In situ experimental study of reed leaf decomposition along a full salinity gradient

An experimental study on Phragmites australis leaf litter decomposition was conducted in the estuarine environment, Ria de Aveiro, Western Portugal, using the leaf-bag technique, with fine- (1 mm) and coarse-mesh (5 mm) bags. The leaf bags were placed in the field sites at day 0, covering a complete salinity gradient, and replicates were collected over time, at days 3 (leaching), 7, 15, 30 and 60. The biomass loss through the leaching phase, about 20% of the initial leaf mass, was independent of both the salinity and the bag mesh size. The biomass decay pattern along the salinity gradient varied through time and presented strong similarities between the two mesh sizes, with the remaining biomass always lower in the 5 mm mesh-size bags. At days 7 and 15, the lowest remaining biomass was observed at the head of the estuary, the preferential distribution area of P. australis. At day 30, the remaining biomass was higher in the marine area and diminished under a direct relationship with salinity, reaching the lowest value in the freshwater environment, with values ranging from 66% to 44% of the initial weight in 5 mm bags, and from 79% to 51% in 1 mm bags. The largest heterogeneity in the remaining biomass among the study areas positioned along the salinity gradient was found close to days 30 (5 mm) and 40 (1 mm). The overall results indicate that the relationship between leaf decay rate and salinity depends on the decay time considered (k₁₅, k₃₀ or k₆₀) and, for the later stages (k₆₀), also on the leaf-bag mesh size. This implies that the use of leaf litter decay rates as a functional indicator in transitional waters will need to take into consideration the factor location in the salinity gradient and leaf litter stage at which the decay rate is determined. The differences between the decay rates with the mesh size acted mainly at the level of the absolute k value and not at the level of the pattern along the salinity gradient. Even so, the data obtained at the mouth of the estuary, in the area closest to a fully marine environment, indicated that after the initial biomass loss through leaching, P. australis decayed either very slowly, in the 5 mm, or not at all, in the 1 mm mesh bags.     

Assessing the factors driving the changes in the spatio-temporal distribution of Hepatus pudibundus (Decapoda,Brachyura) over a 20-year interval in a region under the influence of El Niño (ENSO)

This study aimed to compare the spatio-temporal distribution of demographic groups of Hepatus pudibundus in the Ubatuba Bay, São Paulo, Brazil, over a 20-year interval. Two 1-year samplings were conducted: the 1st period (P1) ran from September 1995 to August 1996 and the 2nd period (P2) ran from September 2016 to August 2017. Samples were taken from five stations that differed in depth (5, 10, and 15 m) and location (exposed area and sheltered area), aboard a shrimp fishing boat. Over the 20-year period, the percentage of fine sediment increased in all stations. In total, we captured 865 H. pudibundus individuals in the P1 and 4,222 in the P2. The higher abundance seen in the P2 may have been caused by the effects of an intense ENSO event in Ubatuba, as well as co-occurring protective actions against fisheries activities in the region. The spatial distribution also changed after 20 years: In the P1, H. pudibundus were more concentrated in the 15 m station and exposed area, but they shifted to the sheltered area in the P2. This change may be related to the increase of fine sediments in this area, and to the fact that it is naturally protected from fisheries. According to the correspondence analysis, the abundance of males and juveniles was correlated with spring and winter, respectively. In the P1, females were more abundant in spring, whereas in the P2 they were more abundant in summer, which may be explained by a higher nutrient availability to the larvae in the summer of the P2. Our comparisons over the 20-year interval revealed that the spatio-temporal distribution of H. pudibundus has changed and that the population is well established in Ubatuba Bay.     

Effects of pre-orogenic tectonic structures on the Cenozoic evolution of Andean deformed belts: Evidence from the Salar de Punta Negra Basin in the Central Andes of Northern Chile

We integrated new field observations, two-dimensional (2-D) seismic profiles and new and previously reported chronological data to understand the effects of pre-orogenic structures on the tectonic evolution of the Salar de Punta Negra in the Central Andes. For first time a series of restored geological cross-sections are presented, thus showing the pre-orogenic tectonic architecture of the region and new ideas about the tectonic evolution of the inner forearc of the Central Andes. Our results show a series of east-dipping normal faults as the main pre-orogenic structures in the region, which resulted from lithospheric stretching of the western continental margin during the Paleozoic to Mesozoic (Triassic–Jurassic). These were later incorporated into the Andean orogen by tectonic inversion, forming west-verging inversion anticlines. The beginning of the tectonic inversion is constrained by the first on-lap of the Upper Cretaceous-Palaeocene syn-kinematic deposits on the top of the Mesozoic syn-rift successions, highlighting that inversion occurred during this period. These syn-kinematic deposits display zircons with older age peaks between ca. 200 and 300 Ma, thus indicating that some Carboniferous to Triassic sources of sediments were eroded during the uplift of the orogen. Other basement reverse faults affect the footwalls of normal inverted faults and the shoulders of ancient half-graben structures. These truncate and decapitate previous inverted faults and completely cut the infill of the basin, leading to exhumation of the pre-rift basement rocks. We propose that the propagation of these structures was favoured by the modified thermal-tectonic state of the lithosphere from the eastward migration of the volcanic arc, and not by the previous pre-orogenic structures. The structural and stratigraphic relationships recognized both in the field and 2-D seismic profiles indicate that many reverse faults originated after the initial tectonic inversion and continued to be active from the Eocene until the Pleistocene period.     

Impact of local and remote winds on the shelf circulation off the central west coast of India

A linear coastal-trapped-wave (CTW) model is used to examine the effects of large-scale winds, with time scale ranging from a few days to a few weeks, on the West India Coastal Current (WICC), particularly on the shelf off the central west coast of India. We show that unlike the seasonal cycle of WICC, which is primarily forced by the winds along the east coast of India, the high-frequency WICC is mostly driven by the west-coast winds. Nevertheless, the influence of winds as far as Sri Lanka and east coast of India cannot be neglected. Simple numerical experiments with the CTW model show that the strong current observed at Goa (15° N) compared to Bhatkal (13° N) and Jaigarh (17° N) is due to two factors: (1) the superposition of local and remote CTWs and (2) the widening of shelf width north of Goa, which decreases the amplitude of the currents poleward of Goa. If the local winds are weak, the amplitude of current decreases poleward due to friction, and the current at the south leads the north. We also note that the observed phase difference between sea level and alongshore current at Goa could be attributed to the propagation of remotely forced higher-order modes of CTWs.     

Quality assessment of digital surface models extracted from WorldView-2 and WorldView-3 stereo pairs over different land covers

Digital surface models (DSMs) extracted from very high resolution (VHR) satellite stereo images are becoming more and more important in a wide range of geoscience applications. The number of software packages available for generating DSMs has been increasing rapidly. The main goal of this work is to explore the capabilities of VHR satellite stereo pairs for DSMs generation over different land-cover objects such as agricultural plastic greenhouses, bare soil and urban areas by using two software packages: (i) OrthoEngine (PCI), based on a hierarchical subpixel mean normalized cross correlation matching method, and (ii) RPC Stereo Processor (RSP), with a modified hierarchical semi-global matching method. Two VHR satellite stereo pairs from WorldView-2 (WV2) and WorldView-3 (WV3) were used to extract the DSMs. A quality assessment on these DSMs on both vertical accuracy and completeness was carried out by considering the following factors: (i) type of sensor (i.e., WV2 or WV3), (ii) software package (i.e., PCI or RSP) and (iii) type of land-cover objects (plastic greenhouses, bare soil and urban areas). A highly accurate light detection and ranging (LiDAR) derived DSM was used as the ground truth for validation. By comparing both software packages, we concluded that regarding DSM completeness, RSP produced significantly (p < 0.05) better scores than PCI for all the sensors and type of land-cover objects. The percentage improvement in completeness by using RSP instead of PCI was approximately 2%, 18% and 26% for bare soil, greenhouses and urban areas respectively. Concerning the vertical accuracy in root mean square error (RMSE), the only factor clearly significant (p < 0.05) was the land cover. Overall, WV3 DSM showed slightly better (not significant) vertical accuracy values than WV2. Finally, both software packages achieved similar vertical accuracy for the different land-cover objects and tested sensors.     

Late pleistocene/early holocene environments and climates,fauna, and human occupation in the argentine altiplano

The Barro Negro site (23°S lat., 65°37′W long.) in the Altiplano (Puna) of northwestern Argentina contains a well stratified sequence of remains of Hippidion, the American extinct horse, camelids, and archaeological materials, which is the focus of this study. In addition to establishing a reliable chronology, paleoenvironmental information was obtained based on analyses of pollen and stable isotopes (oxygen and carbon) from bone and marl. The data indicate that Hippidion was present at the site between 12,000 and 10,000 yr B. P., at a time when Altoandean grasslands had expanded to lower elevations. By 10,000 yr B.P., when modern semi-arid sub-puna scrub had replaced the Altoandean grasslands, only camelids (Lama or Vicugna) were present, simultaneous with the first evidence of local human occupation. This suggests that a climatic shift from cool and moist (winter rain regime) to warm and dry (summer rain regime) conditions took place simultaneously with the disappearance of the American horse and the appearance of camelids and man.