Post-depositional 137Cs Mobility in the Sediments of Three Shallow Coastal Lagoons, SW England

We present ¹³⁷Cs profiles for three low lying coastal lagoons in Southwest England that show a decline in activity with sediment depth. ¹³⁷Cs inventories are lower than expected by comparison with local reference inventories despite the fact that sampling was undertaken in the deep-water zone of each lake where sediment and ¹³⁷Cs focusing would be expected. At all three locations, lake sediment ⁷Be and unsupported ²¹⁰Pb (²¹⁰Pb_un) inventories are not significantly lower than the local reference inventory. ¹³⁷Cs inventories in the study cores range from 38 to 95% of local reference inventories. The standing water level and mud: water interface at two sites are below maximum tide level and, at all three sites, salinity increases significantly in the water columns between low and high tide and in the pore waters of the underlying sediments. We suggest that the difference in hydrostatic pressure between sea level and standing water levels in the lagoons forces salt water up through the sediment column and that monovalent cations (especially Na⁺ and K⁺) replace ¹³⁷Cs on exchange sites leading to the upward migration and loss of ¹³⁷Cs. Rising sea levels may therefore contribute to remobilisation and release of ¹³⁷Cs to the aquatic environment from the sediments of coastal lagoons.     

Environmental Changes at the Desert Margin: An Assessment of Recent Paleolimnological Records in Lake Qarun, Middle Egypt

Lake Qarun has been profoundly affected by a combination of human activities and climatic changes during the past 5000 years. Instrumental records available for the 20th century show that during most of this period both lake water level and salinity increased and that by the late 1980s lake water salinity was approximately that of seawater. Sediment cores (c. 1 m long) were collected from this shallow (Z_max 8.4 m) saline lake in 1998 and the master core (QARU1) was used to examine the potential of paleolimnology for reconstructing the recent environmental history of the site. According to ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb radio-assay, the recent sediment accumulation rate in QARU1 was around 5 mm year⁻¹ during the latter half of the 20th century but radionuclide levels were low. Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) were present in the upper c. 30 cm of QARU1 and indicates contamination by low level particulate pollution, probably beginning around 1950. The record of exotic pollen (Casuarina) indicated that sediment at 51–52 cm depth dated to around 1930. Otherwise the pollen spectra indicated a strongly disturbed landscape with high ruderals and increased tree planting particularly since c. 1950. Diatom records were strongly affected by taphonomic processes including reworking and differential preservation but typical marine diatoms increased after the 1920s. Instrumental records show that the lake became more saline at this time. Freshwater taxa were present at approximately similar abundances throughout the core. This distribution probably reflected a combination of processes. Reworking of ancient freshwater diatomites is one likely source for freshwater diatoms in QARU1 but some taxa must also be contributed via the freshwater inflows. Overall, the diatom stratigraphy indicated increasingly salinity since the 1920s but provided no firm evidence of lake eutrophication. Diatom inferred salinity reconstructions were in only partial agreement with instrumental records but inferred for the lower section of the core (pre 20th century to the 1960s) accord with measured water salinity values. Surficial sediments of Lake Qarun contain environmental change records for the 20th century period but high sediment accumulation rate and pollen reflect the high degree of human disturbance in the region. Because of poor preservation and evidence of reworking, the relationships between diatom records and past water quality changes require careful interpretation, especially in the upper section of the core. Nevertheless, early to mid 20th century measurements of increasing lake water salinity are well supported by sediment records, a change that is probably linked to ingress of saline ground water     

Occurrence of salt water above fresh water in dynamic equilibrium in a coastal groundwater flow system near De Panne, Belgium

A salt water lens is found above fresh water under the shore between Dunkerque (France) and Nieuwpoort (Belgium). This inverse density distribution is in a dynamic equilibrium. It develops due to the infiltration of salt water on the back shore during high tide. Under this salt water lens, water infiltrated in the adjacent dune area flows towards the sea and discharges at the seabed. This water quality distribution differs from the classic salt water wedge under fresh water described in the literature. Here, the evolution to this water quality distribution is simulated with a density dependent numerical model. A large tidal range, shore morphology and a permeable groundwater reservoir are the main conditions for the observed water quality distribution. By altering these conditions, intermediate water quality distributions between the classic salt water wedge and the one discussed here develop. Based on these simulations, it is expected that similar kinds of inverse density distribution could be present in a number of coastal areas, which have tides, a gently sloping shore and a permeable substratum.     

Hydrogeochemical evolution of groundwater in a Mediterranean coastal aquifer, Mersin-Erdemli basin (Turkey)

In this study, hydrogeologic and hydrochemical information from the Mersin-Erdemli groundwater system were integrated and used to determine the main factors and mechanisms controlling the chemistry of groundwaters in the area and anthropogenic factors presently affecting them. The PHREEQC geochemical modeling demonstrated that relatively few phases are required to derive water chemistry in the area. In a broad sense, the reactions responsible for the hydrochemical evolution in the area fall into four categories: (1) silicate weathering reactions; (2) dissolution of salts; (3) precipitation of calcite, amorphous silica and kaolinite; (4) ion exchange. As determined by multivariate statistical analysis, anthropogenic factors show seasonality in the area where most contaminated waters related to fertilizer and fungicide applications that occur during early summer season.     

吐哈盆地十红滩铀矿床水文地球化学特征

本文根据水化学资料的研究,探讨了十红滩铀矿床含矿含水层高矿化度地下水的成因,分析了高矿化度水对铀溶解迁移的影响及碳酸盐的形成机理.     

冬季浙闽沿岸水分布的短期变动与风的关系初探

利用1999年7月至2003年5月期间的遥感数据,包括AVHRR海表层温度、QuikSCAT风场和风应力数据,在分析4年内月平均遥感温度场和风场特征与历年现场观测所获得的认识一致的基础上,选取2002年002-008天这一连续晴空的时段,尝试建立简单的沿岸冷水影响面积表征方法,初步探讨了冬季台湾海峡浙闽沿岸水分布的短期变动与风应力之间的关系。结果表明,风是决定冬季台湾海峡海表层温度逐日变动的关键因素,日平均SST与风应力的相关系数R2达到0·90。采用温度法(SST≤17℃)和温度空间距平法(≤-1℃)表征的浙闽沿岸水影响面积的变化趋势基本一致,而且影响面积的逐日变动与风应力显著相关,二者的相关系数R2分别达到0·90和0·91。     

On Extending The Flux-Profile Similarity Theory To Include Quasi-Homogeneous Conditions In The Marine Atmospheric Surface Layer

In order to apply Monin–Obukhov similarity theory to estimatethe profiles of mean quantities and surface fluxes from bulk meteorological parameters, the assumptions of homogeneityand stationarity must be valid. Unfortunately, in coastal zones as well as many other regions of interest, theseassumptions are often violated. In this paper, an extension to the theory is presented that considers systematically varyingstate variables. Along-wind variations of windspeed, atmospheric stratification, and roughness are examined with respectto their relative importance to momentum flux divergence, and the drag coefficient is shown to be systematicallylower in coastal zones. For profiles of scalars, an analysis of the set of quasi-homogeneous terms is only speculated,and the relative importance for the terms will strongly depend on which scalar is of interest.     

Formation of a shelfbreak front by freshwater discharge

The circulation and transport of freshwater generated by an idealized buoyant source is studied using a three-dimensional primitive equation model. Freshwater enters the continental shelf, turns anticyclonically and moves downstream in the direction of Kelvin wave propagation. In the region close to the source, the flow reaches an equilibrium in the bottom boundary layer so that freshwater does not spread offshore any further. This offshore equilibrium distance increases as we move downstream until the freshwater is able to feel the presence of the shelfbreak. A shelfbreak front forms and the shelfbreak prevents any further offshore spreading of freshwater in the bottom boundary layer.Two complimentary mechanisms are responsible for the slow cross-shelf migration of freshwater and subsequent trapping of shelfbreak fronts: bottom stress and topographic changes. The shelfbreak creates an active, dynamic process preventing leakage from the continental shelf region to the slope region. However, the dynamical process that traps the front to the shelfbreak is still unclear.The location of the shelfbreak front depends on four dimensionless parameters: scaled inlet volume transport, scaled breadth, scaled “diffusivity” and scaled shelf width. We develop empirical relations for predicting the location of the frontal bottom intersection, given these parameters.     

A high-resolution diatom reconstruction between 21,000 and 17,4000 14C yr BP from the southern Bolivian Altiplano (18–23°S)

A diatom study of lacustrine sediments in the southern part of the Bolivian Altiplano (Salar of Coipasa) provides a continuous record of the period 21,000–17,500 ¹⁴C yr BP. Constrained by seven AMS ¹⁴C dates, this record provides evidence that the Coipasa basin was filled by a shallow body of water during this time. Diatom/salinity and diatom/ionic composition transfer functions indicate that the lake was saline, dominated by sodium-chloride throughout all the period.A comparison with regional data shows that Lake Titicaca could not have overflowed towards the southern Bolivian Altiplano at that time. As this dry phase was not registered in Lake Coipasa, this lake was probably supplied by winter precipitation originating from the Pacific. But, recent data from the deep basin of Lake Titicaca show that the lake-level was higher during this time interval, and the question arises whether precipitation from Atlantic and Amazonia sources could have played an important role on the Altiplano during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). This hypothesis needs to match other available paleoclimatic data from the lowlands of tropical South America, where there is evidence that during the LGM, conditions were drier than today. Global climate simulations suggest a positive P-E on the Altiplano, due to a strong cooling, reducing evaporative demand more than any increase in precipitations. An increase of winter precipitation from the Pacific is in agreement with data from the Chilean coast showing a northward locations of the Westerlies during the LGM. This paleoclimatic hypothesis is also in agreement with a coupled ocean-atmosphere model, which indicates weaker summer precipitation and stronger winter precipitation in the tropical areas.     

Ibex diggings in the Negev Desert highlands of Israel as microhabitats for annual plants. Soil salinity, location and digging depth affecting variety and density of plant species

About 400 Nubian ibex (Capra ibex nubiana) dig many hundreds of temporary night beds, approximately 80 cm × 110 cm and 15 cm deep, on slopes near the edges of the cliffs bordering the Zin valley. The beds are used according to the wind direction and the size of the ibex group, which depends on the ibex social behaviour during the year.The diggings are gradually abandoned and become important microhabitats for seed accumulation and germination, seedling development and annual plant establishment. These are influenced by soil salinity, slope direction and angle, digging depth, and the time since the diggings were abandoned. A greater variety of plant species and plant density were found in these diggings than upslope from the diggings.