Assessment of future climate change impact on rainfed wheat yield in the semi-arid Eastern High Plain of Algeria using a crop model

Natural Hazards - Maintaining sustainability in rainfed wheat production under changing climate is a grave concern for food security in Algeria. This study aims to assess the impact of future...     

Estimating surface runoff and groundwater recharge in an urban catchment using a water balance approach

Hydrogeology Journal - Land-use changes often have significant impact on the water cycle, including changing groundwater/surface-water interactions, modifying groundwater recharge zones, and...     

Assessment of an Evapotranspiration Deficit Drought Index in Relation to Impacts on Ecosystems

Ecosystems have increasingly been subject to the challenge of heavy drought under global warming. To quantitatively evaluate the impacts of drought on ecosystems, it is necessary to develop a drought index that can sensitively depict the response of vegetation to drought evolution at a biological time scale. For the ability of direct connection between climate and ecosystem by deficit of evapotranspiration, in the present study, a drought index was defined based on standardized evapotranspiration deficit (SEDI), according to the difference between actual and potential evapotranspiration, to meet the need for highlighting drought impacts on ecological processes. Comparisons with traditional indices show that SEDI can reasonably detect droughts and climatic dry and wet transitions, especially at a monthly time scale, and can also regenerate long-term trends. Moreover, SEDI can more sensitively capture the biological changes of ecosystems in response to the dynamics of drought intensity, compared with the indices of precipitation and temperature. SEDI is more practical than the precipitation and temperature indices to highlight signals of biological effects in climate droughts. Hence, it has potential for use in assessments of climate change and its impact on ecosystems.     

Holocene recurrent explosive activity at Chimborazo volcano (Ecuador)

Ice-capped Chimborazo is one of the large composite Ecuadorian volcanoes whose recent eruptive activity is poorly known. This paper presents the characteristics and the ages of a newly discovered Holocene sequence of pyroclastic deposits on the east and north sides of the cone. Lying upon a moraine of the Late-Glacial period, the most complete section of ~ 4.5 m in thickness is located 5 km from the present summit crater. It consists of seven massive or diffusely stratified ash flow layers and four fallout layers interbedded with seven paleosoils.     

Pre-eruptive physical conditions of El Reventador volcano (Ecuador) inferred from the petrology of the 2002 and 2004–05 eruptions

A petrological study of the eruptive products of El Reventador allowed us to infer the magmatic processes related to the 2002 and 2004–05 eruptions of this andesitic stratovolcano. On November 3, 2002, El Reventador experienced a highly explosive event, which was followed by emplacement of two lava flows in November–December 2002. Silica contents range from 62 to 58 wt.% SiO₂ for the November 3 pyroclastic deposits to 58–56 and 54–53 wt.% SiO₂ for the successive lava flows. In November 2004 eruptive activity resumed supplying four new lava flows (56–54 wt.% SiO₂) between November 2004 and August 2005.     

Late Holocene phases of dome growth and Plinian activity at Guagua Pichincha volcano (Ecuador)

Since the eruption which affected Quito in AD 1660, Guagua Pichincha has been considered a hazardous volcano. Based on field studies and twenty ¹⁴C dates, this paper discusses the eruptive activity of this volcano, especially that of the last 2000 years. Three major Plinian eruptions with substantial pumice discharge occurred in the 1st century, the 10th century, and in AD 1660. The ages of organic paleosols and charcoal from block-and-ash flow and fallout deposits indicate that these eruptions occurred near the end of 100 to 200 year-long cycles of discontinuous activity which was comprised of dome growth episodes and minor pumice fallouts. The first cycle took place from ~ AD 1 to 140. The second one developed during the 9th and 10th centuries, lasted 150–180 yr, and included the largest Plinian event, with a VEI of 5. The third, historic cycle, about 200 yr in duration, includes pyroclastic episodes around AD 1450 and AD 1500, explosive activity between AD 1566 and AD 1582, possible precursors of the 1660 eruption in the early decades of the 17th century, and finally the 1660 eruption (VEI 4). A fourth event probably occurred around AD 500, but its authenticity requires confirmation. The Plinian events occurred at the end of these cycles which were separated by repose periods of at least 300 yr. Older volcanic activity of similar type occurred between ~ 4000 and ~ 3000 yr BP.     

Occurrence of the First Toxic Microcystis Bloom in a Recent Moroccan Reservoir

In order to understand initial conditions that promote the first occurrence of a Microcystis aeruginosa bloom and to evaluate its toxic potential, we studied spatio-temporal dynamics of phytoplankton, including Microcystis, microcystins concentrations, the relative proportion of potentially microcystin producing cells and physicochemical parameters in the recently setup Moroccan reservoir “Yaacoub Al Mansour.” High summer temperatures, thermal stability, hydrological stability of the water column and the decrease of nutrient contributions seem to be the major environmental factors responsible of this first bloom occurrence. Despite the low cellular abundance, high microcystins concentrations, associated with low percentage of toxic strains, were measured. Thus, microcystins analysis and associated management of the reservoir are necessary from the beginning of the setup and can help managers to find the better environmental strategy against early cyanobacteria proliferations.     

First Ar/Ar age of the Ceprano man (central Italy)

The Ceprano calvarium, found in 1994 in Italy and attributed to Homo cepranensis, is one of the most celebrated hominin remains of Europe. It was considered at least 700 ka-old until a recent investigation incorporating magnetostratigraphy and K-Ar ages from the literature assigned to the calvarium an age of ∼450 (+50, −100) ka. Here we pin down the age of the Ceprano calvarium to 353 ± 4 ka (±1σ external) by means of new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating on K-feldspars retrieved from the sediments that hosted the skull. In absence of evidence of reworking, this refined age sinks the conviction that H. cepranensis belonged to human evolution at the Brunhes–Matuyama boundary (c.a. 781 ka). Our refined age indicates that H. cepranensis lived in central Italy probably during the cold period of marine isotope stage (MIS) 10, and that despite his archaic morphology and lack of Neanderthal traits, he was contemporaneous with more advanced species such as H. heidelbergensis.     

Sand spit dynamics in a large tidal-range environment: Insight from multiple LiDAR,UAV and hydrodynamic measurements on multiple spit hook development,breaching, reconstruction,and shoreline changes

Sand spits with distal hooks have been well documented from coasts with low to moderate tidal ranges, unlike high tidal-range environments. Datasets from 15 LiDAR and 3 UAV surveys between 2009 and 2019 on the Agon spit in Normandy (France), a setting with one of the largest tidal ranges in the world (mean spring tidal range: 11 m), combined with in-situ hydrodynamic records between 2013 and 2017, highlight a three-stage pattern of spit hook evolution. Stage 1 (2009–2013) commenced with the onshore migration and attachment of a swash bar, followed by persistent spit accretion updrift of the bar and erosion downdrift because of the slow speed of bar migration in this large tidal-range environment. In stage 2 (2013–2016), three overwash events and a 220 m-wide breach culminating in the total destruction of the spit during winter 2015–2016 involved the landward mobilization of thousands of cubic metres of sand. These events occurred during short durations (a few hours) when spring high tides coincided with relatively energetic waves, underscoring the importance of storms in rapid spit morphological change. Strong spring tidal currents maintained the breach. Stage 3 (2016–2019) has involved new hook construction through welding of a swash bar and spit longshore extension, highlighting the resilience of the spit over the 10-year period, and involving a positive sediment balance of 244 000 m³. The three stages bring out, by virtue of the temporal density of LiDAR and UAV data used, a high detail of spit evolution relative to earlier studies in this macrotidal setting. The large tidal range strongly modulates the role of waves and wave-generated longshore currents, the main process drivers of spit evolution, by favouring long periods of inertia in the course of the spring–neap tidal cycle, but also brief episodes of significant morphological change when storm waves coincide with spring high tides. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.