Evaluation of the removal of heavy metals in a natural wetland impacted by mining activities in Mexico

This research is focused on evaluating heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn) uptake and removal by Eleocharis ovata, Cyperus manimae, Typha dominguensis, and Pteridium aquilinum in a natural wetland impacted by mining activities. We analyzed heavy metals content and distribution in native plants, soils, and water of a semipermanent natural wetland in Taxco de Alarcón, Guerrero, and we also determined the physicochemical characteristics of the water. Translocation factor (TF) and bioconcentration factor (BCF) were evaluated. Results showed that physical and chemical conditions are favorable for plants development. Correlation analysis showed a good and positive relation (0.95) between Cu and Pb in soils and plants. In the analyzed matrices: Zn (0.62–2.20 mg/L) exceeded the permissible limits in water, high concentrations of Pb and Zn (26.57–525.67 and 266.67–983.33 mg/kg, respectively) were detected in the studied soils, and Pb exceeded the normal range for E. ovata and P. aquilinum in the analyzed plants. Uptake of heavy metals in the tissues of different species was found in the following order: root > leaf. Data of TF and BCF showed that E. ovata is a tolerant plant with respect to heavy metals exposure since TF value was greater than 1. This study showed that E. ovata could be considered as a bioaccumulator of heavy metals in contaminated soils.     

Advances and Practices on the Research,Prevention and Control of Land Subsidence in Coastal Cities

Land subsidence severely threatens most of the coastal plains around the world where high productive industrial and agricultural activities and urban centers are concentrated. Coastal subsidence damages infrastructures and exacerbates the effect of the sea-level rise at regional scale. Although it is a well-known process, there is still much more to be improved on the monitoring, mapping and modeling of ground movements, as well as the understanding of controlling mechanisms. The International G...     

Brine evolution in two inland evaporative environments: influence of microbial mats in mineral precipitation

This paper gives new insight into the precipitation sequences in six playa basins that host microbial mats. The study basins are distributed across two evaporitic endorheic drainage systems located in the Central part of Spain with markedly different hydrochemistry and mineralogy. One group, in the north, consists of highly alkaline, brackish to saline lakes containing a high concentration of chloride with dominant carbonate over sulphates. A second group of lakes are mesosaline to hypersaline, with sulphate the dominant anion over chloride. Mineral assemblages identified in both contain several phases that provide evidence for mixed carbonate-sulphate precipitation pathways, in the north, and sulphate-dominated pathways in the south. Regardless of their ionic composition, saline lakes support thin veneers of microbial mats which, by integrating several lines of evidence (hydrochemical and physical analyses, statistical analyses of ions, mineralogical assemblages, textural relationships among mineral phases and microbial mats) are shown to modify the chemical behavior of the evaporitic sediment and promote the formation of carbonates and sulphates from Ca-poor waters with high Mg/Ca ratios. Geochemical changes induced in the environment surrounding the microorganism favor the nucleation of hydrated Mg-carbonates (hydromagnesite and nesquehonite), calcite and dolomite. Simultaneously, the microbial mats provide nucleation sites for gypsum crystals, where they are subjected to episodic stages of growth and dissolution due to saturation indices close to zero. In addition, the bubbles produced by the metabolic activities of microorganisms are shown to promote the precipitation of hydrated Mg-sulphates, despite permanent subsaturation levels. Although common in the studied playa basins, this effect has not been previously reported and is key to understanding sulphate behavior and distribution. Modern and natural evaporitic microbial environments are important analogs for understanding brine evolution and mineral precipitation pathways in shallow water settings that have existed since the Archean on Earth and perhaps on Mars.     

Understanding and managing the morphology of branches incising into sand-clay deposits in the Dutch Rhine Delta

In the Rhine-Meuse delta in the south-western part of the Netherlands,the morphology of the river branches is highly dependent on the erodibility of the subsoil.Erosion processes that were initiated after closure of the Haringvliet estuary branch by a dam(in 1970),caused a strong incision of several connecting branches.Due to the geological evolution of this area the lithology of the subsoil shows large variations in highly erodible sand and poorly erodible peat and clay layers.This study shows how the geological information can be used to create 3D maps of the erodibility of the sub-soil, and how this information can be used to schematize the sub-soil in computational models for morphological simulations.Local incisement of sand patches between areas with poorly erodible bed causes deep scour holes,hence increasing the risk on river-bank instability(flow slides) and damage to constructions such as groynes,quays,tunnels, and pipelines.Various types of mathematical models,ranging from 1D(SOBEK) to quasi-3D(Delft3D) have been applied to study the future development of the river bed and possible management options.The results of these approaches demonstrate that models require inclusion of a layer-bookkeeping approach for sub-soil schematization, non-uniform sediment fractions(sand-mud),tidal and river-discharge boundary conditions,and capacity-reduction transport modeling.For risk-reducing river management it has been shown how the development of the river bed can be addressed on a large scale and small scale.For instance,the use of sediment feeding and fixation of bed can be proposed for large-scale management,while monitoring and interventions at initiation of erosion can be proposed as response to small-scale developments that exceed predefined intervention levels.     

Stratigraphy, Chronology, and Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Quaternary Sedimentary Infilling of a Volcanic Tube in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

La Cueva del Llano is a volcanic tube of Pleistocene age on Fuerteventura Island, in the Canary Islands. Part of it is infilled with sediments of external origin. These deposits are exceptional in stratigraphic complexity and thickness compared with other known tube infillings, and they comprise nine stratigraphic units deposited in five phases. In Phase I, which has not been dated, sedimentation of cinder from a nearby cone occurred. Phase II began ca. 16,830 ± 900 ¹⁴C yr B.P., whereas phase IV dates to 9280 ± 370 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The interpretation of sedimentary features shows that phases III and V correspond to a dry climate, similar to the present one, whereas the climate was much wetter during phases II and IV. This paleoclimatic sequence agrees with those suggested by the study of deposits formed in other sedimentary environments, not only in Fuerteventura but on other islands of the Canary group and the Sud-Maroc region.     

Meteorites at Meridiani Planum provide evidence for significant amounts of surface and near‐surface water on early Mars

Abstract– Six large iron meteorites have been discovered in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in a nearly 25 km‐long traverse. Herein, we review and synthesize the available data to propose that the discovery and characteristics of the six meteorites could be explained as the result of their impact into a soft and wet surface, sometime during the Noachian or the Hesperian, subsequently to be exposed at the Martian surface through differential erosion. As recorded by its sediments and chemical deposits, Meridiani has been interpreted to have undergone a watery past, including a shallow sea, a playa, an environment of fluctuating ground water, and/or an icy landscape. Meteorites could have been encased upon impact and/or subsequently buried, and kept underground for a long time, shielded from the atmosphere. The meteorites apparently underwent significant chemical weathering due to aqueous alteration, as indicated by cavernous features that suggest differential acidic corrosion removing less resistant material and softer inclusions. During the Amazonian, the almost complete disappearance of surface water and desiccation of the landscape, followed by induration of the sediments and subsequent differential erosion and degradation of Meridiani sediments, including at least 10–80 m of deflation in the last 3–3.5 Gy, would have exposed the buried meteorites. We conclude that the iron meteorites support the hypothesis that Mars once had a denser atmosphere and considerable amounts of water and/or water ice at and/or near the surface.     

Polarization Models for Rayleigh Scattering Planetary Atmospheres

We present Monte Carlo simulations for the polarization of light reflected from planetary atmospheres. We investigate dependencies of intensity and polarization on three main parameters: single scattering albedo, optical depth of a scattering layer, and albedo of a Lambert surface underneath. The main scattering process considered is Rayleigh scattering, but isotropic scattering and enhanced forward scattering on haze particles are also investigated. We discuss disk integrated results for all phase angles and radial profiles of the limb polarization at opposition. These results are useful to interpret available limb polarization measurements of solar system planets and to predict the polarization of extra-solar planets as a preparation for VLT/SPHERE. Most favorable for a detection are planets with an optically thick Rayleigh-scattering layer. The limb polarization of Uranus and Neptune is especially sensitive to the vertically stratified methane mixing ratio. From limb polarization measurements constraints on the polarization at large phase angles can be set.     

地下水人工回灌气相堵塞特征的试验研究

地下水人工回灌可以高效地利用雨季丰沛的水量来缓解地下水过量开采造成的海水入侵、泉水断流等环境水文地质问题,但回灌堵塞一直是制约人工回灌效率的关键问题。针对雨洪水回灌携带的大量气泡问题,设计室内砂柱试验模拟装置,利用曝气水进行人工回灌,定时记录试验过程中测压管读数及出流流量,利用达西定律计算各层渗透系数,研究气相堵塞的发展过程和规律。结果表明:回灌过程中由于气相堵塞导致含水层渗透系数随时间呈指数衰减,气相堵塞主要发生在介质浅表层（0~30 cm）,且随时间有向下发展的趋势,堵塞速率随深度的增加逐渐减小,在回灌过程中适时停灌进行排气有利于减小气相堵塞对回灌效率的影响。     

Vegetation re-establishment in polar "lichen-kill" landscapes: a case study of the Little Ice Age impact

It has been accepted that the extremely sparse vegetation currently observed in Canadian polar deserts is due to prevailing unfavourable climatic conditions, inhibiting plant establishment, growth and survival. Less considered in the literature is the additional antagonistic factor of episodic adverse climatic anomalies. Such was the most recent Little Ice Age (LIA) cooling which caused a setback to, or even largescale extinction of, high Arctic plant communities that had taken centuries to develop. The LIA brought about new glacial advances, expansion of permanent snow banks and formation of ice crusts over entire landscapes. The newly formed ice (and snow) killed the underlying vegetation, thus creating what is in the geological literature referred to as "lichen-kill zones." In these zones the current plant diversity and abundance are exceedingly low and the plants are all relatively young and even-aged, factors which all point to their recent origin. Here we maintain that this vegetation has not yet reached equilibrium with the present prevailing climate and that it is still in an initial stage of succession. We present results of eight upland sites sampled in the vicinity of Alexandra Fiord Lowland, Ellesmere Island, Canada, to demonstrate the slow recolonization process that has been occurring within the last 100–150 years after the LIA termination. The widespread presence of the "lichen-kill" zones throughout the Canadian polar regions reflects the extent and destructive nature of even minor climatic cooling on vulnerable polar ecosystems.     

Longitudinal and temporal patterns of benthic coarse particulate organic matter in the Agüera stream (northern Spain)

Benthic coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) was studied between November 92 and December 93 at four sites along the longitudinal gradient of the Agüera stream system (Northern Spain). CPOM was sorted in four main categories: leaves (several species), fruits and seeds, twigs and debris. Headwater site showed higher densities of total CPOM, leaves and twigs than downstream reaches, but no regular longitudinal pattern of change was noticed. The ranges of mean CPOM standing stock at the sampling sites were 20.5–74.1 g AFDW m^–2 (site B), 9.9–47.7 g AFDW m^–2 (site 5), 4.3–21.4g AFDW m^–2 (site 7) and 9.8–37.9 g AFDW m^–2 (site 9). The particulate matter at downstream sites was in a more advanced stage of breakdown probably as a result of processing and transport from upstream reaches. Leaves species composition of benthic CPOM clearly reflected the type of riparian vegetation at each site. The timing of inputs and the hydrologic regime appeared to act together influencing temporal dynamics of benthic CPOM. A gradual temporal change in species composition of benthic leaf litter was observed under natural mature deciduous forest: first alder, later chestnut and finally oak.