Bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons in anoxic marine sediments: Consequences on the speciation of heavy metals

We investigated the effects of biostimulation and bioagumentation strategies applied to harbor sediments displaying reducing conditions and high concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals. We compared the microbial efficiency of hydrocarbon removal from sediments maintained for 60 days in anoxic conditions and inoculated with acetate, sulfate-reducing bacterial strains and acetate and sulfate-reducing bacteria. All treatments determined a significant increase in the microbial growth and significant decreases of hydrocarbon contents and of redox potential values. The addition of sulfate-reducing bacterial strains to the sediment was the most efficient treatment for the hydrocarbon removal. In all experiments, significant changes of the heavy metals’ phase repartition were observed. The results reported here suggest that the biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in anoxic marine sediments may be enhanced by stimulating microbial anaerobic metabolism, but care should be applied to monitor the potential changes in the mobility and bioavailability of heavy metals induced by bio-treatments.     

Factors affecting arsenic concentration in groundwaters from Northwestern Chaco-Pampean Plain,Argentina

The concentration of arsenic measured in groundwater from three aquifers in the study area located in the Eastern Tucuman province, Argentina, mostly depends on the lithology, but the spatial and temporal variations of concentrations seem to be also controlled by pH changes, climatic factors, and human perturbations. The highest concentrations of As (more than 1,000 μg L⁻¹) were found in the shallow aquifer, made of As-rich loess, while the lowest concentrations were measured in the deep confined aquifer, consisting of alternating layers of alluvial sands/gravels and clays. Intermediate values were measured in the semiconfined aquifer made of the fluvial sediments deposited in the Salí River valley, that alternate in the upper part of the sedimentary sequence with layers of loess. Because most of As in the loess is considered to be adsorbed onto Fe-oxyhydroxide coatings, the increase of pH in the flow direction (west-east) leads to increasing arsenic concentrations towards the eastern border of the study area. The decomposition of organic wastes poured into the Salí River or associated with local and diffuse sources of contamination in the eastern part of the study area depletes dissolved oxygen, which leads to the reductive dissolution of Fe and Mn oxyhydroxides, and to the subsequent release of the adsorbed and co-precipitated As. This process mainly affects shallow groundwater and the upper part of the semiconfined aquifer. Geochemical and hydrological data also suggest that rising water table levels at the end of the wet season may also lead to reductive dissolution of As-rich Fe oxyhydroxides in the shallow aquifer.     

U–Pb geochronology of the southern Brasília belt (SE-Brazil): sedimentary provenance, Neoproterozoic orogeny and assembly of West Gondwana

The Brasília belt borders the western margin of the São Francisco Craton and records the history of ocean opening and closing related to the formation of West Gondwana. This study reports new U–Pb data from the southern sector of the belt in order to provide temporal limits for the deposition and ages of provenance of sediments accumulated in passive margin successions around the south and southwestern margins of the São Francisco Craton, and date the orogenic events leading to the amalgamation of West Gondwana.Ages of detrital zircons (by ID–TIMS and LA-MC-ICPMS) were obtained from metasedimentary units of the passive margin of the São Francisco Craton from the main tectonic domains of the belt: the internal allochthons (Araxá Group in the Áraxá and Passos Nappes), the external allochthons (Canastra Group, Serra da Boa Esperança Metasedimentary Sequence and Andrelândia Group) and the autochthonous or Cratonic Domain (Andrelândia Group). The patterns of provenance ages for these units are uniform and are characterised as follows: Archean–Paleoproterozoic ages (3.4–3.3, 3.1–2.7, and 2.5–2.4 Ga); Paleoproterozoic ages attributed to the Transamazonian event (2.3–1.9 Ga, with a peak at ca. 2.15 Ga) and to the ca. 1.75 Ga Espinhaço rifting of the São Francisco Craton; ages between 1.6 and 1.2 Ga, with a peak at 1.3 Ga, revealing an unexpected variety of Mesoproterozoic sources, still undetected in the São Francisco Craton; and ages between 0.9 and 1.0 Ga related to the rifting event that led to the individualisation of the São Francisco paleo-continent and formation of its passive margins. An amphibolite intercalation in the Araxá Group yields a rutile age of ca. 0.9 Ga and documents the occurrence of mafic magmatism coeval with sedimentation in the marginal basin.Detrital zircons from the autochthonous and parautochthonous Andrelândia Group, deposited on the southern margin of the São Francisco Craton, yielded a provenance pattern similar to that of the allochthonous units. This result implies that 1.6–1.2 Ga source rocks must be present in the São Francisco Craton. They could be located either in the cratonic area, which is mostly covered by the Neoproterozoic epicontinental deposits of the Bambuí Group, or in the outer paleo-continental margin, buried under the allochthonous units of the Brasília belt.Crustal melting and generation of syntectonic crustal granites and migmatisation at ca. 630 Ma mark the orogenic event that started with westward subduction of the São Francisco plate and ended with continental collision against the Paraná block (and Goiás terrane). Continuing collision led to the exhumation and cooling of the Araxá and Passos metamorphic nappes, as indicated by monazite ages of ca. 605 Ma and mark the final stages of tectonometamorphic activity in the southern Brasília belt.Whilst continent–continent collision was proceeding on the western margin of the São Francisco Craton along the southern Brasília belt, eastward subduction in the East was generating the 634–599 Ma Rio Negro magmatic arc which collided with the eastern São Francisco margin at 595–560 Ma, much later than in the Brasília belt. Thus, the tectonic effects of the Ribeira belt reached the southernmost sector of the Brasília belt creating a zone of superposition. The thermal front of this event affected the proximal Andrelândia Group at ca. 588 Ma, as indicated by monazite age.The participation of the Amazonian craton in the assembly of western Gondwana occurred at 545–500 Ma in the Paraguay belt and ca. 500 Ma in the Araguaia belt. This, together with the results presented in this work lead to the conclusion that the collision between the Paraná block and Goiás terrane with the São Francisco Craton along the Brasília belt preceded the accretion of the Amazonian craton by 50–100 million years.     

A comment on determining the induced magnetic field in bodies of arbitrary shape

Summary The authors prove that the solution of Laplace's equation under Neumann's boundary conditions can be transformed to an advantage into determining the field which is generated by charges, induced by the external field at surfaces of discontinuity.     

A comparative mineralogical study of gas-related sediments of the Gulf of Cádiz

The Gulf of Cádiz area has been extensively surveyed in recent years and several gas-related fluid escape seafloor structures have been identified. In this study, gravity cores, collected during the ANASTASYA/00 and ANASTASYA/01 cruises, on mud volcanoes, hemipelagic sediments and dredged material from diapiric structures, have been studied. A comparative mineralogical analysis by XRD and SEM of samples from different areas has been performed in order to determine whether there is a characteristic mineralogy related to these fluid escape structures, and also to determine the origin of the mud matrix and constrain the depth of the parent units. The mineralogical analysis reflects the different origins of the different units described in the cores: hemipelagic material of the slope, clays that underlie the mud volcanoes and are discharged at the sea bottom surface, and authigenic and diagenetic minerals possibly involved in the anaerobic oxidation of methane in the mud volcano sediments.     

Hydrostratigraphic framework and hydrogeological behaviour of the Mancha Oriental System (SE Spain)

The Mancha Oriental System (MOS) has a surface area of 7,260 km², making it one of the largest carbonate aquifer systems in Spain. The system sustains about 1,000 km² of irrigated crops and supplies groundwater to 275,000 inhabitants. The economic transformation brought about by the development of extensive irrigated cropland has led to a water-balance disequilibrium of about 75 million m³/year. This input–output deficit has negative consequences in the quantity and quality of the available resources, in the river–aquifer relationship, and in the associated ecosystems as well. To understand the hydrogeological behaviour of the system, it is necessary to design a conceptual model. Further, the conceptualisation of a groundwater flow system is a requirement of the European Water Framework Directive for the characterisation of groundwater bodies. The robustness of the conceptual model depends heavily on the user capability of representing the real system. In this work, a multidisciplinary approach has been used to represent the three-dimensional geological framework and the groundwater flow conceptualisation of the MOS. Data management and three-dimensional visualisation have been carried out by means of geographical information system (GIS) tools and software for contouring and three-dimensional surface mapping.     

The Response of Estuarine Macrobenthic Communities to Natural- and Human-Induced Changes: Dynamics and Ecological Quality

Anthropogenic activities are a disturbance factor of coastal systems and can be widely recognized as a major threat to the health of coastal systems. However, natural events cannot be disregarded from management issues because of their significant influence on the communities living in these areas. Based on long-term subtidal data from the Mondego Estuary (Portugal), the effects of natural events (e.g., floods and droughts) on macrobenthic communities were compared with the anthropogenic events. Sampling stations were grouped into characteristic zones (mouth, north arm, south arm) so the community dynamics of each of these estuarine areas could be followed over time. Environmental assessment was performed for stations using the Benthic Assessment Tool (BAT), and compared with the existing pressures. Human impacts persist over a number of years and gradually reduce ecosystem health, as discussed in the European Water Framework Directive. Paradoxically, natural events cause stronger impacts but are of a shorter duration, which allows for a faster recovery of macrobenthic communities. The study showed that caution should be taken when developing and implementing water policies so as not to disregard the importance of the different events (natural and human-caused) on the ecosystem health (e.g., community degradation and water quality and ecological quality status assessment).     

Effects of intensive aquifers exploitation on groundwater salinity in coastal wetlands

The coastal plain of the Río de la Plata constitutes a large wetland which develops on the right margin of the river estuary. Anthropic activities such as intensive exploitation of groundwater carried out in the vicinity of the wetland can modify the natural hydrological regime. The aim of this work is to asses the effects of intensive aquifer exploitation in coastal wetlands using hydrogeological models. Such models allow to evaluate changes in the environmental conditions of wetland at regional level. The hydrogeological model exposed in this work shows how the intensive groundwater exploitation affects the wetland area, generating important variations both in the groundwater flows and in the salinity of the groundwater. Identification of these modifications to the environment is important to generate guidelines leading to minimize these affectations.     

Accuracy assessment of the Mexican National Forest Inventory map: A study in four ecogeographical areas

The accuracy of the Mexican National Forest Inventory (NFI) map is derived in four distinct ecogeographical areas, using an assessment design tailored for the project. A main achievement of the design was to integrate the high diversity of classes encompassed at the most detailed subcommunity level of the classification scheme within a cost‐controlled statistically sound assessment. A hybrid double sampling strategy was applied to the 2.5 million‐ha study area. A total of 5955 reference sites were verified against their NFI map label. The availability of detailed quasi‐synchronous reference data for the 2000 Landsat‐derived NFI and the high diversity of mapped classes allowed a careful thematic analysis on the selected regions, relevant for national extrapolation. Global accuracy estimates of 64–78 per cent were registered among the four ecogeographical areas (two with mainly temperate climate and the other two with mainly tropical climate), with the lower accuracy levels found in areas more densely covered with forests. According to the estimates, the NFI map tends to underestimate the presence of temperate forest (especially oak) and overestimate the presence of tropical forest in the areas investigated. The analysis of confusions reveals difficulties in unambiguously interpreting or labelling forests with secondary vegetation, herbaceous and/or shrub‐like vegetation as well as distinguishing between aquatic vegetation types. The design proved useful from the perspective of accuracy assessments of regional maps in biodiverse regions.