Recent evolution of Lake Arreo,northern Spain: influences of land use change and climate

We present a high-resolution, multiproxy reconstruction of the depositional history of Lake Arreo, northern Spain, for the last 60 years. We conducted sedimentological, geochemical and diatom analyses in short cores and made a detailed comparison with regional instrumental climate data (1952–2007), limnological monitoring of the lake (1992–2008) and recent land use changes that affect the lake catchment. Chronology is based on “floating” discontinuous varve counts and ¹³⁷Cs and ¹⁴C dates. Four periods were identified in the Lake Arreo recent history: (1) prior to 1963, varved facies intercalated with fine turbidite deposits, and diatom assemblages dominated by Cyclotella taxa indicate predominantly meromictic conditions, (2) from 1964 to 1978, permanent anoxia persisted in bottom waters, as shown by similar facies and diatom assemblages as before, though detrital layers were coarser, (3) from 1979 to 1994, sediment delivery to the lake increased and laminated, clastic facies were deposited, and (4) from 1995 to 2008, dominance of massive facies and an increase in Fragilaria tenera and Achnanthes minutissima reflect relatively lower lake levels, less frequent bottom anoxia with more frequent water column mixing, similar to modern conditions. The period 1952–1979 was a time of meromixis and varved facies deposition, and was characterized by higher rainfall and less intense agricultural pressure in the watershed. There were two short humid periods (1992–1993 and 1996–1998) when monitoring data show more anoxic weeks per year and relatively higher lake levels. Increased cultivation of small landholdings in 1963, and particularly after 1979, caused a large increase in sediment delivery to the lake. The inferred lake evolution is in agreement with monitoring data that suggest a transition from dominantly meromictic conditions prior to 1993–1994 to a predominantly monomictic pattern of circulation since then, particularly after 2000. The synergistic effects of intensive water extraction for irrigation and lower rainfall since 1979, and particularly since 1994, brought the long period of meromictic conditions in Lake Arreo to an end. Water balance and sediment delivery to the lake are dominant factors that control the limnological and mixing conditions in Lake Arreo and they must be considered in management and restoration plans.     

Messinian Ca–Cl Brines from Mediterranean Basins: Tracing Diagenetic Effects by Ca/Mg Versus Ca/Sr Diagram

In natural resource exploration, Ca–Cl basinal brines are important for understanding the origin and spatial and temporal distribution of hydrocarbons and sedimentary ore deposits. Little attention has been paid to the possible connection between fossil basinal brines and paleo-seawaters and to the implications for reconstructing paleo-seawater compositions. Secular variations of Ca/Mg and Ca/Sr ratios in seawater have been documented mainly using fluid inclusions in halite, calcareous fossils and mineral analyses. However, brines and other sedimentary records connected to paleo-seawater or its evaporated residues may be chemically affected by burial diagenesis or the effects of continental waters of meteoric origin, thus complicating interpretations of the analytical results. To investigate these effects on fluids and minerals related to the Messinian salinity crisis of the Mediterranean basin, we re-evaluate published data from: (1) brackish-to-brine waters from onshore (Northern Apennine foredeep; Levantine basin) and offshore (porewaters from the Deep Sea Drilling Project); (2) Messinian parental seawater deduced from calcareous fossils, fluid inclusions and sulfate minerals; (3) meteoric waters dissolving evaporites. The compositional trends related to seawater evaporation, diagenesis and mixing that affect the Ca/Mg and Ca/Sr molar ratios of the basinal brines are effectively discriminated on a binary plot depicting the proper fields for seawater and meteoric-derived fluids. Brines showing stronger dolomitization start from Ca/Mg and Ca/Sr molar ratios of Messinian seawater deduced from the published analysis of fluid inclusions and open ocean fossils, that are therefore here validated ex post.     

The impact of the new Earth gravity models on the measurement of the Lense–Thirring effect with a new satellite

In this paper we investigate the opportunities offered by the new Earth gravity models from the dedicated CHAMP and, especially, GRACE missions to the project of measuring the general relativistic Lense–Thirring effect with a new Earth’s artificial satellite. It turns out that it would be possible to abandon the stringent, and expensive, requirements on the orbital geometry of the originally prosed LARES mission (same semimajor axis a = 12,270 km of the existing LAGEOS and inclination i = 70°) by inserting the new spacecraft in a relatively low, and cheaper, orbit (a = 7500–8000 km, i  70°) and suitably combining its node Ω with those of LAGEOS and LAGEOS II in order to cancel out the first two even zonal harmonic coefficients of the multipolar expansion of the terrestrial gravitational potential J₂, J₄ along with their temporal variations , . The total systematic error due to the mismodelling in the remaining even zonal harmonics would amount to 1% and would be insensitive to departures of the inclination from the originally proposed value of many degrees. No semisecular long-period perturbations would be introduced because the period of the node, which is also the period of the solar K₁ tidal perturbation, would amount to 10² days. Since the coefficient of the node of the new satellite would be smaller than 0.1 for such low altitudes, the impact of the non-gravitational perturbations of it on the proposed combination would be negligible. Then, a particular financial and technological effort for suitably building the satellite in order to minimize the non-conservative accelerations would be unnecessary.     

A Refinement of the McMillen (1988) Recursive Digital Filter for the Analysis of Atmospheric Turbulence

We present a refinement of the recursive digital filter proposed by McMillen (Boundary-Layer Meteorol 43:231–245, 1988), for separating surface-layer turbulence from low-frequency fluctuations affecting the mean flow, especially over complex terrain. In fact, a straightforward application of the filter causes both an amplitude attenuation and a forward phase shift in the filtered signal. As a consequence turbulence fluctuations, evaluated as the difference between the original series and the filtered one, as well as higher-order moments calculated from them, may be affected by serious inaccuracies. The new algorithm (i) produces a rigorous zero-phase filter, (ii) restores the amplitude of the low-frequency signal, and (iii) corrects all filter-induced signal distortions.     

Field application of calcite Dispersed Alkaline Substrate (calcite-DAS) for passive treatment of acid mine drainage with high Al and metal concentrations

Passive treatment systems are widely used for remediation of acid mine drainage (AMD), but existing designs are prone to clogging or loss of reactivity due to Al- and Fe-precipitates when treating water with high Al and heavy metal concentrations. Dispersed alkaline substrate (DAS) mixed from a fine-grained alkaline reagent (e.g. calcite sand) and a coarse inert matrix (e.g. wood chips) had shown high reactivity and good hydraulic properties in previous laboratory column tests. In the present study, DAS was tested at pilot field scale in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (SW Spain) on metal mine drainage with pH near 3.3, net acidity 1400–1650 mg/L as CaCO₃, and mean concentrations of 317 mg/L Fe (95% Fe(II)), 311 mg/L Zn, 74 mg/L Al, 20 mg/L Mn, and 1.5–0.1 mg/L Cu, Co, Ni, Cd, As and Pb. The DAS-tank removed an average of 870 mg/L net acidity as CaCO₃ (56% of inflow), 25% Fe, 93% Al, 5% Zn, 95% Cu, 99% As, 98% Pb, and 14% Cd, but no Mn, Ni or Co. Average gross drain pipe alkalinity was 181 mg/L as CaCO₃, which increased total Fe removal to 153 mg/L (48%) in subsequent sedimentation ponds. Unfortunately, the tank suffered clogging problems due to the formation of a hardpan of Al-rich precipitates. DAS lifetime could probably be increased by lowering Al-loads.     

Map-Reading Skill Development with 3D Technologies

Landforms often are represented on maps using abstract cartographic techniques that the reader must interpret for successful three-dimensional terrain visualization. New technologies in 3D landscape representation, both digital and tangible, offer the opportunity to visualize terrain in new ways. The results of a university student workshop, in which traditional 2D versus 3D digital and tangible models were tested, suggest that map-reading skill development is greater when using the 3D technologies.     

Interannual and regional variability in distribution and ecology of juvenile pollock and their prey in frontal structures of the Bering Sea

The distribution, size, length-specific weight, growth, and feeding of age-0 walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) were examined along with their prey distribution patterns in two contrasting transects over a 4-year period (1994–1997) in relation to biophysical properties of frontal regions around the Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea. There were significant interannual differences in catch of age-0 pollock, but transect and habitat differences (inshore vs. front vs. offshore) were not significant for either catch or size of pollock. There were significant variations in length-specific weight and growth of pollock, but the trends were inconsistent. Copepods dominated the zooplankton biomass in all habitats and years; there were no consistent differences in the densities of the dominant zooplankton taxa among the habitats. There were, however, strong habitat and transect differences in juvenile pollock diet, particularly for the larger and presumably rarer prey taxa (euphausiids, chaetognaths, fish). We did not find any evidence that occupying a particular habitat was beneficial to young pollock, although other factors (e.g. bioenergetic advantage and predation refuge) that we did not examine here could have been more variable and critical to pollock survival. In a physically dynamic system such as the Pribilof Islands, age-0 pollock may need to continuously search for optimal conditions of high prey availability and low predation pressure.