Live (stained) benthic foraminifera from the Rhône prodelta (Gulf of Lion,NW Mediterranean): Environmental controls on a river-dominated shelf

In this paper, we investigate the ecology of live (rose Bengal stained) benthic foraminifera collected at 20 stations ranging from 15 to 100 m depth in the Rhône prodelta (Gulf of Lions, NW Mediterranean). These sites were sampled in September 2006, five months after the Rhône River annual flood. Statistical analyses based on foraminiferal communities (> 150 μm) divide our study area into six main biofacies directly related to environmental conditions. Miliolid species are abundant in the relict prodeltaic lobe which is characterised by sand with low organic matter content. Close to the river mouth, the limited oxygen penetration in the sediment combined with important hydro-sedimentary processes constitute stressful conditions for foraminiferal faunas dominated by opportunistic species (e.g. Leptohalysis scottii). With increasing distance from the river mouth, foraminiferal faunas (e.g. Nonionella turgida, Eggerella scabra) adapted to thrive in sediments enriched in Rhône-derived organic matter under more stable hydro-sedimentary conditions appear. In the distal part of the Rhône River influence, benthic species (e.g. Valvulineria bradyana, Textularia agglutinans) living in fine sediment enriched in both continental and marine organic compounds emerge. At the deepest stations located in the south-eastern part of our study area, benthic foraminiferal faunas (e.g. Bulimina aculeata, Melonis barleeanus, Bigenerina nodosaria) are highly diverse, underlining stable environmental conditions characterised by marine-derived organic matter supplies and relatively deep oxygen penetration depth in the sediment. We also compare foraminiferal faunas sampled in September 2006 with communities sampled in June 2005, one month after the Rhône River annual flood (Mojtahid et al., 2009). This comparison suggests that opportunistic species (e.g. B. aculeata, Cassidulina carinata, V. bradyana) have responded to organic matter inputs related to marine primary production in June 2005.     

GIS-based land suitability analysis integrating multi-criteria evaluation for the allocation of potential pollution sources

The geological environment has been heavily polluted by chemical substances over the past few decades. Pollution sources located on the earth’s surface or underground have affected the quality of the environment. A significant amount of impact could be reduced if the allocation of potential pollution sources was based on an evaluation of environmental conditions. The main objective of this study was to develop a methodology for the allocation of potential pollution sources by employing GIS and multi-criteria evaluation techniques. This methodology was applied to a study area located in the eastern part of Lithuania. A GIS-based land suitability analysis was performed after identifying 16 factors concerning the geological and socio-economic environment, which were important for environmental protection, land use and spatial planning. The environmental and socio-economic factors were divided into eliminating and limiting criteria. Criteria maps based on the selected factors were compiled. Areas delineated by eliminating criteria were identified as unsuitable for development (according to national legislation). Limiting criteria were evaluated according to the suitability level, which were determined in this study considering the principles of sustainable development. The relative importance of each criterion was assessed utilising the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). A land suitability index (LSI) was calculated and the final result of the land suitability analysis was summarized in three suitability maps (environmental, socio-economic and composite). Four suitability classes (unsuitable, least, moderately and most suitable) for the allocation of potential pollution sources in the study area were used, and the nine most suitable candidate sites were selected according to the proposed methodology.     

Real-time genetic spatial optimization to improve forest fire spread forecasting in high-performance computing environments

Abstract

Forest fires are a kind of natural hazard with a high number of occurrences in southern European countries. To avoid major damages and to improve forest fire management, one can use forest fire spread simulators to predict fire behavior. When providing forest fire predictions, there are two main considerations: accuracy and computation time. In the context of natural hazards simulation, it is well known that part of the final forecast error comes from uncertainty in the input data. These data typically consist of a set of GIS files, which should be appropriately conflated. For this reason, several input data calibration methods have been developed by the scientific community. In this work, the Two-Stage calibration methodology, which has been shown to provide good results, is used. This calibration strategy is computationally intensive and time-consuming because it uses a Genetic Algorithm as a solution. Taking into account the aspect of urgency in forest fire spread prediction, it is necessary to maintain a balance between accuracy and the time needed to calibrate the input parameters. In order to take advantage of this technique, one must deal with the problem that some of the obtained solutions are impractical, since they involve simulation times that are too long, preventing the prediction system from being deployed at an operational level. A new method which finds the minimum resolution reduction for such long simulations, keeping accuracy loss to a known interval, is proposed. The proposed improvement is based on a time-aware core allocation policy that enables real-time forest fire spread forecasting. The final prediction system is a cyberinfrastructure, which enables forest fire spread prediction at real time.     

Geoscience for environmental planning in Lithuania

While consideration of natural environment factors increased in the late eighties, from the very beginning geoscience was outside the planning process. It was a consequence of the state of applied geology in Lithuania. During this time the development of certain industrial projects was stopped; urgent environment protection measures came into use; it was recognised that nonrational utilization depleted resources.     

Water organisation at the solid–aqueous solution interfaceOrganisation de l'eau à l'interface solide–solution aqueuse

The aim of this review is to examine the present knowledge about water structure close to an interface or confined in porous spaces. First, the structure of liquid water is briefly described. Though its understanding remains incomplete, it appears that it is largely dominated by the hydrogen bond network and its dynamical evolution. The presence of any ‘foreign’ substance in water perturbs such a structure by changing at least locally the hydrogen bond network. For this reason, the presence of a solid interface significantly modifies the structure of the first adsorbed layers. Whatever the support, it is now clearly evidenced that structural perturbations are limited to distances lower than 10–15 Å from the interface. The nature, energetic heterogeneity and hydrophilicility/hydrophobicity of the solid surface influence the arrangement of water molecules. This surface organisation must definitely be considered when studying adsorption phenomena at the solid–aqueous solution interface. The relevance of such problems to geosciences is illustrated by a few situations in which water structure plays a prominent role. To cite this article: L.J. Michot et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 611–631.     

Geomagnetic variation peculiarities at middle latitudes of the East European Platform

The results of instrumental observations of geomagnetic variations at the Mikhnevo midlatitudinal observatory of Institute of Geosphere Dynamics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (54.9595° N; 37.7664° E) are presented and discussed. The main periodicities of the local background variations of geomagnetic field are determined. Variations of ~ 27 days have been registered, as well as periodicities with periods of ~6–9, 12–14, 60 days, and a semiannual periodicity. It has been shown that the background geomagnetic variation periodicities have a sporadic and scaling character. An alternating effect of increasing and degradation periods in geomagnetic variation intensity (the intermittency effect) is found.     

Insight into variability of spring and flash flood events in Lithuania

In this research, variability of spring (from 1 March to 30 May) and flash (from 1 June to 30 November) floods in rivers of different regions was analysed. The territory of Lithuania is divided into three regions according to hydrological regime of the rivers: Western, Central, and Southeastern. The maximum river discharge data of spring and flash floods [a total of 31 water gauging stations (WGS)] were analysed. Comparison of the data of four periods (1922–2013, 1941–2013, 1961–2013, and 1991–2013) with the data of the reference period (1961–1990) was performed. Analysis included the longest discharge data set of the Nemunas River at Smalininkai WGS (1812–2013) as well. Mixed patterns of flood changes in Lithuanian rivers were detected. The analysis of flood discharges of the Nemunas River indicated that both spring and flash floods in Lithuania were getting smaller.     

Spatial–temporal analysis of the shoreline change rate using automatic computation and geospatial tools along the Tetouan coast in Morocco

Natural Hazards - Analyzing and understanding coastline variability and dynamics are important for scientists and policy-makers. This study investigates the long-term process of shoreline change...     

Towards a link between the energetic heterogeneities of the edge faces of smectites and their stability in the context of metallic corrosion

In the context of the potential confinement of high-level radioactive wastes (HLW) within the clay engineered barrier system (EBS) in deep geological formations, the evolution of the retention properties of smectite when interacting with Fe(0) needs to be assessed. If some potential natural analogues describing iron-clay reactivity are easily found, metallic iron-clay interactions are poorly described in studies regarding the Earth. Therefore, experimental investigations are needed. Several parameters influence Fe(0)-clay interactions, such as temperature, the interlayer composition of swelling clays, and the presence of octahedral Fe³⁺, etc. From a geometrical point of view, it is thought that clay destabilization is mainly controlled by phenomena starting at the edge faces of the particles. In the present work, the rates of the smectite-Fe(0) reaction at 80 °C were assessed by XRD, Mössbauer, and CEC analyses for three smectites. The investigations show marked differences in the degree of stability, which cannot be explained by the crystal-chemistry rules established in previous studies. Therefore, the Fe(0)-smectite interactions were studied in view of textural and energetic surface quantitative analyses. The studied smectites have equivalent nitrogen BET-specific surface areas, equivalent argon edge surface areas and slightly different basal surface areas. This similarity in particle shape indicates that the edge surface area cannot be accounted for when explaining the observed differences in reactivity. However, a correlation is obtained between smectite reactivity and the energetic heterogeneity of its edge faces. This is interpreted in terms of a multiplication of the number of sites on the edge faces, where the electron transfer between Fe(0) and the smectite structure can occur.