Spatial and temporal variability of groundwater dynamics in a sub‐Mediterranean mountain catchment

The temporal and spatial dynamics of groundwater was investigated in a small catchment in the Spanish Pyrenees, which was extensively used for agriculture in the past. Analysis of the water table fluctuations at five locations over a 6‐year period demonstrated that the groundwater dynamics had a marked seasonal cycle involving a wetting‐up period that commenced with the first autumn rainfall events, a saturation period during winter and spring and a drying‐down period from the end of spring until the end of the summer. The length of the saturation period showed great interannual variability, which was mainly influenced by the rainfall and evapotranspiration characteristics. There was marked spatial variability in the water table, especially during the wetting‐up period, which could be related to differences in slope and drainage area, geomorphology, soil properties and local topography. Areas contributing to runoff generation were identified within the catchment by field mapping of moisture conditions. Areas contributing to infiltration excess runoff were correlated with former cultivated fields affected by severe sheetwash erosion. Areas contributing to saturation excess runoff were characterized by a marked spatial dynamics associated with catchment wetness conditions. The saturation spatial pattern, which was partially related to the topographic index, was very patchy throughout the catchment, suggesting the influence of other factors associated with past agricultural activities, including changes in local topography and soil properties. The relationship between water table levels and stream flow was weak, especially during the wetting‐up period, suggesting little connection between ground water and the hydrological response, at least at some locations. The results suggest that in drier and human‐disturbed environments, such as sub‐Mediterranean mountains, saturation patterns cannot be represented only by the general topography of the catchment. They also suggest that groundwater storage and runoff is not a succession of steady‐state flow conditions, as assumed in most hydrological models. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Statistical distribution and spectral analysis of rainfallanomalies for Barcelona (NE Spain)

Summary  Rainfall anomaly patterns are obtained for the city of Barcelona from a statistical and a spectral point of view. The time series consists of monthly rainfall amounts recorded over 128 years without interruption. Monthly positive and negative anomalies, obtained as the difference between monthly amounts and monthly threshold values, are used for both types of analyses. The threshold levels are derived form the deciles of theoretical monthly rainfall distributions, which have been previously modelled by the gamma distribution. Positive and negative anomalies of the monthly rain amounts are investigated for these threshold levels. The statistical analysis is applied to each decile considered, yielding empirical exponential laws that can be used to forecast the cumulative number of episodes of consecutive months with either positive or negative anomalies equalling or exceeding a fixed length. A set of linear laws, relating the expected rainfall amount cumulated during an episode of a fixed length, is also deduced. It is worthy of mention that, independently of the decile considered, all the exponential and linear laws have satisfactory regression coefficients. At the same time, it has also been possible to establish the evolution of the coefficients of these laws with respect to the different deciles considered. The exponential laws for episodes of positive and negative anomalies are the starting point, together with two hypotheses, to model probabilities of repeated long episodes over an arbitrary number of years and their return periods in terms of the Poisson distribution model. Moreover, power spectra are derived for anomalies relative to the 50% decile at monthly and seasonal scale. The spectral estimates obtained are then compared with theoretical spectra deduced from possible Markovian or random behaviour of the time series of anomalies. Finally, the significant spectral peaks are discussed and compared with other significant spectral components deduced for some areas of the Mediterranean domain. Received November 11, 1999 Revised February 28, 2000     

Probabilities of Repeated Long Dry Episodes Based on the Poisson Distribution. An Example for Catalonia (NE Spain)

Summary A formulation, similar to the procedure employed in seismic risk analysis, has allowed us to quantify probabilities concerning repeated long episodes of dry days for an arbitrary number of years and their return periods. This formulation is based on both a cumulative expression, similar to the well known Gutemberg-Richter seismic law, and the Poisson distribution. We will assume that this latter distribution is applicable, provided that some constraints affecting the length of the dry episodes and their average number recorded on a year are satisfied. In comparison with other methodologies, based on either Markov chains or Gumbell and Jenkinson formulations, we have been able to quantify probabilities concerning repeated long episodes, including extreme events, contributing significantly to the generation of drought episodes. The formulations that we introduce has been applied to sets of dry episodes obtained from daily pluviometric recordings belonging to 69 gauges of the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología located in Catalonia (NE Spain). The results obtained in terms of return period maps, return period-length curves and probabilities for repeated episodes and for an arbitrary number of years are in agreement with previous pluviometric studies and the spatial diversity of the region due to its orographic complexity. The more relevant synoptic situations causing the long dry episodes are summarized and briefly described. Received June 24, 1997 Revised October 28, 1997     

Andean orogenic signature in the Quaternary sandy barriers of Southernmost Brazilian Passive Margin-Paradigm as a source area

Multiple source provenance of sediments and submarine fan formation are herein investigated based on Quaternary sandy barriers of the Brazilian Southernmost Coastal Plain.LA-ICP-MS dating on 1625 detrital zircons from marine and aeolian facies sands of four successive lagoon-barrier systems are analyzed.The characterization of Archean to Pleistocene zircons into a younger Andean(22 ± 4 Ma to 1 ± 1 Ma,48 from 1625),Mesozoic to Paleozoic,and Mesoproterozoic(479 from 1622) populations suggest that the main feeding of sediments to the coastal plain occurred through the La Plata River drainage system.The significant contribution of sediments is transported from the mouth of La Plata River northward by longshore circulation(littoral drift).Minor contributions are also recognized as.a farther source associated with the Patagonia drainage and nearby source related to the Uruguay/Rio Grande do Sul Shield and the Paraná Basin,drained by the Camaqu? and Jacuí rivers.The latter one is recognized by the contribution from Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic,and some Paleoproterozoic and Archean zircon grains.The definition of the sources of clastic sediments allows inferences about the origination of Rio Grande Fan where both the cold Falkland and the warm Brazil currents played a major role.     

Monthly and annual statistical distributions of daily rainfall at the Fabra Observatory (Barcelona, NE Spain) for the years 1917–1999

Summary Three empirical distributions of the daily rainfall collected at the Fabra Observatory from 1917 to 1999 are fitted to different statistical models. The first two are designated as the distributions of cumulative amounts and cumulative times. The third distribution accounts for the time interval between two consecutive rainy days with rain amounts equalling or exceeding a threshold amount. Whereas the distribution of cumulative amounts follows an exponential model at monthly and annual scale, except for a few cases, the distribution of the cumulative times is well modelled by a Weibull function, whether monthly or annual scales are considered. The distribution of time intervals also follows a Weibull distribution for the different thresholds considered. In addition, the combination of the two first distributions leads to the normalised rainfall curve, NRC, which is also reproduced satisfactorily by a beta (type 1) distribution. It is worth mentioning that the NRCs follow the expected behaviour with respect to the coefficient of variation of daily rain amounts at monthly and annual scales. In addition, a better understanding of fluctuations and time trends affecting the daily pluviometric regime is achieved by analysing the annual NRCs. The impact of some features of this rain regime, developed for Barcelona, a crowded metropolitan area, on many human activities, may provides the focus of future interdisciplinary analyses.     

Rainfall intensity patterns derived from the urban network of Barcelona (NE Spain)

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - An analysis of the normalised rainfall intensity curves in Barcelona (NE Spain) has been undertaken from 41 selected rain rate episodes recorded by an urban...     

Estimation of potential failure risks in a mine slope using indicator kriging

Indicator kriging has been applied to the study of failure mechanisms in a mine slope in Minas Gerais, Brazil, to estimate potential failure risks in limited areas along this slope. Timbopeba Mine, Vale Company, is an open pit iron mine situated in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, a very important mining district in Minas Gerais. A slope excavated in quartzite with a maximum height of 200 m at the time of this study, has presented many failure problems involving the sliding of blocks formed by discontinuities. These blocks are of limited size in comparison to the dimensions of the overall slope. They appear along the entire slope, wherever discontinuity orientations have led to the kinematic feasibility of these blocks. Geostatistics permits the estimation of local failure probability distributions associated to these local failures, which would not be possible with traditional statistical models. The geostatistical method employed in this study, indicator kriging, is quite suitable because it is unnecessary to assume a particular global distribution of the phenomena being modeled. The model was used for locating areas with a great tendency for sliding failure, as it considers the local spatial variability of discontinuity orientations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Objective regionalization of Rayleigh wave dispersion data by clustering algorithms: an application to the Mediterranean basin

The main target of the present study is an objective and automated regionalization of Rayleigh wave dispersion data for the Mediterranean basin, without a priori seismotectonic constraints, and to determine the corresponding regional shear-velocity structures. The database used is formed by almost 200 Rayleigh wavetrains corresponding to 42 regional events, with surface-wave magnitude greater than 4.5, recorded at the MedNet very-broad-band stations in the Mediterranean area. Path-averaged group velocities for the Rayleigh wave fundamental mode are derived for each available epicentre-station trajectory crossing the Mediterranean basin. After this, a principal component analysis and a clustering process are applied to local group velocities, obtained for 13 different periods from 10 to 70 s, in order to classify the Mediterranean basin into several homogeneous regions. The stochastic inversion of the averaged group velocity dispersion curve obtained for each region provides the respective shear-velocity structures, down to a depth of 150–160 km. The characteristics of these areas and their possible correlation with the main seismotectonic features of the Mediterranean region are discussed. The regional models reveal significant lateral changes in the elastic structure, with the main differences concerning particularly the upper 35–40 km. Within this depth range, low shear velocities, varying from 2.8 to 3.9 km s⁻¹, characterize the Eastern Mediterranean, whereas higher velocities, ranging from 3.0 to 4.2 km s⁻¹, are deduced for the Western Mediterranean. These results suggest a thicker crust in the eastern part, but with a greater thickness of sedimentary layers. However, for depths of between 80 and 110 km, lower shear velocities are obtained in the Western part, while higher shear velocities are derived for the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, in the Aegean Sea, Greece, the south of Italy, Sicily and Tunisia. This velocity pattern suggests an averaged thicker lithosphere under the latter areas, as the top of the asthenosphere is detected at a mean depth of 75 km for the remaining regions. This thicker lithosphere can be related to processes associated with the convergence of the Eurasian and African plates and subduction under the Calabrian and Hellenic Arcs.     

U–Pb–Hf isotopes and trace elements of metasomatic zircon delimit the evolution of neoproterozoic Capané ophiolite in the southern Brasiliano Orogen

The Capané ophiolite is a fragment of oceanic lithosphere obducted into the Ediacaran Porongos fold and thrust belt, southern Brasiliano Orogen. A studied rodingite blackwall contained in serpentinite has metasomatic zircon that displays multiple U–Pb ages from Tonian to Cryogenian (793 ± 0.9, 757 ± 2.1, 715 ± 2.2 Ma). The ages are interpreted as corresponding to multiple alteration events in the mantle. Multiple U–Pb–Hf isotopes and trace element analyses on the same crystals by laser ablation were controlled by backscatered electron images. Hf isotopes indicate zircon origin from a depleted mantle (εHf = +15 to +10.7), and trace elements point to an oceanic origin. The Capané ophiolite thus marks the evolution of the Adamastor ocean during the Tonian and Cryogenian, a significant result for the reconstruction of Rodinia and Gondwana supercontinents.     

Wind influence on surface current variability in the Ibiza Channel from HF Radar

Surface current variability is investigated using 2.5 years of continuous velocity measurements from an high frequency radar (HFR) located in the Ibiza Channel (Western Mediterranean Sea). The Ibiza Channel is identified as a key geographical feature for the exchange of water masses but still poorly documented. Operational, quality controlled, HFR derived velocities are provided by the Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System (SOCIB). They are assessed by performing statistical comparisons with current-meter, ADCP, and surface lagrangian drifters. HFR system does not show significant bias, and its accuracy is in accordance with previous studies performed in other areas. The main surface circulation patterns are deduced from an EOF analysis. The first three modes represent almost 70 % of the total variability. A cross-correlation analysis between zonal and meridional wind components and the temporal amplitudes of the first three modes reveal that the first two modes are mainly driven by local winds, with immediate effects of wind forcing and veering following Ekman effect. The first mode (37 % of total variability) is the response of meridional wind while the second mode (24 % of total variability) is linked primarily with zonal winds. The third and higher order modes are related to mesoscale circulation features. HFR derived surface transport presents a markedly seasonal variability being mostly southwards. Its comparison with Ekman-induced transport shows that wind contribution to the total surface transport is on average around 65 %.