The role of sediments in the phosphorus cycle in Lake Lugano. I. Geochemical approach

The bottom sediment from three coring stations in Lake Lugano (Lago di Lugano) show major differences in their role in the P-cycles related to their geochemistry and characteristics of sedimentation. In the northern basin, the deepest sediment may be considered practically inactive, due to a permanently reduced condition at the sediment-water interface. In the southern basin, the sediments are active with respect to P-recycling with strong seasonal variations. One of the sites (Figino) behaves as a sink for P due to a high iron content and an important rate of detrital sedimentation.     

The influence of nonlinear material properties and resistance to bending on the development of internal structures

A reexamination of Biot's internal instability analysis, including the effects of bending resistance and nonlinear material properties, shows that internal buckling and oblique localized shearing into bands are the two end-member processes associated with internal instability. The first is a consequence of a high anisotropy which is an intrinsic property of the original unstressed layering or foliation. The second is a consequence of a highly anisotropic material response to perturbations which is induced during the initial uniform compression if material properties are nonlinear. The incremental anisotropy generating the instability is associated with planes of least resistance to shearing in directions parallel to the initial compression in the first case and at 45° to the initial compression in the second case.     

Comparison of automatic classification methods applied to lake geochemical samples

Geochemical samples from part of Lake Geneva were analyzed for 29oxides and trace elements. The variables and samples were subjected to R- and Q-mode analyses. The following techniques were applied in sequence: data transformation (normalization and standardization), data reduction (principal component and factor analysis), and automatic classification (dendrograph). The data were treated using various combinations of these techniques, and the resulting classifications evaluated by means of several criteria. The best classification of the samples is given by a cluster analysis performed on four principal components computed from standardized variables. The discriminatory power of the variables also was measured and determined to depend on their degree of intercorrelation. As a final result, the 29original variables were reduced to four components and the sediment samples classified into four facies, leading to easily interpretable geochemical maps.     

Further discussion on the intercomparison of the trace metal concentrations and particle size of fluvial sediment recovered from two centrifuge systems

A single large volume water sample taken at the mouth of the Upper Rhone River on Lake Geneva was processed directly in parallel through two continuous flow centrifuges, a Westphalia and an Alfa-Laval. Sediment was recovered from the Westphalia, and separately from the bowl and brass core of the Alfa-Laval. The three sediment samples were analyzed for particle size and the following elements: Zn, Cu, Mn, Cr, P, Co, B, V, Be, Sr, Na, Pb, Ni, Ba, Fe, Ca, and Mg. Results indicate that the particle size recovery of both machines is similar when sediment from the brass core and bowl of the Alfa-Laval are combined, and that the recovery for all elements other than Cu, V, B, and Pb are the same when the particle size differences are taken into account. Sediment from the Alfa-Laval brass core is clearly contaminated by Cu, B and is also elevated in V and Pb but not to a significant extent. The sediment recovered from the bowl of the Alfa-Laval is contaminated only with Cu, with a 10 ppm increase over the 52 ppm recovered in the Westphalia sediment. Operating procedures involve the discarding of the brass core sediment and the mixing of the Alfa-Laval bowl sediment with that from the Westphalia. The consequent increase in Cu is estimated at less than 5 ppm or within the confidence level of the analysis. These procedures are recommended to all operators of non modified Alfa-Laval units.     

The effects of stock size and environmental variability on Cape hake recruitment in Namibia: an unsolved puzzle (a comment on Kainge et al. 2013)

Measuring and forecasting recruitment are central to the understanding and management of fish stocks. Kainge et al. (2013) studied the effect of spawning stock size and environmental fluctuations on the recruitment levels of the Cape hake Merluccius capensis in Namibia. However, their study contains some flaws that undermine the conclusion that Cape hake recruitment is under the influence of upwelling in summer. Until those flaws are properly addressed, this conclusion, in our view, should be treated with caution.     

Nouvelles données sur le téphra de Sarliève et le téphra CF7, marqueurs chrono-stratigraphiques de Grande Limagne (Massif central,France)

A trachytic tephra, discovered in the ancient lake of Sarliève, ‘Grande Limagne’, has been dated using the thermoluminescence technique. The obtained age, 16±4 ka ($\text{2}\text{σ}$), is older than that of the trachytic volcanoes of the Cha??ne des Puys, the ashes of which have already been locally recognised in the region. Its analysis confirms its originality. In the course of the comparisons made to search for its spring, it appears that the wide-dispersion tephra CF7, beforehand correlated by hypothesis to the Puy de Clierzou, probably originates from the Kilian crater or the Puy de Vasset. To cite this article: D. Miallier et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).     

Influence des rejets de deux stations d'épuration sur la teneur en phosphore des sédiments côtiers du Léman

The effect of discharges from two sewage treatment plants located on the northern shore of lake Geneva on surrounding sediments was investigated. Four forms of phosphorus were analyzed, together with extractable iron and organic carbon. Areal distribution of the parameters and correlation analysis show that the sewage treatment plant at Vidy discharges into the lake significant amounts of phospho-ferric precipitate. The influence of the other plant at Morges is more discrete, but its extent can be traced by the areal distribution of the ratios [Feextr.]/[non-apatite inorganic P] and [organic carbon]/[organic phosphorus].      

Transport of the environmental radionuclides in an alpine watershed

The radionuclides¹³⁷Cs,²¹⁰Pb and⁷Be have been examined in the alpine Rhoˆne watershed (Switzerland) during a period of two years in order to evaluate their usefulness as tracers of the removal and transport rate of top-soil particles and particle-reactive contaminants of atmospheric origin. The specific activities of the radionuclides in fluvial suspension show a distinct seasonal pattern which depends on the hydrologic regime of the stream and the sources of the suspended matter. Input-output budgets based on the atmospheric deposition and fluvial removal of three radionuclides in the alpine Rhoˆne watershed are used to estimate their erosional residence times. The simplest one box model yields mean residence times of about 800 and 1400 years for¹³⁷Cs and²¹⁰Pb, respectively. The removal rate of short-lived⁷Be suggests that a part of the watershed (0.6–2.3% of the total surface) is exposed to a rapid erosion, in which the mean residence time of the radionuclides is in the range of 1–220 days. This has little influence on the calculated residence time of¹³⁷Cs but increases the estimated residence time of²¹⁰Pb in soil to over 1800 years. The use of²¹⁰Pb-⁷Be pair in fluvial output may be very helpful in the assessment of the impact of atmospheric pollutants on the water quality in rivers and lakes.