom collapses due to dissolution of salts took place and large water amounts were lost to the underground. Not a single drop of water from the dam has been of any use for any purpose until now. Equipment to pump water for irrigational uses has been corroding, and the government is paying the depreciation, capital, and running cost of a fiasco project.     

Modeling soil erosion using RUSLE and GIS in a watershed occupied by rural settlement in the Brazilian Cerrado

The installation of a rural settlement complex in the watershed stream Indaiá has promoted changes in land-use and vegetation cover dynamics; however, the effects of intensive agriculture and cattle farming in rural settlements on soil loss rates are not well known. Predictive models implemented in geographic information systems have proven to be effective tools for estimating erosive processes. The erosion predictive model Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is a useful tool for analyzing, establishing and managing soil erosion. RUSLE has been widely used to estimate annual averages of soil loss, by both interrill and rill erosion, worldwide. Therefore, the aim of this work was to estimate the soil loss in the watershed stream Indaiá, using the RUSLE model and geoprocessing techniques. To estimate soil loss, the following factors were spatialized: erosivity (R), erodibility (K), topography (LS), land-use and management (C) and conservation practices (P); the annual soil loss values were calculated using the RUSLE model equation. The estimated value of soil loss in the hydrographic basin ranged from 0 to 4082.16 Mg ha^?1 year^?1 and had an average value of 47.81 Mg ha^?1 year^?1. These results have demonstrated that 68.16 % of the study area showed little or no soil loss based on the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO 1980) classification. When comparing the average value of soil loss obtained using the RUSLE model with the Natural Potential for Erosion, a 16-fold reduction in soil was found, which highlighted the fact that vegetation cover (C factor) has a greater influence than other factors (R, K and LS) on soil loss prediction attenuation. These results lead to the conclusion that soil loss occurs by different methods in each settlement in the basin and that erosive processes modeled by geoprocessing have the potential to contribute to an orderly land management process.     

Using standardized indicators to analyse dry/wet conditions and their application for monitoring drought/floods: a study in the Logone catchment,Lake Chad basin

The standardized precipitation index (SPI) and standardized streamflow index (SSI) were used to analyse dry/wet conditions in the Logone catchment over a 50-year period (1951–2000). The SPI analysis at different time scales showed several meteorological drought events ranging from moderate to extreme; and SSI analysis showed that wetter conditions prevailed in the catchment from 1950 to 1970 interspersed with a few hydrological drought events. Overall, the results indicate that both the Sudano and Sahelian zones are equally prone to droughts and floods. However, the Sudano zone is more sensitive to drier conditions, while the Sahelian zone is sensitive to wetter conditions. Correlation analysis between SPI and SSI at multiple time scales revealed that the catchment has a low response to rainfall at short time scales, though this progressively changed as the time scale increased, with strong correlations (≥0.70) observed after 12 months. Analysis using individual monthly series showed that the response time reduced to 3 months in October.