Search results for "WATER"
showing 10 items of 9348 documents
Flood risk assessment and mapping in peri-urban Mediterranean environments using hydrogeomorphology. Application to ephemeral streams in the Valencia…
2012
Abstract This paper proposes a methodology for mapping flood risk in ephemeral streams, based on assessing flood hazards and global exposure. The method has been applied to the peri-urban area of Valencia, extended over the floodplains of the Barranco del Carraixet and Rambla de Poyo catchments. Hazard was assessed using hydrogeomorphological methods. Global exposure was estimated as a combination between the economic value of land use and human exposure, following a previous study carried out by Camarasa, A.M., Lopez, M.J. and Soriano, J., 2011. Mapping temporally variable exposure to flooding in small Mediterranean basins using land-use indicators, Applied Geography 31 (19), 136–145. Synt…
Maritime antarctic lakes as sentinels of climate change
2012
Remote lakes, such as lakes from the Maritime Antarctica, can be used as sentinels of climate change, because they are mostly free of direct anthropogenic pressures, and they experience climate change as a main stressor capable of modifying the ecosystem structure and function. In this paper, the content of a lecture that has been presented at the First Conference of Lake Sustainability, which has been centred in our studies on lakes from Byers Peninsula (Maritime Antarctica), are summarized. These included physical, chemical and biological studies of these lakes and other freshwater ecosystems, which highlighted the relevance of biotic interactions for these ecosystems and its sensibility …
Changes to processes in estuaries and coastal waters due to intense multiple pressures:an introduction and synthesis
2015
From the 2013 ECSA conference ‘Estuaries and Coastal Areas in Times of Intense Change’ a theme emerged that has ended up being the focus of this Special Issue of Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science, namely ‘Changes to processes in estuaries and coastal waters due to intense multiple pressures’. Manyparts of the world are continuing to experience unprecedented rates of economic growth, and those responsible for managing coastal and estuarine areas must respond accordingly. At the same time, global climate change and sea level rise are also continuing, placing new or more intense pressures on coastal areas that must be dealt with in ways that are as far as possible managed as a result of good…
Vertical distribution of planktonic rotifers in a karstic meromictic lake
1993
Vertical distribution of planktonic rotifers is described in relation to temperature and oxygen in Lake La Cruz, a single-doline, closed karstic lake (121 m diameter and 25 m maximum depth) which shows iron meromixis. Samples were taken by peristaltic pumping at 10 cm depth intervals in the oxycline zone from June 1987 to September 1988. A model of rotifer vertical structure in stratified lakes is proposed. Rotifers concentrate their populations at the depths with intense gradients. As stratification develops some rotifer populations show a downward migration following the thermocline and some others show an upward migration following the oxycline. The production-respiration balance in the …
Spatial and temporal variability of diatom and macroinvertebrate communities: How representative are ecological classifications within a river system?
2012
Evaluation of river condition is complicated by dynamic relationships between river assemblages and their environment. We assessed variation of ecological status classifications of stream diatom and macroinvertebrate communities within a boreal river system. We specifically examined whether results of ecological classifications are concordant across taxonomic groups and among main channel and headwater side tributaries of this river system. We further assessed whether ecological classifications are stable from year to year and whether classifications show predictable relationships to major stressor gradients. The estimated ecological condition varied considerably among and between reaches o…
Vertical distribution and rotifer concentrations in the chemocline of meromictic lakes
1983
The vertical distribution of planktonic rotifers has been analysed in relation to season in several meromictic lakes; a coastal lagoon with sea-water intrusion and three dissolution lakes from two karstic systems. Two species, Filinia hofmanni and a form of Anuraeopsis fissa have been found to be more or less restricted to the chemocline or adjacent strata any time they occurred. Many species common in the upper water layers developed large populations near or in the chemocline and more strikingly in summer. Some species had two vertical maxima (one in the surface or the thermocline and another near the chemocline), while others successively shifted their maxima between the upper layers and…
Evaporite karst in Sicily
2007
Karst areas are distributed over most of Sicily. The most widespread karst rocks are carbonates, particularly limestones, but karst phenomena can also be seen in evaporites and particularly in salt mines. This report provides an overview of evaporite karst in Sicily, along with a “case history” that shows some of the evaporite karst risks to the environment. In the centre and south of Sicily, a thick sequence of Messinian evaporite rocks are subject to dissolution from meteoric and formation waters. In areas where potassium salts and rock salts are being mined, some geomorphologic changes result from the drilling of boreholes and the collapse of underground mines, thus lowering or collapsin…
Hydrogeochemistry and stable isotopes of thermal springs: earthquake-related chemical changes along Belice Fault (Western Sicily)
2001
Abstract Three geothermal systems, Montevago, Castellammare-Alcamo and Sciacca, are located along the main seismogenetic structures in Western Sicily. Concentrations of dissolved species including the gases CO 2 , N 2 , He and the results of stable isotope measurements δ 18 O, δ D and δ 13 C TDIC in water samples collected from six thermal springs and 28 cold discharges were used to characterise their feeder aquifers and to reveal the relationships between water chemistry and regional seismicity. The Sciacca thermal springs differ chemically and isotopically from those of Montevago and the Castellammare-Alcamo areas. The inferred deep end-members of the thermal waters of Montevago and Caste…
Urban drainage and sustainable cities: how to achieve flood resilient societies?
2012
This paper tries to describe the main developments of urban flood forecasting and modelling. Currently, several new technologies are available for flood monitoring, modelling and mitigation and several paradigms suggest the adoption of greener approaches to urban storm water management. These tools and new approaches can be easily adaptable to new developments where the entire urban drainage system can be suited to follow a more sustainable way to drain storm water. The challenge for the future is instead aimed to apply this new philosophy to existing urban areas where the application of new tools and technologies requires high costs and such approaches have to be prepared by constructing a…
Mitigation of urban flooding: A simplified approach for distributed stormwater management practices selection and planning
2005
The urbanization process and the hydraulic insufficiency of drainage systems are two of the most common causes of urban flooding. In some technical regulations, distributed stormwater management practices (DSMPs) are regarded as a solution for urban flooding problems. They can prevent the formation of runoff, dispose of it locally, or dampen its peak before it reaches the drainage system. Due to their diffuse localization and the wide number of available solutions, the evaluation of their efficiency in terms of flood reduction is very difficult. The methodology proposed in the present paper relies on the concept that the mitigation effects of DSMPs can be expressed as a function of the chan…