Geo-environmental mapping using physiographic analysis: constraints on the evaluation of land instability and groundwater pollution hazards in the Metropolitan District of Campinas,Brazil

Geo-environmental terrain assessments and territorial zoning are useful tools for the formulation and implementation of environmental management instruments (including policy-making, planning, and enforcement of statutory regulations). They usually involve a set of procedures and techniques for delimitation, characterisation and classification of terrain units. However, terrain assessments and zoning exercises are often costly and time-consuming, particularly when encompassing large areas, which in many cases prevent local agencies in developing countries from properly benefiting from such assessments. In the present paper, a low-cost technique based on the analysis of texture of satellite imagery was used for delimitation of terrain units. The delimited units were further analysed in two test areas situated in Southeast Brazil to provide estimates of land instability and the vulnerability of groundwater to pollution hazards. The implementation incorporated procedures for inferring the influences and potential implications of tectonic fractures and other discontinuities on ground behaviour and local groundwater flow. Terrain attributes such as degree of fracturing, bedrock lithology and weathered materials were explored as indicators of ground properties. The paper also discusses constraints on- and limitations of- the approaches taken.     

Nomospace and genospace: A spatial matrix

We are concerned here with the notion of space as a primary condition for building social relations. From this stand, we have created two analytical matrixes that can help us characterize two modes: that of ‘being-there-in-space’ and that of ‘being-of-the-space’; the nomospace and the genospace. While the nomospace is characterized by ‘cold’ connotations, which are ideally defined as a result of a logical option, the genospace is mainly characterized by emotional or ‘warm’ connotations, which originate from a feeling of shared nature and common destiny. We believe that these matrixes could help us to identify the meanings of some behaviours and, therefore, make us more capable of interpreting many dynamics that occur in modern societies. The importance of geography is justified by the existing relationship between these behaviours and their proper spatial form. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Geology, Geochemistry and U-Pb SHRIMP Age of the Tacloban Ophiolite Complex, Leyte Island (Central Philippines): Implications for the Existence and Extent of the Proto-Philippine Sea Plate

Abstract. The oceanic basement of the Central Philippines is exposed in ophiolitic massifs the age and origin of which remain debated. The Tacloban Ophiolite Complex (TOC) outcrops as a NW-SE trending massif in the northeastern portion of Leyte Island, Central Philippines. It is unconformably overlain by sedimentary sequences dated to Late Miocene-Pliocene and Pleistocene volcaniclastic deposits on its eastern and western flanks, respectively. Field, petrographic and trace element data suggest a subduction-related origin for this ophiolite. Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb dating of zircons from a gabbro yielded Early Cretaceous magmatic age for the TOC, which is very much older than a previously reported whole rock K-Ar derived Eocene age. The Early Cretaceous age of the TOC limits its possible progenitor to the proto-Philippine Sea Plate. Correlation with other Cretaceous ophiolites in Central Philippines reveals the possible extent of the proto-Philippine Sea Plate remnants now exposed onland.     

U–Pb SHRIMP zircon dating of Grenvillian metamorphism in Western Sierras Pampeanas (Argentina): Correlation with the Arequipa-Antofalla craton and constraints on the extent of the Precordillera Terrane

Metamorphism of Grenvillian age (ca. 1.2 Ga; U–Pb zircon dating) is recognized for the first time in the Western Sierras Pampeanas (Sierra de Maz). Conditions reached granulite facies (ca. 780 °C and ca. 780 MPa). Comparing geochronological and petrological characteristics with other outcrops of Mesoproterozoic basement, particularly in the northern and central Arequipa-Antofalla craton, we suggest that these regions were part of a single continental crustal block from Mesoproterozoic times, and thus autochthonous or parautochthonous to Gondwana.     

Hypsometric Curves as a Tool for Paleosurface Mapping

A procedural paleosurface mapping tool, using hypsometric curves and digital elevation models, was developed and applied to three hydrographic basins that erode common areas in the coastal ranges of Brazil, in southeastern South America. The method consists of identifying areas favorable for the occurrence of paleosurfaces and their corresponding surficial formations as correlated to specific erosion events. Attributes from hypsometric curves, and logarithmic functions fitted to proper curve segments, are combined with common morphometric properties of paleosurfaces given a set of criteria. Zones satisfying the criteria are mapped as pertaining to specific paleosurfaces. Field survey confirms the agreement between predicted and observed occurrence and absence of paleosurfaces.     

Large-eddy Simulation of the Dispersion of Solid Particles in a Turbulent Boundary Layer

A large-eddy simulation (LES) with the dynamic Smagorinsky-Germano subgrid-scale (SGS) model is used to study the dispersion of solid particles in a turbulent boundary layer. Solid particles are tracked in a Lagrangian way. The instantaneous velocity of the surrounding fluid is considered to have a large-scale part (directly computed by the LES) and a small-scale part. The SGS velocity of the surrounding fluid is given by a three-dimensional Langevin model written in terms of SGS statistics at a mesh level. An appropriate Lagrangian correlation time scale is considered in order to include the influences of gravity and inertia of the solid particle. Inter-particle collisions and the influence of particles on the mean flow are also taken into account. The results of the LES are compared with the wind-tunnel experiments of Nalpanis et al. (1993 J Fluid Mech 251: 661–685) and of Tanière et al. (1997 Exp in Fluids 23:463–471) on sand particles in saltation and in modified saltation, respectively.     

Germination and algal-free laboratory culture of widgeon grass,Ruppia maritima

A methodology for the isolation ofRuppia maritima L. into algal-free laboratory culture is described. Seeds were surface sterilized with 96% ethyl alcohol of pH 2, kept for several months in cold storage at 7°C, and subsequently transferred to 25°C to induce germination. Basic culture conditions are discussed and a vessel of easy maintenance and sterilization forRuppia culture in ground glass sediments is presented. Minor modifications of this methodology might permit contaminant-free laboratory cultures of other estuarine and marine spermatophytes.     

Elevation Dependence of Winter Wheat Production in Eastern Washington State with Climate Change: A Methodological Study

Crop growth models, used in climate change impact assessments to project production on a local scale, can obtain the daily weather information to drive them from models of the Earth's climate. General Circulation Models (GCMs), often used for this purpose, provide weather information for the entire globe but often cannot depict details of regional climates especially where complex topography plays an important role in weather patterns. The U.S. Pacific Northwest is an important wheat growing region where climate patterns are difficult to resolve with a coarse scale GCM. Here, we use the PNNL Regional Climate Model (RCM) which uses a sub-grid parameterization to resolve the complex topography and simulate meteorology to drive the Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) crop model. The climate scenarios were extracted from the PNNL-RCM baseline and 2 × CO₂ simulationsfor each of sixteen 90 km² grid cells of the RCM, with differentiation byelevation and without correction for climate biases. The dominant agricultural soil type and farm management practices were established for each grid cell. Using these climate and management data in EPIC, we simulated winter wheat production in eastern Washington for current climate conditions (baseline) and a 2 × CO₂ `greenhouse' scenario of climate change.Dryland wheat yields for the baseline climate averaged 4.52 Mg ha^–1 across the study region. Yields were zero at high elevations where temperatures were too low to allow the crops to mature. The highest yields (7.32 Mgha^–1) occurred at intermediate elevations with sufficientprecipitation and mild temperatures. Mean yield of dryland winter wheat increased to 5.45 Mg ha^–1 for the 2 × CO₂ climate, which wasmarkedly warmer and wetter. Simulated yields of irrigated wheat were generally higher than dryland yields and followed the same pattern but were, of course, less sensitive to increases in precipitation. Increases in dryland and irrigated wheat yields were due, principally, to decreases in the frequency of temperature and water stress. This study shows that the elevation of a farm is a more important determinant of yield than farm location in eastern Washington and that climate changes would affect wheat yields at all farms in the study.     

Long-term Control Mechanisms of Stream Piracy Processes in Southeast Spain

The Gaudix Basin developed as an endorheic depression during the Upper Miocene-Upper Pleistocene. Its principal palaeogeographical lcharacteristics are a large lake in the eastern sector, an axial fluvial system and two fluvial systems transverse to it in the western sector. The uplift of a central sector of the Betic Cordillera during the Upper Pleistocene affected the study area, causing northward tilting from the Internal Zone of the cordillera (Sierra Nevada and Sierra de Baza), step-faulting of the Plio-Pleistocene infill of the ancient basin (leaving more northern sectors in a lower topographical position), alteration of fluvial current profiles and displacement of the ancient Axial System to a position very close to the divide between the ancient endorheic Gaudix Basin and the Guadalquivir Basin. This facilitated capture of the endorheic basin by the headward erosion of a tributary of the Guadalquivir River. The region then began to be rapidly eroded, as the new base level was now some 500 m lower than that of the ancient basin. The present drainage network is similar to that of the ancient endorheic basin as regards the location of the main streams and the distribution of drainage patterns and fluvial styles, although flow reversal is found in some stretches and a barbed drainage pattern appears locally. As a result of the inheritance of drainage from the ancient basin, fluvial superimposition is found in some stretches of the main streams. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Eutrophication processes and trophic interactions in a shallow estuary: Preliminary results based on stable isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N)

Stable isotopes ratios (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) were measured in primary producers and consumers of two bays with contrasting eutrophic conditions in the Patos Lagoon estuary, southern Brazil: the Justino bay, a more pristine ecosystem, and the Mangueira bay, a heavily polluted region that receives the Rio Grande city sewage and effluencts of several industries. δ¹³C values of organisms collected in both subsystems were not different, but δ¹⁵N values had significant statistical differences, ca. 3.5‰ higher in the Mangueira bay. It is likely that primary producers and consumers in this subsystem are greatly influenced by higher nitrogen input due to domestic and industrial sewages. The stable isotope analysis also corroborated several trophic interactions previously established by gut content analysis, and due to its higher sensitivity, it was possible to better determine the contributions of different primary producers and detrital fractions to the consumers' diets. It was confirmed that plant detritus represents the main food source for most organisms. The stable isotope analysis also demonstrated that detritivorous benthic organisms in the same habitat have distinct diet compositions, with differential consumption of C3 and C4 plants. This technique showed that some consumers that eat detritus do not have in their stable isotopic signature any relationship with that of plants. It is likely that these consumers assimilate their carbon and nitrogen from other sources like microalgae or microorganisms that colonize decaying plants.