Search results for "Planet"

A GIS-based approach for gully erosion susceptibility modelling: a test in Sicily, Italy

2013

The aim of this study is to analyze the susceptibility conditions to gully erosion phenomena in the Magazzolo River basin and to test a method that allows for driving the factors selection. The study area is one of the largest (225 km2) watershed of southern Sicily and it is mostly characterized by gentle slopes carved into clayey and evaporitic sediments, except for the northern sector where carbonatic rocks give rise to steep slopes. In order to obtain a quantitative evaluation of gully erosion susceptibility, statistical relationships between the spatial distributions of gullies affecting the area and a set of twelve environmental variables were analyzed. Stereoscopic analysis of aerial …

Factors selection in landslide susceptibility modelling on large scale following the gis matrix method: application to the river Beiro basin (Spain)

2012

A procedure to select the controlling factors connected to the slope instability has been defined. It allowed us to assess the landslide susceptibility in the Rio Beiro basin (about 10 km2) over the northeastern area of the city of Granada (Spain). Field and remote (Google EarthTM) recognition techniques allowed us to generate a landslide inventory consisting in 127 phenomena. To discriminate between stable and unstable conditions, a diagnostic area had been chosen as the one limited to the crown and the toe of the scarp of the landslide. 15 controlling or determining factors have been defined considering topographic, geologic, geomorphologic and pedologic available data. Univariate tests, …

Connectivity assessment in Mediterranean vineyards using improved stock unearthing method, LiDAR and soil erosion field surveys

2018

The interaction between processes and landforms is accelerated in vineyards due to bare tilled soils that enhance splash, runoff, and erosion. Traditionally, in order to assess these processes, the stock unearthing method (SUM) is considered a useful methodology that uses the graft union of the vine plant as passive bio-indicator of the topsoil level changes. However, SUM assumes that the topography between the rows is planar when development of a model of the current micro-topography is performed. Thus, we consider that there is a need to develop a new methodology (ISUM: improved SUM) that, by adding new measurements in the inter-row areas (at least 3), allows inclusion of the absent micro…

Widespread Increases in Iron Concentration in European and North American Freshwaters

2017

Recent reports of increasing iron (Fe) concentrations in freshwaters are of concern, given the fundamental role of Fe in biogeochemical processes. Still, little is known about the frequency and geographical distribution of Fe trends or about the underlying drivers. We analyzed temporal trends of Fe concentrations across 340 water bodies distributed over 10 countries in northern Europe and North America in order to gain a clearer understanding of where, to what extent, and why Fe concentrations are on the rise. We found that Fe concentrations have significantly increased in 28% of sites, and decreased in 4%, with most positive trends located in northern Europe. Regions with rising Fe concent…

Global health burden of PM2.5, black and organic carbon aerosols

2021

Paléoenvironnements et caractérisation des roches mères pétrolières des séries pré-salifères du bassin intérieur du Gabon

2003

Resume Le bassin interieur du Gabon, dont l'histoire est liee a la separation des continents Sud-Americain et Africain, comprend des depots continentaux fluvio-lacustres, localement glaciaires, dates du Precambrien superieur a l'Aptien p.p., surmontes par des facies marins aptiens et albiens. L'analyse par pyrolyse Rock–Eval d'echantillons d'affleurements et de forages preleves dans ce bassin met en evidence la presence de facies siliciclastiques riches en matiere organique (jusqu'a 25 % de carbone organique total) de types I et II. Ces niveaux, qui se rencontrent dans le Permien, le Neocomien-Barremien ainsi que dans l'Aptien, constituent d'excellentes roches meres et sont a l'origine des …

Impact of woody encroachment on soil organic carbon and nitrogen in abandoned agricultural lands along a rainfall gradient in Italy

2011

Land use changes represent one of the most important components of global environmental change andhave a strong influence on carbon cycling. As a consequence of changes in economy during the last century, areas of marginal agriculture have been abandoned leading to secondary successions. The encroachment of woody plants into grasslands, pastures and croplands is generally thought to increase the carbon stored in these ecosystems even though there are evidences for a decrease in soil carbon stocks after land use change. In this paper, we investigate the effects of woody plant invasion on soil carbon and nitrogen stocks along a precipitation gradient (200–2,500 mm) using original data from pa…

2020

Western Central European Loess-Palaeosol-Sequences (LPS) provide valuable terrestrial records of palaeoenvironmental conditions, which formed in response to variability in the North Atlantic climate systems. Over the last full glacial cycle (~130 ka), climate oscillations within these systems are best documented in deep sea and ice cores; the responses of terrestrial systems are not yet fully understood. A better understanding of metabolism governing input and output variables of organic- and inorganic C pools is, however, crucial for investigating landscape-atmospheric feedback processes and in particularly, for understanding the formation of calcareous LPS as environmental archives. Here …

Origin and distribution of suspended organic matter as inferred from carbon isotope composition in a Mediterranean semi-enclosed marine system

1999

The origin and distribution of suspended organic matter, the trophic features and the stable carbon isotopic composition of particulate organic carbon (POC) were studied monthly in a Western Mediterranean semi-enclosed basin. Sampling stations were selected as a function of wind-exposure and the degree of vegetation cover and then compared with an adjacent unvegetated site. The predominant vegetation was seagrass (Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa) and Caulerpa prolifera. Water samples were analyzed for total suspended matter (inorganic and organic fractions), photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll-a and phaeopigments), dissolved organic carbon, particulate organic carbon and their isot…

In-situ reflectance spectroscopy - analysing techniques for high-resolution pigment logging in sediment cores

2003

The temporal resolution of marine proxy data is limited by analytically required sample size. We present in-situ reflectance spectroscopy techniques (usually applied in remote sensing) to analyse the organic fraction of marine and terrestrial sediment. From absorption band depths, photosynthesis pigment variations are derived for sediments from the upwelling region off Peru, where productivity is related to the annual variability of El Nino strength. Quantitative estimations of diagenetic photosynthesis pigments derived from absorption band analysis in reflectance spectra are highly correlated to organic carbon content. The ratio of pigment fractions is related to chlorine concentration and…