Disturbance and Community Pattern of Polychaetes Inhabiting Valle Magnavacca (Valli di Comacchio,Northern Adriatic Sea,Italy)

Abstract. Polychaete community structure in Valle Magnavacca, the largest basin of the Valli di Comacchio (Northern Adriatic Sea) lagoonal ecosystem, was analyzed in a three‐year study. Three shallow‐water stations were sampled at about 3‐month intervals. Univariate and multivariate analyses were utilized to investigate community structure changes in relation to natural and man‐induced disturbance. The polychaete community at station 3, in the central area of the lagoon, was the most disturbed, while that of station 2 was the most well structured. We hypothesize that polychaete community structure results from regular seasonal disturbances which lead to almost predictable fluctuations in species abundance. Superimposed on these regular cycles are acute disturbance events that further reduce species abundance or exclude species from the habitat.     

The economic sustainability of artisanal fisheries: the case of the trawl ban in the Gulf of Castellammare, NW Sicily

Small-scale fisheries and the communities they support are often given the protection of designated fishing zones from which non-artisanal vessels are excluded. This paper looks at one example of this approach, the trawl ban introduced in the Gulf of Castellammare (NW Sicily), focussing on the economic sustainability of the artisanal fishery currently operating within the protected area. The consequences of lifting the trawl ban and how far this would jeopardise the sustainability of the artisanal fishery are explored via an analysis of the financial viability of trammel net vessels under alternative assumptions concerning catch rates. The paper also investigates fishermen's attitudes towards the trawl ban and their predisposition either to remain in the fishery or to quit in the event of the ban being removed.     

Natural frequencies of a vibrating repaired panel in an ocean structure

The present work arose from the need of repairing steel plates badly damaged by corrosion in a portion of the structural element of the naval vehicle. The possibility of removing the portion and replacing it by a patch of a composite material was considered. Its dynamic behavior is altered by the introduction of the patch and the prediction of its new behavior is of great interest in many situations. This condition would appear in other real-life situations like as a localized orthotropic effect caused in the panel by a welding procedure or a metallurgical process. The first four natural frequency coefficients of the composite repaired panel with different types of boundary conditions are determined by means of a variational approach. The displacement function is approximated making use of complete sets of beam functions. The eigenvalues have been computed from (225×225) secular determinants. An independent solution is obtained using the finite element method and a reasonably good agreement with the analytical solution is encountered.     

Anatexis and fluid regime of the deep continental crust: New clues from melt and fluid inclusions in metapelitic migmatites from Ivrea Zone (NW Italy)

We investigate the inclusions hosted in peritectic garnet from metapelitic migmatites of the Kinzigite Formation (Ivrea Zone, NW Italy) to evaluate the starting composition of the anatectic melt and fluid regime during anatexis throughout the upper amphibolite facies, transition, and granulite facies zones. Inclusions have negative crystal shapes, sizes from 2 to 10 μm and are regularly distributed in the core of the garnet. Microstructural and micro‐Raman investigations indicate the presence of two types of inclusions: crystallized silicate melt inclusions (i.e., nanogranitoids, NI), and fluid inclusions (FI). Microstructural evidence suggests that FI and NI coexist in the same cluster and are primary (i.e., were trapped simultaneously during garnet growth). FI have similar compositions in the three zones and comprise variable proportions of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂, commonly with siderite, pyrophyllite, and kaolinite, suggesting a COHN composition of the trapped fluid. The mineral assemblage in the NI contains K‐feldspar, plagioclase, quartz, biotite, muscovite, chlorite, graphite and, rarely, calcite. Polymorphs such as kumdykolite, cristobalite, tridymite, and less commonly kokchetavite, were also found. Rehomogenized NI from the different zones show that all the melts are leucogranitic but have slightly different compositions. In samples from the upper amphibolite facies, melts are less mafic (FeO + MgO = 2.0–3.4 wt%), contain 860–1700 ppm CO₂ and reach the highest H₂O contents (6.5–10 wt%). In the transition zone melts have intermediate H₂O (4.8–8.5 wt%), CO₂ (457–1534 ppm) and maficity (FeO + MgO = 2.3–3.9 wt%). In contrast, melts at granulite facies reach highest CaO, FeO + MgO (3.2–4.7 wt%), and CO₂ (up to 2,400 ppm), with H₂O contents comparable (5.4–8.3 wt%) to the other two zones. Our results represent the first clear evidence for carbonic fluid‐present melting in the Ivrea Zone. Anatexis of metapelites occurred through muscovite and biotite breakdown melting in the presence of a COH fluid, in a situation of fluid–melt immiscibility. The fluid is assumed to have been internally derived, produced initially by devolatilization of hydrous silicates in the graphitic protolith, then as a result of oxidation of carbon by consumption of Fe³⁺‐bearing biotite during melting. Variations in the compositions of the melts are interpreted to result from higher T of melting. The H₂O contents of the melts throughout the three zones are higher than usually assumed for initial H₂O contents of anatectic melts. The CO₂ contents are highest at granulite facies, and show that carbon‐contents of crustal magmas are not negligible at high T. The activity of H₂O of the fluid dissolved in granitic melts decreases with increasing metamorphic grade. Carbonic fluid‐present melting of the deep continental crust represents, together with hydrate‐breakdown melting reactions, an important process in the origin of crustal anatectic granitoids.     

Quantifying the impact of no-till on runoff in southern Brazil at hillslope and catchment scales

No-till (NT) is a conservation system that improves the hydrological regime of agricultural slopes by providing greater surface protection and benefits to the physical and hydrological properties of soils. However, the isolated use of NT is not enough to control runoff and its associated degradation processes. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the runoff of agricultural slopes under NT under different runoff control conditions by monitoring 63 rainfall events in two 2.4-ha zero-order catchments and 27 rainfall events in four 0.6-ha macroplots. The catchments are paired and similar in terms of the type of soil and relief, but different regarding the presence of terraces. The macroplots have different soil and crop management systems. By using monitoring techniques, the hyetographs and hydrographs revealed the influence of the different types of management on the catchments and macroplots and allowed rainfall characteristics, runoff volume, runoff coefficients, water infiltration, peak runoff, response times, and curve number to be analysed. The terraces positively affected the NT and controlled runoff and related variables, in addition to infiltration significantly increasing and runoff reducing in the terraced catchment. All the hydrological information assessed pointed to the positive effects provided by the presence of the terraces. The results in the macroplots showed that high amounts of phytomass and/or chiselling do not control runoff and its correlated variables in medium and high magnitude events. The study concludes by underlining the need for additional measures to control runoff (terraces), even in areas under NT and with high phytomass production. Additionally, the study emphasizes the importance of monitoring at the catchment scale to better understand the hydrological behaviour of agricultural areas and provide the necessary parameters to effectively control runoff.     

Timing and pace of ice-sheet withdrawal across the marine–terrestrial transition west of Ireland during the last glaciation

Understanding the pace and drivers of marine-based ice-sheet retreat relies upon the integration of numerical ice-sheet models with observations from contemporary polar ice sheets and well-constrained palaeo-glaciological reconstructions. This paper provides a reconstruction of the retreat of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) from the Atlantic shelf west of Ireland during and following the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). It uses marine-geophysical data and sediment cores dated by radiocarbon, combined with terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide and optically stimulated luminescence dating of onshore ice-marginal landforms, to reconstruct the timing and rate of ice-sheet retreat from the continental shelf and across the adjoining coastline of Ireland, thus including the switch from a marine- to a terrestrially-based ice-sheet margin. Seafloor bathymetric data in the form of moraines and grounding-zone wedges on the continental shelf record an extensive ice sheet west of Ireland during the LGM which advanced to the outer shelf. This interpretation is supported by the presence of dated subglacial tills and overridden glacimarine sediments from across the Porcupine Bank, a westwards extension of the Irish continental shelf. The ice sheet was grounded on the outer shelf at ~26.8 ka cal bp with initial retreat underway by 25.9 ka cal bp. Retreat was not a continuous process but was punctuated by marginal oscillations until ~24.3 ka cal bp. The ice sheet thereafter retreated to the mid-shelf where it formed a large grounding-zone complex at ~23.7 ka cal bp. This retreat occurred in a glacimarine environment. The Aran Islands on the inner continental shelf were ice-free by ~19.5 ka bp and the ice sheet had become largely terrestrially based by 17.3 ka bp. This suggests that the Aran Islands acted to stabilize and slow overall ice-sheet retreat once the BIIS margin had reached the inner shelf. Our results constrain the timing of initial retreat of the BIIS from the outer shelf west of Ireland to the period of minimum global eustatic sea level. Initial retreat was driven, at least in part, by glacio-isostatically induced, high relative sea level. Net rates of ice-sheet retreat across the shelf were slow (62–19 m a⁻¹) and reduced (8 m a⁻¹) as the ice sheet vacated the inner shelf and moved onshore. A picture therefore emerges of an extensive BIIS on the Atlantic shelf west of Ireland, in which early, oscillatory retreat was followed by slow episodic retreat which decelerated further as the ice margin became terrestrially based. More broadly, this demonstrates the importance of localized controls, in particular bed topography, on modulating the retreat of marine-based sectors of ice sheets.