Coastal processes and environmental hazards: the Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Venetian (Italy) littorals

The Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Venice (Italy) coastlands have experienced significant saltwater contamination of the phreatic aquifer, coastal erosion, hydrodynamic changes and relative sea level rise processes due to natural and man-induced factors. These factors expose coastal areas to morpho-hydro-geological hazards, such as soil desertification, frequency and degree of flooding, littoral erosion, and the silting of river mouths and channels. Man-made interventions and actions, such as beach mining, construction of coastal structures and exploitation of aquifers without an adequate knowledge of the hydrology setting and an adequate management program, worsen these natural hazards. Uncontrolled human activity induces environmental damage to the overall coastal plains. The coastal plains play an important role in the social/economic development of the two regions based on land use, such as agriculture, horticulture, breeding, and tourism, as well as industry. Results of investigations on saltwater contamination, sea level rise and morphological changes recently performed in these two coastal areas are presented here.     

Heavy metals pollution of aquatic ecosystems in the vicinity of a recently closed underground lead-zinc mine (Basque Country, Spain)

A presentation is made of the study of an underground polymetallic sulphide mine and the pollution caused by this in the adjoining aquatic ecosystems. Troya Mine is in the Basque Cantabrian region (northern Spain). The annual production of the ore deposit of over 3.7 million tons of Pb (0.9%), Zn (11.2%) and Cu (0.2%) was 300,000 t. It was open and producing from 1986-1993. The mineralization was made up of pyrite, marcasite, sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite. Only the Zn and the Pb were mined. We studied the distribution and behaviour of the heavy metals Zn, Pb, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cr and Cd in the water column, dissolved and suspended fractions, and in the sediments of Estanda Stream and of Gezala Creek. Zn, Cd and Mn tend to be found in the water; Fe, Pb, Cu and Cr appear as an adsorbed fractionin the solid phases. Those of the second group are significantly linked to the fluvial sediments and present very high levels. The concentrations of the metals are conditioned by the waters from the mine galleries, by the leached waste, by the surface runoff, and by overflow from the spillway of the tailings pond. Our observations provide knowledge on the extent of the polluting power of the metals, the physico-chemical effects in play and the subsequent chances of recovering these highly affected environments.     

五大连池火山构造地震空间分布及其构造含义

在对五大连池地震台１９８３年以来观测到的五大连池火山区的地震记录复核的基础上，测定了火山构造地震的空间分布状态。研究结果表明该地区地震活动均为壳内地震。受火山构造环境影响，地震活动存在着外围边缘强，震源深度分布深；内部弱，震源深度分布浅的差异。火山区内部地震深度分布优势在５ｋｍ—８ｋｍ，有３个地震分布密集区，震中分布呈明显的沿火山构造断层成带分布特性。在地震条带交汇处，震源深度起伏变化大，是火山构造活动强烈部位     

Peralkaline acid tendencies in Gran Canaria (Canary Islands)

The study of a volcanic series from the island of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) in which alkaline and peralkaline, saturated and undersaturated rocks coexist, is reported here. Materials with high volatile content (ignimbritic trachytes) were first emitted and the series ended with the eruption of phonolitic lavas. The average peralkalinity index in these rocks is typically about 1.0 and, therefore, peralkaline rocks coexist with non-peralkaline ones. However, a maximum in peralkalinity is found in the ignimbritic rocks of the lower part of the series. In spite of the evident acid peralkaline tendencies of these rocks, it does not seem appropriate to classify them as pantellerites or comendites. Nor are they consistent with the genetic processes proposed for rocks of similar composition and oceanic environment.The crystallization of the feldspars controls the variation trends among the different magmas but the fractionation alone does not sufficiently explain the genesis of successive fluids. Various factors seem to point to the important role which a gas-transfer process causing a geochemical stratification inside the magmatic chamber may have played.The occurrence of peralkaline silicics at Gran Canaria, which is located for away from the active Mid-Atlantic ridge, is not related to transitional basalts. These rocks are a deviation from the main undersaturated alkalic trend which characterizes the volcanism of the Canary Islands, their genesis being related to the realization of favourable local volcanic conditions.     

Rhyolitic pumice in the basaltic pyroclasts from the 1971 eruption of Teneguía volcano,Canary Islands

Fragments of acid pumice have been found among the basic pyroclastics thrown out by the Teneguía volcano during its explosive phases. The presence of these pumice fragments brings up the problem of their origin and their relationships to the mechanism of the eruption.The composition of the analysed samples coincides exactly with the low temperature trough in petrogeny's residua system, albits-orthoclase-silica. The samples can be classified as rhyolites and trachytes.The authors propose that the pumice was produced by the fusion of the acid phase in a subvolcanic complex located beneath the island of La Palma.     

Seasonal patterns of suspended sediment load and erosion-transport assessment in a Mediterranean basin

ABSTRACT

To assess seasonal patterns of suspended sediment load and its erosion–transport interactions, 17 years of river monitoring data from the Isser River Basin (northwest Algeria) were studied, considering continuous and event-scale approaches. The results show significant differences in sediment yield and transport processes between dry and wet periods. A rate of 8 t ha^?1 year^?1 was estimated from continuous analysis, with values of 4.3 and 13 t ha^?1 year^?1 for wet and dry periods, respectively. Estimates of soil delivery ratio pointed to higher values during dry periods and the dominance of hillslope erosion processes. At the event scale, the hysteresis loops confirmed these seasonal patterns in transport dynamics. The calibration of the MUSLE model highlighted the severity of rainfall during the dry period. These results emphasize the importance of seasonality in erosion and transport processes with special relevance in terms of climate change predictions.     

Three million years of monsoon variability over the northern Sahara

We present a 3 million year record of aeolian dust supply into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, based on hematite contents derived from magnetic properties of sediments from Ocean Drilling Program Site 967. Our record has an average temporal resolution of 400 years. Geochemical data validate this record of hematite content as a proxy for the supply of aeolian dust from the Sahara. We deduce that the aeolian hematite in eastern Mediterranean sediments derives from the eastern Algerian, Libyan, and western Egyptian lowlands located north of the central Saharan watershed (21°N). In corroboration of earlier work, we relate dust flux minima to penetration of the African summer monsoon front to the north of the central Saharan watershed. This would have enhanced soil humidity and vegetation cover in the source regions, in agreement with results from green Sahara climate models. Our results indicate that this northward monsoon penetration recurred during insolation maxima throughout the last 3 million years. As would be expected, this orbital precession-scale mechanism is modulated on both short (100-kyr) and long (400-kyr) eccentricity time scales. We also observe a strong expression of the 41-kyr (obliquity) cycle, which we discuss in terms of high- and low-latitude mechanisms that involve Southern Hemisphere meridional temperature contrasts and shifts in the latitudes of the tropics, respectively. We also observe a marked increase in sub-Milankovitch variability around the mid-Pleistocene transition (0.95 Ma), which suggests a link between millennial-scale climate variability, including monsoon dynamics, and the size of northern hemisphere ice sheets.     

Stable Eocene Magnetization Carried by Magnetite and Iron Sulphides in Marine Marls (Pamplona-Arguis Formation,Southern Pyrenees,Northern Spain)

In order to establish the magnetic carriers and assess the reliability of previous paleomagnetic results obtained for Eocene marine marls from the south Pyrenean basin, we carried out a combined paleo- and rock-magnetic study of the Pamplona-Arguis Formation, which crops out in the western sector of the southern Pyrenees (N Spain). The unblocking temperatures suggest that the characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) is carried by magnetite and iron sulphides. The ChRM has both normal and reversed polarities regardless of whether it resides in magnetite or iron sulphides, and represents a primary Eocene magnetization acquired before folding. Rock magnetic results confirm the presence of magnetite and smaller amounts of magnetic iron sulphides, most likely pyrrhotite, in all the studied samples. Framboidal pyrite is ubiquitous in the marls and suggests that iron sulphides formed during early diagenesis under sulphate-reducing conditions. ChRM directions carried by magnetic iron sulphides are consistent with those recorded by magnetite. These observations suggest that magnetic iron sulphides carry a chemical remanent magnetization that coexists with a remanence residing in detrital magnetite. We suggest that the south Pyrenean Eocene marls are suitable for magnetostratigraphic and tectonic purposes but not for studies of polarity transitions, secular variations and geomagnetic excursions, because it is difficult to test for short time differences in remanence lock-in time for the two minerals. The presence of iron sulphide minerals contributing to the primary magnetization in Eocene marine marls reinforces the idea that these minerals can persist over long periods of time in the geological record.     

A paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Laguna Babícora, Chihuahua, Mexico based on ostracode paleoecology and trace element shell chemistry

Paleoecology of Laguna Babícora, Chihuahua, Mexico was reconstructed using ostracode faunal assemblages and shell chemistry. The paleolimnological record is used to show the magnitude of paleoclimatic changes in the area from 25,000 years to the present.Faunal assemblages consist of four species of the genus Limnocythere: L. sappaensis, L. ceriotuberosa, L. bradburyi and L. platyforma, all associated with Candona caudata, Candona patzcuaro and Cypridopsis vidua. A paleosalinity index developed from these assemblages indicates that the lake's salinity fluctuated frequently from oligo- to meso-haline conditions during the last 25,000 years. This pattern and low salinity range are in good agreement with modern TDS (here used as an indicator of salinity) values recorded from 26 wells and one spring from the area (258–975 mg l^–1). To estimate paleotemperature we examined the trace element content (Mg/Ca ratios) from individual valves of L. ceriotuberosa and L. platyforma, the two species most commonly recorded in Laguna Babícora.Shell Mg/Ca ratios of 204 specimens of these two species were used to estimate water temperature (Mg/Ca) by means of experimental standard coefficients. Our data show that paleowater temperature ranged from 5.6–21.3 °C (with 2 values ranging from 0.2–4.8 °C), which suggest a close correlation with atmospheric temperatures around the lake. These results are in good agreement with a modern mean winter temperature (3.5 °C) and mean summer temperature (20 °C) recorded in the area between 1970 and 1980.