Early contamination of European flounder (Platichthys flesus) by PCDD/Fs and dioxin-like PCBs in European waters

Contamination levels and profiles of 7 polychlorinated-p-dioxins, 10 polychlorinated furans (PCDD/Fs) and 12 dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (dl-PCBs) were investigated in juvenile European flounder (Platichthys flesus) captured in different nursery areas in the northeastern Atlantic coast across its geographical distribution range. The toxic equivalent concentrations (WHO-TEQ_fish) were also determined in order to evaluate which P. flesus population was more exposed to dioxin-like toxicity. Juveniles caught in the Sørfjord (Norway) showed the lowest WHO-TEQ_fish concentration (0.052 pg WHO-TEQ_fish g⁻¹ wet weight) whereas the highest value was observed in fish from the Wadden Sea (The Netherlands; 0.291 pg WHO-TEQ_fish g⁻¹ ww), mainly due to the greater contribution of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, the most toxic congener. Nonetheless, when comparing the results with existent tissue residue-based toxicity benchmarks, no adverse effects resulting from PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs are expected to occur in flounder from the studied systems.     

Using a groundwater quality negotiation support system to change land-use management near a drinking-water abstraction in the Netherlands

A negotiation support system (NSS) was developed to solve groundwater conflicts that arose during land-use management. It was set up in cooperation with the stakeholders involved to provide information on the impact of land use, e.g., agriculture, nature (forested areas), recreation, and urban areas, on the quality of both infiltrating and abstracted groundwater. This NSS combined simulation programs that calculate (1) the concentrations of nitrate in shallow groundwater for each land-use area and (2) the transport of nitrate in the groundwater-saturated zone. The user interface of the NSS enabled scenario analyses. The NSS was validated at a drinking-water abstraction near Holten (the Netherlands) using a spatial planning process aimed at sustainable land-use and groundwater-resource management. Two land-use scenarios were considered: a base scenario reflecting the autonomous development and an adapted land-use scenario. The calculated results for shallow groundwater provided an explicit spatial overview of the impact of historical land use and N application on the quality of abstracted groundwater as well as insight into the impact of changes in land use and N application. Visualization of the conflicting interests of agriculture and the drinking-water abstraction helped all stakeholders accept the necessary changes in land use identified by the adapted land-use scenario of the NSS. These changes were included in the preferred land-use management option in the regional planning process, which has since been formalized. The NSS provided system insight, scoping analyses, and education, in addition to generating quantitative information on the impact of land-use functions on groundwater quality.     

Stratigraphic filtering and source penetration depth

Seismic exploration underneath highly heterogeneous layers such as basalt flows is possible by lowering the principal source frequency. Unfortunately this also reduces resolution. Wave‐localization theory is a multiple scattering theory that can be used to study stratigraphic filtering in chaotic lithologies. It predicts the apparent attenuation due to scattering of a plane wave traversing a layer with high velocity fluctuations. It can therefore predict the optimum principle source frequency in the trade‐off between loss of resolution and increased penetration depth. We show how this can be done with the help of a few statistical parameters derived from a well‐log analysis; namely, the average background velocity, the expected standard deviation in the velocity fluctuations, the typical scale length of the heterogeneities and the thickness of the basalt layer. In the likely situation that no local well logs exist, a multitude of scenarios can easily be examined at low cost.     

Micromorphological Analysis of Coastal Sediments from Willapa Bay, Washington, USA: A Technique for Analysing Inferred Tsunami Deposits

Tsunami deposits are provisionally distinguished in the field on the basis of anomalous sand horizons, fining-up and fining-landward, coupled with organic-rich, fragmented `backwash' sediments. In this paper, micromorphological features of a sediment sequence previously interpreted as being of tsunami origin are described. These characteristics are shown to be consistent with the macro-scale features used elsewhere, but show additional details not seen in standard stratigraphies, including possible evidence for individual waves, possibly wave-magnitude progression, organic fragment alignment and intraclast microstructures. Although replication and more complete studies are needed, this analysis confirms the identification of a tsunami in Willapa Bay in ca.1700 AD, while demonstrating a widely applicable technique for confirming or refuting possible tsunami deposits.     

Seismic buffer recognition using wavelet-based features and neural classification

One of the first operations in a seismic signal processing system applied to earthquake data is to distinguish between valid and invalid records. Since valid signals are characterized by a combination of their time and frequency properties, wavelets are natural candidates for describing seismic features in a compact way. This paper develops a seismic buffer pattern recognition technique, comprising wavelet-based feature extraction, feature selection based on the mutual information criterion, and neural classification based on feedforward networks. The ability of the wavelet transform to capture discriminating information from seismic data in a small number of features is compared with alternative feature reduction techniques, including statistical moments. Three different variations of the wavelet transform are used to extract features: the discrete wavelet transform, the single wavelet transform and the continuous wavelet transform. The mutual information criterion is employed to select a relatively small set of wavelets from the time–frequency grid. Firstly, it is determined whether wavelets can capture more informative data in an equal number of features compared with other features derived from raw data. Secondly, wavelet-based features are compared with features selected based on prior knowledge of class differences. Thirdly, a technique is developed to optimize wavelet features as part of the neural network training process, by using the wavelet neural network architecture. The automated classification techniques developed in this paper are shown to perform similarly to human operators trained for this function. Wavelet-based techniques are found to be useful, both for preprocessing of the raw data and for extracting features from the data. It is demonstrated that the definition of wavelet features can be optimized using the classification wavelet network architecture.     

Flexural subsidence by 29 Ma on the NE edge of Tibet from the magnetostratigraphy of Linxia Basin, China

This study provides a detailed magnetostratigraphic record of subsidence in the Linxia Basin, documenting a 27 Myr long sedimentary record from the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Deposition in the Linxia Basin began at 29 Ma and continued nearly uninterruptedly until 1.7 Ma. Increasing rates of subsidence between 29 and 6 Ma in the Linxia Basin suggest deposition in the foredeep portion of a flexural basin and constrain the timing of shortening in the northeastern margin of the plateau to Late Oligocene–Late Miocene time. By Late Miocene–Early Pliocene time, a decrease in subsidence rates in the Linxia Basin associated with thrust faulting and a 10° clockwise rotation in the basin indicates that the deformation front of the Tibetan plateau had propagated into the currently deforming region northeast of the plateau.     

Sediment cascades and the entangled relationship between human impact and natural dynamics at the pre-pottery Neolithic site of Göbekli Tepe,Anatolia

This study presents a meta-analysis of radiocarbon ages for the environs of Göbekli Tepe – one of the oldest monumental structures worldwide – using cumulative probability functions to diachronically assess phases of geomorphodynamic activity as controlled by natural or anthropogenic drivers. We employ sediment cascades as a heuristic framework to study the complex responses of the geomorphological system to various triggers at local to supra-regional scales. Possible triggers include climatic variability as documented by supra-regional hydroclimatic proxy data, regional demographic trends, and local to regional socioeconomic developments such as the emergence of sedentism or the introduction and dispersal of livestock herding. Our results show that phases of intensified geomorphodynamic activity occurred between ca. 7.4–7.0 and 5.8–3.3 ka BP. These phases roughly coincide with phases of population growth in southern Turkey and climatic variations in Turkey and the Levant. The phase between ca. 5.8–3.3 ka BP also corresponds to the time when organized agriculture and the seeder plough were introduced. Also, the identified phases are in agreement with the general trend of varying geomorphodynamic activity in the Eastern Mediterranean as driven by human impact and climatic change. However, neither the Younger Dryas–Holocene transition nor the development of herding during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic left a clear signature. We demonstrate how the different depositional environments in the studied landscape compartments vary with respect to their spatiotemporal coverage and discuss challenges when trying to understand processes that once shaped landscapes of past societies. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Late Holocene flood magnitudes in the Lower Rhine river valley and upper delta resolved by a two-dimensional hydraulic modelling approach

Palaeoflood hydraulic modelling is essential for quantifying ‘millennial flood’ events not covered in the instrumental record. Palaeoflood modelling research has largely focused on one-dimensional analysis for geomorphologically stable fluvial settings because two-dimensional analysis for dynamic alluvial settings is time consuming and requires a detailed representation of the past landscape. In this study, we make the step to spatially continuous palaeoflood modelling for a large and dynamic lowland area. We applied advanced hydraulic model simulations (1D–2D coupled set-up in HEC-RAS with 950 channel sections and 108 × 10³ floodplain grid cells) to quantify the extent and magnitude of past floods in the Lower Rhine river valley and upper delta. As input, we used a high-resolution terrain reconstruction (palaeo-DEM) of the area in early mediaeval times, complemented with hydraulic roughness values. After conducting a series of model runs with increasing discharge magnitudes at the upstream boundary, we compared the simulated flood water levels with an inventory of exceeded and non-exceeded elevations extracted from various geological, archaeological and historical sources. This comparison demonstrated a Lower Rhine millennial flood magnitude of approximately 14,000 m³/s for the Late Holocene period before late mediaeval times. This value exceeds the largest measured discharges in the instrumental record, but not the design discharges currently accounted for in flood risk management.