The External Tanger Unit (Intrarif sub-Domain,External Rifian Zones,Morocco): an interdisciplinary study

The External Tanger Unit represents one of the most complete Cretaceous-Miocene successions in the central areas of the Internal Intrarif sub-Domain (External Rif Zones, Morocco). An interdisciplinary study has been carried out to propose a new characterization of this unit which would allow a better comprehension of the confused and complex relationships among different units of the same sub-domain. The results achieved can be summarized as follows: (1) redefinition of the stratigraphic (litho-, bio-, and chrono-) record and introduction of a new, informal lithostratigraphic terminology; (2) recognition of two main depositional sequences (lower-middle Eocene p.p. and lower Oligocene p.p.-lower Miocene p.p.) separated by extended gaps (latest Cretaceous-early Eocene p.p. and middle Eocene p.p.-early Oligocene p.p.); (3) reconstruction of the evolution of the sedimentary realm, and of the relationships between tectonics and sedimentation; and (4) comparison between the upper Cretaceous-Miocene stratigraphic record and tectonic events of the Intrarif, which is located in the western external portion of the Maghrebian Flysch Basin, and the equivalent sedimentary record of the eastern portion of this basin in the Tunisian Tell. More in general, our results allowed (i) a first reconstruction of the Cretaceous-Miocene main tectono-sedimentary events; (ii) a more detailed location of the sedimentary suite in the external African Margin in the context of a wider palaeogeographic framework; and (iii) the definition of the main stages of the geological evolution of the area.     

Assessing the progress of desertification of the southern edge of Chihuahuan Desert: A case study of San Luis Potosi Plateau

The aim of this study is to establish if the San Luis Potosi Plateau (SLPP), which is part of the southern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, is generating desertification processes, indicating a progression of the desert toward the central part of Mexico. Therefore, we analyzed the temporal evolution of four environmental indicators of desertification: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), Iron Oxides Index (IO) and Surface Temperature (ST). Landsat TM images are used to cover a period from 1990 to 2011. A new equation of total balance is proposed to generate an image of the overall evolution of each factor which is applied to get a probability map of desertification. The evolution of NDVI, NDWI and IO shows a behavior almost stable over the time. In contrast, the ST shows a slight increase. The outcomes of this study confirm periods of vegetation re-greening and 8.80% of the SLPP has the highest probability to develop desertification. The most affected area is the portion west of the region, and the east and south are the least affected areas. The results suggest a slight advance of the desert, although most of the area doesn’t have the necessary conditions to develop desertification.     

The 1877–1878 El Niño episode: associated impacts in South America

At times when attention on climate issues is strongly focused on the assessment of potential impacts of future climate change due to the intensification of the planetary greenhouse effect, it is perhaps pertinent to look back and explore the consequences of past climate variability. In this article we examine a large disruption in global climate that occurred during 1877–1878, when human influence was negligible. The mechanisms explaining this global disturbance are not well established, but there is considerable evidence that the major El Niño episode that started by the end of 1876 and peaked during the 1877–1878 boreal winter contributed significantly to it. The associated regional climate anomalies were extremely destructive, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, where starvation due to intense droughts in Asia, South-East Asia and Africa took the lives of more than 20 million people. In South America regional precipitation anomalies were typical of El Niño events, with rainfall deficit and droughts in the northern portion of the continent as well as in northeast Brazil and the highlands of the central Andes (Altiplano). In contrast, anomalously intense rainfall and flooding episodes were reported for the coastal areas of southern Ecuador and Northern Perú, as well as along the extratropical West coast of the continent (central Chile, 30° S–40° S), and in the Paraná basin in the southeast region. By far the most devastating impacts in terms of suffering and loss of life occurred in the semiarid region of northeast Brazil where several hundreds of thousands of people died from starvation and diseases during the drought that started in 1877.     

Coupled modes of large-scale climatic variables and regional precipitation in the western Mediterranean in autumn

The variability of autumn precipitation in the western Mediterranean and its relationship to the large-scale atmospheric variability during the period 1948 to 1989 is assessed. A singular value decomposition analysis is used to establish modes of coupled variability between regional precipitation and geopotential height (Z300), zonal (U-wind) and meridional (V-wind) wind components at the 300 hPa level. The Z300/precipitation coupling, which accounts for 52% of the total squared covariance, is strong during the autumn. The first Z300 coupled mode, in its positive phase, is characterised by a dipole structure with negative anomalies over Scandinavia and positive anomalies over the Iberian Peninsula in the Z300 and negative precipitation anomalies in the western Mediterranean. In its negative phase, a coupled pattern is found showing a high-over-low block and positive precipitation anomalies over the Mediterranean area. The coupling depicted by the second mode is weaker than that found in the first mode. The second coupled mode (21% of the total squared covariance) is characterised by negative anomalies in the eastern North Atlantic and positive ones over North Africa and the central Mediterranean in the Z300 and negative anomalies in the regional precipitation. Consistent with the results of the two first modes mentioned, the coupled patterns of either U-wind/precipitation or V-wind/precipitation are found to be coherent with those for Z300/precipitation. Composite maps were obtained to give a representation of the average circulation associated with coherent precipitation variability in the western Mediterranean. The regional impacts of both modes are investigated and the large-scale dynamic patterns presented are important modes of variability. Taking into account data for the whole of the twentieth century, results show that the first singular mode is responsible for the decadal trends and long term changes in precipitation. The late 1970s and 1980s is shown as the drier period and the late 1950s and early 1960s as the wettest years of the century.     

Robust projections of Fire Weather Index in the Mediterranean using statistical downscaling

The effect of climate change on wildfires constitutes a serious concern in fire-prone regions with complex fire behavior such as the Mediterranean. The coarse resolution of future climate projections produced by General Circulation Models (GCMs) prevents their direct use in local climate change studies. Statistical downscaling techniques bridge this gap using empirical models that link the synoptic-scale variables from GCMs to the local variables of interest (using e.g. data from meteorological stations). In this paper, we investigate the application of statistical downscaling methods in the context of wildfire research, focusing in the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI), one of the most popular fire danger indices. We target on the Iberian Peninsula and Greece and use historical observations of the FWI meteorological drivers (temperature, humidity, wind and precipitation) in several local stations. In particular, we analyze the performance of the analog method, which is a convenient first choice for this problem since it guarantees physical and spatial consistency of the downscaled variables, regardless of their different statistical properties. First we validate the method in perfect model conditions using ERA-Interim reanalysis data. Overall, not all variables are downscaled with the same accuracy, with the poorest results (with spatially averaged daily correlations below 0.5) obtained for wind, followed by precipitation. Consequently, those FWI components mostly relying on those parameters exhibit the poorest results. However, those deficiencies are compensated in the resulting FWI values due to the overall high performance of temperature and relative humidity. Then, we check the suitability of the method to downscale control projections (20C3M scenario) from a single GCM (the ECHAM5 model) and compute the downscaled future fire danger projections for the transient A1B scenario. In order to detect problems due to non-stationarities related to climate change, we compare the results with those obtained with a Regional Climate Model (RCM) driven by the same GCM. Although both statistical and dynamical projections exhibit a similar pattern of risk increment in the first half of the 21st century, they diverge during the second half of the century. As a conclusion, we advocate caution in the use of projections for this last period, regardless of the regionalization technique applied.     

Influence of transient storage on stream nutrient uptake based on substrata manipulation

Quantification of the transient storage zone (A_s) has become critical in stream biogeochemical studies addressed to examine factors controlling nutrient uptake. It is expected that higher A_s may enhance the interaction between nutrients and biota and thus, increase nutrient uptake. However, results from the literature are controversial. We hypothesized that besides of the size of A_s, the intrinsic physical and biological characteristics of stream structures that generate A_s are also relevant for nutrient uptake. We performed 24 additions of phosphate, ammonium, and chloride in four reaches of a man-made channel where we introduced three types of naturally colonized substrata packs (mud, sand and cobbles) to modify A_s. We estimated ammonium and phosphate uptake coefficients in both the main channel and A_s using a solute transport model (OTIS-P) and compared the results among reaches with different substrata types. The introduction of substrata packs decreased water velocity and increased A_s similarly among treatments. Nutrient uptake coefficients in the main channel were similar among reaches with different type substrata packs; however, nutrient uptake coefficients measured in A_s differed among them as well as the ratio between ammonium and phosphorus uptake coefficients in A_s, which were 1.6 in reaches with mud packs and 0.02 in reaches with sand or cobble packs. Results obtained in this study suggest that the contribution of A_s in nutrient uptake not only depends on the size of A_s but on the type of materials used to increase A_s, and thus, have biogeochemical implications on restoration projects aimed to modify channel morphology.     

Characteristics of developing scour-holes at a sand-embedded cylinder

Characteristics of developing scour-holes at a sand-embedded 0.2 m diameter circular cylinder are presented. Non-intrusive, high-resolution topographic measurements of developing scour-holes were made with an experimental installation using a laser distance sensor （LDS） and precision step-motors. A clear-water experiment was conducted with bed shear stress equal to 95% of the critical bed shear stress for the initiation of sediment motion at the undisturbed plane sand bed with a d50 of 0.26 mm. During the running experiment of 21 hours duration, measurements were taken by the LDS in different azimuthal half-planes with θ= 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 135, 150, 165 and 180° in order to study the spatio-temporal variation of geometric properties in developing scour-holes. After 21 hours, the equilibrium condition was approached, with a scour rate less than d50 per hour. Measurement of maximum scour depth in different azimuthal half-planes at different points in time during the experiment show that scour started at the cylinder side and surrounded the cylinder after about 20% of experiment time. Slopes of developing scour-holes presented three regions with different inclinations, which were attributed to vortex action. Both maximum scour depth and maximum scour radius at different azimuthal half-planes are well correlated with the maximum scour depth at plane with θ = 0°. When providing maximum scour depth at the cylinder front, the presented correlations are useful for simple calculation of scour-hole topography. This work provides an experimental database for advanced numerical simulation for loose sediment hydraulics.     

Paleoshoreline reconstruction: A proposed method to approach submerged prehistoric landscapes of Espiritu Santo Island,Baja California Sur,Mexico

When the first Americans inhabited the area now known as Isla Espiritu Santo, around 12.5 and 6 ka, the sea level continuously rose. This resulted in the loss of the coastal territory and the retreat of the human population further inland. Part of the archaeological evidence of this period currently lies over the seafloor and under the seabed. Therefore, reconstructing paleoshorelines is a necessary first step toward submerged precontact archaeology and a broad understanding of the spatial context in which those human populations interacted and how the landscapes changed. Isla Espiritu Santo is of prehistoric importance as it contains numerous Paleocoastal tradition sites as early as ~12,400 Cal B.P. This research aims to reconstruct the changing shoreline positions as sea levels rose around Isla Espiritu Santo between 12.5 and 6.5 ka. We apply numerical modeling to map digital elevation models at 1 ka intervals by estimating the changes in the morphology of the seafloor according to the deposition rates and global sea-level curve. The results show the evolution of coastal morphology and paleoshoreline's position. Three primary geoforms are proposed: (1) coastal plains, (2) tombolo, and (3) a coastal lagoon–island barrier system. This also offers insights into the physical aspect of submerged prehistoric landscapes and the possible resource exploitation options of early societies. In this research, the reconstruction of submerged landscapes seeks to contribute to the long-term goal of locating submerged precontact sites.