scholarly journals Small sinkhole-like features in alluvial plains: the example of Paganico (Lucca Plain, Italy)

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-51
Author(s):  
M. Dell'Aringa ◽  
R. Giannecchini ◽  
A. Puccinelli
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Water Exchange ◽  
Fine Fraction ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Confined Aquifer ◽  
Water Tables ◽  
Piezometric Surface ◽  
Perched Aquifer

Abstract. Paganico is a little village located in the southeastern portion of the Lucca Plain (northwestern Tuscany, Italy). Since the seventies, a few square kilometers' area around Paganico has been involved in the opening of small cavities (sinkhole-like) on the land surface. At the beginning they were very small and sporadic. Later on the phenomena were characterized by a significant extension, increasing in frequency and size (up to 2 m in diameter and depth), causing inconvenience to local people, agricultural operations and occasionally a little damage (cracks to buildings, fencing walls and outside floorings). The cavities prevalently occur at the end of the dry season, during or immediately after the first intense rainy events, that is, between the end of summer and early autumn. Even so, the predisposition and triggering causes at present are not completely clarified. Therefore this study is aimed at individuating the triggering and evolution mechanism of the Paganico sinkhole-like features, particularly referring to the stratigraphic, hydrogeological and geotechnical features of the involved materials. Another important issue made clear with this research is represented by the overexploitation of the local aquifer, characterized by particular hydro-structural conditions. In fact, the Paganico underground shows three horizons with different lithologic, hydrogeological and geotechnical properties: a superficial silty-sandy horizon (2–3 m thick), which is particularly involved in collapses; an intermediate silty-clayey horizon (2–4 m thick); and a lower and thick gravel-pebbly horizon, characterized by important water resources and heavy pumping. Since the seventies, such water pumping rose considerably due to the local demographic (well field), industrial (paper manufacture) and agricultural development. From a hydrogeological point of view, this area is consequently characterized by two water tables: a temporary one, housed in the superficial silty-sandy horizon (perched aquifer), and a second one, confined, associated with the lower gravel-pebbly horizon (aquifer). The perched aquifer and confined aquifer are separated by an impermeable silty-clayey horizon. According to the observations resulting from this study, the latter probably tends to fracture by desiccation during the dry season, originating water exchange between the two water tables during the first important autumnal rainfall, depending on the pumping conditions, which lower the piezometric surface of the confined aquifer. Cracking would also characterize the superficial horizon. Thus, the water exchange would produce erosional phenomena in the superficial material, with removal of the fine fraction and collapse. This process could be at the origin of the cavities opening.

scholarly journals Small sinkhole-like features in alluvial plains: the example of Paganico (Lucca Plain, Italy)

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 3413-3448 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Dell'Aringa ◽  
R. Giannecchini ◽  
A. Puccinelli
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Water Exchange ◽  
Fine Fraction ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Water Pumping ◽  
Water Tables ◽  
Piezometric Surface ◽  
Significant Extension

Abstract. Paganico is a little village located in the south-eastern portion of the Lucca Plain (North Western Tuscany, Italy). Since Seventies a few square kilometres area around Paganico has been involved in opening of small cavities (sinkhole-like features – in this work named micro-sinkholes for simplification) on the land surface. At the beginning they were very small and sporadic. Then (in Eighties), the phenomenon has been characterized by a significant extension, increasing in frequency and size (up to 2 m in diameter and depth), causing inconvenience to local people, agricultural operation and sometimes damage (cracks to buildings, walls, floorings). The cavities prevalently occur at the end of the dry season, during or immediately after the first intense rainy events, that is between the end of summer and autumn. Even so the predisposition and triggering causes are not at present completely clarified. Therefore this study is aimed at individuating the triggering and evolution mechanism of the Paganico micro-sinkholes, particularly referring to the stratigraphic, hydrogeological and geotechnical features of the involved materials. Another important issue made clear with this research is represented by the overexploitation involving the local aquifer, characterized by particular hydro-structural conditions. In fact, the Paganico underground shows three horizons with different lithologic, hydrogeological and geotechnical properties: a superficial silty-sandy horizon (2–3 m thick), which is particularly involved in collapses; an intermediate silty-clayey horizon (2–4 m thick); a lower and thick gravel-pebbly horizon, interested by important water resources and heavy pumping. Since Seventies, such water pumping considerably rose, due to the local demographic (well-field), industrial (paper manufacture) and agricultural development. From an hydrogeological point of view, this area is consequently characterized by two water tables: a temporary one, housed in the superficial silty-sandy horizon (aquitard), and a second one, confined, associated to the lower gravel-pebbly horizon (aquifer). Such water tables are separated by an impermeable silty-clayey horizon. According to the observations resulting from this study, the latter probably tends to fracture by desiccation during the dry season, originating water exchange between the two water tables during the first important autumnal rainfall, depending on the pumping conditions, which lower the piezometric surface of the confined aquifer. Cracking would interest also the superficial horizon. Thus, the water exchange would produce erosional phenomena in the superficial material, with removal of the fine fraction and collapse. This process could be at the base of the micro-sinkholes opening.

scholarly journals Aerosol characterisation including oxidative potential as a proxy of health impact

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Josipovic ◽  
Catherine Leal-Liousse ◽  
Belinda Crobeddu ◽  
Armelle Baeza-Squiban ◽  
C. Keitumetse Segakweng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Fine Fraction ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Coarse Fraction ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Oxidative Potential ◽  
Ionic Content ◽  
Vaal Triangle

This study aimed to characterise aerosols sampled in the vicinity of a major industrialised area, i.e. the Vaal Triangle. It included thedetermination of oxidative potential as a predictive indicator of particle toxicity. Aerosol samples were collated through the cascadefiltering during an eight-month period (12 h over three days in one week). Three size fractions were analysed for organic carbon(OC), black carbon (BC) and oxidative potential (OP), while ionic content was presented as monthly and seasonal concentrations. Thecontinuous measurement of black carbon by an optical attenuation instrument was collated concurrently with cascade filtering. Thecarbonaceous content was low compared to the ionic one. Within the carbonaceous concentrations, the organic carbon was higherthan concentrations of black carbon in both seasons in the ultra-fine fraction; the opposite was the case for the fine fraction, whilethe coarse fraction concentrations of organic carbon in the dry season had higher concentrations than black carbon in the wet seasonand organic carbon in the wet season. The OP tended to increase as the size was decreasing for wet season aerosols, whereas, forthe dry season, the highest OP was exerted by the fine fraction. The ultrafine fraction was the one showing the most contrasting OPbetween the two seasons. Continuous monitoring indicated that the higher BC concentrations were recorded in the dry/winter partof the year, with the daily pattern of concentrations being typically bimodal, having both the morning and evening peaks in bothseasons. Within the ionic content, the dominance of sulphate, nitrate and ammonium was evident. Multiple linear correlations wereperformed between all determined compounds. Strong correlations of carboxylic acids with other organic compounds were revealed.These acids point to emissions of VOC, both anthropogenic and biogenic. Since they were equally present in both seasons, a mixtureof sources was responsible, both present in the wider area and throughout the year.

scholarly journals Ethnoecology of Banjarese in Managing the Snakehead Fish in Barito River Basin and Tributaries

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Krisdianto Krisdianto
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Freshwater Wetland ◽  
12Th Century

<p class="Abstract"><strong>Abstract. </strong>Historically, Banjarese is living in lowland around the Barito riverbank, in the southern part of Borneo Island, from about around the 12th century. The first part of Banjarese history is a legend, but about the last three hundred years, there are data about Banjarese as a civilization with a kingdom involved in western colonialism history in Indonesia, as the pepper producer in the 17th century. They have settled almost in all Barito river tributaries and its basin and have been a part of the Barito freshwater wetland community, together with other Kalimantan ethnics such as Dayak hinterland or Malay in the coastal. This research aims to elucidate how far Banjarese is involved in managing wetlands, especially in managing Snakehead's population, enjoying its benefit and sustainability. We observe the fishers' activity on the field and village along Barito river and its basin and tributaries, visit their villages and interview them, and collect data from forum group discussion. About 60 participative respondents involve in our research. They are pleased to answer our question, explain how to cat the fish, and accompany us to evaluate Beje, ditches, or little ponds positioned lower than the land surface for placed sustainable fishes in a long dry season.  The result shows that Banjarese are traditionally managing the population of Snakehead and as a symbol of prosperity and conserve them for sustainability.</p>

Land Control in Kenya

1978 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Coldham
Keyword(s):  
Land Tenure ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Land Market ◽  
Nineteen Fifties ◽  
Traditional System ◽  
Class A ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Land Control

As the land adjudication and consolidation programme made progress in the Kikuyu Land Unit in the middle of the nineteen-fifties, it became clear that the traditional system of land tenure would have to be replaced by a system based on the registration of individual titles. Customary law was seen as an obstacle to agricultural development. Customary rules of inheritance could destroy the benefits of land consolidation. Moreover, the individual farmer had little incentive to develop his holding under customary arrangements. This point of view was illustrated by the Swynnerton Plan which proposed that “the African farmer … be provided with such security of tenure through an indefeasible title as will encourage him to invest his labour and profits into the development of his farm and as will enable him to offer it as security against financial credits”. Swynnerton hoped that the security of title conferred by registration would create a land market enabling fanners owning unviable plots or unworkable fragments to sell them off to neighbours who would be in a position to develop them more effectively. In this way “… energetic or rich Africans will be able to acquire more land and bad or poor farmers less, creating a landed and a landless class”, a process which he calls “a normal step in the evolution of a country”.

Flooding effects on grassland species composition in the Azul creek basin, Argentina

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilda Entraigas ◽  
Natalia Vercelli ◽  
Guadalupe Ares ◽  
Marcelo Varni ◽  
Sofía Zeme
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Digital Terrain Model ◽  
Floristic Composition ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Buenos Aires Province ◽  
Grassland Species ◽  
Terrain Model ◽  
Shallow Wells ◽  
Edaphic Variables ◽  
Surface And Groundwater

From a hydrological point of view, the characteristic of the water behaviour in catchments so depressed as the Azul creek basin (centre of Buenos Aires province, Argentina) is water accumulation above the land surface. Thus, water on the ground does not have a single runoff direction, but moves in a disorderly, indefinite and unpredictable way. Considering that periodic floods are a typical disturbance of the region, the objective of this study is to analyse, under field conditions, the transformative effect of prolonged flooding on floristic composition, taking into account the different vegetation patches and their relative position over the relief, the chemical characteristics and the groundwater fluctuation, and some edaphic properties in each site. Vegetation samplings were performed during three consecutive springs, when the grassland was on different hydrological conditions due to very different rainfall precedent histories. A digital terrain model of the study area was built and a flow accumulation map was created from it. Pits were dug to describe edaphic variables and shallow wells were drilled for monitoring the groundwater characteristics. Flooding, in relation with surface and groundwater dynamics and soil characteristics, is the factor that determines and promotes the differentiation among sites that are relatively close, contiguous and even topographically in almost identical positions. So, some patches of vegetation get their differentiation through the limiting conditions of their soils, while others receive greater influence from the hydrodynamics to which they are subject. Thus, in this study it becomes evident how certain stands are floristically homogenised or differentiated over time according to their flooding conditions and, hence, according to the area from which they receive surface and groundwater flow. Also, results corroborate the way the water regime determines the structure and heterogeneity of plant communities in such environments.

The Role of Polyculture in Sustainable Agricultural Development and Prevention of Land Degradation

2022 ◽  
pp. 132-153
Author(s):  
Milan Marković ◽  
Ivana Marjanović
Keyword(s):  
Land Degradation ◽  
Organic Agriculture ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Economic Viability ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Sufficient Food ◽  
Growing Population ◽  
Research Show

The aim of the chapter is to show the possible impact of policulture farming on some determinants of sustainable agricultural development, especially from the point of view of economic viability, biodiversity, and land degradation. Increasing the area under polyculture is one of the main solutions to the present environmental problems. The key constraints are economic pressures due to the question of the cost-effectiveness of such a mode of production and the need to provide sufficient food for a growing population, especially in developing countries. The results of the research show that policulture (organic agriculture) should be favored, while monoculture farming must be adequately directed and put in the function of achieving ecological goals of sustainable development as much as possible. In addition, on the example of European countries, it was assessed that there are good conditions for further “greening” of agriculture, bearing in mind the movement of the analyzed indicators.

scholarly journals A Multi-Sensor Comparative Analysis on the Suitability of Generated DEM from Sentinel-1 SAR Interferometry Using Statistical and Hydrological Models

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (24) ◽  
pp. 7214
Author(s):  
Ayub Mohammadi ◽  
Sadra Karimzadeh ◽  
Shazad Jamal Jalal ◽  
Khalil Valizadeh Kamran ◽  
Himan Shahabi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Sar Interferometry ◽  
Slope Aspect ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Alos Palsar ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Cameron Highlands

Digital elevation model (DEM) plays a vital role in hydrological modelling and environmental studies. Many essential layers can be extracted from this land surface information, including slope, aspect, rivers, and curvature. Therefore, DEM quality and accuracy will affect the extracted features and the whole process of modeling. Despite freely available DEMs from various sources, many researchers generate this information for their areas from various observations. Sentinal-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images are among the best Earth observations for DEM generation thanks to their availabilities, high-resolution, and C-band sensitivity to surface structure. This paper presents a comparative study, from a hydrological point of view, on the quality and reliability of the DEMs generated from Sentinel-1 data and DEMs from other sources such as AIRSAR, ALOS-PALSAR, TanDEM-X, and SRTM. To this end, pair of Sentinel-1 data were acquired and processed using the SAR interferometry technique to produce a DEM for two different study areas of a part of the Cameron Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia, a part of Sanandaj, Iran. Based on the estimated linear regression and standard errors, generating DEM from Sentinel-1 did not yield promising results. The river streams for all DEMs were extracted using geospatial analysis tool in a geographic information system (GIS) environment. The results indicated that because of the higher spatial resolution (compared to SRTM and TanDEM-X), more stream orders were delineated from AIRSAR and Sentinel-1 DEMs. Due to the shorter perpendicular baseline, the phase decorrelation in the created DEM resulted in a lot of noise. At the same time, results from ground control points (GCPs) showed that the created DEM from Sentinel-1 is not promising. Therefore, other DEMs’ performance, such as 90-meters’ TanDEM-X and 30-meters’ SRTM, are better than Sentinel-1 DEM (with a better spatial resolution).

scholarly journals Monitoring Land Surface Temperature Change with Landsat Images during Dry Seasons in Bac Binh, Vietnam

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 4067
Author(s):  
Thanhtung Dang ◽  
Peng Yue ◽  
Felix Bachofer ◽  
Michael Wang ◽  
Mingda Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Land Surface Temperature ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Landsat Images ◽  
Surface Temperature Change ◽  
Green Vegetation ◽  
Dry Seasons

Global warming-induced climate change evolved to be one of the most important research topics in Earth System Sciences, where remote sensing-based methods have shown great potential for detecting spatial temperature changes. This study utilized a time series of Landsat images to investigate the Land Surface Temperature (LST) of dry seasons between 1989 and 2019 in the Bac Binh district, Binh Thuan province, Vietnam. Our study aims to monitor LST change, and its relationship to land-cover change during the last 30 years. The results for the study area show that the share of Green Vegetation coverage has decreased rapidly for the dry season in recent years. The area covered by vegetation shrank between 1989 and 2019 by 29.44%. Our findings show that the LST increase and decrease trend is clearly related to the change of the main land-cover classes, namely Bare Land and Green Vegetation. For the same period, we find an average increase of absolute mean LST of 0.03 °C per year for over thirty years across all land-cover classes. For the dry season in 2005, the LST was extraordinarily high and the area with a LST exceeding 40 °C covered 64.10% of the total area. We expect that methodological approach and the findings can be applied to study change in LST, land-cover, and can contribute to climate change monitoring and forecasting of impacts in comparable regions.

scholarly journals Overview: Precipitation characteristics and sensitivities to environmental conditions during GoAmazon2014/5 and ACRIDICON-CHUVA

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 6461-6482 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz A. T. Machado ◽  
Alan J. P. Calheiros ◽  
Thiago Biscaro ◽  
Scott Giangrande ◽  
Maria A. F. Silva Dias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Rain Rate ◽  
Vertical Motion ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Aerosol Loading ◽  
Dry Seasons ◽  
Wet And Dry Seasons

Abstract. This study provides an overview of precipitation processes and their sensitivities to environmental conditions in the Central Amazon Basin near Manaus during the GoAmazon2014/5 and ACRIDICON-CHUVA experiments. This study takes advantage of the numerous measurement platforms and instrument systems operating during both campaigns to sample cloud structure and environmental conditions during 2014 and 2015; the rainfall variability among seasons, aerosol loading, land surface type, and topography has been carefully characterized using these data. Differences between the wet and dry seasons were examined from a variety of perspectives. The rainfall rates distribution, total amount of rainfall, and raindrop size distribution (the mass-weighted mean diameter) were quantified over both seasons. The dry season generally exhibited higher rainfall rates than the wet season and included more intense rainfall periods. However, the cumulative rainfall during the wet season was 4 times greater than that during the total dry season rainfall, as shown in the total rainfall accumulation data. The typical size and life cycle of Amazon cloud clusters (observed by satellite) and rain cells (observed by radar) were examined, as were differences in these systems between the seasons. Moreover, monthly mean thermodynamic and dynamic variables were analysed using radiosondes to elucidate the differences in rainfall characteristics during the wet and dry seasons. The sensitivity of rainfall to atmospheric aerosol loading was discussed with regard to mass-weighted mean diameter and rain rate. This topic was evaluated only during the wet season due to the insignificant statistics of rainfall events for different aerosol loading ranges and the low frequency of precipitation events during the dry season. The impacts of aerosols on cloud droplet diameter varied based on droplet size. For the wet season, we observed no dependence between land surface type and rain rate. However, during the dry season, urban areas exhibited the largest rainfall rate tail distribution, and deforested regions exhibited the lowest mean rainfall rate. Airplane measurements were taken to characterize and contrast cloud microphysical properties and processes over forested and deforested regions. Vertical motion was not correlated with cloud droplet sizes, but cloud droplet concentration correlated linearly with vertical motion. Clouds over forested areas contained larger droplets than clouds over pastures at all altitudes. Finally, the connections between topography and rain rate were evaluated, with higher rainfall rates identified at higher elevations during the dry season.

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