Bridging the gap between numerical solutions of travel time distributions and analytical storage selection functions

Recent advancements in analytical solutions to quantify water and solute travel time distributions (TTDs) and the related StorAge Selection (SAS) functions synthesize catchment complexity into a simplified, lumped representation. Although these analytical approaches are efficient in application, they require rarely available long‐term and high‐frequency hydrochemical data for parameter estimation. Alternatively, integrated hydrologic models coupled to Lagrangian particle‐tracking approaches can directly simulate age under different catchment geometries and complexity, but at a greater computational expense. Here, we bridge the two approaches, using a physically based model to explore the uncertainty in the estimation of the SAS function shape. In particular, we study the influence of subsurface heterogeneity, interactions between distinct flow domains (i.e., the vadose zone and saturated groundwater), diversity of flow pathways, and recharge rate on the shape of TTDs and the SAS functions. We use an integrated hydrology model, ParFlow, linked with a particle‐tracking model, SLIM, to compute transient residence times (or ages) at every cell in the domain, facilitating a direct characterization of the SAS function. Steady‐state results reveal that the SAS function shape shows a wide range of variation with respect to the variability in the structure of subsurface heterogeneity. Ensembles of spatially correlated realizations of hydraulic conductivity indicate that the SAS functions in the saturated groundwater have an overall weak tendency toward sampling younger ages, whereas the vadose zone gives a strong preference for older ages. We further show that the influence of recharge rate on the TTD is tightly dependent on the variability of subsurface hydraulic conductivity.     

‘Locationally disadvantaged’: planning governmentalities and peri-urban agricultural futures

ABSTRACT

Peri-urban areas are the interface between urban and rural regions, with these regions traditionally acting as foodbowls for adjacent urban areas. This peri-urban agriculture provides a diverse suite of benefits to urban areas. Increasingly, however, peri-urban areas are being converted to residential uses, driven in part by higher land values secured for land converted for residential development. In Sydney, planning and development has tended to treat peri-urban areas as ‘suburbs in waiting’. Using a Foucauldian governmentality approach, this paper investigates the prevailing rationalities in metropolitan-level strategic planning documents—in particular A Plan for Growing Sydney and the Draft South West District Plan—and how these rationalities relate to peri-urban agriculture. Our analysis shows that the three overarching rationalities—the global city, the compact city and the sustainability agenda—frame the urbanisation of peri-urban agricultural lands as necessary and inevitable, and only integrate agriculture as part of the future of the city of Sydney when it can be rationalised within the ‘global city’ narrative. As a result, peri-urban areas are not considered to have unique planning needs, but are imagined as latent spaces that will enable Sydney to meet its housing and job targets through their future development.     

Comparison of flowpaths to a well and spring in a karst aquifer

The permeability of some karst aquifers consists of networks of poorly integrated conduits and dissolution-widened fractures. The flow includes conduit flow, especially during storm recharge, but lacks the focused recharge into single master conduits that occurs in more highly developed karst systems. The proportions of conduit and dispersed flow are difficult to quantify in such systems. This study examines the flowpaths in a small karst watershed, based on comparing the physical and chemical response to storm flow at both a spring and a well. By conducting continuous monitoring at both locations, a better understanding of the flowpaths in a poorly integrated network was obtained. A more permeable flowpath to the spring leads to faster storm response and lower ion concentrations. The flowpath to and from the well is more complicated. The higher ion content and slower storm response suggest slower, more dispersed flowpaths. However, the well has greater variation in ion chemistry. Periodic recharge may dilute well concentrations due to faster (conduit or fracture) flowpaths. Although karst systems such as this are difficult to characterize, applying a variety of geochemical and physical monitoring techniques at multiple locations illustrates that the flowpaths can vary in both space and time.     

Effect of seasonal changes in bottom water oxygenation on sediment N oxides and N2O cycling in the coastal upwelling regime off central Chile (36.5°S)

An intensive and seasonal coastal upwelling process, which attains maximal expression during late austral spring and summer, drives well-known changes in organic matter production and, therefore, in O₂ content in the water column. These variables have a concomitant effect on N sediment processes over the continental shelf off central Chile (36.5°S), which, in turn, can affect the , , and N₂O content in the bottom water. Hydrographic characteristics, benthic and fluxes, and denitrification rates were measured from 1998 to 2001 (with at least seasonal frequency). In order to elucidate how benthic N₂O recycling responds to different O₂ and nutrient levels and how it affects the bottom water N₂O content, net N₂O cycling was measured in December 2001 in sediment slurry incubations under different manipulated dissolved O₂ levels (anoxic: 0 μM; hypoxic: 22.3 μM; oxic: 44.6 μM) and without (natural) and with the addition of and (enriched experiments). Dissolved O₂ and contents (and also ) showed clear seasonal patterns according to the oceanographic regime, i.e., from hypoxic waters rich in nutrients during the upwelling season to oxic waters with less nutrient contents during the non-upwelling season. The bottom water, on the other hand, was influenced by benthic organic mineralization, which consumes O₂ as well as other electron acceptor N-species such as . Benthic fluxes (2.62-5.08 mmol m⁻² d⁻¹) were always directed into the sediments, whereas denitrification rates varied from 0.6 to 2.9 mmol m⁻² d⁻¹. N₂O was also consumed at rates of 5.53 and 4.56 μmol m⁻² d⁻¹ under anoxia and hypoxia, but N₂O consumption rates were reduced to almost half under oxic conditions in both natural and a -enriched experiments. With the -enriched experiments, however, N₂O consumption was very high (up to 24.25 μmol m⁻² d⁻¹) under anoxic and hypoxic conditions, suggesting that high levels induce more N₂O reduction to N₂ by denitrification. N₂O production rates were only measured when oxic conditions were observed in the -enriched experiment, suggesting some role of nitrification. Thus, N cycling in the sediments seems to affect the observed , NO²⁻, and N₂O content in the bottom water and, therefore, in the entire water column due to vertical advection associated with coastal upwelling.     

Seasonal cycle of N2O vertical distribution and air-sea fluxes over the continental shelf waters off central Chile (∼36°S)

The continental shelf off central Chile is subject to strong seasonal coastal upwelling and has been recognized as an important outgassing area for, amongst others, N₂O, an important greenhouse gas. Several physical and biogeochemical variables, including N₂O, were measured in the water column from August 2002 to January 2007 at a time series station in order to characterize its temporal variability and elucidate the physical and biogeochemical mechanisms affecting N₂O levels. This 4-year time series of N₂O levels reveals seasonal variability associated basically with hydrographic and oceanographic regimes (i.e., upwelling and non-upwelling). However, a noteworthy temporal evolution of both the vertical distribution and N₂O levels was observed repeatedly throughout the entire study period, allowing us to distinguish three stages: winter/early spring (Stage I), mid-spring/mid-summer (Stage II), and late summer/early autumn (Stage III).Stage I presents low N₂O, the lowest surface saturation ever registered (from 64% saturation) in a period of high O₂, and a homogeneous column driven by strong wind; this distribution is explained by physical and thermodynamic mechanisms. Stage II, with increasing N₂O concentrations, agrees with the appearance of upwelling-favourable wind stress and a strong influence of oxygen-poor, nutrient-rich equatorial subsurface waters (ESSW). The N₂O build-up creates a “hotspot” (up to 2426% N₂O saturation) and enhanced concentrations of (up to 3.97 μM) and (up to 4.6 μM) at the oxycline (4-28 μM) (∼20-40 m depth). Although the dominant N₂O sources could not be determined, denitrification (mainly below the oxycline) appears to be the dominant process in N₂O accumulation. Stage III, with diminishing N₂O concentrations from mid-summer to early autumn, was accompanied by low N/P ratios. During this stage, strong bottom N₂O consumption (from 40% saturation) was suggested to be mainly driven by benthic denitrification.Consistent with the evolution of N₂O in the water column over time, the estimated air-sea N₂O fluxes were low or negative in winter (−9.8 to 20 μmol m⁻² d⁻¹, Stage I) and higher in spring and summer (up to 195 μmol m⁻² d⁻¹, Stage II), after which they declined (Stage III). In spite of the occurrence of ESSW and upwelling events throughout stages II and III, N₂O behaviour should be a response of the biogeochemical evolution associated with biological productivity and concomitant O₂ levels in the water and even in the sediments. The results presented herein confirm that the study area is an important source of N₂O to the atmosphere, with a mean annual N₂O flux of 30.2 μmol m⁻² d⁻¹; however, interannual variability could not yet be properly characterized.     

Volatile element chemistry during metamorphism of ordinary chondritic material and some of its implications for the composition of asteroids

We used chemical equilibrium calculations to model thermal metamorphism of ordinary chondritic material as a function of temperature, pressure, and trace element abundance and use our results to discuss volatile mobilization during thermal metamorphism of ordinary chondrite parent bodies. We compiled trace element abundances in H-, L-, and LL-chondrites for the elements Ag, As, Au, Bi, Br, Cd, Cs, Cu, Ga, Ge, I, In, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se, Sn, Te, Tl, and Zn, and identified abundance trends as a function of petrographic type within each class. We calculated volatility sequences for the trace elements in ordinary chondritic material, which differ significantly from the solar nebula volatility sequence. Our results are consistent with open-system thermal metamorphism. Abundance patterns of Ag and Zn remain difficult to explain.     

Sources of Fatty Acids in Sediments of the York River Estuary: Relationships with Physical and Biological Processes

Fatty acid (FA) composition (neutral FA and phospholipid-linked FA) was examined in surface sediments at two sites of the York River estuary (VA, Chesapeake Bay) with contrasting benthic dynamics, Clay Bank (CB) and Gloucester Point (GP), in order to study organic carbon sources and their relationship to biological and physical processes. Our results suggest that FA composition in surface sediments was driven by biological and physical events, occurring mostly during the period of high river discharge, including: (1) the spring phytoplankton bloom, likely responsible for high concentrations of FA of algal origin at CB in March 2007, (2) the fall phytoplankton bloom, causing a secondary peak of algal FA and an increase in viable microbial biomass at CB in October 2007, and (3) a physical event in May 2007, resulting in high concentrations of terrestrial and bacterial FA at GP. FA concentrations tended to be higher but more variable during periods of high freshwater discharge, with trends more pronounced at the upstream site, suggesting connectivity between biological and physical processes.     

Environmental issues in urban groundwater systems: a multidisciplinary study of the Paranhos and Salgueiros spring waters,Porto (NW Portugal)

This study presents the results of a multidisciplinary approach, using hydrogeochemical, isotopic and ecotoxicological analyses, performed to assess the nature and suitability for use of Paranhos and Salgueiros spring waters (Porto city, NW Portugal). Based on the surface activities located along the course of the springs, 23 water samples were collected. All the samples were analysed for major element concentrations. The isotopic techniques employed included δ²H, δ¹⁸O and ³H. Standard acute bioassays with Daphnia magna were also performed. The hydrogeochemical analyses showed a nitrate and sulphate-enriched composition for these groundwaters, resulting mainly from urban drainage and sewer leakage. In the ecotoxicological analyses, no significant mortality was observed in any of the tests performed. The results obtained in this study suggest that Porto urban groundwater could be suitable for irrigation uses.     

Faint Lyman-break galaxies as a crucial test for galaxy formation models

It has recently been shown that galaxy formation models within the Λ cold dark matter cosmology predict that, compared to the observed population, small galaxies (with stellar masses  <10¹¹ M_⊙  ) form too early, are too passive since   z ∼ 3  and host too old stellar populations at   z = 0  . We then expect an overproduction of small galaxies at   z ≳ 4  that should be visible as an excess of faint Lyman-break galaxies. To check whether this excess is present, we use the morgana galaxy formation model and grasil spectrophotometric  +  radiative transfer code to generate mock catalogues of deep fields observed with Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys. We add observational noise and the effect of Lyman α emission, and perform colour–colour selections to identify Lyman-break galaxies. The resulting mock candidates have plausible properties that closely resemble those of observed galaxies. We are able to reproduce the evolution of the bright tail of the luminosity function of Lyman-break galaxies (with a possible underestimate of the number of the brightest i -dropouts), but uncertainties and degeneracies in dust absorption parameters do not allow to give strong constraints to the model. Besides, our model shows a clear excess with respect to observations of faint Lyman-break galaxies, especially of   z ₈₅₀∼ 27 V   -dropouts at   z ∼ 5  . We quantify the properties of these 'excess' galaxies and discuss the implications: these galaxies are hosted in dark matter haloes with circular velocities in excess of 100 km s⁻¹, and their suppression may require a deep rethinking of stellar feedback processes taking place in galaxy formation.