Sediment salt-load in the St Lucia Estuary during the severe drought of 2002–2006

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a sufficiently high residual salt load in the dry sediments of the St Lucia Estuary to cause salinity problems should it later fill up with either freshwater or seawater. The estuary lakes have suffered the effects of a severe drought since 2002 with the result that many areas were dry, and the salinity of the residual water varied between 4 psu and up to five times that of seawater. Measurements of the salts content in the sediments to a depth of 20 cm showed that more than 2 million tonnes of salt was held in this layer of the sediment in 2006. Recent management of the estuary (since 1970) has ensured that the mouth was not artificially opened. This was to prevent the inflow of seawater, with its salts, that would otherwise enter while the drought was in place. The results of the sediment salinity data showed that if the drought had been broken and the lake area filled with rain and river water, the resulting salinity would be about 6 psu. In March 2007, Cyclone Gamede in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of South Africa produced a wave climate at sea that resulted in the mouth breaching; thus introducing an estimated 12 million tonnes of salts. The high salinity in the system resulting from this breach is expected to have an adverse effect on the ecology of the system, whereas the residual salinity in the sediments would not have caused an environmental problem. If the estuary and lake system were to fill completely with seawater, the residual salts together with seawater will raise the salinity to an initial value higher than 40 psu, which will have the effect of suppressing much of the important submerged vegetation that is vital for sustaining juvenile fish in the system. Many of the large fauna will also suffer from a shortage of freshwater.     

Problems of soil and groundwater pollution in the disposal of “marble” slurries in NW Sicily

This work deals with disposal of slurries generated during the cutting and polishing processes of slabs of decorative sedimentary carbonate rocks in the north western Sicily. At present, they are used as fillers of dismantled quarries near the sawmills and, as a final step of reclamation, are covered with earth layers. In spite of such inexpensive solution, there is lack of knowledge about the composition of the waste. In order to assess if there is any threat for the environment and to suggest indications for alternative solutions, such as recycling or inactivation processes, the slurries were analysed by XR diffraction, simultaneous thermal analysis, ICP/MS, ionic chromatography, FTIR, UV-Vis, COD and TOC measurements, grain size analysis. Results indicate that the slurries can threaten the groundwater, because of the high chemical oxygen demand; furthermore they can modify the mechanism of groundwater recharge, because of their grain size distribution. Some laboratory tests show that, even in very aggressive conditions, the solid pollutants persist in the waste and slowly release into water the products of their degradation. The slurry therefore should be subjected to inactivation treatment before disposal or, alternatively, recycled as secondary raw material for a suitable process.     

Deciphering potential groundwater zone in hard rock through the application of GIS

Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System has become one of the leading tools in the field of hydrogeological science, which helps in assessing, monitoring and conserving groundwater resources. It allows manipulation and analysis of individual layer of spatial data. It is used for analysing and modelling the interrelationship between the layers. This paper mainly deals with the integrated approach of Remote Sensing and geographical information system (GIS) to delineate groundwater potential zones in hard rock terrain. The remotely sensed data at the scale of 1:50,000 and topographical information from available maps, have been used for the preparation of ground water prospective map by integrating geology, geomorphology, slope, drainage-density and lineaments map of the study area. Further, the data on yield of aquifer, as observed from existing bore wells in the area, has been used to validate the groundwater potential map. The final result depicts the favourable prospective zones in the study area and can be helpful in better planning and management of groundwater resources especially in hard rock terrains.     

The relationship between hydrodynamic properties and weathering of soils derived from volcanic rocks,Galapagos Islands (Ecuador)

The aim of this interdisciplinary study is to examine a component of the hydrological cycle in Galapagos by characterizing soil properties. Nine soil profiles were sampled on two islands. Their physical and hydrodynamic properties were analyzed, along with their mineralogical composition. Two groups of soils were identified, with major differences between them. The first group consists of soils located in the highlands (>350 m a.s.l.), characterized by low hydraulic conductivity (<10⁻⁵ m s⁻¹) and low porosity (<25%). These soils are thick (several meters) and homogeneous without coarse components. Their clay fraction is considerable and dominated by gibbsite. The second group includes soils located in the low parts of the islands (<300 m a.s.l.). These soils are characterized by high hydraulic conductivity (>10⁻³ m s⁻¹) and high porosity (>35%). The structure of these soils is heterogeneous and includes coarse materials. The physical properties of the soils are in good agreement with the variations of the rainfall according to the elevation, which appears as the main factor controlling the soil development. The clayey alteration products constrain soils physical and hydrodynamic properties by reducing the porosity and consequently the permeability and also by increasing water retention.     

Groundwater recharge of carbonate aquifers of the Silesian-Cracow Triassic (southern Poland) under human impact

A Triassic carbonate unit has been intensively drained by zinc and lead ore mines and numerous borehole fields since the nineteenth century. Its groundwater recharge has increased due to: pumping of water from boreholes, mining activity, and urbanization. An approach to determine the amounts of the recharge at a variety of spatial scales is presented in the paper. Different methods were used to identify and quantify recharge components on a regional and local scale: mathematical modelling was performed for four aquifers included in an aquifer system, an analytical estimation based on the assumption that an average recharge is equal to the average discharge of the hydrogeological system—for six man-made drainage centres, and the method of water level fluctuation (WLF) was applied in one observation borehole. Results of modelling have been supplemented by observation of environmental tracers (δ¹⁸O, δ²H, ³H), noble gases temperatures, and ⁴He_exc in groundwater. The regional aquifer’s current recharge according to estimations performed by means of modelling varies from 39 to 101 mm/year on average. Depending on the aquifer site the average precipitation ranges from 779 to 864 mm/year. In the confined part of the aquifer average recharge ranges from 26 to 61 mm/year. Within outcrops average recharge varies from 96 to 370 mm/year. Current recharge estimated by the analytical method for man-made drainage centres varies from 158 up to 440 mm/year. High values are caused by different recharge sources like precipitation, induced leakage from shallow aquifers, and water losses from streams, water mains and sewer systems. Pumping of water, mining and municipal activities constitute additional factors accounting for the intensified recharge.     

Saturation of groundwaters with respect to minerals of the host rocks

Calculations of the saturation of groundwaters with respect to minerals of the rocks hosting these waters indicate that most of the analyzed groundwaters were saturates with respect to calcite, dolomite, and quartz. Brines of chloride-calcic composition were determined to be saturated with respect to calcite, whereas brines of chloride-sodic composition are saturated with respect to dolomite and quartz. The solution was simultaneously saturated with respect to six minerals for the association ankerite-calcite-dolomite-pyrite-quartz-strontianite. An increase in the number of minerals with respect to which solution is saturated is correlated with an increase in the diversity of types of groundwaters and an increase in the runoff rate. The paper proposes possible avenues for searches for relations between hydrogeological and geochemical parameters that make it possible to adapt the thermodynamic models to real geological-hydrogeological conditions. The research was centered on the testing of groundwaters for their saturation with respect to minerals of the rocks hosting these waters. This parameter plays a significant part in forming the geochemical type of natural waters because it reflects the crystallization of a mineral from a solution and, consequently, the removal of an element from the aqueous solution.     

Metamorphic rocks of the Murmansk domain (Kola Peninsula) as compared with the oldest rock associations of the northeastern Baltic shield,Canada, and Greenland

Rock associations characterized by heterogeneous sets of petrogeochemical parameters were compared by quantifying the degree of their similarity-dissimilarity and searching for discrimination trends between them. Using procedures specially developed for this purpose, it was demonstrated for the first time that the lithotectonic complexes of the Murmansk domain are fundamentally different from those of typical granulite-gneiss terrains and resemble the granite-greenstone terrains of the Baltic shield, Greenland, and Canada. Based on the whole data set, the Murmansk domain can be considered as a deeply eroded Archean granite-greenstone terrain retaining only the tonalite-trondhjemite-gneiss basement with abundant supracrustal enclaves. A trend of the compositional difference between the older and younger rock associations is similar to that between the tholeiitic and boninitic volcanic series. It was suggested that the petrogeochemical “age” trend reflects the initial stage of the compositional evolution of the metamagmatic rocks of the region from metamorphic rocks similar to tholeiites at the early stages to the Paleoproterozoic boninite-like rocks, which are believed to be linked to the unique PGE-bearing province of the northeastern Baltic shield. This implies that the specific metallogenic features of the region emerged already in the Archean, which supported the suggestion on the long duration of geological processes in the Early Precambrian.