Tidal sediment transport versus freshwater flood events in the Konkouré Estuary, Republic of Guinea

In comparison to their temperate counterparts, sediment processes in tropical estuaries are poorly known and especially in African ones. The hydrodynamics of such environments is controlled by a combination of multiple processes including morphology, salinity, mangrove vegetation, tidal processes, river discharge, settling and erosion of mud and by physico-chemical processes as well as sediment dynamics.The aim of this study is to understand the sediment processes in this transitional stage of the estuary when the balance between river discharges and marine processes is reversing. Studying the hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of the Konkouré Estuary has recently been made possible thanks to new data on bathymetry, sedimentary cover, salinity, water elevations, and current velocities. The Lower Konkouré is a shallow, funnel shaped, mesotidal mangrove-fringed, tide-dominated estuary, well mixed during low river discharge and stratified during high river discharge. The Konkouré Estuary is turbid despite the small amount of terrestrial input and its residual velocity at the mouth during low river discharges, landwards for two of the three branches, suggests a landward migration by tidal pumping of the suspended particulate matter. A Turbidity Maximum Zone (TMZ) is identified for typical states of the estuary with regard to fluvial and tidal components. Suspended sediment transport during a transitional stage between the rainy and dry seasons is known thanks to current velocity and Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC) measurements taken in November 2003. The Richardson layered number calculation assesses that turbulence is the major mixing process in the water column, at least during the flood and ebb stages, whereas stratification occurs during the slack water periods. Tidal currents generate bottom erosion, and turbulence mixes the suspended sediment throughout the water column. As a result, a net sediment input is calculated from the western Konkouré outlet for two consecutive tidal cycles. Despite the net water export, almost 300 tons per tide reach the estuary through this outlet, for a moderate river flow.     

Use of Large-Eddy Simulation for the bed shear stress estimation over a dune

Environmental flows are generally characterized by complex bed morphology and high current speeds. Such configurations favor the formation of vortex structures that strongly affect hydrody-namics and sediment transport. Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) enables investigation of the dynam-ics of the largest turbulence scales and, thanks to enhanced calculation resources, has now become applicable for simulating environmental flows. In this paper, a LES approach is developed in a CFD code (TELEMAC-3D), which was originally developed to simulate free surface flows using RANS methods. The present developments involve implementing subgrid models, boundary con-ditions and numerical schemes suitable for LES. The LES version of TELEMAC-3D was validated by comparing results on the model with experimental data for flow past a cylinder. Then, the model was applied to a test case representing flow over dunes. After validating the hydrodynamics, the model was used to assess the bottom shear stress, using both a RANS and a LES approach. Com-parison highlighted the potential contribution of LES to investigating the hydrodynamic forces acting on the bottom.     

Computation of GPS P1–P2 Differential Code Biases with JASON-2

GPS Differential Code Biases (DCBs) computation is usually based on ground networks of permanent stations. The drawback of the classical methods is the need for the ionospheric delay so that any error in this quantity will map into the solution. Nowadays, many low-orbiting satellites are equipped with GPS receivers which are initially used for precise orbitography. Considering spacecrafts at an altitude above the ionosphere, the ionized contribution comes from the plasmasphere, which is less variable in time and space. Based on GPS data collected onboard JASON-2 spacecraft, we present a methodology which computes in the same adjustment the satellite and receiver DCBs in addition to the plasmaspheric vertical total electron content (VTEC) above the satellite, the average satellite bias being set to zero. Results show that GPS satellite DCB solutions are very close to those of the IGS analysis centers using ground measurements. However, the receiver DCB and VTEC are closely correlated, and their value remains sensitive to the choice of the plasmaspheric parametrization.     

Improving runoff prediction using agronomical information in a cropped,loess covered catchment

Predicting runoff hot spots and hot‐moments within a headwater crop‐catchment is of the utmost importance to reduce adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems by adapting land use management to control runoff. Reliable predictions of runoff patterns during a crop growing season remain challenging. This is mainly due to the large spatial and temporal variations of topsoil hydraulic properties controlled by complex interactions between weather, growing vegetation, and cropping operations. This interaction can significantly modify runoff patterns and few process‐based models can integrate this evolution of topsoil properties during a crop growing season at the catchment scale. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to better constrain the event‐based hydrological model Limburg Soil Erosion Model by incorporating temporal constraints for input topsoil properties during a crop growing season (LISEM). The results of the temporal constraint strategy (TCS) were compared with a classical event per event calibration strategy (EES) using multi‐scale runoff information (from plot to catchment). The EES and TCS approaches were applied in a loess catchment of 47 ha located 30 km northeast of Strasbourg (Alsace, France). A slight decrease of the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency criterion on runoff discharge for TCS compared to EES was counterbalanced by a clear improvement of the spatial runoff patterns within the catchment. This study showed that limited agronomical and climatic information added during the calibration step improved the spatial runoff predictions of an event‐based model. Reliable prediction of runoff source, connectivity, and dynamics can then be derived and discussed with stakeholders to identify runoff hot spots and hot‐moments for subsequent land use and crop management modifications.     

Early Badenian ostracod assemblage of the ?idlochovice stratotype(Carpathian Foredeep, Czech Republic)

Fifty-two ostracod taxa were identified from two sediment cores collected from the early Badenian ?idlochovice stratotype. Ostracod assemblages were analyzed with a focus on taxonomy, paleoecology, distribution of taxa along the sediment cores, quantification of valve/carapace ratios, and species richness by Simpson??s Reciprocal Index. The changes in ostracod assemblages identified in these cores reflect a shallowing of the marine water-depth from circalittoral/epibathyal to shallow infralittoral, and an increase in the sedimentation rate upwards through time. A comparison of all Badenian ostracod assemblages in the Carpathian Foredeep indicates a high proportion of deep-water ostracod species in ?idlochovice and its surroundings, suggesting that the deepest part of the Carpathian Foredeep was probably situated in this part of the Czech Republic.     

In situ LA-ICP-MS U–Pb titanite dating of Na–Ca metasomatism in orogenic belts: the North Pyrenean example

In the Pyrenees, in association with the rotation of the Iberian plate around Europe during the Mid-Cretaceous, a Na–Ca metasomatism is recognized as a complementary record of the hydrothermal activity that led to Na-metasomatism (albitization) and talc–chlorite mineralization. It affected metasedimentary rocks as well as Hercynian granites. In situ laser ablation ICP-MS U–Pb analyses of titanite grains formed in albitites during metasomatism date the Na–Ca metasomatism between 110 and 92 Ma. The temperature of the Na–Ca metasomatism is estimated to be approximately 550 °C. Both the time constraints and temperature estimates suggest that the Na–Ca metasomatism is related to the low-P high-T North Pyrenean metamorphism.     

Using the seismology of non-magnetic chemically peculiar stars as a probe of dynamical processes in stellar interiors

Chemical composition is a good tracer of the hydrodynamical processes that occur in stars as they often lead to mixing and particle transport. By comparing abundances predicted by models and those observed in stars we can infer some constraints on those mixing processes. As pulsations in the stars are often very sensitive to chemical composition, we can use asteroseismology to probe the internal chemical composition of stars where no direct observations are possible. In this paper I focus on main sequence stars Am, λ Bootis, and HgMn stars and discuss what we can learn of mixing processes in these stars from seismology.     

Predicting the impacts of climate change on genetic diversity in an endangered lizard species

Many endangered species persist as a series of isolated populations, with some populations more genetically diverse than others. If climate change disproportionately threatens the most diverse populations, the species’ ability to adapt (and hence its long-term viability) may be affected more severely than would be apparent by its numerical reduction. In the present study, we combine genetic data with modelling of species distributions under climate change to document this situation in an endangered lizard (Eulamprus leuraensis) from montane southeastern Australia. The species is known from only about 40 isolated swamps. Genetic diversity of lizard populations is greater in some sites than others, presumably reflecting consistently high habitat suitability over evolutionary time. Species distribution modelling suggests that the most genetically diverse populations are the ones most at risk from climate change, so that global warming will erode the species’ genetic variability faster than it curtails the species’ geographic distribution.     

Mineral grain availability and pupal-case building by lotic caddisflies: Effects on case architecture, stability and building expenses

The retreat-making larvae of many lotic caddisflies build entirely new pupal cases with fine gravel and sand that they collect in the neighbourhood of the building place to fix it with silk to cobbles in swift flow (where finer sediments are generally rare). Previous field observations on Hydropsyche siltalai pupal cases illustrate that natural local resource limitations of the preferred grain fraction (2.5–3.15 mm) produced chained effects across other grain fractions, as the alternative use of more grains in the 1.6–2 mm fraction (an unlimited resource) induced an increased use of more grains in the 0.315–0.5 mm fraction (another unlimited resource). To examine the implications of these observations for H. siltalai, we used (1) mesocosms to created minor deviations in the availability of the natural grain size composition of the building material of pupal cases at otherwise carefully replicated natural stream habitat conditions and (2) recently developed technologies to assess many case characteristics so far ignored in studies of caddisfly cases. When the preferred coarser grains (2.5–3.15 mm) were unavailable, more grains with intermediate size (1.25–2.0 mm) were used (and not other, still available coarse grains) and fewer larvae built cases in groups, thereby not only loosing the benefits (lower costs for grain transport and silk) but also avoiding potential disadvantages associated with grouped cases (more aggressive encounters with conspecifics for rare building material, less flow exposure and thus reduced water renewal in the pupal chamber). Unavailability of 2.5–3.15-mm and 0.315–0.5-mm grains caused a reduction of larvae building in groups, more use of grains with intermediate size, changes of several other grain characteristics (e.g. number, circularity) and considerable investment into silk to maintain the case resistance. Finally, grain availability deviating most from that observed in nature (no grains of 2.5–3.15 mm and 1.6–2.0 mm) caused dramatic responses, as mortality increased so that fewer pupal cases were built, using typically more coarse grains so that many cases had an elevated resistance against crushing forces; in addition, many males had a retarded development, whereas female development was unaffected. Thus, the response of H. siltalai to any of the three types of grain limitations differed, illustrating an immense diversity to respond to grain-size shortage.