Assessment of groundwater vulnerability using a specific vulnerability method: Case of Maritime Djeffara shallow aquifer (Southeastern Tunisia)

Groundwater resources are vulnerable to contamination especially in shallow aquifers. The aquifer hydrogeological parameters and the Land Uses category combinations lead to subdivide areas according to their contamination likelihood. In arid and semi-arid regions, shallow aquifers are more exposed to groundwater contamination due to high population densities (extensive uses) and agricultural activities (nitrate contamination). Moreover, these regions are characterized by low rainfall and high evaporation. Furthermore, the spread of farmland, industrial and domestic sectors, is the principal contaminant producer which threats the groundwater quality. To protect these limited resources, the groundwater vulnerability assessment was developed in Maritime Djeffara shallow aquifer (Southeastern Tunisia). The study area is essentially occupied by agricultural areas (intensive use of chemical fertilizers) in addition to the discharge of industrial zones. The main objective of this study is to assess the aquifer vulnerability using the Susceptibility Index (SI) method as a specific vulnerability model. The results show that the study area is classified into five classes of vulnerability: very low, low, medium, high, and very high (1.54, 20, 41.54, 35.9, and 1.02%, respectively) with an uneven spatial distribution. The risk results exhibit three degrees: low, moderate, and high. The validation of the vulnerability model was performed by using salinity values and nitrate concentrations with a correlation coefficient of about 57 and 55%, respectively. This study could serve as a scientific basis for sustainable land use planning and groundwater management in the study area.     

Compositions and sources of extractable organic matter in Mesopotamian marshland surface sediments of Iraq: II. Polar compounds

The concentrations of polar organic compounds including n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanols, steroids and triterpenoids were determined in extracts of shallow sediments from the Mesopotamian marshlands of Iraq. The sediments were collected by a stainless steel sediment corer, extracted with a dichloromethane and methanol mixture (3:1 v:v) by ultrasonic agitation and then analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometric (GC–MS). The analysis results showed that the n-alkanoic acids ranged from C₈ to C₂₀ with concentrations of 7.8 ± 1.2 μg/g sample, whereas the concentrations of n-alkanols, which ranged from C₁₂ to C₃₉ were from 28.6 ± 4.3 to 121.7 ± 18.3 μg/g sample. The steroids and triterpenoids included stenols, stanols, stenones, stanones, tetrahymanol, tetrahymanone and extended ββ-hopanes. The total concentrations of steroids and triterpenoids ranged from 26.8 ± 4.1 to 174.6 ± 26.2 μg/g and from 0.74 ± 0.11 to 11.2 ± 1.7 μg/g sample, respectively. The major sources of these lipids were from natural vegetation, microbial (plankton) residues and bacteria in the sediments, with some contribution from anthropogenic sources (livestock, sewage and petroleum). Further studies of these wetlands are needed to characterize the input rate, transformation and diagenesis of the organic matter and to assess its various sources.     

Salinisation origin and hydrogeochemical behaviour of the Djerid oasis water table aquifer (southern Tunisia)

The shallow Plio-Quaternary (PQ) water table, present over almost the whole Djerid and Chott El Gharsa basins (southern Tunisia), is used as a complement of oases irrigation, especially in summer season. The simplicity of the Plio-Quaternary lithology is confronted to the complexity of the mineralisation mechanisms and the water origin in this aquifer. An approach combining the use of water-dissolved chemical species and isotopic contents has been used to better understand the PQ behaviour under severe increasing exploitation and to determinate the origin of its different water bodies. In southern Tunisia, the aquifer system is composed of the upper unconfined PQ aquifer, the intermediate semi-confined/confined Complexe Terminal (CT) and the deeper confined Continental Intercalaire (CI). Chemical analyses highlighted an origin of mineralisation in close relationship to the dissolution of both sulphated salts (MgSO₄ and Na₂SO₄) and chlorinated salts (NaCl and MgCl) abundant in the surface and subsurface gypsum crust. Positive correlations between gypsum anhydrite, mirabilite, thenardite and halite saturation indexes with respective mineral species, confirm evaporites dissolutions. Isotopic data showed that in addition of sporadic rainfall events, there is a contribution from the CI and the CT Saharan groundwaters, recharging the PQ aquifer in the study area. Return flow irrigation is partly affected by evaporation, before recharging the shallow aquifer, in oases limits.     

Répartition des minéraux argileux et contrôle tectono-eustatique dans les bassins de la marge tunisienne

We have studied the clay assemblages found in the different palaeogeographic domains located at the several Tunisian margin basins, ranging in age from Palaeozoic to Neogene. This study has allowed us to characterize and highlight the relationship between the clay distribution in time and space and the geodynamic and eustatic events. Marine regressions, with the intensification of erosion, seem to be responsible for illite increases, whereas transgressions, in concordance with a warm and dry climate, coincide with the smectite dominance. The minimum marine level coincides with the abundance of palygorskite. Mineralogic changes in the clay assemblages as well as in the proportion of the different clay minerals will tentatively be related to erosive tectonic events and/or to subsiding and rifting events, marked by the inheritance or the neoformation of the several clays.     

Summer monsoon circulation and precipitation over the tropical Indian Ocean during ENSO in the NCEP climate forecast system

This study investigates the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) teleconnections to tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) and their relationship with the Indian summer monsoon in the coupled general circulation model climate forecast system (CFS). The model shows good skill in simulating the impact of El Niño over the Indian Oceanic rim during its decay phase (the summer following peak phase of El Niño). Summer surface circulation patterns during the developing phase of El Niño are more influenced by local Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies in the model unlike in observations. Eastern TIO cooling similar to that of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is a dominant model feature in summer. This anomalous SST pattern therefore is attributed to the tendency of the model to simulate more frequent IOD events. On the other hand, in the model baroclinic response to the diabatic heating anomalies induced by the El Niño related warm SSTs is weak, resulting in reduced zonal extension of the Rossby wave response. This is mostly due to weak eastern Pacific summer time SST anomalies in the model during the developing phase of El Niño as compared to observations. Both eastern TIO cooling and weak SST warming in El Niño region combined together undermine the ENSO teleconnections to the TIO and south Asia regions. The model is able to capture the spatial patterns of SST, circulation and precipitation well during the decay phase of El Niño over the Indo-western Pacific including the typical spring asymmetric mode and summer basin-wide warming in TIO. The model simulated El Niño decay one or two seasons later, resulting long persistent warm SST and circulation anomalies mainly over the southwest TIO. In response to the late decay of El Niño, Ekman pumping shows two maxima over the southern TIO. In conjunction with this unrealistic Ekman pumping, westward propagating Rossby waves display two peaks, which play key role in the long-persistence of the TIO warming in the model (for more than a season after summer). This study strongly supports the need of simulating the correct onset and decay phases of El Niño/La Niña for capturing the realistic ENSO teleconnections. These results have strong implications for the forecasting of Indian summer monsoon as this model is currently being adopted as an operational model in India.