An Easy-to-Use Method for Assessing Nitrate Contamination Susceptibility in Groundwater

This research presents a methodology for assessing nitrate contamination susceptibility in groundwater using thematic maps, derived mainly from the land use map and from statistical data available at national/regional institutes of statistics (especially demographic and environmental data). The methodology was applied in a large area of southern Italy encompassing 4 alluvial and volcanic groundwater bodies, with high concentrations of NO3. The Potential Nitrate Contamination is believed to derive from three sources: agricultural, urban, and periurban. The first one is related to the use of fertilizers. For this reason the land use map was reclassified on the basis of the crop requirements in terms of fertilizers to obtain the Agricultural Potential Nitrate Contamination (APNC) map. The urban source considers leakages from the sewage network and, consequently, it depends on the anthropogenic pressure, expressed by the population density, particularly concentrated in the urbanized areas (Urban Potential Nitrate Contamination (UPNC) map). The periurban sources include unsewered areas, especially present in the periurban context, where illegal sewage connections coexist with on-site sewage disposal (cesspools, septic tanks, and pit latrines) (Periurban Potential Nitrate Contamination (PuPNC) map). The Potential Nitrate Contamination (PNC) map is produced by overlaying the APNC, UPNC, and PuPNC maps. The map combination process is straightforward, being an algebraic combination: the output values are the arithmetic average of the input values. The final pollution susceptibility (RISK) map is obtained by combining the PNC map with the groundwater contamination vulnerability (GwVu) map. The methodology, successfully applied in the study area with a relatively good correlation between the nitrate contamination susceptibility map and the nitrate distribution in groundwater, appears to be effective and have a significant potential for being applied worldwide.

Download Full-text

Towards a dynamic landslide susceptibility assessment: evaluation of a novel climate-related variable

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-3358 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Irene Corno ◽

Corrado Camera ◽

Greta Bajni ◽

Stefania Stevenazzi ◽

Tiziana Apuani

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Logistic Regression ◽

Landslide Susceptibility ◽

Confusion Matrix ◽

Shallow Landslides ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Annual Number ◽

Susceptibility Map ◽

Climatic Variable ◽

North West

The Mont Cervin and Mont Emilius Mountain Communities (Aosta Valley, North-West Italy) are particularly predisposed to shallow landslide phenomena due to their morphological and geological characteristics. In addition, short intense rainfalls, which are considered one of the main landslides triggering factors, are expected to increase over the Alpine region due to climate changes. This study was carried out to provide a potentially dynamic landslide susceptibility map, adaptable to these changes, for the two Communities (total area 670 km2). To achieve this goal, the susceptibility analysis was set up on a statistical basis, using the Logistic Regression method. The objectives of this study were:<ol><li>to verify the completeness of the database of dated shallow landslides, and define an optimal training set with the addition of non-landslide points;</li> <li>to find a potentially dynamic variable, statistically and physically significant, which summarizes the landslide-climate relationships;</li> <li>to derive a parsimonious model for the definition of landslide susceptibility that includes this variable.</li> </ol>For the period 1990-2018, 293 dated records of shallow landslides were extracted from the Landslide Regional Database. For non-landslide points, two sampling algorithms (Random and Stratified Sampling) and different sample sizes (from a minimum of one to a maximum of three times the number of landslide points) were evaluated. For the same period, the precipitation and temperature data were obtained from the time series available in Regional archives. The relationships between the triggering of landslides and the characteristics of the preceding precipitation (e.g., amount and intensity for durations ranging from 0.5 hours to 30 days) were studied using graphs and correlation indices, to determine the climatic variable to be used in the statistical analysis. Other geological-environmental data (e.g. elevation, land use, lithology) were downloaded from the Regional geoportal and then processed in a GIS environment to obtain traditional predictive variables. Logistic Regression analysis was implemented in SPSS. The models were evaluated through the confusion matrix, optimized keeping only the statistically significant variables, and validated through a 70% (training) - 30% (test) subdivision of the input data and the calculation of the Area Under the Curve (AUC values). The climatic variable was expressed in terms of the average annual number of exceedances of a rainfall intensity-duration landslide-triggering threshold, validated for the study area. The optimal sample of non-landslide points was obtained through Random Sampling and is equal to 1.15 times the number of landslide points. Statistically significant predictors were altitude, land use, slope and exceedances of the threshold. Applying the optimized model (discriminating probability 0.5), the true positives reached the 89.6% and 88.9% on training and test points, respectively. The resulting AUC values &#8203;&#8203;for the training and test curves are 83.1% and 82.1%, respectively. Both indicators show that the model is robust and has good predictive power. The susceptibility map obtained from the developed model was reclassified through the geometrical interval method and 93% of the landslides fell into the high and very high susceptibility classes.

Download Full-text

Variation of nitrogen forms in lakes with different intensity of anthropogenic pressure

Limnological Review ◽

10.2478/limre-2013-0020 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 181-188 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Rafał Zieliński ◽

Julita Dunalska ◽

Jolanta Grochowska ◽

Izabela Bigaj ◽

Daniel Szymański

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Trophic Status ◽

Nitrogen Concentration ◽

Ammonium Nitrogen ◽

Anthropogenic Pressure ◽

Nitrogen Forms ◽

Dominant Form ◽

Water Layers ◽

Nitrogen Abundance ◽

High Concentrations

AbstractThe aim of this study was to compare the concentration of nitrogen and trace the dynamics of its changes in two lakes with different intensity of anthropogenic pressure. The dominant land use of Lake Paskierz catchment is built-up areas, while in Lake Sajmino, wasteland is the dominant land use. The total amount of nitrogen in Lake Paskierz ranged from 1.68 to 6.58 g Ntot m-3, while in Lake Sajmino it was from 1.03 to 1.84 g Ntot m-3. The organic fraction was a dominant form in the surface water layers of the examined lakes. A slightly different situation was found in near-bottom water layers of Lake Paskierz, where ammonium nitrogen was the dominant form in the summer stagnation. In other cases organic nitrogen was a dominant form in each of the reservoirs. Concentrations of nitrites and nitrates were low and did not affect essentially the overall amount of nitrogen in the studied lakes. Based on the results, it can be concluded that Lake Paskierz is overfertilized. The high concentrations of ammonia measured in near-bottom layers of the lake indicate that the internal supply may be a very important process affecting the trophic status. Lake Sajmino was characterized by significantly less nitrogen abundance, although the periodically increasing nitrogen concentration reveals the presence of adverse anthropopressure on the lake.

Download Full-text

A Comparison of Approaches to Regional Land-Use Capability Analysis for Agricultural Land-Planning

Land ◽

10.3390/land10050458 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 458

Author(s):

Tara A. Ippolito ◽

Jeffrey E. Herrick ◽

Ekwe L. Dossa ◽

Maman Garba ◽

Mamadou Ouattara ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Planning ◽

Crop Production ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Arable Land ◽

Agricultural Activity ◽

Field Samples ◽

Agricultural Potential ◽

Fertility Data ◽

Using Data

Smallholder agriculture is a major source of income and food for developing nations. With more frequent drought and increasing scarcity of arable land, more accurate land-use planning tools are needed to allocate land resources to support regional agricultural activity. To address this need, we created Land Capability Classification (LCC) system maps using data from two digital soil maps, which were compared with measurements from 1305 field sites in the Dosso region of Niger. Based on these, we developed 250 m gridded maps of LCC values across the region. Across the region, land is severely limited for agricultural use because of low available water-holding capacity (AWC) that limits dry season agricultural potential, especially without irrigation, and requires more frequent irrigation where supplemental water is available. If the AWC limitation is removed in the LCC algorithm (i.e., simulating the use of sufficient irrigation or a much higher and more evenly distributed rainfall), the dominant limitations become less severe and more spatially varied. Finally, we used additional soil fertility data from the field samples to illustrate the value of collecting contemporary data for dynamic soil properties that are critical for crop production, including soil organic carbon, phosphorus and nitrogen.

Download Full-text

A Comparative Analysis of Spatial Data and Land Use/Land Cover Classification in Urbanized Areas and Areas Subjected to Anthropogenic Pressure for the Example of Poland

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13063070 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 3070

Author(s):

Patrycja Szarek-Iwaniuk

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Cover ◽

Land Cover Classification ◽

Classification Systems ◽

Anthropogenic Pressure ◽

Land Use Land Cover ◽

Land Use Classification ◽

Land Cover Data ◽

Spatial Changes ◽

Land Use Types

Urbanization processes are some of the key drivers of spatial changes which shape and influence land use and land cover. The aim of sustainable land use policies is to preserve and manage existing resources for present and future generations. Increasing access to information about land use and land cover has led to the emergence of new sources of data and various classification systems for evaluating land use and spatial changes. A single globally recognized land use classification system has not been developed to date, and various sources of land-use/land-cover data exist around the world. As a result, data from different systems may be difficult to interpret and evaluate in comparative analyses. The aims of this study were to compare land-use/land-cover data and selected land use classification systems, and to determine the influence of selected classification systems and spatial datasets on analyses of land-use structure in the examined area. The results of the study provide information about the existing land-use/land-cover databases, revealing that spatial databases and land use and land cover classification systems contain many equivalent land-use types, but also differ in various respects, such as the level of detail, data validity, availability, number of land-use types, and the applied nomenclature.

Download Full-text

High concentrations of metals in the waters from Araguari River lower section (Amazon biome): Relationship with land use and cover, ecotoxicological effects and risks to aquatic biota

Chemosphere ◽

10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131451 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 131451

Author(s):

Lucilene Finoto Viana ◽

Fábio Kummrow ◽

Claudia Andrea Lima Cardoso ◽

Nathalya Alice de Lima ◽

Júlio César Jut Solórzano ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Aquatic Biota ◽

Lower Section ◽

Ecotoxicological Effects ◽

High Concentrations ◽

Land Use And Cover

Download Full-text

Incorporating Landslide Spatial Information and Correlated Features among Conditioning Factors for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13112166 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 2166

Author(s):

Xin Yang ◽

Rui Liu ◽

Mei Yang ◽

Jingjue Chen ◽

Tianqiang Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Hybrid Model ◽

Landslide Susceptibility ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Landslide Susceptibility Mapping ◽

Ratio Method ◽

Support Vector ◽

Susceptibility Map ◽

Conditioning Factors ◽

Proposed Model

This study proposed a new hybrid model based on the convolutional neural network (CNN) for making effective use of historical datasets and producing a reliable landslide susceptibility map. The proposed model consists of two parts; one is the extraction of landslide spatial information using two-dimensional CNN and pixel windows, and the other is to capture the correlated features among the conditioning factors using one-dimensional convolutional operations. To evaluate the validity of the proposed model, two pure CNN models and the previously used methods of random forest and a support vector machine were selected as the benchmark models. A total of 621 earthquake-triggered landslides in Ludian County, China and 14 conditioning factors derived from the topography, geological, hydrological, geophysical, land use and land cover data were used to generate a geospatial dataset. The conditioning factors were then selected and analyzed by a multicollinearity analysis and the frequency ratio method. Finally, the trained model calculated the landslide probability of each pixel in the study area and produced the resultant susceptibility map. The results indicated that the hybrid model benefitted from the features extraction capability of the CNN and achieved high-performance results in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and statistical indices. Moreover, the proposed model had 6.2% and 3.7% more improvement than the two pure CNN models in terms of the AUC, respectively. Therefore, the proposed model is capable of accurately mapping landslide susceptibility and providing a promising method for hazard mitigation and land use planning. Additionally, it is recommended to be applied to other areas of the world.

Download Full-text

Water quality of the reservoirs used for irrigation in São José dos Pinhais, Paraná State, Brazil

Ciência Rural ◽

10.1590/0103-8478cr20150420 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 46 (4) ◽

pp. 626-631

Author(s):

Tiago Miguel Jarek ◽

Jorge Luiz Moretti de Souza ◽

Nerilde Favaretto ◽

Lucimeris Ruaro

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Land Use ◽

Coliform Bacteria ◽

Environmental Preservation ◽

Quality Of Water ◽

Average Rainfall ◽

Agricultural Potential ◽

Thermotolerant Coliforms ◽

Type Of Land Use

ABSTRACT: Land use outside its agricultural potential and low vegetation cover in the watershed impair the quality of water used for irrigation and may contribute to the spread of pathogenic coliform bacteria. The objective of this study was to relate the quality of irrigation water with the intensity and type of land use and the rainfall in a vegetable-producing region of São José dos Pinhais, Paraná. Water samples were collected monthly in 2013 from two reservoirs and one preserved source. After collection, the samples were chilled in Styrofoam boxes and transported to the laboratory for analyses of the total and thermotolerant coliforms. Effect of land use was analyzed by probability estimation trees. High land use and weekly above average rainfall increased the probability of thermo tolerant coliforms exceeding the limit allowed under legislation. In regards to thermo tolerant coliforms in the analyzed period, the water from only one reservoir was in accordance with the legislation for the quality of water to irrigate vegetables that are consumed raw. Results of this study are an alert to the local government for the necessity of environmental preservation to maintain the water quality of the county.

Download Full-text

Prediction and digital mapping of soil carbon storage in the Lower Namoi Valley

Soil Research ◽

10.1071/sr05136 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 44 (3) ◽

pp. 233 ◽

Cited By ~ 125

Author(s):

Budiman Minasny ◽

Alex. B. McBratney ◽

M. L. Mendonça-Santos ◽

I. O. A. Odeh ◽

Brice Guyon

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Carbon ◽

Carbon Storage ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Pedotransfer Functions ◽

Soil Carbon Storage ◽

Depth Function ◽

Terrain Attributes ◽

Organic Carbon Storage

Estimation and mapping carbon storage in the soil is currently an important topic; thus, the knowledge of the distribution of carbon content with depth is essential. This paper examines the use of a negative exponential profile depth function to describe the soil carbon data at different depths, and its integral to represent the carbon storage. A novel method is then proposed for mapping the soil carbon storage in the Lower Namoi Valley, NSW. This involves deriving pedotransfer functions to predict soil organic carbon and bulk density, fitting the exponential depth function to the carbon profile data, deriving a neural network model to predict parameters of the exponential function from environmental data, and mapping the organic carbon storage. The exponential depth function is shown to fit the soil carbon data adequately, and the parameters also reflect the influence of soil order. The parameters of the exponential depth function were predicted from land use, radiometric K, and terrain attributes. Using the estimated parameters we map the carbon storage of the area from surface to a depth of 1 m. The organic carbon storage map shows the high influence of land use on the predicted storage. Values of 15–22 kg/m2 were predicted for the forested area and 2–6 kg/m2 in the cultivated area in the plains.

Download Full-text

PENANAMAN POHON SEBAGAI UPAYA MENJAGA CADANGAN AIR TANAH DAN MENCEGAH BAHAYA EROSI DI KECAMATAN CIBIRU

Al-Khidmat ◽

10.15575/jak.v2i1.5344 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 34-39

Author(s):

Kundang Harisman ◽

Budy Frasetya ◽

Adjat Sudrajat ◽

Suryaman Birnadi ◽

Maratun Sholeha

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Water Conservation ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Community Services ◽

Tree Planting ◽

Large Area ◽

Soil Infiltration ◽

Land Use Conversion ◽

Conservation Activity ◽

Soil And Water

Land use conversion in to settlements and agricultural land affect rainwater can not be infiltrate directly in to the soil. Cibiru District has large area with slope so that this region has high risk of erosion. Soil and water conservation activity through tree planting methode involving comunity services is startegic effort to overcome potential erosion hazzard and increase soil infiltration. The activity of Community services was held from July-August 2018 in Palasari sub-district which has slope 8-15%. This community services methode used in the form of tree planting workshop and supervision during the manintenance periode. This tree planting program was welcomed enthusiastically by the community. The comunity in Cibiru District is pro active in preservation trees, especially during the dry season.

Download Full-text

GIS for land evaluation of watershed aquaculture development in Thainguyen, Vietnam.

10.1079/ac.81395.20203483787 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Dao Huy Giap

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Environmental Data ◽

Land Evaluation ◽

Geographical Information ◽

Land Area ◽

Soil Thickness ◽

Pond Aquaculture ◽

Strategic Plans ◽

Aquaculture Development ◽

Socio Economic Factors

Abstract This study was conducted in the Daitu district of Thainguyen, Vietnam during November 2001 to January 2003 to identify and estimate potential areas for aquaculture development in a watershed area by integrating socio-economic and environmental data into a geographical information system (GIS) database. Fourteen base layers were used for land evaluation and grouped into four main land use requirements for aquaculture namely: (1) potential for pond construction (slope, land use type, soil thickness and elevation); (2) soil quality (soil type, texture and pH); (3) water availability (distance to water, water sources and precipitation); and (4) geographical and socio-economic factors (population density, distances to roads, local markets and hatcheries). The study demonstrated the usefulness of GIS modelling to select suitable sites for the development of watershed ponds, and the importance of using the data as a tool for planners to develop strategic plans for aquaculture development. The study indicated that about 4.7% (2,725 ha) of the total land area of 57,618 ha in Daitu district was suitable for watershed pond aquaculture, compared to the existing 404 ha of watershed ponds.

Download Full-text