A geospatial study of the drought impact on surface water reservoirs: study cases from Texas,USA

Satellite images have been used historically to measure and monitor fluctuations in the surface water reservoirs. This study integrates remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies to investigate the impact of drought on 10 selected surface water reservoirs in San Angelo and Dallas, Texas. Oscillations in summer and winter months throughout the 2005–2016 period were assessed using multispectral images from Landsat-5, ?7, and ?8, and changes in the reservoirs were characterized and correlated against local climate data of each reservoir. For quantitative comparisons of the time-series measurements, a robust density slicing approach was employed to classify the range of values of the raster cells in the near-infrared band of Landsat images for each lake into three desired classes (deep water, shallow water, and dry area) based on the natural breaks inherent in the dataset. Statistical analysis shows that the overall accuracy of the classification is about 94%, which demonstrates the efficiency of the density slicer to accurately estimate surface water area changes from an individual Landsat band. Shrinkage in the surface water area over the study period reveals the concrete impact that the drought along with other factors have on the 10 selected lakes. The San Angelo lakes located in west central Texas experienced a nearly consistent pattern of change during most of the study period; whereas the Dallas lakes in northeast Texas followed the oscillating pattern of drought and correlated closely to the local conditions. Shockingly, the extreme drought caused complete vanishing of several lakes, and consequently Texas had to remove them from its recreational plans. Our new findings can certainly help with the water resource management in Texas and our study approach can be adapted for monitoring lake oscillations in other areas across the world. This geospatial study demonstrates the societal benefits from incorporating remote sensing and GIS in investigating geo-environmental problems associated with severe climate changes.     

扬子陆块西缘寒武系砂岩的物源分析：对古地理位置重建和构造背景的指示

扬子陆块西缘寒武系主要为一套碎屑岩- 碳酸盐岩的岩石组合,前人研究多认为形成于相对稳定的克拉通盆地。但同时期出现的大陆岩浆作用显然与前期认定的克拉通盆地性质不符,需要借助扬子西缘的物质来源探讨构造背景。基于野外露头等资料,本文通过对扬子陆块西缘会泽和会东附近寒武系3件砂岩样品进行重矿物分析、电气石电子探针和碎屑锆石U- Pb测年分析,确定扬子西缘寒武纪沉积物的源区;并结合沉积序列等综合探讨扬子陆块西缘寒武纪的构造背景。沉积序列表明,扬子西缘寒武系沧浪铺组、西王庙组和二道水组主要由砂岩和白云岩等组成,沉积环境为滨岸—潮坪。细—粗砂岩碎屑颗粒为次棱角状—次圆状,分选较差;碎屑组分主要为石英,岩屑几乎全部为燧石,长石含量较少。测试分析结果表明：重矿物分析指示扬子西缘寒武系砂岩重矿物主要由锆石、赤—褐铁矿、电气石、钛铁矿、金红石、磷灰石等组成,重矿物组合指示岩浆岩为其主要母岩;电气石电子探针分析结果表明,物源主要来自于贫锂花岗岩和变砂岩、变泥岩;碎屑锆石测年分析表明物源区母岩主要为983~540 Ma岩浆岩。碎屑锆石年龄对比等综合分析表明,寒武系沉积物部分源自康滇古陆983~708 Ma的岩浆岩和变沉积岩,部分源自冈瓦纳大陆东非造山带663~540 Ma的岩石,物源区岩石经历再旋回产物作用。扬子西缘寒武系的沉积序列、碎屑锆石年龄谱图和碎屑组成等特征综合分析表明,扬子陆块西缘寒武系形成于前陆盆地。     

渤海湾表层沉积物重金属与污染评价

用原子吸收法测定了渤海湾表层沉积物中重金属的含量,同时用2种评价方法对该海域底质环境进行了评价。结果表明:沉积物中汞、锌含量平均值超过标准,其余项目未发现超标;其分布特征由于受沿岸不同污染源的污染影响,重金属污染物难以形成一定规律的分布状态。同时该海域底质环境质量总指数已达到污染程度和很强的生态危害,其中主要污染元素是Hg,已达重污染,并形成极强的生态危害。     

北太平洋赤道海域表层沉积物的热释光特征及其指示意义

热释光是矿物晶体接受环境核辐射作用后积蓄起来的能量在受到热激发时以光的形式释放出来的一种物理现象,它与晶体损伤、晶体中杂质混入等原因所导致的晶格缺陷有关.热释光强度的大小主要取决于自然界中长寿命放射性元素(238U,235U,230Th,40K及其子体)的衰变,与其他物理、化学、生物或人类活动无关.热释光特征能有效反映晶体形成的环境条件.热释光方法的制样简单、测量快捷,因此在辐射学、核工业、核医学、环境学、农业、考古学、地质学等领域都得到了广泛的应用.在陆地地质学上热释光方法在地质年代测定[1,2]、地层对比[3]、矿物世代划分[4]、矿床含矿评价[4,5]、陨石形成热的历史恢复[6]以及地质事件识别[7]等方面都取得了不少成果.     

海三菱藨草(Scirpus mariqueter)根际沉积物中重金属生物有效性的影响因素

采用野外连续调查和实验分析方法,连续3年研究了海三菱藨草根际沉积物重金属（Cu、Zn、Pb和Cd）生物有效性的主要影响因素（生长季节、pH、P、Eh和DO等）。结果表明,植物不同生长季节的变化影响根际沉积物生物有效性的季节变化。具体表现为：Cu和Pb均在春、夏季可交换态含量较高,生物有效性较高,而秋、冬季可交换态较低,生物有效性较低,但碳酸盐结合态和铁锰氧化态二者之和也比较高,具有一定的潜在生物有效性;Zn在任何季节的可交换态比例均不高,以有机结合态和残渣态的形态为主,生物有效性较低;Cd一般以残渣态为主,基本不具有生物有效性。pH值下降,春、夏季可交换态和铁锰氧化物结合态增加,而有机结合态和碳酸盐结合态减少,提高了生物有效性,而秋、冬季正好相反;磷对重金属生物有效具有直接影响的为无机磷,春、夏季随着无机磷的减少,pH值下降,提高了生物有效性。春、夏季根际Eh和溶解氧含量增加,降低了其生物有效性。     

深圳湾海域表层和柱样沉积物中的重金属分布特征

分析深圳湾表层沉积物中锌、铬、镉、镍、铅、铜等6种重金属元素的含量发现它们的浓度均值已全部超过广东省海岸带沉积物背景值。根据潜在生态危害法,在6种重金属中镉造成的污染最严重,从潜在的生态危害指数评价看镉的含量已达到很高的污染水平。从面状分布看,重金属污染危害指数值在深圳河口区最低,在蛇口段居中等水平,在深圳湾内侧的近岸水域最大。柱样沉积物的浓度变化以1950年为界划分为两部分:1950年以来的现代沉积物中有较强的人类活动干扰痕迹,表现为重金属元素的浓度增长幅度大,且浓度很高,其均值全部大于广东省海岸带的背景值;1950年以前的近代沉积物中有稍弱的人类活动干扰痕迹。研究认为沉积物粒度特征、沉积速率、人类活动与重金属在沉积物中的浓度高低有直接相关关系,并直接影响到重金属在沉积物中的污染水平。     

Microbial photosynthesis in coral reef sediments (Heron Reef, Australia)

We investigated microphytobenthic photosynthesis at four stations in the coral reef sediments at Heron Reef, Australia. The microphytobenthos was dominated by diatoms, dinoflagellates and cyanobacteria, as indicated by biomarker pigment analysis. Conspicuous algae firmly attached to the sand grains (ca. 100 μm in diameter, surrounded by a hard transparent wall) were rich in peridinin, a marker pigment for dinoflagellates, but also showed a high diversity based on cyanobacterial 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis. Specimens of these algae that were buried below the photic zone exhibited an unexpected stimulation of respiration by light, resulting in an increase of local oxygen concentrations upon darkening. Net photosynthesis of the sediments varied between 1.9 and 8.5 mmol O₂ m⁻² h⁻¹ and was strongly correlated with Chl a content, which lay between 31 and 84 mg m⁻². An estimate based on our spatially limited dataset indicates that the microphytobenthic production for the entire reef is in the order of magnitude of the production estimated for corals. Photosynthesis stimulated calcification at all investigated sites (0.2–1.0 mmol Ca²⁺ m⁻² h⁻¹). The sediments of at least three stations were net calcifying. Sedimentary N₂-fixation rates (measured by acetylene reduction assays at two sites) ranged between 0.9 to 3.9 mmol N₂ m⁻² h⁻¹ and were highest in the light, indicating the importance of heterocystous cyanobacteria. In coral fingers no N₂-fixation was measurable, which stresses the importance of the sediment compartment for reef nitrogen cycling.     

Detecting environmental change in estuaries: Nutrient and heavy metal distributions in sediment cores in estuaries from the Gulf of Finland,Baltic Sea

Historical sediment nutrient concentrations and heavy metal distributions were studied in four estuaries in the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea to examine the response of these estuaries to temporal changes in human activities. Cores were collected using a 1-m Mackereth corer and dated using ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs. The cores were analyzed for total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), organic phosphorus (OP), inorganic phosphorus (IP), biogenic silica (BSi), loss-on-ignition (LOI), Cu, Zn, Al, Fe, Mn, K, Ca, Mg and Na. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to summarize the trends in the chemical variables and to compare the trends at the different sites. Applying the 1986 ¹³⁷Cs date as a reference point, ²¹⁰Pb chronologies were constructed for the sites using either the CRS model or a composite model (using both CIC and CRS). Significant increases were observed in sedimentation rates, TP and TN concentrations in all of the cores. Copper showed clear increases from 1850 towards present at all sites. Furthermore, redundancy analysis (RDA) was used to correlate environmental variables (catchment land use, catchment size, estuary surface area, depth and lake percentage) to sediment geochemistry. Based on redundancy analysis (RDA), the percentage of agriculture in the catchment was the most important factor affecting the sediment accumulation rate. Urban land-use types and industry correlate well with sediment Cu and Ca concentrations. Forest areas were related to high sediment BSi concentrations. Catchment land use was the most significant factor affecting sediment geochemical composition and sediment accumulation rates in these coastal embayments. Our results demonstrate that the coastal estuaries of the Gulf of Finland respond to the increased nutrient loading with the increased sedimentation and nutrient accumulation rates.     

Petroleum pollution in surface sediments of Daya Bay,South China,revealed by chemical fingerprinting of aliphatic and alicyclic hydrocarbons

Nine surface sediments collected from Daya Bay have been Soxhlet-extracted with 2:1 (v/v) dichloromethane-methanol. The non-aromatic hydrocarbon (NAH) fraction of solvent extractable organic matter (EOM) and some bulk geochemical parameters have been analyzed to determine petroleum pollution of the bay. The NAH content varies from 32 to 276 μg g⁻¹ (average 104 μg g⁻¹) dry sediment and accounts for 5.8–64.1% (average 41.6%) of the EOM. n-Alkanes with carbon number ranging from 15 to 35 are identified to be derived from both biogenic and petrogenic sources in varying proportions. The contribution of marine authigenic input to the sedimentary n-alkanes is lower than the allochthonous input based on the average n-C₃₁/n-C₁₉ alkane ratio. 25.6–46.5% of the n-alkanes, with a mean of 35.6%, are contributed by vascular plant wax. Results of unresolved complex mixture, isoprenoid hydrocarbons, hopanes and steranes also suggest possible petroleum contamination. There is strong evidence of a common petroleum contamination source in the bay.