Search results for "feature"
showing 10 items of 4091 documents
Hydrogeochemistry and Water Balance in the Coastal Wetland Area of “Biviere di Gela,” Sicily, Italy
2006
In the study area physical and chemical factors control the composition of surface and groundwaters, which in turn determine the water quality of the "Biviere di Gela" lake. These factors combine to create diverse water types which change their compositional character spatially as rainfall infiltrates the soil zone, moves down a topographically defined flow path, and interacts with bedrock minerals. Low-salinity waters, which represent the initial stage of underground circulation, start dissolving calcium carbonate from the local rocks. The progressive increase in salinity, characterized by substantially higher Ca, SO4, Na and Cl concentrations, suggests that dissolution of CaSO4 and NaCl i…
Apparent discrepancy in contamination history of a sub-tropical estuary evaluated through 210Pb profile and chronostratigraphical markers.
2005
Abstract Zn and Cd concentrations, stable lead isotopes and 210 Pb-derived chronology were determined in a sediment core sampled at Sepetiba Bay (South-eastern Brazil). During the last decades, the bay’s watershed has been modified by the increase of industrial activities and human interventions. In particular, Zn and Cd ore treatment plants were built near the coast in 1960 and 1970, respectively, and water has been diverted from the adjacent Paraiba do Sul River watershed since 1950. The core collected at shallow depth near the industrial area exhibits four successive events: (i) at 50 cm depth, a change in the 206 Pb/ 207 Pb ratio from about 1.162 to more than 1.18 might be the result of…
The regional park of the Nebrodi Mts. (Sicily): a contribution to an integrated groundwater management
1998
The Nebrodi Park, located in the north-eastern sector of Sicily, is of particular environmental and scientific interest. This is due to the morphological heterogeneity of the protected region that presents a wide variety of landscapes and ecosystems. In spite of the recent efforts of the Regional Government and Municipalities, environmental resources, especially groundwater, risk progressive depauperation and pollution. In this paper, the authors consider the hydrogeological karst unit of Monte Traura-Rocche del Crasto, the most productive in the Nebrodi belt (zone B of the regional park). This unit is underexploited and needs a careful hydrogeological study in order to supply coastal aquif…
Quantification of deep CO2 fluxes from Central Italy. Examples of carbon balance for regional aquifers and of soil diffuse degassing.
1999
Abstract In Central Italy non-volcanic CO 2 is discharged by focused degassing (strong diffuse emission and vents) and by high-CO 2 groundwater. 3 He / 4 He data and the carbon isotopic composition of CO 2 are compatible with derivation from mantle degassing and/or metamorphic decarbonation. The gases produced at depth accumulate in permeable reservoirs composed of Mesozoic carbonates. When total pressure (roughly corresponding to p CO 2 ) of the reservoir fluid exceeds hydrostatic pressure, a free gas phase forms gas reservoirs within the permeable host rocks from which gases may escape toward the surface. This process generates both the focused vents and the CO 2 -rich springs which chara…
Monitoring Bunker Cave (NW Germany): A prerequisite to interpret geochemical proxy data of speleothems from this site
2011
Summary Monitoring cave environments is important to understand processes in karst systems. If stalagmites from a specific cave are used as archives of past climate variability, a quantitative understanding of the soil–karst–speleothem system is crucial. The monitoring program performed in Bunker Cave (NW Germany), which includes monthly collection of climatological data as well as air and water samples from the cave and the overlying soil since 2006, is a prerequisite for the interpretation of speleothem data from the cave in terms of climate variability. The results show that Bunker Cave is a homogeneously ventilated cave with rather low pCO2 values of 580–1200 ppmv, which lacks strong se…
MORPHOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT OF SELECTED BADLANDS IN SOUTHEAST SPAIN: IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATIC CHANGE
1996
Four areas were selected to represent a range of processes characteristic of badland surfaces in southeast Spain: Petrer and Monnegre in Alicante, Vera and Tabernas in Almeria. At Petrer, rilling and swelling processes produce a deeply cracked surface drained by a finely textured network of shallow rills. At Monnegre, piping and rilling are differentially developed on slopes ultimately controlled by basal incision. At Vera, aspect-controlled lichen and vegetation cover produce a sequence of badland development within which the relative importance of piping, mass movement and rilling varies through the sequence. At Tabernas, simple overland flow is the dominant process, but aspect influences…
Assessment of Gully Erosion Susceptibility Using Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines and Accounting for Terrain Connectivity
2017
In this work, we assessed gully erosion susceptibility in two adjacent cultivated catchments of Sicily (Italy) by employing multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) and a set of geo-environmental variables. To explore the influence of hydrological connectivity on gully occurrence we measured the changes of performance occurred when adding one by one nine predictors reflecting terrain connectivity to a base model that included contributing area and slope gradient. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) were used to evaluate models performance. Gully predictive models were trained in both the catchments and submitted to internal (in the ca…
Stable isotopes of water as a tool to study groundwater–seawater interactions in coastal south-eastern Sicily
2009
Summary Stable isotopes of hydrogen (δD) and oxygen (δ 18 O) in groundwater, submarine springs and seawater collected in coastal south-eastern Sicily were investigated. While the spatial distribution of δ 18 O in groundwater showed that most of the heavy-isotope-depleted samples (from −5.7‰ to −6.9‰) were located in the higher portion of the Hyblean Mountains, more positive values (from −3.4‰ to −5.6‰) were found in the marginal areas. The isotope composition of submarine springs was characterized by significant variability (δ 18 O between −5.6‰ and +1.0‰ and δD between −30‰ and +5.0‰) reflecting seasonal variations and different seawater contributions. The isotopic and chemical composition…
Water-level fluctuations in Mediterranean reservoirs: Setting a dewatering threshold as a management tool to improve water quality
2005
Water-level fluctuations, often linked to seasonal climatic trends, are a natural phenomenon which occur in almost all aquatic ecosystems. In some climatic regions, as the Mediterranean one, they are particularly wide due to the occurrence of two well separated periods: the rainy winter and the almost completely dry summer. Precipitation is concentrated in the first period, whereas in the second strong evaporation losses take place. According to these climatic features, and to ensure a continuous supply of water throughout the year, man-made lakes store water during winter and are subjected to dewatering during summer to compensate the lack of precipitation. These ecosystems are thus charac…
Distribution pattern of river blennies in the Júcar River basin (eastern Spain)
2000
Salaria fluviatilis in the Jucar river basin was found only in the Jucar River itself, the tributaries Cabriel and Escalona, and the irrigation channel Acequia Real. Blenny density varied from 0.2 to 3.1 ind m -2 Sites with blennies had significantly lower coliform counts than those without blennies.