Mussel reefs on soft sediments: a severely reduced but important habitat for macroinvertebrates and fishes in New Zealand

Green-lipped mussels (Perna canaliculus) formed extensive reefs on soft sediments in sheltered embayments around northern New Zealand until overfishing and/or increased sediment input caused their virtual disappearance by 1980. To determine the role of mussel reefs as habitat for other animals, we located remnant soft-sediment reefs in five locations and compared the density, biomass, productivity and composition of mobile macroinvertebrate communities, and the density of small fishes associated with mussels, with fauna in the surrounding soft sediments. The mussel reefs had a distinct assemblage of macroinvertebrates, which had 3.5 times the density, 3.4 times the biomass and 3.5 times the productivity of surrounding areas. The density of small fishes was 13.7 times higher than in surrounding areas. These results show that soft-sediment mussel reefs support an abundant and productive fauna, highlighting the probable large loss of productivity associated with the historical decline in mussel habitat and the consequent desirability of restoration efforts.     

Assessment of groundwater recharge processes through karst vadose zone by cave percolation monitoring

Recharge processes of karst aquifers are difficult to assess given their strong heterogeneity and the poorly known effect of vadose zone on infiltration. However, recharge assessment is crucial for the evaluation of groundwater resources. Moreover, the vulnerability of karst aquifers depends on vadose zone behaviour because it is the place where most contamination takes place. In this work, an in situ experimental approach was performed to identify and quantify flow and storage processes occurring in karst vadose zone. Cave percolation monitoring and dye tracing were used to investigate unsaturated zone hydrological processes. Two flow components (diffuse and quick) were identified and, respectively, account for 66% and 34% of the recharge. Quickflow was found to be the result of bypass phenomenon in vadose zone related to water saturation. We identify the role of epikarst as a shunting area, most of the storage in the vadose zone occurring via the diffuse flow component in low permeability zones. Relationship between rainfall intensity and transit velocity was demonstrated, with 5 times higher velocities for the quick recharge mode than the diffuse mode. Modelling approach with KarstMod software allowed to simulate the hybrid recharge through vadose zone and shows promising chances to properly assess the recharge processes in karst aquifer based on simple physical models.     

Evidence for Holocene megafloods down the Tsangpo River gorge, southeastern Tibet

Lacustrine and alluvial terraces and sediments record the extent of at least two Holocene glacially dammed lakes immediately upstream of the Tsangpo River gorge at the eastern syntaxis of the Himalaya. The larger lake covered 2835 km², with a maximum depth of 680 m and contained an estimated 832 km³ of water; the smaller lake contained an estimated 80 km³ of water. Radiocarbon dating of wood and charcoal yielded conventional radiocarbon ages of 8860 ± 40 and 9870 ± 50 ¹⁴C yr B.P. for the higher set of lake terraces, and 1220 ± 40 and 1660 ± 40 ¹⁴C yr B.P. for sediments from the lower terraces. Catastrophic failure of the glacial dams that impounded the lakes would have released outburst floods down the gorge of the Tsangpo River with estimated peak discharges of up to 1 to 5 × 10⁶ m³ s⁻¹. The erosive potential represented by the unit stream power calculated for the head of the gorge during such a catastrophic lake breakout indicates that post-glacial megafloods down the Tsangpo River were likely among the most erosive events in recent Earth history.     

Assessing the contribution of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and self-potential (SP) methods for a water well drilling program in fractured/karstified limestones

ERT and SP investigations were conducted in carbonate rocks of the Dinant Synclinorium (Walloon Region of Belgium) to find suitable locations for new water wells in zones with little hydrogeological data. Since boreholes information needed to be representative of the area, large fractured zones were searched for the drillings. Large ERT profiles (320 to 640 m) allowed us to image the resistivity distribution of the first 60 m of the subsurface and to detect and characterize (in terms of direction, width and depth) fractured zones expected to be less resistive. Data errors, depth of investigation (DOI) indexes and sensitivity models were analyzed in order to avoid a misinterpretation of the resulting images. Self-potential measurements were performed along electrical profiles to complement our electrical results. Some negative anomalies possibly related to preferential flow pathways were detected. A drilling campaign was conducted according to geophysical results. ‘Ground truth’ geological data as well as pumping tests information gave us a way to assess the contribution of geophysics to a drilling program. We noticed that all the wells placed in low resistivity zones associated with SP anomalies provide very high yields and inversely, wells drilled in resistive zones or outside SP anomalies are limited in terms of capacity. An apparent coupling coefficient between SP signals and differences in hydraulic heads was also estimated in order to image the water table.     

GIS-based hydrogeological databases and groundwater modelling

Reliability and validity of groundwater analysis strongly depend on the availability of large volumes of high-quality data. Putting all data into a coherent and logical structure supported by a computing environment helps ensure validity and availability and provides a powerful tool for hydrogeological studies. A hydrogeological geographic information system (GIS) database that offers facilities for groundwater-vulnerability analysis and hydrogeological modelling has been designed in Belgium for the Walloon region. Data from five river basins, chosen for their contrasting hydrogeological characteristics, have been included in the database, and a set of applications that have been developed now allow further advances. Interest is growing in the potential for integrating GIS technology and groundwater simulation models. A "loose-coupling" tool was created between the spatial-database scheme and the groundwater numerical model interface GMS (Groundwater Modelling System). Following time and spatial queries, the hydrogeological data stored in the database can be easily used within different groundwater numerical models. Electronic Publication     

Comparison of aquifer vulnerability assessment techniques. Application to the Néblon river basin (Belgium)

Five different methods for assessing intrinsic aquifer vulnerability were tested in a case study and their results compared. The test area was a slightly karstified district in the Condroz region of Belgium. The basin covers about 65 km² and the karst aquifer provides a water-supply of about 28,000 m³d^-1. The methods tested were: EPIK (Doerfliger et al. 1999), DRASTIC (Aller et al. 1987), 'German method' (von Hoyer and Söfner 1998), GOD (Foster 1987) and ISIS (Civita and De Regibus 1995). The results are compared and critically examined. From the analysis, it seems that reducing the number of parameters is unsatisfactory, due to the variety of geological conditions. The various methods produce very different results at any given site. As only physically-based methods can be checked for their reliability, it is clear that future vulnerability mapping techniques must incorporate such methods.     

Dependence of Near-Surface Magnetic Susceptibility on Dust Accumulation Rate and Precipitation on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Magnetic susceptibility (MS) of surface sediment varies systematically across the Loess Plateau in central China, decreasing exponentially from >200×10⁻⁸ m³/kg at the northern margin of the Qinling Shan to ≤30×10⁻⁸ m³/kg near the southern margin of the Mu Us Desert. MS correlates highly with loess median grain size (r²=0.79), which decreases south-southeastward across the plateau. It also correlates with mean annual temperature (MAT) and mean annual precipitation (MAP) (r²=0.58 and 0.60, respectively), and with their product MAT×MAP (r²=0.83), which is considered a measure of potential pedogenic activity. Because regional isopleths depicting grain size and the primary meteorological parameters are nearly parallel, it is difficult to determine their relative influence on MS. A simple MS model, based on the observed spatial variation in loess thickness, permits quantitative assessment of the effect of the dust accumulation rate on the MS signal of surface sediment and isolates the likely role of climate in the production of magnetic minerals. The model suggests that 84% of the loess MS variance is dictated by the diluting effect of dust and 10–11% is associated with meteorological factors, primarily precipitation. The observed and modeled relationships support hypotheses that attribute variations in MS in the loess-paleosol succession to varying rates of dust deposition and in situ production of magnetic minerals in the accretionary soils, both of which are controlled by monsoon climate.     

Observations in a cavity beneath grinnell glacier

During a 3-year period, several aspects of the glacier-rock interface were studied in a cavity beneath 5–8 m of ice near the terminus of Grinnell Glacier, Montana, U.S.A. Continuous week-long records of the summer sliding rate revealed a very uniform speed of about 12 m a^?1 during the summer, a value about 20 per cent higher than the average annual sliding rate. Several decimetre-sized rock fragments were broken from the glacier bed near the lee sides of bedrock ledges and transported down-glacier. In the course of a two-week long experiment, the glacier abraded its bed significantly and non-uniformly. It is of interest that significant quarrying and abrasion occurred under thin ice with relatively little entrained debris.