First attempts towards an integrative concept for the ecological assessment of groundwater ecosystems

Healthy aquifers deliver important ecosystem services, e.g. the purification of infiltrating water and the storage of high-quality water over decades in significant quantities. The functioning of terrestrial and surface aquatic ecosystems directly depends on groundwater and vice versa. Nowadays, legislation has started to consider groundwater not only as a resource but as a living ecosystem. The assessment of ecosystems requires consideration of ecological criteria, which, so far, are not available for groundwater systems. In the framework of a project supported by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), a first concept for the ecological assessment of groundwater ecosystems is developed. Steps to be taken are introduced, with a strong focus on microbes as potential bioindicators. These include (1) the typology of groundwater ecosystems, (2) the derivation of natural background values, (3) the identification of potential bioindicators, and (4) the development of an assessment model. First successes and difficulties associated with these challenges, e.g. the lack of simple correlations between abiotic and biotic variables, are discussed on the basis of a data set from a local and regional aquifer in NE Germany. The need for collaboration between ecologists, hydrogeologists and geochemists, as well as the application of modern approaches such as multivariate statistics, is emphasized.     

Future change of climate in South America in the late twenty-first century: intercomparison of scenarios from three regional climate models

Regional climate change projections for the last half of the twenty-first century have been produced for South America, as part of the CREAS (Cenarios REgionalizados de Clima Futuro da America do Sul) regional project. Three regional climate models RCMs (Eta CCS, RegCM3 and HadRM3P) were nested within the HadAM3P global model. The simulations cover a 30-year period representing present climate (1961–1990) and projections for the IPCC A2 high emission scenario for 2071–2100. The focus was on the changes in the mean circulation and surface variables, in particular, surface air temperature and precipitation. There is a consistent pattern of changes in circulation, rainfall and temperatures as depicted by the three models. The HadRM3P shows intensification and a more southward position of the subtropical Pacific high, while a pattern of intensification/weakening during summer/winter is projected by the Eta CCS/RegCM3. There is a tendency for a weakening of the subtropical westerly jet from the Eta CCS and HadRM3P, consistent with other studies. There are indications that regions such of Northeast Brazil and central-eastern and southern Amazonia may experience rainfall deficiency in the future, while the Northwest coast of Peru-Ecuador and northern Argentina may experience rainfall excesses in a warmer future, and these changes may vary with the seasons. The three models show warming in the A2 scenario stronger in the tropical region, especially in the 5°N–15°S band, both in summer and especially in winter, reaching up to 6–8°C warmer than in the present. In southern South America, the warming in summer varies between 2 and 4°C and in winter between 3 and 5°C in the same region from the 3 models. These changes are consistent with changes in low level circulation from the models, and they are comparable with changes in rainfall and temperature extremes reported elsewhere. In summary, some aspects of projected future climate change are quite robust across this set of model runs for some regions, as the Northwest coast of Peru-Ecuador, northern Argentina, Eastern Amazonia and Northeast Brazil, whereas for other regions they are less robust as in Pantanal region of West Central and southeastern Brazil.     

Impact of ocean acidification on the carbonate sediment budget of a temperate mixed beach

The production of sediments by carbonate-producing ecosystems is an important input for beach sediment budgets in coastal areas where no terrigenous input occurs. Calcifying organisms are a major source of bioclastic carbonate sediment for coastal systems. Increased levels of CO₂ in the atmosphere are leading to an increase in the partial pressure of CO₂ on ocean seawater, causing ocean acidification (OA), with direct consequences for the pH of ocean waters. Most studies of OA focus on its impact on marine ecosystems. The impact of OA on carbonate-producing ecosystems could be to reduce the amount of sediments supplied to temperate coastal systems. The aim of this study was to quantify the effect of the predicted OA on the long-term sediment budget of a temperate Mediterranean mixed carbonate beach and dune system. Based on projections of OA we estimated a fall of about 31% in the present bioclastic carbonate sediment deposition rate, with the biggest decreases seen in the dunes (? 46%). OA is also expected to affect the carbonate sediment reservoirs, increasing the dissolution of CaCO₃and causing net sediment loss from the system (~ 50,000 t century^?1). In the long-term, OA could also play a primary role in the response of these systems to sea-level rise. Indeed, the reduction in the quantity of carbonate sediments provided to the system may affect the speed with which the system is able to adapt to sea-level rise, by increasing wave run-up, and may promote erosion of dunes and subaerial beaches.     

Fluorine and boron geochemistry of an ensialic marginal basin volcano: Deception Island, Bransfield Strait, Antarctica

We present the initial results of a quantitative investigation of the volatile geochemistry of Deception Island, an active volcano situated near the spreading axis of a Quaternary ensialic marginal basin (Bransfield Strait, northern Antarctic Peninsula). Fluorine contents in Deception Island magmas (112–461 ppm) are comparable with lavas from a range of tectonic environments but F-K₂O relationships most closely compare with continental flood basalts and lavas from island arcs and some marginal basins. Boron contents are high (4.3–16.3 ppm) and the values overlap with those of arc lavas; they provide strong support for the presence of a mantle source component derived from the slab subducted at the coeval trench (by melting at the slab/wedge interface and/or during slab dehydration). Both F and B acted incompatibly in Deception Island magmas but there is significant variation in incompatible-element ratios such as K/F, K/B, P/F, P/B, which strongly suggests that the magmatic system was open to some or all of these elements during differentation. The variations in these ratios also provide evidence for the presence of at least two stages in the magmatic evolution of the volcano. During pre-caldera times, mafic magma was emplaced into the upper crust where it evolved and may have reacted with the crustal envelope, thus changing the contents of some or all of the elements F, B, K and P and their inter-element ratios. A later, large influx of hot, mafic magma into the chamber may have been responsible for a major eruption that ultimately led to the formation of the caldera. K/F, K/B, etc, ratios in the magma chamber were “reset” and subsequently continued to change, possibly by further crustal interaction during melt evolution in post-caldera times.     

Subsidence due to crack closure and depressurization of hydrothermal systems: a case study from Mt Epomeo (Ischia Island,Italy)

Levelling surveys carried out between 1990 and 2003 on the Mt Epomeo resurgent block (Ischia Island) record negative dislocations on its northern and southern flanks with a maximum subsidence rate of 1.27 cm yr⁻¹. This deformation is not associated with the cooling, crystallization or lateral drainage of magma and cannot be explained by a pressure point or prolate ellipsoid source. Results from dislocation models and the available structural and geochemical information indicate that the subsidence is due to crack closure processes along two main ENE–WSW and E–W preexisting faults, which represent the preferred pathway of CO₂ degassing from the hydrothermal system located beneath Mt Epomeo. The monitoring of the dislocations and CO₂ flux along these faults could give useful information on the dynamics of the hydrothermal system.     

Detection of detached forced-regressive nearshore wedges: a case study from the central-southern Siena Basin (Northern Apennines, Italy)

The detection of detached nearshore wedges formed in response to relative sea-level drops is considered one of the hottest topics in sequence stratigraphic analysis due to their importance as reservoir analogues. In fact, they usually constitute sandy and porous bodies generally encased in impermeable clay, thus presenting a good potential as traps for fluids. This paper focuses on the sequence stratigraphic analysis of the Pliocene deposits cropping out in the central-southern sector of the Siena Basin (Tuscany, Italy), a post-collisional basin of the Northern Apennines. The exposed sedimentary succession was investigated through a detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic approach, integrated by biostratigraphic analyses, aimed at a better characterization of the infilling history of this sector of the basin. Specifically, this study revealed the occurrence of repeated facies shifts that allowed the identification of two depositional sequences. In detail, a thick sand-rich body far from the basin margins, and previously considered as a turbiditic lobe, has been reinterpreted as formed in a nearshore setting during a fall in relative sea level. This body is totally encased in offshore clay, and due to the lack of physical connection with the related HST deposits, it has to be considered as a detached forced-regressive wedge. The present work led to the recognition of some sedimentological and stratigraphic features typical of falling stage systems tract deposits (e.g. presence of intrabasinal recycled materials, sedimentological evidence of a pre-existing fluvial network subsequently eroded) that can provide useful clues for the identification of detached forced-regressive nearshore wedges in core studies and poorly exposed settings.     

Evaluation of redox-active iron sites in smectites using middle and near infrared spectroscopy

Redox processes of structural Fe in clay minerals play an important role in biogeochemical cycles and for the dynamics of contaminant transformation in soils and aquifers. Reactions of Fe(II)/Fe(III) in clay minerals depend on a variety of mineralogical and environmental factors, which make the assessment of Fe redox reactivity challenging. Here, we use middle and near infrared (IR) spectroscopy to identify reactive structural Fe(II) arrangements in four smectites that differ in total Fe content, octahedral cationic composition, location of the negative excess charge, and configuration of octahedral hydroxyl groups. Additionally, we investigated the mineral properties responsible for the reversibility of structural alterations during Fe reduction and re-oxidation. For Wyoming montmorillonite (SWy-2), a smectite of low structural Fe content (2.8 wt%), we identified octahedral AlFe(II)-OH as the only reactive Fe(II) species, while high structural Fe content (>12 wt%) was prerequisite for the formation of multiple Fe(II)-entities (dioctahedral AlFe(II)-OH, MgFe(II)-OH, Fe(II)Fe(II)-OH, and trioctahedral Fe(II)Fe(II)Fe(II)-OH) in iron-rich smectites Ölberg montmorillonite, and ferruginous smectite (SWa-1), as well as in synthetic nontronite. Depending on the overall cationic composition and the location of excess charge, different reactive Fe(II) species formed during Fe reduction in iron-rich smectites, including tetrahedral Fe(II) groups in synthetic nontronite. Trioctahedral Fe(II) domains were found in tetrahedrally charged ferruginous smectite and synthetic nontronite in their reduced state while these Fe(II) entities were absent in Ölberg montmorillonite, which exhibits an octahedral layer charge. Fe(III) reduction in iron-rich smectites was accompanied by intense dehydroxylation and structural rearrangements, which were only partially reversible through re-oxidation. Re-oxidation of Wyoming montmorillonite, in contrast, restored the original mineral structure. Fe(II) oxidation experiments with nitroaromatic compounds as reactive probes were used to link our spectroscopic evidence to the apparent reactivity of structural Fe(II) in a generalized kinetic model, which takes into account the presence of Fe(II) entities of distinctly different reactivity as well as the dynamics of Fe(II) rearrangements.