Integrated measurements of acoustical and optical thin layers II: Horizontal length scales

The degree of layered organization of planktonic organisms in coastal systems impacts trophic interactions, the vertical availability of nutrients, and many biological rate processes. While there is reasonable characterization of the vertical structure of these phenomena, the extent and horizontal length scale of variation has rarely been addressed. Here we extend the examination of the vertical scale in the first paper of the series to the horizontal scale with combined shipboard acoustic measurements and bio-optic measurements taken on an autonomous underwater vehicle. Measurements were made in Monterey Bay, CA from 2002 to 2008 for the bio-optical parameters and during 2006 for acoustic scattering measurements. The combined data set was used to evaluate the horizontal decorrelation length scales of the bio-optical and acoustic scattering layers themselves. Because biological layers are often decoupled from the physical structure of the water column, assessment of the variance within identified layers was appropriate. This differs from other studies in that physical parameters were not used as a basis for the layer definition. There was a significant diel pattern to the decorrelation length scale for acoustic layers with the more abundant nighttime layers showing less horizontal variability despite their smaller horizontal extent. A significant decrease in the decorrelation length scale was found in bio-optical parameters over six years of study, coinciding with a documented shift in the plankton community. Results highlight the importance of considering plankton behavior and time of day with respect to scale when studying layers, and the challenges of sampling these phenomena.     

Virtual tools for volcanic crisis management, and evacuation decision support: applications to El Chichón volcano (Chiapas, México)

Decision making regarding massive evacuation of a population threatened by a probable volcanic eruption is a major problem in crisis management. Such a decision is general on the number of people to be evacuated, available resources and infrastructure, quantity and quality of the escape routes and shelters, and the economic, social and political costs involved in the operation, coupled with the updated information provided by scientists about the forecast of future activity and probable eruption scenarios. Knowing time-lapse between the evacuation decision-making time and the time in which the evacuation is completed is another critical issue that must be carefully considered in densely populated areas. In such areas, it is really important to estimate in advance this time-lapse, as the forecast must be released with enough time to complete all the evacuation process before the destructive manifestations of the eruption begin. In this context, evacuation planning is a crucial component of emergency management. It is common for Emergency Plans to include pre-established strategies. However, an evacuation procedure should be flexible, depending on the above-mentioned timing, and on the decisions, evacuation schemes, environmental characteristics and other factors. In this work, several hazard models such as a lava flow model based on a Monte Carlo algorithm, a pyroclastic density current based on energy cone model, a semi-empirical inversion model to estimate the thickness of ash deposits, and all available information about the El Chión volcano have been used to obtain the area that should be evacuated in case of an eruption. Then, multiple evacuation strategies at El Chichón volcano have been designed, considering not only the characteristics of the eruption forecast, but also environmental factors (e.g., weather conditions) and social factors (e.g., tourism and farming seasons). The variable scale evacuation model has been used to estimate the evacuation time. In the paper, those virtual tools are briefly described as well as the information obtained from the drill of 2009. In addition to the optimization of evacuation under variable conditions and situations, one of the main objectives of this work is to provide a reliable estimation of the mitigation action time, for an Emergency Plan.     

Radiocarbon ages for coatings on cupules ground in quartzite bedrock at Rhino Cave in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana,and their paleoclimatic significance

Geophysical techniques have been widely employed for the noninvasive location of burial sites in archaeological and forensic investigations. This approach has met with varying degrees of success, depending on factors such as equipment choice, survey methodology, burial type, and geological setting. This paper reports the results of a multitechnique geophysical survey carried out immediately prior to the salvage excavation of two Indigenous burials from an eolian dune in coastal South Australia. Ground‐penetrating radar was not successful in defining the location of the burials owing to the disturbed nature of the local stratigraphy. Magnetic field intensity and apparent magnetic susceptibility surveys identified discrete anomalies that coincided with the location of skeletal material revealed during excavation, which we hypothesize to be due to burning or ochre use during funerary practices. Despite the spatial association of these features, subsequent laboratory analyses of the mineralogy and magnetic properties of sediments collected from the site failed to find a definite cause of the anomalies. Nevertheless, the association between them and the primary interment locations has implications for archaeological surveys carried out in the Australian coastal zone, as it highlights the potential of magnetic field intensity and apparent magnetic susceptibility geophysical techniques undertaken with a more refined survey methodology to afford a noninvasive, culturally appropriate means through which to detect Indigenous burials. This approach may prove particularly useful in areas with disturbed stratigraphy where ground‐penetrating radar is less effective. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

ACCELERATED EROSION ON THE NORTH CAROLINA COASTAL PLAIN

The Atlantic Coastal Plain of the United States has long been considered to have negligible soil erosion owing to low relief and permeable soils. Several recent studies point to a need for reassessment. Post-settlement erosion on the North Carolina Coastal Plain was estimated at the regional scale based on soil-profile truncation of a representative upland soil (Norfolk series). Apparent post-settlement soil-profile truncation ranges from 2.5 to 30 cm (mean 14.5 cm), implying a minimum regional average rate of 0.55 mm/yr since the region was settled in the 1700s. This amounts to a conservative estimated average rate of 9.3 t/ha/yr, a rate of the same general magnitude as estimated erosion rates in the North Carolina Piedmont, long recognized as a problem erosion area. Results imply accelerated water erosion despite the low slopes and permeable soils, and suggest the possibility of significant eolian erosion in the region. This rapid erosion in an area noted for its geological stability is a testament to the importance of vegetation cover and human agency in landscape evolution in the Coastal Plain. [Key words: accelerated erosion, soil profile, geomorphology, coastal plain, North Carolina.]     

Effects of Photosystem II inhibiting herbicides on mangroves--preliminary toxicology trials

Mangroves are sensitive to the root application of Photosystem II inhibiting herbicides and Avicennia marina is more sensitive than other mangroves tested. Seedlings of four mangrove species, including two salt-excreting species (A. marina and Aegiceras corniculatum) and two salt-excluding species (Rhizophora stylosa and Ceriops australis) were treated with a range of concentrations of the herbicides diuron, ametryn and atrazine. Assessment of responses required the separation of seedlings into two groups: those that had only their roots exposed to the herbicides through the water (A. marina and R. stylosa) and those that had both roots and leaves exposed to herbicides through the water (A. corniculatum and C. australis). Salt-excreting species in each group were more susceptible to all herbicide treatments than salt-excluding species, indicating that root physiology was a major factor in the uptake of toxic pollutants in mangroves. Submergence of leaves appeared to facilitate herbicide uptake, having serious implications for seedling recruitment in the field. Each herbicide was ranked by its toxicity to mangrove seedlings from most damaging to least effective, with diuron>ametryn>atrazine. The relative sensitivity of A. marina found in these pot trials was consistent with the observed sensitivity of this species in the field, notably where severe dieback had specifically affected A. marina in the Mackay region, north eastern Australia.     

Herbicides implicated as the cause of severe mangrove dieback in the Mackay region, NE Australia: consequences for marine plant habitats of the GBR World Heritage Area

Herbicides, particularly diuron, were correlated with severe and widespread dieback of the dominant mangrove, Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh. var. eucalyptifolia (Val.) N.C. Duke (Avicenniaceae), its reduced canopy condition, and declines in seedling health within three neighbouring estuaries in the Mackay region of NE Australia. This unusual species-specific dieback, first observed in the early 1990s, had gotten notably worse by 2002 to affect >30 km(2) of mangroves in at least five adjacent estuaries in the region. Over the past century, agricultural production has responded well to the demands of increasing population with improvements in farm efficiency assisted by significant increases in the use of agricultural chemicals. However, with regular and episodic river flow events, these chemicals have sometimes found their way into estuarine and nearshore water and sediments where their effects on marine habitats have been largely unquantified. Investigations over the last three years in the Mackay region provide compelling evidence of diuron, and possibly other agricultural herbicides, as the most likely cause of the severe and widespread mangrove dieback. The likely consequences of such dieback included declines in coastal water quality with increased turbidity, nutrients and sediment deposition, as well as further dispersal of the toxic chemicals. The implications of such findings are immense since they describe not only the serious deterioration of protected and beneficial mangrove habitat but also the potential for significant direct and indirect effects on other highly-valued estuarine and marine habitats in the region, including seagrass beds and coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. This article reviews all key findings and observations to date and describes the essential correlative and causative evidence.     

Effect of mining and related activities on the sediment trace element geochemistry of Lake Coeur D'Alene,Idaho, USA part II: Subsurface sediments

During the summer of 1990, 12 gravity cores were collected in Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho at various depths and in a variety of depositional environments. All core subsamples were analysed to determine the bulk sediment chemistry; selected subsamples were analysed for trace element partitioning and ¹³⁷Cs activity. The purpose of these analyses was to determine the trace element concentrations and distributions in the sediment column and to try to establish a trace element geochemical history of the lake in relation to mining and mining-related discharge operations in the area. Substantial portions of the near-surface sediments in Lake Coeur d'Alene are markedly enriched in Ag, As, Cd, Hg, Pb, Sb and Zn, and slightly enriched in Cu, Fe and Mn. Variations in the thickness of the trace element-rich sediments, which range from more than 119 cm to as little as 17 cm, indicate that the source of much of this material is the Coeur d'Alene River. An estimated 75 million tonnes of trace element-rich sediments have been deposited on or in the lake bed. Estimated trace element masses in excess of those considered representative of background conditions range from a high of 468 000 tonnes of Pb to a low of 260 tonnes of Hg. The similarity between the trace element-rich surface and subsurface sediments with respect to their location, their bulk chemistry, their interelement relations and their trace element partitioning indicate that the sources and/or concentrating mechanisms causing the trace element enrichment in the lake sediments have probably been the same through-out their depositional history. Based on a Mt St Helens'ash layer from the 1980 eruption, ages estimated from ¹³⁷Cs activity and the presence of 80 discernible and presumably annual layers in a core collected near the Coeur d'Alene River delta indicate that deposition rates for the trace element-rich sediments have ranges from 2.1 to 1.3 cm/year. These data also indicate that the deposition of trace element-rich sediments began, at least in the Coeur d'Alene River delta, some time between 1895 and 1910, dates consistent with the onset of mining and ore processing activities that began in the area in the 1880s.     

Ascidian growth and survival at high inorganic particulate concentrations

Pollution by elevated concentrations of inorganic particulate suspensions may be induced by various non-natural marine operations. Such elevated levels of inorganic particulates reduce the growth rate, and may cause mortality, of the phleobranchiate ascidians Ciona intestinalis L. and Ascidiella scabra (Müller).     

A tracer dilution method for fracture characterization in bedrock wells

This investigation was undertaken to develop an integrated method of downhole fracture characterization using a tracer. The method presented can be used to locate water-bearing fractures that intersect the well, to determine the ambient fracture flow rate and hydraulic head, and to calculate fracture transmissivity. The method was tested in two fractured crystalline bedrock wells located at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. The method entails injecting a tracer (uranine dye) into the well, while at the same time water is pumped out of the well. After steady-state conditions are reached, a borehole tracer concentration profile is developed. The dilution of the tracer is used to locate the inflowing fractures and to determine their flow rate. The fracture flow rate, plus the drawdown in the well, is then used to determine the fracture hydraulic head, transmissivity, and ambient flow rate.