Search results for "surface water"
showing 10 items of 106 documents
Holocene climate variability of the Western Mediterranean: Surface water dynamics inferred from calcareous plankton assemblages
2020
A high-resolution study (centennial scale) has been performed on the calcareous plankton assemblage of the Holocene portion of the Ocean Drilling Program Site 976 (Alboran Sea) with the aim to identify the main changes in the surface water dynamic. The dataset also provided a seasonal foraminiferal sea surface water temperatures (SSTs), estimated using the modern analog technique SIMMAX 28, and it was compared with available geochemical and pollen data at the site. Three main climate shifts were identified as (1) the increase in abundance of Syracosphaera spp. and Turborotalita quinqueloba marks the early Holocene humid phase, during maximum summer insolation and enhanced river runoff. It i…
Soil wettability, runoff and erodibility of major dry-Mediterranean land use types on calcareous soils
2007
This study examines six land uses (pine woodland, long unburnt scrubland, recently burnt scrubland, orange grove, olive grove and cereal crop), typical for calcareous soils in a dry-Mediterranean region such as eastern Spain, with regard to soil surface water repellency occurrence, hydrological response and erodibility. For each land use, we performed water drop penetration time (WDPT) tests and rainfall simulations respectively on in situ soils at ten replicate plots for extremely dry antecedent conditions in summer 2002 and for wet winter conditions, in early 2003 in the Canyoles river valley. In contrasts to what might have been expected, water repellency was absent or subcritical (WDPT …
Surface and deep water conditions in the Sicily channel (central Mediterranean) at the time of sapropel S5 deposition
2011
New centennial-scale data of benthic foraminifera assemblages and of stable isotopes of foraminifera shells from the Sicily Channel, representative of surface and bottom waters, over the interval between about 140 and 110 kyr BP, are presented. During this period anoxia developed on the eastern Mediterranean basin and sapropel S5 deposited. Although anoxic sediments have not been deposited in the Sicily Channel, this area is strategic to study the character of intermediate waters, whose chemical-physical properties strongly precondition the eastern Mediterranean deep water formation. So far, no data from these water masses have been obtained, apart from the isotopic composition of shells of…
The crisis facing Tunisian drainage tunnels: identification, analysis and evaluation of water heritage in the Mediterranean region
2014
In regions with Mediterranean and steppe climates, the presence of surface water is sporadic, and a unique – but fragile and undervalued – element of water capture for irrigation and human supply is the ‘qanats’, ‘foggaras’, ‘mkoulas’ or water tunnels. The central objective of this project has been the full study of Tunisia's drainage tunnels. The inventory, analysis and heritage evaluation of Tunisia's ‘qanats’ have been possible through the application of a particular methodology during four annual sessions of fieldwork and analysis in the geographic information system (GIS) laboratory. The results have been: the creation of a spatial data and cartography infrastructure for the Tunisian ‘…
The Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis
2011
Information on land surface properties finds applications in a range of areas related to weather forecasting, environmental research, hazard management and climate monitoring. Remotely sensed observations yield the only means of supplying land surface information with adequate time sampling and a wide spatial coverage. The aim of the Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis (Land-SAF) is to take full advantage of remotely sensed data to support land, land-atmosphere and biosphere applications, with emphasis on the development and implementation of algorithms that allow operational use of data from European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMET…
Fate of microplastics in agricultural soils amended with sewage sludge: Is surface water runoff a relevant environmental pathway?
2021
Abstract Sewage sludge used as agricultural fertilizer has been identified as an important source of microplastics (MPs) to the environment. However, the fate of MPs added to agricultural soils is largely unknown. This study investigated the fate of MPs in agricultural soils amended with sewage sludge and the role of surface water runoff as a mechanism driving their transfer to aquatic ecosystems. This was assessed using three experimental plots located in a semi-arid area of Central Spain, which were planted with barley. The experimental plots received the following treatments: (1) control or no sludge application; (2) historical sludge application, five years prior to the experiment; and …
Subfossil chironomid assemblages in deep, stratified European lakes: relationships with temperature, trophic state and oxygen
2010
Summary 1. The distributions of subfossil remains of chironomid larvae in 28 large, deep and stratified lakes in Europe were examined in surface sediments along a latitudinal transect ranging from northern Sweden to southern Italy. 2. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that summer surface water and July air temperature, as well as total phosphorus (TP) concentrations, hypolimnetic oxygen availability and conductivity were statistically significant (P < 0.05) explanatory variables explaining between 11 and 14% of the variance in the chironomid data. 3. Owing to the spatial scale covered by our study, many environmental variables were covarying. Temperature, TP concentration and o…
A statistical study of the quality of surface water intended for human consumption near Valencia (Spain)
2007
Water quality in the European Union is subject to legislation through directives that are applicable in all Member States. The directives specify a set of physical and chemical parameters that should be regularly controlled using a network of sampling points, with sampling based on the intended use of the water. This paper presents the results of a statistical comparison of the quality of water intended for human consumption at two different locations (the Canal de Benagéber and the Canal Júcar-Turia) near the town of Valencia (Spain). These are currently the only canals that could supply Valencia and other nearby towns with drinking water. The parameters considered in this paper are the on…
Assessing drugs of abuse distribution in Turia River based on geographic information system and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry
2017
Drugs of abuse are continuously discharged into wastewaters as part of their elimination process. Pollution at very low concentrations appears to be broad in environmental compartments near populated areas. A total of 42 drugs of abuse and metabolites were analysed in surface water samples collected in 2012 and 2013 by solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Analytical results of target compounds were georeferenced and integrated into a geographical information systems (GIS). Ecotoxicological risk of drugs of abuse detected in the Turia River was evaluated in this study by calculating risk quotient (RQ). In 2012, 6 compounds were detected in a total of…
Occurrence, distribution and behavior of emerging persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in a Mediterranean wetland protected area.
2018
The analysis of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and organophosphate flame retardants (PFRs) in the different environmental compartments of a characteristic coastal wetland, the Albufera Natural Park (Valencia, Spain), is required for understanding the transport, accumulation and fate of these pollutants in an area under high anthropogenic pressure. Samples included 13 wastewater treatment plant influents, 13 effluents, 12 surface water, 19 sediment samples and 10 fish individuals from the Albufera Natural Park and the surrounding area. Tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) were at the highest concentrations in water, 330.2 ng L−1 and 47.8 ng L−1, r…