Making stratigraphy in the Anthropocene: climate change impacts and economic conditions controlling the supply of sediment to Lake Geneva.

The Anthropocene has been proposed as a profound, globally synchronous rupture in the history of the Earth System with its current state fundamentally different to that of the Holocene and driven by the geological force of human activity. Here, we show how stratigraphy is being made in a lake that is heavily impacted upon by climate change and human activities. For one of the largest inner-Alpine catchments in the European Alps, we draw attention to how sedimentation rates are a product of non-stationary, reflexive, human actions. In Lake Geneva, we identify both a human-induced climate change (HCC) signature and the effects of a recent economic shock on sediment extraction upon sediment loading to and sedimentation rates in the lake. The HCC signature thus reflects the nature of climate change impacts in this basin, where sediment accumulation rates evolve with climate, but where economic conditions contribute to shifts in the supply of sediment to the lake. Following social theory, we call this glocalization because of the combined importance and inseparability of human impacts across different spatial scales. The nature of human impacts on sediment delivery to the lake mean that the influence of humans is unlikely to be captured in the long-term depositional record.

Biofilm composition in the Olt River (Romania) reservoirs impacted by a chlor-alkali production plant.

Freshwater biofilms can be useful indicators of water quality and offer the possibility to assess contaminant effects at the community level. The present field study examines the effects of chlor-alkali plant effluents on the community composition of biofilms grown in the Olt River (Romania) reservoirs. The relationship between ambient water quality variables and community composition alterations was explored. Amplicon sequencing revealed a significant modification of the composition of microalgal, bacterial and fungal communities in the biofilms collected in the impacted reservoirs in comparison with those living in the uncontaminated control reservoir. The abundance corrected Simpson index showed lower richness and diversity in biofilms collected in the impacted reservoirs than in the control reservoir. The biofilm bacterial communities of the impacted reservoirs were characterized by the contaminant-tolerant Cyanobacteria and Bacteroidetes, whereas microalgal communities were predominantly composed of Bacillariophyta and fungal communities of Lecanoromycetes and Paraglomycetes. A principal component analysis revealed that major contaminants present in the waste water of the chlor-alkali production plant, i.e. Na+, Ca2+, Cl- and Hg, were correlated with the alteration of biofilm community composition in the impacted reservoirs. However, the biofilm composition was also influenced by water quality variables such as NO3-, SO42-, DOC and Zn from unknown sources. The results of the present study imply that, even when below the environmental quality standards, typical contaminants of chlor-alkali plant releases may affect biofilm composition and that their impacts on the microbial biodiversity might be currently overlooked.

Medium- and Long-Term Effects of Estrogenic Contaminants on the Middle River Po Fish Community as Reconstructed from a Sediment Core.

Recent studies showed that endocrine active compounds (EDs) capable to induce fish gonadal histopathologies, plasma vitellogenin and thyroid disruption, are transported by the River Lambro to the River Po, potentially affecting the fish community of the main Italian river. To assess whether fish relative abundance, composition and health were impaired by the River Lambro, a 3-year survey was undertaken in the main river. Results showed that the tributary supports in the River Po a denser fish community (+43 %), with a higher total biomass (+35 %). The survey also showed niche- and sensitivity-dependent effects, so that three benthopelagic species (bleak, topmouth gudgeon, and bitterling) were, for example, more abundant downstream from the tributary (up to 3.4×), but their sizes were significantly smaller. The present fish community was then compared with that described 30 years before in the same area of the Po River. This comparison highlighted that some fish species have disappeared and many have severely declined. To better evaluate this contrast, a sediment core of the Lambro tributary was analysed for the time trends of natural estrogens (E1, E2, E3), bisphenol A and alkylphenols. The results showed that during the last 50 years the River Lambro has been exposed to high estrogenic activities (16.1 ± 9.3 ng E2 equivalents/g), which inevitably affected also the River Po. In addition, at the time of the previous survey, six species of the main river had skewed sex ratios toward all-female populations, providing evidence that EDs and particularly (xeno)estrogens were already affecting the long-term viability of fish populations. Estrogens thus can be ascribed among the causal factors of fish qualitative and quantitative decline of the River Po, although long-term effects have been likely mitigated by nonconfinement of fish populations and nutrient enrichment.

Modeling of 137Cs migration in soils using an 80-year soil archive: role of fertilizers and agricultural amendments.

An 80-year soil archive, the 42-plot experimental design at the INRA in Versailles (France), is used here to study long-term contamination by 137Cs atmospheric deposition and the fate of this radioisotope when associated with various agricultural practices: fallow land, KCl, NH4(NO3), superphosphate fertilizers, horse manure and lime amendments. The pertinence of a simple box model, where radiocaesium is supposed to move downward by convectional mechanisms, is checked using samples from control plots which had been neither amended, nor cultivated since 1928. This simple model presents the advantage of depending on only two parameters: alpha, a proportional factor allowing the historical atmospheric 137Cs fluxes to be reconstructed locally, and k, an annual loss coefficient from the plow horizon. Another pseudo-unknown is however necessary to run the model: the shape of historical 137Cs deposition, but this function can be easily computed by merging several curves previously established by other surveys. A loss of approximately 1.5% per year from the plow horizon, combined with appropriate fluxes, provides good concordance between simulated and measured values. In the 0-25cm horizon, the residence half time is found to be approximately 18yr (including both migration and radioactive decay). Migration rate constants are also calculated for some plots receiving continuous long-term agricultural treatments. Comparison with the control plots reveals significant influence of amendments on 137Cs mobility in these soils developed from a unique genoform.

Sorption behaviour of Am on marl groundwater colloids.

The sorption of americium on marl colloids is studied in a comprehensive way. In Na-HCO3 groundwater conditions, americium in the concentration range 3 x 10(-11)-3 x 10(10) M sorbs onto groundwater colloids. In these tests, the colloid concentration is rather high, i.e. Ccoll 1.7+/-1.3 mg l(-1) for sizes 505000 nm or Ncoll (1.7+/-0.1) x 10(11) l(-1) for sizes larger than 100 nm. These colloids are mainly chlorite and smectite/illite with an average size smaller than 500 nm. For the groundwater (pH 8.6, [Na+]-[HCO3]-2 x 10(-2) M), Kd values in the range 1-3 x 10(6)mlg(-1) are measured. These values are compared with experimental and modelled values reported earlier in the literature.