Arsenic contamination of lake sediments in Florida: evidence of herbicide mobility from watershed soils

Organic arsenical herbicides, which include monosodium methylarsonate (MSMA), have been applied to golf courses and lawns throughout Florida, USA, since the 1950s. These products convert rapidly to inorganic forms of arsenic (As) in soils and are mobilized readily. Leachates have been known to contaminate groundwater and surface waters, although past studies have not examined whether use of these products has led to significant As accumulation in lake sediments. We used paleolimnological methods to document the depositional history and inventories of total As in sediments and porewaters of Little Lake Jackson in Florida, which is adjacent to three golf courses. Six sediment cores, four of which were ²¹⁰Pb dated, showed porewater total As concentrations as high as 435 μg l⁻¹, and dry-sediment total As concentrations as high as 148 mg kg⁻¹. Approximately 537 kg of total As is present in >19,000 metric tons of sediment (dry mass), and an additional 18 kg of As is dissolved in 10.8 × 10⁴ m³ of porewaters. Total As content in surface sediments (mean = 47.3 mg kg⁻¹) exceeds the consensus-based sedimentary concentration for probable toxicity effects in freshwater benthic fauna. Surface and subsurface waters flow to the lake from topographically higher areas to the west, where golf courses and residential areas are located. Total As concentrations were elevated highly in monitoring wells and in a stream that flows between the golf courses and lake, but As was below detection limits in wells that were located at the distal perimeter of the golf courses. Subsurface and surface waters exit the lake towards topographically lower areas to the east. Nearly all As in sediments remains bound in the solid phase, indicating that As sedimentary profiles largely reflect depositional history. Sedimentary As concentrations are correlated strongly with aluminum and iron, which suggests that As was scavenged from lake waters during the past. Sedimentary As concentrations increased until the 1980s, then declined somewhat to the present time. Dissolved As was scavenged efficiently from the water column when hypolimnetic waters were oxygenated persistently, but after eutrophication led to a seasonally anoxic hypolimnion in the 1980s, apparently less As was co-precipitated, and more was lost to hydrological outflow. Arsenic accumulation in sediments might be common in areas where As derived from organic arsenical herbicide applications is directed by shallow water tables towards adjacent lakes.     

Retrospective analysis of the impacts of major hurricanes on sediments in the lower Everglades and Florida Bay

A record of the impacts of major hurricanes on sediment stratigraphy and composition in subtropical ecosystems has been preserved in the lower Everglades and Florida Bay. These impacts were observed in discontinuous layers of sediment that were identified from high-resolution, vertical profiles of excess ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs. Discontinuities were found at different geographic locations and at two to three different depths in the sediment column; however, the layers were each deposited within time periods that corresponded with the passing of category 3–5 hurricanes during 1960, 1948 and 1935. A simple mass balance model for excess ²¹⁰Pb was used to show net changes of ±20–100% in excess ²¹⁰Pb inventory that resulted from sediment disturbances of <1 to >22 cm. Abrupt shifts in sediment composition were often observed in hurricane-impacted layers. Ratios of organic (C/P) were four- to fivefold higher than normal in post-hurricane layers of sediment at open bay sites. These layers are phosphorus poor and seem to reflect preferential decomposition of organic P relative to organic C in association with hurricanes. The net effect is for major hurricanes to redistribute sediment, organic matter and nutrients.This revised version was published online in July 2003.     

Sources of nitrate contamination and age of water in large karstic springs of Florida

In response to concerns about the steady increase in nitrate concentrations over the past several decades in many of Floridas first magnitude spring waters (discharge 2.8 m³/s), multiple isotopic and other chemical tracers were analyzed in water samples from 12 large springs to assess sources and timescales of nitrate contamination. Nitrate-N concentrations in spring waters ranged from 0.50 to 4.2 mg/L, and ¹⁵N values of nitrate in spring waters ranged from 2.6 to 7.9 per mil. Most ¹⁵N values were below 6 per mil indicating that inorganic fertilizers were the dominant source of nitrogen in these waters. Apparent ages of groundwater discharging from springs ranged from 5 to about 35 years, based on multi-tracer analyses (CFC-12, CFC-113, SF₆, ³H/³He) and a piston flow assumption; however, apparent tracer ages generally were not concordant. The most reliable spring-water ages appear to be based on tritium and ³He data, because concentrations of CFCs and SF₆ in several spring waters were much higher than would be expected from equilibration with modern atmospheric concentrations. Data for all tracers were most consistent with output curves for exponential and binary mixing models that represent mixtures of water in the Upper Floridan aquifer recharged since the early 1960s. Given that groundwater transit times are on the order of decades and are related to the prolonged input of nitrogen from multiple sources to the aquifer, nitrate could persist in groundwater that flows toward springs for several decades due to slow transport of solutes through the aquifer matrix.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Redundant Spaces in Cities and Regions? Studies in Industrial Decline and Social Change . J. Anderson, S. Duncan and R. Hudson. eds. The Social Consequences and Challenges of New Agricultural Technologies . Gigi M. Berardi and Charles C. Geisler, eds. Determinants of Fertility in Developing Countries, Vol. I, Supply and Demand for Children . Rodolfo A. Bultao and Ronald D. Lee, eds. Computer Mapping: Progress in the‘80s . James R. Carter. Washington: Colonial Africa . A. J. Christopher. Geography of the Soviet Union . J. P. Cole. Chicago Mapmakers, Essays on the Rise of the City's Map Trade . Michael P. Conzen, ed. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England . William Cronon. Mizner's Florida: American Resort Architecture . Donald W. Curl. Geographical Studies on the Soviet Union: Essays in Honor of Chauncy D. Harris . George Demko and Roland J. Fuchs, eds. Fluvial Hydrology . S. Lawrence Dingman. Pueblo Indian Water Rights: Struggle For a Precious Resource . Charles T. DuMars, Marilyn O'Leary and Albert E. Utton. Women in the Cities of Asia: Migration and Urban Adaptation . James T. Fawcett, Siew-Ean Khoo, and Peter C. Smith, eds. America's National Parks and Their Keepers . Ronald A. Foresta. Neighborhood Revitalization and the Postindustrial City . Dennis E. Gale. China in Canada: A Dialogue on Resources and Development . R. Louis Gentilcore, ed. China: The 80s Era . Norton Ginsburg and Bernard A. Lalor, eds. Boulder, CO: Global Resources: Challenges of Interdependence . Martin I. Glassner, ed. River Networks . Texas: A Geography . Terry G. Jordan with John L. Bean, Jr. and William M. Holmes. The American Frontier: An Archaeological Study of Settlement Pattern and Process . Kenneth E. Lewis. Water Resources, Geography and Law . Olen Paul Matthews. A Field Guide to American Houses . Virginia and Lee McAlester. Population: Patterns, Dynamics, and Prospects . James L. Newman and Gordon E. Matzke. Wood, Brick, and Stone, The North American Settlement Landscape, Vol. 1: Houses . Allen G. Noble. Historical Analysis in Geography . William Norton. The Displaced Worker and Community Response: Case Study of Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio . H. Milton Patton and Janet W. Patton. Disaster Management: Warning Response and Community Relocation . Ronald W. Perry and Alvin H. Muskatel. The Anthropology of Space: Explorations into the Natural Philosophy and Semantics of the Navajo . Rik Pinxten, Ingrid van Dooren, and Frank Harvey. What STYLE Is It? A Guide To American Architecture . John C. Poppeliers, S. Allen Chambers, Jr., and Nancy B. Schwartz. Appalachia: A Regional Geography—Land, People and Development . Karl Raitz and Richard Ulack. An Introduction to Urban Geography . John R. Short. Ford, A Village in the West Highlands of Scotland: A Case Study of Repopulation and Social Change in a Small Community . John B. Stephenson. Income and Jobs: USA Diagnosing the Reality . George Sternlieb and James W. Hughes. Weather and Climate of the Antarctic . W. Schwerdtfeger. History and Ecology: Studies of the Grassland, James C. Malin . Robert P. Swierenga, ed. Optimal Control of Spatial Systems . K. C. Tan and R. J. Bennett. Social Science and Revolutions . Stan Taylor. The Global Textile Industry . Brian Toyne, Jeffrey S. Arpan, David A. Ricks, Terence A. Shimp and Andy Barnett. Integrated Water Development: Water Use and Conservation Practice in Western Colorado . James L. Wescoat, Jr. Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Maps and Graphics for the Visually Handicapped . Joseph W. Wiedel, ed.     

基于串口控制的人影作业指挥系统

介绍基于RS-232串口控制的人影作业指挥系统的串口通信硬件电路连接、程序结构和地理模型。     

Inadvertent alkalization of a Florida lake caused by increased ionic and nutrient loading to its watershed

We evaluate the effects of land-use change since c.1890 on Little Lake Jackson in south-central Florida, USA. The lake currently is alkaline despite the prevalence of acidic lakes in the region. Watershed soils are acidic and poorly drained, but are underlain by limestone bedrock. Limnetic pH inferences, based on weighted-averaging tolerance regression of sedimented diatoms, indicate that Little Lake Jackson became significantly alkalized during the 1900s. Two driving forces that appear to be responsible for water-quality change are increased ionic loading and increased nutrient loading. Golf courses and residential lawns in the watershed receive substantial applications of lime, fertilizer, and irrigation with alkaline waters from deep wells, some of which reaches the lake in channelized runoff. Stormwater runoff and septic leachate also contribute to nutrient and solute loading. Sedimentary total P accumulation increased 5-fold and total N accumulation increased 3-fold since c. 1890. δ¹⁵N values suggest agricultural and septic sources for N loading. Sedimented pigments, inferred limnetic chlorophyll a values, and δ¹³C values of organic matter indicate that increased primary productivity occurred. Surface and subsurface inflow is nutrient-rich but low in hardness. Increased cation deposition in sediments indicates that ionic input might have reduced the lake’s natural resistance to alkalization. Lake waters remain low in ionic content, which suggests that the addition of base from carbonate sources is not responsible for all of the observed alkalization. Acid neutralization might have been facilitated by phosphate loading that led to increased base generation through greater nitrate assimilation. Inadvertent alkalization might occur commonly in regions where poorly buffered lakes are subject to significant ionic and nutrient loading from agriculture, turfgrass, and septic sources in their watersheds.     

Formation of phreatic caves in an eogenetic karst aquifer by CO2 enrichment at lower water tables and subsequent flooding by sea level rise

Formation of extensive phreatic caves in eogenetic karst aquifers is widely believed to require mixing of fresh and saltwater. Extensive phreatic caves also occur, however, in eogenetic karst aquifers where fresh and saltwater do not mix, for example in the upper Floridan aquifer. These caves are thought to have formed in their modern settings by dissolution from sinking streams or by convergence of groundwater flow paths on springs. Alternatively, these caves have been hypothesized to have formed at lower water tables during sea level low‐stands. These hypotheses have not previously been tested against one another. Analyzing morphological data and water chemistry from caves in the Suwannee River Basin in north‐central Florida and water chemistry from wells in the central Florida carbonate platform indicates that phreatic caves within the Suwannee River Basin most likely formed at lower water tables during lower sea levels. Consideration of the hydrological and geochemical constraints posed by the upper Floridan aquifer leads to the conclusion that cave formation was most likely driven by dissolution of vadose CO₂ gas into the groundwater. Sea level rise and a wetter climate during the mid‐Holocene lifted the water table above the elevation of the caves and placed the caves tens of meters below the modern water table. When rising water tables reached the land surface, surface streams formed. Incision of surface streams breached the pre‐existing caves to form modern springs, which provide access to the phreatic caves. Phreatic caves in the Suwannee River Basin are thus relict and have no causal relationship with modern surficial drainage systems. Neither mixing dissolution nor sinking streams are necessary to form laterally extensive phreatic caves in eogenetic karst aquifers. Dissolution at water tables, potentially driven by vadose CO₂ gas, offers an underappreciated mechanism to form cavernous porosity in eogenetic carbonate rocks. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coral bleaching indices and thresholds for the Florida Reef Tract, Bahamas, and St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

It is well established that elevated sea temperatures cause widespread coral bleaching, yet confusion lingers as to what facet of extreme temperatures is most important. Utilizing long-term in situ datasets, we calculated nine thermal stress indices and tested their effectiveness at segregating bleaching years a posteriori for multiple reefs on the Florida Reef Tract. The indices examined represent three aspects of thermal stress: (1) short-term, acute temperature stress; (2) cumulative temperature stress; and (3) temperature variability. Maximum monthly sea surface temperature (SST) and the number of days >30.5 °C were the most significant; indicating that cumulative exposure to temperature extremes characterized bleaching years. Bleaching thresholds were warmer for Florida than the Bahamas and St. Croix, US Virgin Islands reflecting differences in seasonal maximum SST. Hind-casts showed that monthly mean SST above a local threshold explained all bleaching years in Florida, the Bahamas, and US Virgin Islands.