scholarly journals Natural and anthropic pollution episodes during the Late Holocene evolution of the Tinto River estuary (SW Spain)

2021 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-123
Author(s):  
Marta Arroyo ◽  
Francisco Ruiz ◽  
María Luz González-Regalado ◽  
Joaquín Rodríguez Vidal ◽  
Luis Miguel Cáceres ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
River Estuary ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Tinto River ◽  
Sw Spain ◽  
Holocene Transgression ◽  
New Period ◽  
Paleoenvironmental Evolution ◽  
Two Peaks ◽  
The Impact

This paper investigates the paleoenvironmental evolution of a core extracted in the middle sector of the Tinto River estuary, SW Spain, one of the most polluted areas in the world due to mining over thousands of years (>4 kyr BP) and recent industrial discharges. This evolution includes alluvial sands (>6.4 cal kyr BP), bioclastic sands and silts deposited in subtidal and intertidal channels during and after the Holocene transgression maximum (6.4-4.3 cal kyr BP), the sedimentation of clayey-sandy silts in low and high marshes during the last 2.4 kyr BP and a final anthropic filling. Three sharp peaks of pollution have been detected, representing a) a natural origin during the Holocene transgression; b) the impact of the first mining activities (~4.5 cal kyr BP); and c) the effect of industrial discharge and a new period of mining activity throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Foraminifera, ostracods and molluscs disappeared during these last two peaks.

Crustal subsidence inferred from reconstruction of the Pleistocene–Holocene palaeogeography in the northern Lake Inba area, central Japan

2019 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
pp. 61-79
Author(s):  
Takashi Chiba ◽  
Shigeo Sugihara ◽  
Yoshiaki Matsushima ◽  
Yusuke Arai ◽  
Kunihiko Endo
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Diatom Assemblages ◽  
Central Japan ◽  
Lower Salinity ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Holocene Transgression

ABSTRACTTo help characterise the palaeogeographic and lacustrine environmental changes that resulted from the Holocene transgression and residual subsidence in the eastern Kanto Plain of central Japan, we analysed four drill cores and reviewed other core data from the southern part of the Lake Inba area. Fossil diatom assemblages yielded evidence of centennial-scale palaeogeographic and salinity responses to sea-level changes since the late Pleistocene. We determined that the seawater incursion into the Lake Inba area during the Holocene transgression occurred at approximately 9000 yr. We also recognised a late Holocene regression event corresponding to the Yayoi regression, considered to have occurred from ca. 3000 to ca. 2000 yr, and a subsequent transgression. Our data clarify some of the palaeogeographic changes that occurred in the Lake Inba area and document an overall trend toward lower salinity in the lake during the regression. In particular, the environment in Lake Inba changed from brackish to freshwater no later than 1000 yr. From the detailed palaeogeographic and palaeo-sea-level reconstruction, we recognised that residual subsidence occurred during the Holocene in this area. Thus, comparison of sea-level reconstructions based on modelling and fossil diatom assemblages is effective in interpreting Holocene long-term subsidence.

Late Holocene thermohaline perturbation of the N-Atlantic Subpolar Gyre linked to exceptional Greenland Ice Sheet melting between 4.4 and 4.0 ka BP

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoon Kuijpers ◽  
Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz ◽  
Ralph Schneider ◽  
Camilla S. Andresen ◽  
Signe Hygom Jacobsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Water Discharge ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Subpolar Gyre ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Master Thesis ◽  
The Impact

<p>Knowledge of the impact of past climate warming on Greenland Ice Sheet stability is an important issue for assessing  thresholds that are critical for a potential ice sheet collapse. For the late Holocene, evidence has recently been found of a so-called 4.2 ka BP event(1) including a prominent warming spike in several ice core records from Greenland and Canada (Agassiz).  Also lake records from both Northwest(2) and South Greenland(3) support pronounced summer warming during that time. After c. 4.0 ka BP NW Greenland July air temperature dropped by about 3<sup>o</sup> C. Coeval with this exceptional atmospheric warming anomaly over northern Canada and parts of Greenland, abrupt cooling and freshening affected  the N-Atlantic subpolar gyre where Labrador Sea deep convection ceased(4). Northern N-Atlantic climate generally deteriorated. With our contribution we present Holocene sub-bottom profiling  and sedimentary shelf and  fjord records from Southwest Greenland and Disko Bay that indicate exceptional Greenland Ice Sheet melting 4.4-4.0 ka BP at a rate and magnitude not recorded since early Holocene deglaciation. Extremely strong melt water discharge resulted in erosion of fjord sediments(5) and local deposition of up to several meters thick meltwater sediment on the shelf(6-8).  Timing of this melting event corresponds to a significant anomaly in hydrographic parameters of the Labrador Current off Newfoundland(9,10), which is concluded to have resulted in thermohaline perturbation of the N-Atlantic Subpolar gyre.   </p><ul><li>(1) Weiss, H. 2019. Clim Past doi:10.5194/cp-2018-162-RC2</li> <li>(2) McFarlin, J.M. et al. 2018. PNAS doi:10.1073/pnas.1720420115</li> <li>(3) Andresen, C.S. et al. 2004. J Quat Sci 19(8) doi:10.1002/jqs.886</li> <li>(4) Klus, A. et al. 2018. Clim Past doi:10.5194/cp-14-1165-2018</li> <li>(5) Ren, J. et al. 2009. Mar Micropal doi:10.1016/j.marmicro.2008.12.003</li> <li>(6) Hygom Jacobsen, S. 2019. Master Thesis Aarhus Univ, Dept. of Geoscience, pp105</li> <li>(7) Schneider, R. 2015. Cruise Rep epic.awi.de/id/eprint/37062/131/msm-44-46-expeditionsheft.pdf</li> <li>(8) Kuijpers, A. et al. 2001. Geol. Greenland Surv Bull 189, 41-47</li> <li>(9) Solignac, S. et al. 2011. The Holocene, doi: 10.1177/0959683610385720</li> <li>(10) Orme, L. et al 2019. The Holocene (submitted)</li> </ul>

Impact of millennial mining activities on sediments and microfauna of the Tinto River estuary (SW Spain)

2008 ◽  
Vol 56 (7) ◽  
pp. 1258-1264 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Ruiz ◽  
J. Borrego ◽  
M.L. González-Regalado ◽  
N. López González ◽  
B. Carro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Estuary ◽  
Mining Activities ◽  
Tinto River ◽  
Sw Spain

Middle Holocene environmental reconstruction and climatic inferences through multi-proxy records from Seymareh lake sediments (Zagros Mts., Iran)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Delchiaro ◽  
Giulia Iacobucci ◽  
Francesco Troiani ◽  
Marta Della Seta ◽  
Paolo Ballato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentation Rate ◽  
Water Discharge ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Grain Size Analysis ◽  
Size Analysis ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
Lake System ◽  
Proxy Records ◽  
The Impact

<p>The Seymareh landslide is the largest rock slope failure (44 Gm<sup>3</sup>) ever recorded on the exposed Earth surface. It detached ∼10 ka BP from the northeastern flank of the Kabir-Kuh anticline (Zagros Mts., Iran) originating the natural dam responsible for the formation of a three-lake system (Seymareh, Jaidar, and Balmak lakes, with an area of 259, 46, and 5 km<sup>2</sup>, respectively). The lake system persisted for ∼3000 yr during the Holocene before its emptying phase due to overflow. A sedimentation rate of 21 mm yr<sup>−1</sup> was estimated for the Seymareh lacustrine deposits, which increased during the early stage of lake emptying because of enhanced sediment yield from the lake tributaries. </p><p>To reconstruct the climatic and environmental impact on the lake infilling, we reviewed the geomorphology of the basins and combined the results with multi-proxy records from a 30 m thick lacustrine sequence in Seymareh Lake. Major analyses comprise grain size analysis, carbon and oxygen stable isotopes of carbonate-bearing sediments, and X-ray diffraction analysis of clay minerals.</p><p>Lake overflowing is largely accepted as the main response to variations in water discharge and sediment supply since the alternation from dry to wet phases enhances sediment mobilization along hillslopes decreasing the accommodation space in the downstream sedimentary basins. In this regard, during the early-middle Holocene, the Seymareh area, as well as the entire Middle East, was affected by short-term climate changes at the millennial-scale, as testified by both paleoecological and archaeological evidence. Indeed, several records from Iranian lakes (i.e., Mirabad, Zeribar, Urmia) well documented the temperature and the moisture conditions of the western Zagros Mountains during the Holocene. During the early Holocene, the precipitation remained low up to 6 ka BP, reaching the driest condition around 8-8.2 ka BP. The impact of this abrupt climate change is evident across West Asia, where the first large villages with domesticated cereals and sheeps disappeared, converting to small hamlets and starting habitat-tracking. As regards the Seymareh area, a more irregular distribution of rainfalls and their increasing seasonality may support rhexistasy conditions, during which the scarce vegetation cover enhances both the hillslope erosion and sedimentation rate in the basins, most likely contributing to the overflow of Seymareh Lake. </p>

scholarly journals The Holocene thermal maximum in the Nordic Seas: the impact of Greenland Ice Sheet melt and other forcings in a coupled atmosphere–sea-ice–ocean model

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1629-1643 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Blaschek ◽  
H. Renssen
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Surface Cooling ◽  
Holocene Climate ◽  
Nordic Seas ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Holocene Thermal Maximum ◽  
Thermal Maximum ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The relatively warm early Holocene climate in the Nordic Seas, known as the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM), is often associated with an orbitally forced summer insolation maximum at 10 ka BP. The spatial and temporal response recorded in proxy data in the North Atlantic and the Nordic Seas reveals a complex interaction of mechanisms active in the HTM. Previous studies have investigated the impact of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS), as a remnant from the previous glacial period, altering climate conditions with a continuous supply of melt water to the Labrador Sea and adjacent seas and with a downwind cooling effect from the remnant LIS. In our present work we extend this approach by investigating the impact of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) on the early Holocene climate and the HTM. Reconstructions suggest melt rates of 13 mSv for 9 ka BP, which result in our model in an ocean surface cooling of up to 2 K near Greenland. Reconstructed summer SST gradients agree best with our simulation including GIS melt, confirming that the impact of the early Holocene GIS is crucial for understanding the HTM characteristics in the Nordic Seas area. This implies that modern and near-future GIS melt can be expected to play an active role in the climate system in the centuries to come.

scholarly journals Functional trait responses to sediment deposition reduce macrofauna-mediated ecosystem functioning in an estuarine mudflat

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 2587-2599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastiaan Mestdagh ◽  
Leila Bagaço ◽  
Ulrike Braeckman ◽  
Tom Ysebaert ◽  
Bart De Smet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Consumption ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
River Estuary ◽  
Functional Trait ◽  
Sediment Deposition ◽  
Sediment Chemistry ◽  
Sediment Layer ◽  
Sediment Reworking ◽  
Macrobenthic Communities ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Human activities, among which dredging and land use change in river basins, are altering estuarine ecosystems. These activities may result in changes in sedimentary processes, affecting biodiversity of sediment macrofauna. As macrofauna controls sediment chemistry and fluxes of energy and matter between water column and sediment, changes in the structure of macrobenthic communities could affect the functioning of an entire ecosystem. We assessed the impact of sediment deposition on intertidal macrobenthic communities and on rates of an important ecosystem function, i.e. sediment community oxygen consumption (SCOC). An experiment was performed with undisturbed sediment samples from the Scheldt river estuary (SW Netherlands). The samples were subjected to four sedimentation regimes: one control and three with a deposited sediment layer of 1, 2 or 5 cm. Oxygen consumption was measured during incubation at ambient temperature. Luminophores applied at the surface, and a seawater–bromide mixture, served as tracers for bioturbation and bio-irrigation, respectively. After incubation, the macrofauna was extracted, identified, and counted and then classified into functional groups based on motility and sediment reworking capacity. Total macrofaunal densities dropped already under the thinnest deposits. The most affected fauna were surficial and low-motility animals, occurring at high densities in the control. Their mortality resulted in a drop in SCOC, which decreased steadily with increasing deposit thickness, while bio-irrigation and bioturbation activity showed increases in the lower sediment deposition regimes but decreases in the more extreme treatments. The initial increased activity likely counteracted the effects of the drop in low-motility, surficial fauna densities, resulting in a steady rather than sudden fall in oxygen consumption. We conclude that the functional identity in terms of motility and sediment reworking can be crucial in our understanding of the regulation of ecosystem functioning and the impact of habitat alterations such as sediment deposition.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document