Spectral fingerprinting: characterizing suspended sediment sources by the use of VNIR-SWIR spectral information

Purpose

Knowledge of sediment sources is a prerequisite for sustainable management practices and may furthermore improve our understanding of water and sediment fluxes. Investigations have shown that a number of characteristic soil properties can be used as “fingerprints” to trace back the sources of river sediments. Spectral properties have recently been successfully used as such characteristics in fingerprinting studies. Despite being less labour-intensive than geochemical analyses, for example, spectroscopy allows measurements of small amounts of sediment material (>60 mg), thus enabling inexpensive analyses even of intra-event variability. The focus of this study is on the examination of spectral properties of fluvial sediment samples to detect changes in source contributions, both between and within individual flood events.

Materials and methods

Sediment samples from the following three different origins were collected in the Isábena catchment (445 km²) in the central Spanish Pyrenees: (1) soil samples from the main potential source areas, (2) stored fine sediment from the channel bed once each season in 2011 and (3) suspended sediment samples during four flood events in autumn 2011 and spring 2012 at the catchment outlet as well as at several subcatchment outlets. All samples were dried and measured for spectral properties in the laboratory using an ASD spectroradiometer. Colour parameters and physically based features (e.g. organic carbon, iron oxide and clay content) were calculated from the spectra. Principal component analyses (PCA) were applied to all three types of samples to determine natural clustering of samples, and a mixing model was applied to determine source contributions.

Results and discussion

We found that fine sediment stored in the river bed seems to be mainly influenced by grain size and seasonal variability, while sampling location—and thus the effect of individual tributaries or subcatchments—seem to be of minor importance. Suspended sediment sources were found to vary between, as well as within, flood events; although badlands were always the major source. Forests and grasslands contributed little (<10 %), and other sources (not further determinable) contributed up to 40 %. The analyses further suggested that sediment sources differ among the subcatchments and that subcatchments comprising relatively large proportions of badlands contributed most to the four flood events analyzed.

Conclusions

Spectral fingerprints provide a rapid and cost-efficient alternative to conventional fingerprint properties. However, a combination of spectral and conventional fingerprint properties could potentially permit discrimination of a larger number of source types.     

Chemical stratification in the Seneca/Oswego rivers (NY)

The occurrence and characteristics of chemically-based density stratification in portions of the Seneca and Oswego Rivers, downstream of ion-polluted Onondaga Lake, are described for seven different days in the summer and fall of 1978 and 1981, which covered a wide range of river flows. The results indicate that chemically-based density stratification occurs routinely in the Seneca River downstream of the lake inflow, in response to a continuous chemically-based density difference between the two systems of 0.0015 to 0.0030 g cm^?3. The persistence of the phenomenon, and therefore the longitudinal range over which the river stratification occurred, was dependent on the velocity of river flow and the magnitude of the density gradient that bordered the upper river water and the lower released lake water. During the low flows common to summer the stratification extended approximately 14 km downstream to a dam, and 3 km upstream, of the lake outlet — river junction. Vertical mixing between the stratified layers increased as the flow in the Seneca River increased, and as the vertical density gradient decreased. A dimensionless group, $$\frac{D}{{V\left( {\frac{\rho }{{\Delta _\rho /\Delta _z }}} \right)}}$$ where: D = apparent vertical diffusion (m² hr^?1), V = average velocity of the overlying river flow (m hr^?1 ), p = density at the interface between the stratified layers (g cm^?3), and Ap/Az = density gradient between the stratified layers (g cm^?3 m^?1), was found to be constant for summer low flow conditions for a 6.5 km length of the Seneca River, thus quantifying the interaction between vertical mixing and the included influences for that portion of the river. The occurrence of chemical stratification in the river had dramatic implications on the corresponding distribution of dissolved oxygen (DO). The isolation of the organically enriched lake water in the lower layer enhanced the depletion of DO there, which resulted in the development of substantial (> 4.0 mg 1^?1 ) DO stratification downstream of the discharge from the lake during summer low flow periods.     

Patterns of Organic Matter Accumulation in Soils of the Semiarid Argentinian Pampas

A-horizons of 48 Haplic Phaeozems and Kastanozems in plain sites of the Semiarid Argentinian Pampas under three contrasting management systems (virgin bushland, permanent pasture and continuous agriculture) were studied. Morphological characteristics, organic carbon and total nitrogen levels and E4:E6 ratios were determined on the assumption that both quantity and quality of organic matter should be related to soil texture of parent materials in this region since other soil forming factors are uniform. The more intensive land use produced an averaged decrease of 7 cm in A-horizon thickness and degradation of soil structure, but little changes in color and properties of boundaries to AC horizons. In virgin soils organic carbon and nitrogen contents correlate with silt + clay fractions (r = 0,92 and 0,99, respectively), while E4:E6-ratios are related to clay contents (r = ?0.69*) confirming the strong influence of soil texture. Agricultural-management and pasture use of soils lead to dispersion of these correlations probably because of differential influence of varying intensities of land use within each management system. Soils under continuous agriculture show lower organic carbon contents than virgin soils only at clay + silt > 40%. Eragrostis curvula-pastures seems to be more effective in restoring organic matter and nitrogen levels in sandy but not in loamy soils with respect to virgin soils. This may be due to a better efficiency of E. curvula-roots in coarse than in fine textured soils to produce humificable residues than the autochthonous grass species.     

Book reviews,Hunting the Wild Potato in the South American Andes: Memories of the British Empire Potato Collecting Expedition to South America 1938– 1939. J. [John ‘Jack’] G. [Gregory] Hawkes.Botanical and Experimental Garden,University of Nijmegen,The Netherlands 2004. 224 pp.ISBN 90-9018021-4.

Book Review

Book reviews, Hunting the Wild Potato in the South American Andes: Memories of the British Empire Potato Collecting Expedition to South America 1938– 1939. J. [John ‘Jack’] G. [Gregory] Hawkes.Botanical and Experimental Garden, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands 2004. 224 pp.ISBN 90-9018021-4.     

Effect of land use types on decomposition of 14C-labelled maize residue (Zea mays L.)

The effect of three land use types on decomposition of ¹⁴C-labelled maize (Zea mays L.) residues and soil organic matter were investigated under laboratory conditions. Samples of three Dystric Cambisols under plow tillage (PT), reduced tillage (RT) and grassland (GL) collected from the upper 5 cm of the soil profile were incubated for 159 days at 20 °C with or without ¹⁴C-labelled maize residue. After 7 days cumulative CO₂ production was highest in GL and lowest in PT, reflecting differences in soil organic C (SOC) concentration among the three land use types and indicating that mineralized C is a sensitive indicator of the effects of land use regime on SOC. ¹⁴CO₂ efflux from maize residue decomposition was higher in GL than in PT, possibly due to higher SOC and microbial biomass C (MBC) in GL than in PT. ¹⁴CO₂ efflux dynamics from RT soil were different from those of PT and GL. RT had the lowest ¹⁴CO₂ efflux from days 2 to 14 and the highest from days 28 to 159. The lowest MBC in RT explained the delayed decomposition of residues at the beginning. A double exponential model gave a good fit to the mineralization of SOC and residue-¹⁴C (R² > 0.99) and allowed estimation of decomposition rates as dependent on land use. Land use affected the decomposition of labile fractions of SOC and of maize residue, but had no effect on the decomposition of recalcitrant fractions. We conclude that land use affected the decomposition dynamics within the first 1.5 months mainly because of differences in soil microbial biomass but had low effect on cumulative decomposition of maize residues within 5 months.     

Differential exudation of two benzoxazinoids--one of the determining factors for seedling allelopathy of Triticeae species

Benzoxazinoids (Bx) are natural phytotoxins that function as chemical defense compounds in several species. The release of Bx by intact plant roots associated these compounds with root allelopathy in Triticeae species; however, the significance of exudate concentrations of Bx for plant-plant interactions is still a controversial question. A biological screening of 146 cultivars of four Triticeae species (Triticum aestivum L., Triticum durum Desf., Triticum spelta L., and Secale cereale L.) demonstrated a high cultivar dependence to suppress the root growth of Sinapis alba L. by root allelopathy in a dose-response bioassay. Only a few cultivars possessed a marked high or low allelopathic activity, whereby high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection analysis of root exudates revealed that these cultivars differed considerably in their ability to exude the two Bx aglucones, DIBOA [2,4-dihydroxy-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one] and DIMBOA [2,4-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one]. The total amount of DIBOA and DIMBOA exuded showed a significant correlation to the growth inhibition in bioassay with a statistically estimated contribution to the overall allelopathic effect of 48-72%. In a bioassay with pure phytotoxins, Bx concentrations consistent with the amounts quantified in the screening bioassay caused detrimental effects on S. alba and almost reproduced the statistically estimated contribution. The observed causal association between the allelopathic activity under laboratory conditions and the exudate concentrations of Bx suggests that this association might have implications for the interference of Triticeae species in natural plant communities.     

Räumlich differenzierende Berechnung großmaßstäblicher Erosionsprognosekarten - Modellgrundlagen der dABAG

A Spatially Differenciating Method for Computing High Resolution Maps of Soil Loss by Rain Wash - Fundamental Principles of the dUSLE The theoretical basis of a procedure to compute maps of the soil loss is presented. This procedure allows to estimate soil loss on a large scale (1:5000) for planning specific protection measures. The procedure uses the Universal Soil Loss Equation combined with a digital terrain model that consists of a triangulated, irregular network. In this way not only slope but also the influence of increasing soil loss down slope and the slope morphology are taken into account. Also, slope morphology is considered along the slope as well as across the slope. Therefore the procedure is called differentiating Universal Soil Loss Equation dUSLE. With the dUSLE it is possible to combine high resolution with high automatisation and reasonable computation time. The application of the USLE has the advantage of easy use and availability of data. Furthermore, most parts of the USLE have been adapted to and verified for German conditions in recent years. In part 2 the integration of the equations presented in the digital terrain model will be described. In a third part the application of the dUSLE in land reconsolidation and farmers extension service will be presented.     

Erwiderung zu Prof. Dr. J. Trägardhs „Bemerkungen zum Aufsatz von Dr. K. E. Schedl Fortschritte und Forschungen auf forstentomologischem Gebiet”

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

High-speed imaging reveals neurophysiological links to behavior in an animal model of depression

The hippocampus is one of several brain areas thought to play a central role in affective behaviors, but the underlying local network dynamics are not understood. We used quantitative voltage-sensitive dye imaging to probe hippocampal dynamics with millisecond resolution in brain slices after bidirectional modulation of affective state in rat models of depression. We found that a simple measure of real-time activity-stimulus-evoked percolation of activity through the dentate gyrus relative to the hippocampal output subfield-accounted for induced changes in animal behavior independent of the underlying mechanism of action of the treatments. Our results define a circuit-level neurophysiological endophenotype for affective behavior and suggest an approach to understanding circuit-level substrates underlying psychiatric disease symptoms.