Building a 3D geomodel for water resources management: case study in the Regional Park of the lower courses of Manzanares and Jarama Rivers (Madrid, Spain)

Water resources management of protected sites requires a powerful tool to analyze the process and changes that are occurring in the environment. This paper describes a 3D geomodel design of the Jarama River Detrital Aquifer located in Madrid (Spain). That hydrogeological unit is included in the “Parque Regional de los Cursos Bajos de los Ríos Manzanares y Jarama” (Regional Park of the Lower Courses of Manzanares and Jarama Rivers). The goal of this work is to define a method by which a three-dimensional (3D) model can be created with hydrogeologic geometry real of main aquifer, to accomplish an adequate management of the groundwater resources. All data used in this study were integrated in a geographic database: geological and hydrogeological information, geological map (1:25,000), eleven cross-sections, piezometric maps and a digital elevation model. The constructed 3D model of the Jarama Aquifer shows geometric features and spatial distribution and variations of geologic units. Thus, the 3D model allows the assessment of volumes of each unit, the depth and thickness variations of the main aquifer, and the spatial and temporal variations of water tables. From the 3D model, the most suitable areas (in terms of groundwater protection) for managed recharge and mining works have been identified.     

A geochemical and 3D-geometry geophysical survey to assess artificial groundwater recharge potential in the Pacific coast of Baja California,Mexico

A geophysical and geochemical study was carried out in the Maneadero aquifer, Baja California, Mexico, with the aim of identifying potential recharge locations for reclaimed water (RW). This coastal aquifer shows a significant decline in water quality, both as a result of salinization and the pollution by nitrates. Total dissolved solids (TDS) in an extreme case increased from 4 g l^?1 in 2000 to 27 g l^?1 in 2011. Nitrate as N–NO₃, reaches 46 mg l^?1. Based on their geochemistry and location, four water-quality zones are identified: (a) fresh water with TDS ≈ 1 g l^?1 in the upper creeks, (b) mixture between seawater and freshwater in the coast-proximal sections, (c) water significantly enriched in nitrate below and adjacent to the town of Maneadero, and (d) brackish water with no signs of current interaction with freshwater. The 3D geophysics identifies the influence of modern recharge areas and also buried flow-paths down to at least 30 m depth. The locations best suitable for aquifer recharge are those with equal or higher TDS concentrations (>2.5 g l^?1) than RW, which are located at the brackish water zone and/or at the coastal limits of the mixing zones.     

GIS application for regional assessment of seismically induced slope failures in the Sierra Nevada Range,South Spain,along the Padul Fault

Complete rupture of the Padul Fault represents one of the largest plausible earthquakes in the Sierra Nevada Range, one of the most seismically active regions of Spain. We performed a regional assessment of earthquake-triggered slope instabilities in the western part of the range to determine the most likely types of failures from such an earthquake in the region and suggest where such failures have a higher likelihood of occurring. These results are broadly useful for management of regional life-lines and future development. First, a slope-instability inventory of the Sierra Nevada was produced to identify the most common instability types. Subsequently, the Newmark’s sliding rigid-block methodology, implemented in a geographic information system, was used to obtain the distribution of Newmark displacements in the area considering a M _w 6.6 earthquake on the Padul Fault. The Newmark displacements were then compared to the distribution of the inventoried slope instabilities to identify the areas where seismicity could reactivate old slope instabilities or generate new ones, and to identify the involved landslide typology. The most likely seismically induced slope instabilities in the Sierra Nevada are rock falls and rock slides. These types of instabilities could be triggered by Newmark displacements of 2 cm or less.     

Coherence of river and ocean conditions along the US West Coast during storms

The majority of water and sediment discharge from the small, mountainous watersheds of the US West Coast occurs during and immediately following winter storms. The physical conditions (waves, currents, and winds) within and acting upon the proximal coastal ocean during these winter storms strongly influence dispersal patterns. We examined this river–ocean temporal coherence for four coastal river–shelf systems of the US West Coast (Umpqua, Eel, Salinas, and Santa Clara) to evaluate whether specific ocean conditions occur during floods that may influence coastal dispersal of sediment. Eleven years of corresponding river discharge, wind, and wave data were obtained for each river–shelf system from USGS and NOAA historical records, and each record was evaluated for seasonal and event-based patterns. Because near-bed shear stresses due to waves influence sediment resuspension and transport, we used spectral wave data to compute and evaluate wave-generated bottom-orbital velocities. The highest values of wave energy and discharge for all four systems were consistently observed between October 15 and March 15, and there were strong latitudinal patterns observed in these data with lower discharge and wave energies in the southernmost systems. During floods we observed patterns of river–ocean coherence that differed from the overall seasonal patterns. For example, downwelling winds generally prevailed during floods in the northern two systems (Umpqua and Eel), whereas winds in the southern systems (Salinas and Santa Clara) were generally downwelling before peak discharge and upwelling after peak discharge. Winds not associated with floods were generally upwelling on all four river–shelf systems. Although there are seasonal variations in river–ocean coherence, waves generally led floods in the three northern systems, while they lagged floods in the Santa Clara. Combined, these observations suggest that there are consistent river–ocean coherence patterns along the US West Coast during winter storms and that these patterns vary substantially with latitude. These results should assist with future evaluations of flood plume formation and sediment fate along this coast.     

Education and training for integrated coastal zone management in Europe

This paper provides an overview of the current situation of education and training for ICZM in Europe. This overview results from the analysis of the general characteristics, contents and orientation of a significant number of courses from a representative set of countries and international organizations in Europe. This type of comparatively systematic information provides a framework within which education and training efforts can be meaningfully evaluated from a regional perspective. Based on the survey conclusions, the paper reflects on the level of interconnection between the way in which ICZM is currently taught in Europe and the capacity needs arising from the scenario in which it takes place. In view of such scenario, and in order to advance ICZM practice in Europe, some broad recommendations to enhance education and training efforts are finally provided.     

Trends,rhythms and events in Plio-Pleistocene African climate

We analyzed published records of terrigenous dust flux from marine sediments off subtropical West Africa, the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and the Arabian Sea, and lake records from East Africa using statistical methods to detect trends, rhythms and events in Plio-Pleistocene African climate. The critical reassessment of the environmental significance of dust flux and lake records removes the apparent inconsistencies between marine vs. terrestrial records of African climate variability. Based on these results, major steps in mammalian and hominin evolution occurred during episodes of a wetter, but highly variable climate largely controlled by orbitally induced insolation changes in the low latitudes.     

shinyNORRRM: A Cross-Platform Software to Calculate the CIPW Norm

In this paper, a novelty-free software to assess an efficient CIPW Norm (± 0.006 wt.% in differences between input and output data) is presented. The package is available in the official repository for user-contributed R packages (CRAN: Comprehensive R Archive Network). The software is able to handle big data sets and considers minor and trace element compositions. The algorithm can calculate odd minerals in igneous rocks, such as cancrinite and calcite, adjust the Fe⁺³/Fe⁺² ratio in different standard approaches, and recalculate the compositions of the rocks in an anhydrous basis (100 ± 0.003 wt.% volatile-free adjusted). Furthermore, the package calculates several petrological parameters, and the graphical outputs are displayed following IUGS scheme standards. The prime aspect of shinyNORRRM is the symbiosis of native R functions with the R package’s shiny (Web Application Framework for R) to run the norm in a user-friendly interface. shinyNORRRM can be executed in any operating system and requires no previous programming knowledge, thus promising to be the universal computational program in this matter. The output data are printed in the standard comma-separated values (*.csv) format, which is highly compatible with general spreadsheet editors. In this work, the algorithm of our program is validated using already compiled whole-rock geochemical databases.

     

Evaluation of the relative roles of global versus local sedimentary controls on Middle to Late Pleistocene formation of continental margin strata,Canterbury Basin,New Zealand

Determining the relative influence of eustasy versus local sedimentary processes on strata formation is a fundamental challenge in the study of continental margin stratigraphy. In this paper, the relative contribution of these factors on continental margin evolution during the Middle to Late Pleistocene is evaluated using samples from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 317. Core‐logging, biostratigraphy and quantitative X‐ray diffraction mineralogy are used to delineate continental shelf sedimentary systems. Major lithological unconformities bound stratigraphic sequences that contain recurring compositional patterns and that resemble other examples of Middle to Upper Pleistocene sequences. However, a preliminary chronology suggests that sequence boundary formation cannot be linked ‘one to one’ with eustatic cycles and therefore these sequences can contain multiple ca 100 ka eustatic cycles. Smaller amplitude, higher frequency transitions in sediment composition are interpreted as stratigraphic sequences driven by more rapid perturbations in the interplay of accommodation and sediment supply; their stratigraphy is variable in time and across the shelf, suggesting a strong influence of local sedimentary forcing in their formation. Changes in sediment composition after the Middle Pleistocene Transition indicate that sediment transfer from onshore sources in the glaciated Southern Alps to the middle‐shelf occurred over a single 100 ka glacio‐eustatic cycle, with an additional 100 ka lag before the mineralogical signal was preserved on the outer‐shelf. This phenomenon is coincident with rapid shelf progradation in this basin, suggesting a causal relation between across‐shelf sediment transport and margin progradation. This is one of very few studies that provide insights at the core scale into the processes driving continental margin evolution during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. This work shows that compositional changes in mud‐dominated successions can lead to a sequence stratigraphic interpretation and the identification of high‐frequency sequences, which may not be possible using a conventional stratigraphic approach.