A heuristic model for potential geomorphic influences on trophic interactions in streams

Whereas certain linkages between stream channel morphology and stream ecology are fairly well-understood, how geomorphology influences trophic interactions remains largely unknown. As a first step, a simple, heuristic model is developed that couples reach-scale geomorphic morphology with trophic dynamics between vegetation, detritus, herbivores, and predators. Predation is assumed to increase with depth beyond a threshold depth, and herbivory is assumed to decrease with velocity beyond a threshold velocity. Results show that the modeled food chain is sensitive to channel geometry, particularly around the threshold conditions for predators and herbivores. Importantly, geomorphic influences are not isolated to a particular trophic level, but rather are transferred through the food chain via top-down and bottom-up effects. The modeled system is particularly sensitive to changes in the end-members of the food chain: vegetation and predators. Results illustrate that geomorphic disturbances, known to affect a single trophic level (e.g., fish), likely impact multiple trophic levels in the stream ecosystem via trophic interactions. Such impacts at the multiple trophic level are poorly understood. While limited by the lack of empirical long-term data for testing and calibration, this simple model provides a structure for generating hypotheses, collecting targeted data, and assessing the potential impacts of stream disturbance or restoration on entire stream ecosystems. Further, the model illustrates the potential for future coupled stream models to explore spatial and temporal linkages.     

Constructal view of scaling laws of river basins

River basins are examples of naturally organized flow architectures whose scaling properties have been noticed long ago. Based on data of geometric characteristics, Horton [Horton, R.E., 1932. Drainage basin characteristics. EOS Trans. AGU 13, 350–361.], Hack [Hack, J.T., 1957. Studies of longitudinal profiles in Virginia and Maryland. USGS Professional Papers 294-B, Washington DC, pp. 46–97.], and Melton [Melton, M.A, 1958. Correlation structure of morphometric properties of drainage systems and their controlling agents. J. of Geology 66, 35–56.] proposed scaling laws that are considered to describe rather accurately the actual river basins. What we show here is that these scaling laws can be anticipated based on Constructal Theory, which views the pathways by which drainage networks develop in a basin not as the result of chance but as flow architectures that originate naturally as the result of minimization of the overall resistance to flow (Constructal Law).     

Flow and form in rehabilitation of large-river ecosystems: An example from the Lower Missouri River

On large, intensively engineered rivers like the Lower Missouri, the template of the physical habitat is determined by the nearly independent interaction of channel form and flow regime. We evaluated the interaction between flow and form by modeling four combinations of modern and historical channel form and modern and historical flow regimes. The analysis used shallow, slow water (shallow-water habitat, SWH, defined as depths between 0 and 1.5 m, and current velocities between 0 and 0.75 m/s) as an indicator of habitat that has been lost on many intensively engineered rivers and one that is thought to be especially important in rearing of young fishes. Two-dimensional hydrodynamic models for modern and historical channels of the Lower Missouri River at Hermann, Missouri, indicate substantial differences between the two channels in total availability and spatial characteristics of SWH. In the modern channel, SWH is maximized at extremely low flows and in overbank flows, whereas the historical channel had substantially more SWH at all discharges and SWH increased with increasing discharge. The historical channel form produced 3–7 times the SWH area of the modern channel regardless of flow regime. The effect of flow regime is evident in increased within-year SWH variability with the natural flow regime, including significant seasonal peaks of SWH associated with spring flooding. Comparison with other reaches along the Lower Missouri River indicates that a) channel form is the dominant control of the availability of habitat even in reaches where the hydrograph is more intensively altered, and b) rehabilitation projects that move toward the historical condition can be successful in increasing topographic diversity and thereby decreasing sensitivity of the availability of habitat to flow regime. The relative efficacy of managing flow and form in creating SWH is useful information toward achieving socially acceptable rehabilitation of the ecosystem in large river systems.     

Modelling net erosion responses to enviroclimatic changes recorded upon multisecular timescales

Land use change has been recognized throughout the Earth as one of the most important factors influencing the occurrence of rainfall-driven geomorphological processes. However, relating the occurrence of historical soil erosion rates is difficult because of the lack of long-term research projects in river basins. Also, complex models are not adequate to reconstruct erosion rate changes because they require significant input data not always available on long timescales. Given the problems with assessing sediment yield using complex erosion models, the objective of this study is to explore a parsimonious scale-adapted erosion model (ADT) from the original Thornes and Douglas algorithms, which aims at reconstruction of annual net erosion (ANE) upon multisecular timescales. As a test site, the Calore River basin (3015 km² in southern Italy) provides a peculiar and unique opportunity for modelling erosion responses to climate and land cover changes, where input-data generation and interpretation results were also supported by documented hydrogeomorphological events that occurred before and after land deforestation. In this way, ANE_ADT-values were reconstructed for the period 1675–2004 by using precipitation indexes, complemented by recent instrumental records, and by using land cover statistics from documented agrarian sources. Pulses of natural sedimentation in the predeforestation period have been related to Vesuvius volcanic activity and changes in rainstorm frequency. After deforestation, the basin system became unstable with sudden fluctuations in the hydrogeomorphological regime contributing significantly to increased erosion and, in turn, sediment transport sequences via river drainage towards the Tyrrhenian coast.     

New typologies for estuarine morphology

New theories to explain how tides and river flow determine estuarine bathymetries have been developed. The range of validity of these theories has been subsequently assessed against a recently available observational data set.Success in reproducing the evolution of estuarine bathymetries that has occurred over the last 10 000 years provides the basis for the translation, here, of these theories into new typologies. These then provide reference frameworks to enhance our perspective on existing morphologies and identify ‘anomalous’ estuaries. Further refinement of these new theories requires analyses of causal factors responsible for such anomalies drawing on classical morphological experience. These frameworks can also be used for calculating likely future bathymetric adjustments for prescribed changes in mean sea level, tidal amplitudes, river flow and sediment supply.     

A highlight of environmental and engineering geology in Fargo, North Dakota, USA

Several unfavorable environmental and engineering geologic conditions exist in Fargo, North Dakota. Dominantly, the behavior of smectitic clays within the proglacial Lake Agassiz sediments of the Sherack and Brenna Formations creates subsoil instability beneath engineered structures in the Fargo area and slope instability within cutbank meanders of the Red River of the North. Unfavorable engineering geologic conditions encountered include: the elastic deformation of clayey glaciolacustrine soils, shrink-swell properties, inadequate bearing capacities, and mass movements. These conditions are responsible for structural failures including the Fargo Grain Elevator in 1955 and the Northern Pacific railroad grade. Bank failures along the Red River are common due to the inherent instability of Brenna Formation smectitic clays which are subject to plastic deformation in the subsurface, with resultant block failure of overlying Sherack Formation. Recent alluvial sediments due to typical fluvial action and the continued seasonal saturation of cutbank meanders within the floodplain also add to soil instability.     

Dissolved trace elements in river water: spatial distribution and the influencing factor, a study for the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, China

Twenty-nine water samples were collected from different river channels of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, China. An inductively coupled plasma-mass spectromonitor (ICP-MS) was used to measure concentrations of the trace elements in these samples. The results suggest that the average concentrations of rare earth elements in river water show an increasing trend from the West River, the North River, the rivers of the Pearl River Delta, and the Shenzhen River to the East River. Relatively high concentrations of heavy metals appear in the East River, the rivers of the Pearl River Delta and the Shenzhen River, while the West River and the North River have relatively low heavy metal concentrations. Trace element concentrations in samples collected near urban or industrial areas are much higher than those of samples collected from distant areas, away from urban and industrial areas. After natural conditions, human activities have significant influence on the trace element concentrations in river water. This trace element concentration’s spatial distribution in the river water from the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone is actually an integrated effect of natural conditions and human activity.     

Morphometric analysis of a subtropical Andean basin (Tucumán, Argentina)

A morphometric analysis was done to determine the drainage characteristics of Lules River basin using land-sat imageries and topographical maps. This catchment was divided into seven sub-basins for the analysis: Liquimayo, Hoyada, Ciénaga, De Las Tablas, Siambón, Potrerillo and San Javier. Yungas ecoregion covers almost all the watershed. The drainage patterns of the sub-basins are dendritic and parallel. The basin includes seventh order stream and lower streams order mostly dominate the basin. The development of stream segments is affected by slope and local relief. The mean bifurcation ratio indicates that the drainage pattern is not much influenced by geological structures. The shape parameters also reveal the elongation of the basin and sub-basins.     

Ammonium regeneration in intertidal sediments of the Yangtze estuary during air-exposure

The influences of exposure to the atmosphere on ammonium cycle in the intertidal surface sediments were in situ studied with a geochemical approach at a typical station in the Yangtze Estuary during three tidal cycles in September 2003. During an about 8-h emersion period of each diurnal tide, six high-resolution vertical profiles of adsorbed and dissolved ammonium were measured. It was observed that both adsorbed and dissolved ammonium generally had an increasing trend in sediment cores during the exposure. The rate of ammonium regeneration in sediments was estimated using the accumulation amount of ammonium including adsorbed and soluble fractions during the daytime emersion. The calculation result showed that there was relatively high ammonification rate (˜500 nmol N cm⁻³ day⁻¹), which reflected that organic nitrogen in sediments was quickly decomposed with a residence time of ˜52.7 days. Due to the dramatic temperature difference observed in sediment profiles, free convection was considered an important mechanism of regulating the efflux of produced ammonium into overlying waters. The total estimated amount of regenerated ammonium was ˜1.35×10⁵ t N year⁻¹ in the intertidal flat of the Yangtze Estuary, which occupied 7.6% of the total inorganic nitrogen annually transported to the estuarine ecosystem.     

乌江下游沿岸滑坡发育特征

乌江是黔东北和渝东南少数民族地区与外界联系的一条水上黄金通道。担负了流域内80％以上的客货运输量。满足了沿岸2000多万人民生产和生活必需品运输的需要。乌江下游的彭水县城至涪陵市是乌江进入长江航运的咽喉要道，沿岸广泛分布和频繁发生的滑坡严重地威胁着航运的安全。通过现场调查发现，在长约150km范围内，两岸共发育各类滑坡28个，发育线模数为0．187个／km。沿岸滑坡发育形式主要为岩石顺层滑坡和风化堆积层滑坡。沿岸滑坡具有群发性的分布特征，与地层岩性和河谷岸坡类型等密切相关。岩石顺层滑坡主要集中分布在顺向岸坡软、硬岩层相间地段。风化堆积层滑坡则主要分布在软岩地层及其风化物堆积的岸坡地段。构造变动、河流的切蚀作用及人类活动是滑坡发育形成的主要原因，暴雨和长时间降雨是滑坡发生的重要诱发因素。目前，多数滑坡处于稳定状态，少数滑坡受降雨及江水涨落的影响而处于周期性蠕动变形状态。三峡水库蓄水后，部分滑坡有复活的可能。