Landslide susceptibility mapping by remote sensing and geomorphological data: case studies on the Sorrentina Peninsula (Southern Italy)

The Sorrentina Peninsula is a densely populated area with high touristic impact. It is located in a morphologically complex zone of Southern Italy frequently affected by dangerous and calamitous landslides. This work contributes to the prevention of such natural disasters by applying a GIS-based interdisciplinary approach aimed to map the areas more potentially prone to trigger slope instability phenomena. We have developed the Landslide Susceptibility Index (LSI) combining five weighted and ranked susceptibility parameters on a GIS platform. These parameters are recognized in the literature as the main predisposing factors for triggering landslides. This work combines analyses conducted on Remote Sensing, Geo-Lithology and Morphometry data and it is organized in the following logical steps: i) Multi-temporal InSAR technique was applied to Envisat-ASAR (2003–2010) and COSMO-SkyMed (2013–2015) datasets to obtain the ground displacement time series and the relative mean ground velocity maps. InSAR allowed the detection of the areas that are subjected to ground deformation and the main affected municipalities; ii) Such deformation areas were investigated through airborne photo interpretation to identify the presence of geomorphological peculiarities connected to potential slope instability. Subsequently, some of these peculiarities were checked on the field; iii) In these deformation areas the susceptibility parameters were mapped in the entire territory of Amalfi and Conca dei Marini and then investigated with a multivariate analysis to derive the classes and the respective weights used in the LSI calculation. The resulting LSI map classifies the two municipalities with high spatial resolution (2m) according to five classes of instability. The map highlights that the high/very high susceptibility zones cover 6% of the investigated territory and correspond to potential landslide source areas characterized by 25°-70° slope angles. A spatial analysis between the map of the historical landslides and the areas classified according to susceptibility allowed testing of the reliability of the LSI Index, resulting in 85% prediction accuracy.     

Observations of chromospheric lines from OSO-8

The line profiles of L, Ca ii K and Mg iik were measured with the spectrometer of the Laboratoire de Physique Stellaire et Planétaire on board of OSO-8. The results of these measurements are presented.Mitteilungen aus dem Kiepenheuer-Institut Nr. 181.     

Ardières-Morcille in the Beaujolais,France: A research catchment dedicated to study of the transport and impacts of diffuse agricultural pollution in rivers

The 8-km² Morcille catchment, which is a sub-catchment of the 150-km² Ardières catchment in the Beaujolais region of France, is one of the first sites in Europe where research has been conducted on surface water contamination by pesticides. A consolidated hydrological and chemical dataset has been set up with data collected since 2002 on the Morcille River and since 2011 on the Ardières River. Additional data on the ecotoxicological and ecological impacts of pesticides on aquatic microbial communities and macroinvertebrates has also been recorded in both rivers since 2005. The ‘Site Atelier Ardières-Morcille Dataset’ described here combines rainfall and stream water height measurements at gauged stations with concentrations of two trace elements and nine pesticides (mainly herbicides, fungicides and some of their metabolites) in both the Ardières and Morcille rivers. All contaminant concentration data showed spatial and temporal variability in water quality associated with pesticide use and rainfall patterns. This long-term monitoring framework made it possible to estimate the persistence of two herbicides (diuron and norflurazon) after legislation banning them. It took 4 years for diuron and more than 10 years for norflurazon concentrations to fall below 0.1 μg/L. Concurrent biological data showed a gradient of impacts consistent with chemical anthropogenic pressure, and rapid recovery of phototrophic microbial communities after the diuron ban. Finally, monitoring data on pesticide transport in a grassed strip set on a slope of the Morcille catchment confirmed that vegetative filter strips can effectively reduce diuron fluxes in surface runoff (>80% abatement) and infiltration water (>70% abatement). The full dataset offers a valuable resource for the validation of hydrological models and the development of global approaches to better understand the pressure–transport–exposure–impact chain and aquatic community resilience at the small catchment scale.     

Comments on “Confirmation of beach accretion by grain-size trend analysis: Camposoto beach, Cádiz, SW Spain” by E. Poizot et al. (2013) Geo-Marine Letters 33(4)

This Discussion provides comments on the application of grain-size trend analysis to Camposoto beach (SW Spain) reported by Poizot et al. (2013) in Geo-Marine Letters 33(4):263–272. Some of their results are updated or complemented by existing data from other studies carried out on Camposoto and other nearby beaches. For example, a detailed breakdown of beach nourishment volumes and costs is presented, and the influence of a horizontal reef flat on the tilting of the beach profile around the mean or the low water level is highlighted. Moreover, data from the displacement of dyed samples are used to evaluate the relationship between sediment transport speed (v_a) and current speed (V), the corresponding ratio being consistent with the range of values reported by several other authors. Finally, some minor, although still significant, differences are detected in some granulometric parameters as well as in the profile shape. Determining the reason for these discrepancies could enhance our current knowledge about the factors controlling short-term beach profile responses.     

Limnological studies on a shallow reservoir in western Venezuela (Tulé Reservoir)

Limnological features of Tulé Reservoir, a large and shallow reservoir in western Venezuela were studied from May 1992 to December 1993. This reservoir is polymictic, with a low water transparency. Levels of nitrogen were high and phytoplankton productivity was low. The phytoplankton productivity values may be explained by the low concentrations of orthophosphate during the larger part of the sampling period and the frequent mixing and resuspension of sediments. Heterotrophic bacteria were between 1651.67 and 4365.00 Colony-forming Units/ml. Species composition of the crustacean zooplankton community was similar to other neotropical eutrophic reservoirs.     

Influence of sieving time on the efficiency and accuracy of grain‐size analysis of beach and dune sands

Grain size is a fundamental property of sediments and is commonly used to describe sedimentary facies and classify sedimentary environments. Among the various conventional techniques utilized to determine grain‐size frequency distributions, sieving is the most widely applied procedure. The accuracy of such analyses is, among other factors, strongly dependent on the sieving time. However, despite a substantial amount of research in this field, optimal sieving times for different types of sediments have, to date, not been established. In this article, the influence of sieving time on grain‐size analyses of medium‐grained microtidal and mesotidal beach and dune sands has been determined. To assess the precision of important textural parameters, such as median grain size, sorting, skewness and kurtosis, an error analysis was carried out for different sieving times (2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes). After calibrating the analytical and sampling methodologies, significant deviations were registered when sieving time was less than 10 minutes. However, such deviations were very small and grain‐size distributions remained almost identical for sieving times of 10 minutes and longer, relative errors being as low as 0% in some cases.     

Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Sources and Water Regime of the Ugol’naya-Dionisiya River (Anadyr Lowland,Chukotka)

Water Resources - For the first time, by analyzing the spatial variations and diurnal dynamics of the water regime of the small river of the Anadyr Lowland, the main sources were studied and the...     

Short-term changes in the aerosol characteristics at Kharagpur (22°19′N, 87°19′E) during winter

In-situ measurements of number density, size distribution, and mass loading of near-surface aerosols were carried out at Kharagpur, a site on the eastern part of Indo-Gangetic Plains during the winter month of December 2004. The data have been used to investigate wintertime characteristics of aerosols and their effects on the occurrence of haze. The aerosol number density is found to be of the order of 10⁹ m^?3 and mass loading is ~265±70 μg m^?3 (5–8 times that reported from south Indian sites). The diurnal patterns and day-to-day variations in aerosol number density and mass loading are closely associated with atmospheric boundary layer height. During haze events, the number density of submicron particles is found to be 2–5 times higher than that during non-hazy period. This could be attributed to the enhanced concentration of anthropogenic aerosols, low atmospheric boundary layer height/ventilation coefficient and airflow convergence.     

Molecular and cultivation-dependent analysis of metal-reducing bacteria implicated in arsenic mobilisation in south-east asian aquifers

The reduction of sorbed As(V) to the potentially more mobile As(III) by As-respiring anaerobic bacteria has been implicated in the mobilisation of the toxic metalloid in aquifer sediments in SE Asia. However, there is currently only a limited amount of information on the identity of the organisms that can respire As(V) in these sediment systems. Here experiments are described that have targeted As(V)-respiring bacteria using cultivation-independent molecular techniques, and also more traditional microbiological approaches that have used growth media highly selective for organisms that can grow using arsenate as the sole electron acceptor supplied for anaerobic growth. The molecular techniques used have initially targeted DNA from microcosms displaying maximal rates of arsenate reduction, both with and without added electron donor. More recent studies from the authors’ laboratory have used stable isotope probing techniques, targeting DNA from the active microbial fraction in microcosms labelled with [¹³C]acetate supplied as an electron donor for arsenate reduction. Phylogenetic analyses using a highly conserved genetic marker (the 16S rRNA gene) have suggested the involvement of Sulfurospirillum and Geobacter species in arsenate-respiration, and this has been supported further by complimentary experiments using more traditional microbiological techniques. Additional research required to clarify the role of these organisms in the mobilisation of As in situ are discussed.