Holocene Evolution of Deltas

Cursos de botànica impartits al camp (massís de Garraf i altres parcs naturals) pel Prof. Dr. Josep Antoni Herrera Sancho, cap de la Secció de Botànica de l'Institut d'Estudis Penedesencs (IEP).
Aquesta vegada el curs de botànica de camp s'imparteix als aiguamolls de la desembocadura i el curs baix del riu Foix a Cubelles (Barcelona).
Sembla consolidar-se definitivament la protecció, salvaguarda i possible restauració d'una part dels antics aiguamolls de la desembocadura del riu Foix a Cubelles i del curs final d'aquest riu, comprès aproximadament entre l'ermiota de Lourdes (a on enllaça amb un altre espai protegit de l'embassament) fins al seu desguàs a mar.
¿Qui no recorda amb nostàlgia aquests bonics paratges en les acaballes de la dècada dels anys 1960, tot just quan les antigues explotacions de sal marina, les conegudes salines de Cubelles, feia temps abandonades, constituïen un redós important d'aus aquàtiques i migratòries, petita escala de repòs entre els aiguamolls de l'Empordà i els del Delta de l'Ebre?
El règim intermitent del riu Foix i el seu embassament artificial, que el fa comportar-se més aviat com un torrent, rambla o oued mediterrani, amb avingudes periódiques d'aigua segons la pluviometria més o menys favorable, va possibilitar, antany, l'establiment de certes comunitats vegetals dulciaqüícoles de terra baixa mediterrània, avui desaparegudes. Tanmateix, la situació tot just al llarg del perfil costaner va fer prosperar les comunitats botàniques de la línia litoral com la vegetació halòfila i/o arenícola.
Jonqueres (Molinio-Holoschoenion)
Jonquera amb capferrat (Cirsio-Holoschoenetum)
Gramenets alts de sorral humit (Imoperato-Erianthion)
Jonquera amb plantatge crassifoli (Schoeno-Plantaginetum crassifoliae)
Jonquera amb espartina (Spartino-Juncetum maritimi)
Altres comunitats presents a la desembocadura del Foix...

En la sessió del Ple de l'Ajuntament de Cubelles del passat dimecres, dia 28 de febrer de 1996, el Prof. Dr. Josep Antoni Herrera Sancho, entre d'altres experts, ha estat designat pel govern de l'Ajuntament de Cubelles, per formar part del Grup de Treball per al Projecte i redacció del Pla Especial de Protecció del Medi Físic per a la molt complexa restauració dels antics aiguamolls que existien en el petit delta de la desembocadura del riu Foix a Cubelles, i quedarà inclòs en el Pla General d'Ordenació Urbana Municipal de Cubelles.
En la sessió del Ple, el Saló de Plens de l'Ajuntament de Cubelles es trobava ple de gom a gom. L'Ajuntament de Cubelles havia citat al Ple a un nombrós grup d'experts, de diferents universitats i administracions públiques institucions i entitats ambientalistes, per designar un nou Grup de Treball d'experts que realitzaran el projecte i l'execució de la restauració dels antics aiguamolls del Foix que havien existit, fins al segle XIX,  a la desembocadura del Foix.
Entre els convocats pel govern municipal es trobaven, a més del govern municipal en ple, moltes entitats científiques, culturals i ecologistes. Entre les primeres, tècnics i experts dels diferents serveis de Medi Ambient i de Parcs Naturals de la Diputació de Barcelona, de la Junta d'Aigües (actual Agència Catalana de l'Aigua - ACA) de la Generalitat de Catalunya, professors especialistes de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), entre d'alttes. Entre les segones, els principals responsables del grup per a la protecció ambiental Flor del Foix de Cubelles, el Centre d'Estudis del Mar (CEM) de Sitges - Diputació de Barcelona, i el nostre representant, cap de la Secció de Botànica de l'Institut d'Estudis Penedesencs (IEP), el Prof. Dr. Josep Antoni Herrera Sancho. També hi havia una nodrida representació de tècnics municipals de Medi Ambient de l'Ajuntament de Vilanova i la Geltrú. L'Agrupació per a la Protecció del Medi Ambient (APMA) de Vilanova i la Geltrú també estava representada.

This article presents a summary of the final results of two projects funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the field of fluvial dynamics, specifically, the floods of the greatest Portuguese rivers and the results of which are scattered in chapters of books, articles, abstracts, conferences or have never been disclosed as a whole: IDAFRE (An Interdisciplinary Approach to Flood Risk Evaluation - Hydrology, Geomorphology and Sedimentology of the Douro, Tagus and Sado Basins) (1997-2001) and GEOTARIF (Geology and Archaeology of the Tagus Floodplain Over Time) (2002-2006), where the Tagus river was mainly studied. The methods used can be divided into three categories: 1) data research in libraries, periodical archives, topographic and geological maps, history books, newspapers and magazines and old and recent bibliography, reconstruction of the history of the Tagus through the various sources consulted, with special relevance to the changes of the river channel thr...

7ena Sortida botànica, conjunta, amb la 12ena Sortida geològica, de l'Institut d'Estudis Penedesencs (IEP). Secció de Botànica i Secció de Geologia de l'IEP.

El Delta de l'Ebre és el més complex de tots els Parcs Naturals dels Països Catalans, no tan sols per l'enorme diversitat d'ambients i sistemes naturals, sinó per l'ús humà agrícola, piscícola, caça, industrial (sanejament, centrals nuclears properes, transvasaments d'aigües, regressió de costes, etc.).
Dels seu interès geològic ja es va tractar en la sortida conjunta d'ambdues Seccions (7a sortida de Botànica i 12a sortida de Geologia) de Botànica i de Geologia de l'IEP (vegeu la revista Gran Penedès, núm.: 6 d'octubre de 1987). Dels importantíssims aspectes històrics, humanístics, arqueològics i antropològics, i sobretot els botànics i ornitològics es desenvoluparan en el tex que teniu ara a les mans.

El Delta de l'Ebre és el més complex de tots els Parcs Naturals dels Països Catalans, no tan sols per l'enorme diversitat d'ambients i sistemes naturals, sinó per l'ús humà agrícola, piscícola, caça, industrial (sanejament, centrals nuclears properes, transvasaments d'aigües, regressió de costes, etc.).
Dels seu interès geològic ja es va tractar en la sortida conjunta d'ambdues Seccions (7a sortida de Botànica i 12a sortida de Geologia) de Botànica i de Geologia de l'IEP (vegeu la revista Gran Penedès, núm.: 6 d'octubre de 1987). Dels importantíssims aspectes històrics, humanístics, arqueològics i antropològics, i sobretot els botànics i ornitològics es desenvoluparan en el tex que teniu ara a les mans.

The beach-ridge sequence of the Usumacinta-Grijalva delta borders a 300 km long section of the southern Gulf of Mexico coast. With around 500 beach ridges formed in the last 6500 years, the sequence is unsurpassed in the world in terms of numbers of individual ridges preserved, continuity of the record, and temporal resolution. We mapped and dated the most extensively accreted part of the sequence, linking six phases of accretion to river mouth reconfigurations and constraining their ages with 14 C and OSL dating. The geomorphological and sedimentological reconstruction relied on lidar data, coring transects, GPR measurements, grain-size analyses, and chemical fingerprinting of volcanic glass and pumice encountered within the beach and dune deposits. We demonstrate that the beach-ridge complex was formed under ample long-term fluvial sediment supply and shorter-term wave-and aeolian-modulated sediment reworking. The abundance of fluvially supplied sand is explained by the presence of easily weatherable Los Chocoyos ignimbrites from the ca. 84 ka eruption of the Atitlán volcano (Guatemala) in the catchment of the Usumacinta River. Autocyclic processes seem responsible for the formation of ridge-swale couplets. Fluctuations in their periodicity (ranging from 6-19 years) are governed by progradation rate, and are therefore not indicative of sea level fluctuations or variability in storm activity. The fine sandy beach ridges are mainly swash built. Ridge elevation, however, is strongly influenced by aeolian accretion during the time the ridge is located next to the beach. Beach-ridge elevation is negatively correlated with progradation rate, which we relate to the variability in sediment supply to the coastal zone, reflecting decadal-scale precipitation changes within the river catchment. In the southern Mexican delta plain, the coastal beach ridges therefore appear to be excellent recorders of hinterland precipitation.

The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the wetland margins of the southern North Sea basin occurred well over a millennium after the transition in neighboring loess regions. This article investigates the possible role of hydrological dynamics in the presence of the last hunter-gatherer-fishermen in these wetland regions. A Bayesian modeling approach is used to integrate stratigraphic information and radiocarbon dates both from accurately datable archaeological remains and key horizons in peat sequences in the Scheldt floodplain of northwestern Belgium. This study tests whether the Swifterbant occupation of the study area was contemporaneous with hiatuses in peat growth caused by organic clastic sedimentation due to increased tidal influences and local groundwater rise. The results suggest that the appearance of this culture followed shortly after the emergence of a brackish tidal mudflat landscape replacing a freshwater marsh.

El dia 4 de juliol de 1999 va tenir lloc una expedició marítima en vaixell per recórrer, per segona jornada marinera, aquesta vegada el Sector de Ponent de les costes del Penedès Marítim, entre el port de Vilanova i la Geltrú i Berà - Coma-ruga, per efectuar, des de la visió marítima, una aproximació a la història, la seva natura i el seu estat mediambiental d'aquestes freqüentades costes del Garraf-Tarragona.

El Prof. Dr. Josep Antoni Herrera Sancho, en la seva triple vessant professional, de veterà Capità de Salvament Marítim de la Creu Roja del Mar a Catalunya, amb més de 30 anys de professió, i com a cap de la Secció de Botànica de l'Institut d'Estudis Penedesencs (IEP) i també com a professor doctorant del Departament d'Enginyeria Minera i Recursos Naturals de l'Escola Politècnica Superior d'Enginyeria de Manresa (EPSEM) de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), serà l'organitzador i guía de l'expedició marítima, amb col·laboració estreta de Francesc Xavier Virella Torres i de Vicenç Carbonell Virella.

Podrem conèixer la diversitat marítima dels seus fons, la història del seu litoral assolat durant molts segles per pirates i bandolers, i el present i futur d'aquesta costa. Es comentaran amb detall alguns dels punts més singulars del litoral, així com les particularitats geològiques i la peculiar vegetació d'aquesta costa més tarragonina, més planera i plena d'aiguamolls i desembocadures de rieres.

Human-induced groundwater level lowering in the Holocene coastal-deltaic plain of the Netherlands causes oxidation of peat organic matter, resulting in land subsidence and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. Here, a three-dimensional (3D) analysis of the distribution of the remaining peat organic matter is presented, to quantify the potential of this area to further subsidence and CO 2 emissions by oxidation. Hereto, we established relations between dry mass ratios of organic matter and sediment in peat formed in different environmental settings. This was combined with a high-resolution 3D geological model of the subsurface of the Netherlands to map the proportions of organic matter, clastic sediment and void space in peat. The 3D model indicates that c. 15 km 3 of Holocene peat is embedded in the coastal-deltaic plain subsurface, of which c. 1.5 km 3 consists of organic matter, 0.4 km 3 of sediment, and 13.1 km 3 of void space. During future human-induced oxidation, this peat has a volumetric loss potential of 14.6 km 3 , responsible for locally 0.4-6.0 m of subsidence, and a CO 2 emission of 2.0 Gton. The 3D modelling revealed that the amount of peat organic matter varies considerably between regions. Especially the subsurface of urban areas overlying back-barrier peat were identified as hot-spots accommodating the highest quantities of peat organic matter. The peat in agricultural areas contains less organic matter but is more prone to oxidation than peat underlying urban areas, because in the latter settings anthropogenic brought-up soil restricts oxidation. Future mitigation strategies should therefore focus on restricting peat oxidation in the agricultural areas of the coastal-deltaic plain.

Subsidence in the Holland coastal plain of the Netherlands was reconstructed from the vertical displacement of Holocene peat layers below their reference groundwater levels at the time of peat formation. This quantifies the part of subsidence that is due to compression processes and allows specification of the current state of peat compression in a map. 14 C-dating of peat layers found intercalated in the Holocene sequence were used in the reconstruction. This dataset was combined with results from a recent coastal-deltaic plain wide three-dimensional (3D) interpolation of reference palaeogroundwater levels, at which the intercalated peats are thought to have formed before they were buried, compressed, and vertically displaced. Empiric relations between reconstructed displacement and the thickness of overburden were determined and deployed in a national 3D geological subsurface model to establish a subsidence map with continuous cover of the coastal plain. The resulting maps show compressed peat layers under urbanized areas with 1 to 8 m of natural and anthropogenic overburden have subsided 1 to 5 m below the original level of formation. In the agricultural area of the coastal plain, where overburden is merely decimetres thick, consisting of fluvial flood-and sea-ingression deposits, peat generally experienced less than 1 m subsidence. The reference-level reconstruction method is deployable over large coastal plain areas to reconstruct subsidence caused by postdepositional vertical displacement of intercalated peat layers. It could therefore serve as an alternative approach for methods based on soil mechanics, which require input often not available for coastal plains on regional scales.

Fluvial lowlands have become attractive human settling areas all around the world over the last few millennia. Because rivers kept changing their course and networks due to avulsion, the sedimentary sequences in these areas are archives of both fluvial geomorphological and archaeological development. We integrated geological and archaeological datasets to demonstrate the concurrence of the gradual abandonment of a major Rhine channel (Utrecht, The Netherlands), the development of human habitation in the area, and the interactions between them. The Utrecht case study highlights the stage-wise abandonment of a natural river channel, due to avulsion, coincident with intensifying human occupation in Roman and Early Medieval times (1st millennium AD). The analyses make maximum use of very rich data sets available for the study area and the tight age control that the geo-archaeological dataset facilitates, offering extra means of time-control to document the pacing of the abandonment process. This allows us to quantify change in river dimensions and meander style and to provide discharge estimates for successive stages of the abandonment phase over a 1000-year period of abandonment succession, from mature river to eventual Late Medieval overbuilt canal when the Rhine branch had lost even more discharge. Continued geomorphic development during this period -which includes the 'Dark Ages' (450-1000 AD) -appears to have been crucial in the development of Utrecht from Roman army fortress to Medieval ecclesial centre. The settlement dynamics in and around the city of Utrecht changed during the various phases of abandonment. In the bifurcating network of river branches forming the Rhine-Meuse delta, the main Rhine branch hosted the Roman limes military border and transport route. The Rhine-Vecht bifurcation at Utrecht provided an excellent location to raise a Roman fort. Continued geomorphic activity during abandonment in Early Medieval times was characterised by enhanced overbank sedimentation and shifts in the position of bifurcations. River flooding became more incidental in this stage, and alluvial-ridge occupancy became sensitive to flooding events for several centuries. We conclude by demonstrating that similar human-river interactions during Roman times occurred in several other deltas within the former Roman empire, with differences depending on the position of a settlement within the delta, the overall hydrological situation, and the ability of societies to control the changing environment.

Els codolars del Coll Baix, Sa Calobra i Cala Tuent (Tramuntana, Mallorca) espresenten com a tres sistemes litorals forca distints dels estrictament arenosos, podentrealitzar tambe una analisi comparativa entre ells dels factors i processos implicats enles seves distintes evolucions. Juntament amb la seva localitzacio i realitzant unaanalisi textural de les seves particules, es poden extreure varies conclusionsparticulars d'aquests ambients, enfatitzant quins son els agents modeladors mesimplicats.

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

High-resolution 2D seismic reflection profiles were examined to explore the stratigraphic architecture of the late Quaternary sediments deposited in the Beibu Gulf (SW off the Hainan Island, South China Sea). Two discontinuities identified in previous research by seismic reflectors R1 (top) and R2 (bottom) allowed to infer the presence of a paleodelta offshore Hainan Island. A detailed analysis of all discontinuities determined the extension of delta body, its thickness and spatial pattern of deltaic clinoforms. Analysis of data obtained by interpretation of seismic records allowed also to depict the relief of lower and upper delta surfaces identified by major erosional discontinuities. The seismic cross-sections provided tools with which to discern all the erosional incisions representing paleo-distributary channels of the delta on both surfaces. In addition, the delta geometry and clinoform dip angles were determined. Analyses have provided information on the direction of sediment transport and sources of deltaic sedimentary material. Distribution of vectors indicating the direction of delta progradation revealed the sediment transport from Hainan Island to be generally southwards to Yinggehai Basin and further towards the shelf edge, thus supporting the hypothesis of Hainan Island as the main source of sediment supply. The vector distribution is unclear in the westernmost part of delta body only, mainly because of an insufficient coverage of this part of the Gulf with seismic tracks and disturbances related to other sediment sources reaching Beibu Gulf in the north, which significantly contributed to the sediment supply.

This article presents a summary of the final results of two projects funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the field of fluvial dynamics, specifically, the floods of the greatest Portuguese rivers and the results of which are scattered in chapters of books, articles, abstracts, conferences or have never been disclosed as a whole: IDAFRE (An Interdisciplinary Approach to Flood Risk Evaluation - Hydrology, Geomorphology and Sedimentology of the Douro, Tagus and Sado Basins) (1997-2001) and GEOTARIF (Geology and Archaeology of the Tagus Floodplain Over Time) (2002-2006), where the Tagus river was mainly studied. The methods used can be divided into three categories: 1) data research in libraries, periodical archives, topographic and geological maps, history books, newspapers and magazines and old and recent bibliography, reconstruction of the history of the Tagus through the various sources consulted, with special relevance to the changes of the river channel thr...

Nowadays most of the people of Dhaka city wanted to make a rooftop garden. Because people want organic food rooftop garden is a source of organic food. In Dhaka city shortage of recreational space because everywhere is crowded with people so rooftop gardens become recreational space people can spend some time in this green. Rooftop gardens important for the environment it can reduce temperature & it can reduce air pollution. So people wanted to make a rooftop garden but in our country, there is no proper guideline for the Crete rooftop garden in multilayer buildings so people face lots of problems. The main target of the paper was to identify what kind of problem a gardener face to create a rooftop garden multilayer building in Dhaka city. And we will know their opinion about rooftop garden guidelines through interviews with rooftop garden owners. This research would finally document the guidelines for making a rooftop garden in a multilayer building in Dhaka city

Watershed deforestation over the last two millennia led to the rapid expansion and morphological diversification of the Danube delta (Fig. ) coupled with a complete transformation of the ecosystem in the receiving marine basin, the Black Sea . During this period the central wave-dominated lobe of Sulina was slowly abandoned and the southernmost arm of the Danube, the St. George, was reactivated and started to build its second wave-dominated delta lobe at the open coast. Simultaneously, secondary distributaries branching off from the St. George branch built the Dunavatz bayhead lobe into the southern Razelm lagoon (Fig. ). This intense deltaic activity accompanied drastic changes in Danube's flow regime. Many small deltas had grown during intervals of enhanced anthropogenic pressure in their watersheds . However, finding specific causes, whether natural or anthropogenic, for such a sweeping reorganization of a major delta built by a continental-scale river like Danube requires detailed reconstructions of its depositional history. Here we provide a first look at the Danube's deltaic reorganization along its main distributary, the Chilia, and discuss potential links to hydroclimate, population growth and cultural changes in the watershed. For this reconstruction, we used sediment core-based depositional histories together with a morphological analysis of historical cartographic material and recent satellite photography (see complete methods in Supplementary data). The Chilia arm, which flows along the northern rim of Danube delta (Fig. ), has successively built three lobes and it was first mapped in detail at the end of the 18th century (Fig. ). The depositional architecture of these lobes was controlled by the entrenched drainage pattern formed during the last lowstand in the Black Sea, by the pre-Holocene loess relief developed within and adjacent to this lowstand drainage and by the development of Danube's own deltaic deposits that are older than Chilia's Carozza et al., 2012a). The oldest Chilia lobe (Fig. and) filled the Pardina Anthropocene xxx (2014) xxx-xxx

This study conducts an in-depth analysis
of 820 maps with a focus on the western coast of
the Black Sea, from Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi to Cape
Kaliakra, and gives special attention to the Danube
Delta. The research highlights Pietro Vesconte’s
critical role in the accurate depiction of the area and
examines the stylistic developments over time and
their effects on the mapping of the region. It also
delves into the relationship between navigational
practices and cartographic representation, noting the
limited influence of Ottoman conquests on local mapping
techniques. The study draws attention to a resurgence
in the use of Ptolemaic principles, occurring
simultaneously with the adoption of modern surveying
techniques, such as triangulation. By concentrating
on the Danube Delta and the adjacent coast of the
Black Sea, the study provides a detailed understanding
of the cartographic history of the area, highlighting
the mix of precision and creative interpretation in
maps.

Although the shifting of deltaic river branches (avulsion) is a natural process that has become increasingly influenced by humans, the impact of early human activities as a driver of avulsion success has remained poorly explored. This study demonstrates how two important avulsions in the downstream part of the Rhine-Meuse delta, The Netherlands, were stimulated by human activities in the first millennium CE, before historic embankment constrained the river courses. Peatland reclamation induced land subsidence in the lower delta. This effect, together with a human-induced increase in suspended fluvial sediments and tidal backwater effects, allowed for a gradual ingression of tidal creek channels and progradation of fluvial crevasse channels into human-occupied and drained peatlands, where they eventually connected. We reconstructed the initial situation and identified the feedback loops among overbank sedimentation, tidal incursion, and land drainage subsidence that led to avulsion success. The processes and feedbacks resulting from human activities are generic and hence relevant to many other deltas today where humaninduced subsidence results in tidal ingression, potentially connecting to rivers and causing unexpected avulsions.

The urbanised peat-rich coastal-deltaic plain of the Netherlands is severely subsiding due to human-induced phreatic groundwater level lowering, as this causes peat layers to compress and oxidise. To determine the potential susceptibility of this area to future subsidence by peat compression and oxidation, the effects of lowering present-day phreatic groundwater levels were quantitatively evaluated using a subsidence model. Input were a 3D geological subsurface voxel-model, modelled phreatic groundwater levels, and functions for peat compression and oxidation. Phreatic groundwater levels were lowered by 0.25 and 0.5m, and the resulting peat compression and oxidation over periods of 15 and 30 years were determined. The model area comprised the major cities Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and their surrounding agricultural lands.The results revealed that for these scenarios agricultural areas may subside between 0.3 and 0.8m; potential subsidence in Amsterdam and Rotterdam is considerably lo...

This paper demonstrates the decisive role of natural preconditions on the formation of large late Holocene sea ingressions in peaty coastal plains along the North Sea's southern shores. Geological and archaeological evidence shows that these sea ingressions (expansion of new tidal systems) were mainly caused by land subsidence, which occurred due to intensified agricultural use of artificially drained peatlands since the Late Iron Age (250-12 BC). This made the coastal plain sensitive to storm-surge ingression through weak spots, e.g., at the location of existing creeks, in the coastline. Using The Netherlands as a case study, we show that natural preconditions (i.e., the geological setting at the time of ingression) played a key role in the pacing and extent of tidal area expansion. Ingressive tidal systems eventually reached most far inland in coastal segments with wide peaty back-barrier plains. In contrast, sea ingression formation was hampered in coastal segments with well-developed natural ingression-protecting geomorphic features (e.g., beach-barriers, supratidal levees). Feedback mechanisms, such as additional peat subsidence by loading of sediment imported into the new tidal area, caused further tidal volume increase and created accommodation space for tidal deposits. These combined effects caused irreversible sea ingression over large areas that consequently became unsuitable for habitation for many centuries. Improved understanding of such sea-ingression mechanisms and their facilitating conditions are essential for the assessment of the sensitivity of many densely populated coastal plains, which experience major human-induced subsidence, eventually leading to coastal plain drowning.

This paper presents reconstructions on natural levee development in the Rhine-Meuse delta, the Netherlands, during the first millennium CE, covering the full delta plain. It is the first study that performs this on a delta scale, which allows seeing the delta-wide trends on levee-forming controls and their feedbacks. We mapped the levee morphology and elevation by combining LiDAR imagery, lithological borehole data, soil mapping, radiocarbon dates, archaeological data, and GIS-reconstruction techniques. From the detailed levee reconstructions we quantified natural levee dimensions and evaluated the temporal changes therein. The dimensions and the changes therein were then linked to external forcings (increasing suspended sediment load, variable flooding intensity) and to natural preconditions (e.g., delta plain width, flood basin configuration). We show that natural preconditions are an important control on levee shape. This is demonstrated for the upper delta where the relatively narrow delta plain combined with strong compartmentation (i.e., the occurrence of many alluvial ridges and enclosed flood basins) caused the flood levels to be amplified allowing the natural levees to grow relatively high. Compartmentation also seems to have stimulated trapping of coarsegrained overbank sediments, explaining the clear downstream trend in levee width. This effect was probably further aided by the clearance of the riparian forests, mainly in the upstream and central delta, which caused the coarser fraction of the suspended load to be further dispersed into the flood basin leading to wider levees. In the first millennium CE several new river courses formed that avoided the areas of natural levee relief of abandoned alluvial ridges. On these fossil alluvial ridges, the topographical expression gradually reduced because of widespread flood basin trapping of overbank sediment, which led to topographic levelling. The natural levees that formed during this period along the new courses appear to be relatively high compared to precursor generations in the upper and central delta. This is most likely related to the increased suspended sediment supply and intense flooding regime during their formation. The hypotheses generated with this new delta-wide overview help to better understand the controls in the development of levees, which are important elements in river landscapes and in fluvial sedimentary records.

By redistributing water and sediment in delta plains, avulsions of river branches have major environmental impacts, notably in changing hydrological and peat-forming conditions in floodbasins. The central part of the Rhine-Meuse delta, with its extensive databases including detailed lithological data and high-resolution age control, offers a unique opportunity to study middle-Holocene avulsion impacts on floodbasin groundwater level and peat formation. Avulsion has caused local accelerations of rising groundwater tables to be superimposed on decelerating base-level rise. This is evident from comparing single-site groundwater rise for multiple floodbasins in the river-dominated part of the delta, with regionally averaged groundwater-rise reconstructions. Floodbasin type (lacustrine versus terrestrial wetland), size and openness, partly through effects on discharge dispersal, affect how strongly the floodbasin groundwater tables respond to avulsion-diverted discharge. Cross-sectional ...

El proyecto tiene como principal objetivo profundizar en el conocimiento de los modelos de ocupación del curso inferior del Ebro durante el primer milenio ane, valorando de forma específica su relación con las transformaciones paisajísticas que ha experimentado el espacio deltaico. En este sentido, integramos por primera vez en un proyecto del ámbito histórico-arqueológico las nuevas evidencias e hipótesis relativas a la existencia de un paleodelta proyectado hacia el sureste, en la etapa comprendida entre el 4000-2000 BP. El estudio del paleopaisaje deltaico de la desembocadura del Ebro representa una cuestión de elevado interés científico a escala multidisciplinar.
Mediante la colaboración científica de tres instituciones (Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Centro de Resiliencia Climática y Transición Ecológica-Eurecat, Institut Català dArqueologia Clàssica) planteamos iniciar con el presente proyecto, la primera fase de una línea de investigación inédita en este territorio. Se trata de un estudio que puede generar nuevas posibilidades de análisis en la comprensión de los modelos de poblamiento protohistórico, obteniendo además datos muy provechosos a escala ambiental y patrimonial. Especialmente, si tenemos en cuenta que el delta del Ebro es un lugar especialmente amenazado por los efectos del cambio climático y la intervención humana en la cuenca del río, con gran necesidad de desarrollar investigaciones aplicadas, orientadas a aumentar la resiliencia de este espacio natural y humano tan importante y representativo a nivel peninsular y mediterráneo. El hipotético paleocurso del Ebro, orientado hacia el sur del actual delta, entre Amposta y Sant Carles de la Rápita, y que se prolonga probablemente bajo la Punta de la Banya, reviste una importancia fundamental para interpretar la geomorfología, paleogeografía, paleoambiente y estructura del poblamiento y organización territorial de época protohistórica. El proyecto se ha concebido en base a una perspectiva multidisciplinar y a través de cuatro líneas complementarias: L1) Estudio histórico-arqueológico, L2) Arqueología del territorio y del paisaje, L3) Paleogeografía y geoarqueología, L4) Paleoambiente y bioarqueología. En el equipo de investigación están integrados especialistas en arqueología social, arqueología del paisaje, ciencias ambientales, paleoeografía y biología. Todos ellos han participado en múltiples proyectos diacrónicos relacionados con la evolución sociopolítica, económica, geomorfológica y ambiental de la región propuesta. Se dispone además de la colaboración y asesoramiento de varios investigadores del GIAP-ICAC, que cuenta con una larga experiencia en la combinación de todos estos métodos a través de estrategias innovadoras. El proyecto se estructura en siete work-packages o Paquetes de Tareas (PT), cada uno de los cuales está claramente vinculado a unos determinados objetivos específicos. El estudio integral de las formas de ocupación
del territorio con relación a sus condicionantes paleoambientales y sus antiguos paisajes culturales resulta clave tanto para la interpretación histórica de sus pobladores como para la comprensión, prevención y salvaguarda de los paisajes mediterráneos como patrimonio cultural y de los ecosistemas amenazados por el cambio climático, como es el caso del delta del Ebro.

Pre-Hispanic mounds, known as "cerritos," "cerritos de indios," or "aterros" across southeastern South America, are one of the most conspicuous and well-studied cultural manifestations in lowlands archaeology. Nevertheless, in the Upper Delta of the Paraná River, mounds are rarely studied, and even their anthropic origin is under debate. This could be related to the fact that anthropogenic mounds are located on a floodplain where other "mound-like" natural geoforms (generated by fluvial processes) are also present. In addition to this, the natural geoforms also contain evidence of Holocene human occupation (sherds, bones, charcoal, humans burials, etc.), which can lead to interpretive errors of their origin and formation. Thus, this project set out to determine the genesis and evolution of these mounds and also to identify

Due to heterogeneity of the subsurface in the delta environment of the Netherlands, differential subsidence over short distances results in tension and subsequent wear of subsurface infrastructure, such as water and gas pipelines. Due to uncertainties in the build-up of the subsurface, however, it is unknown where this problem is the most prominent. This is a problem for asset managers deciding when a pipeline needs replacement: damaged pipelines endanger security of supply and pose a significant threat to safety, yet premature replacement raises needless expenses. In both cases, costs – financial or other – are high. Therefore, an interdisciplinary research team of geotechnicians, geologists and Big Data engineers from research institutes TNO, Deltares and SkyGeo developed a stochastic model to predict differential subsidence and the probability of consequent pipeline failure on a (sub-)street level.

Geological, geomorphological and soil maps provide important information on the substrate as well as on the past and present physical landscape. For the intensely studied Netherlands coastal plain and Rhine–Meuse delta, many such map datasets have been compiled over the last two centuries. These mapping materials comprise older and younger legacy datasets, often fragmented over regions. They have been compiled within various research traditions and by various parties, involving geologists, soil scientists, geomorphologists and landscape archaeologists. The maps and datasets summarise overwhelming amounts of underlying data accumulated over the last few centuries, and are therefore valuable for reconstructing past landscapes.Digital-infrastructure developments have enhanced possibilities for recombining existing and new data over the last few decades, e.g. through GIS solutions such as palaeogeographical base maps, from which multiple derived map products can be generated. Integratio...

Although the shifting of deltaic river branches (avulsion) is a natural process that has become increasingly influenced by humans, the impact of early human activities as a driver of avulsion success has remained poorly explored. This study demonstrates how two important avulsions in the downstream part of the Rhine-Meuse delta, The Netherlands, were stimulated by human activities in the first millennium CE, before historic embankment constrained the river courses. Peatland reclamation induced land subsidence in the lower delta. This effect, together with a human-induced increase in suspended fluvial sediments and tidal backwater effects, allowed for a gradual ingression of tidal creek channels and progradation of fluvial crevasse channels into human-occupied and drained peatlands, where they eventually connected. We reconstructed the initial situation and identified the feedback loops among overbank sedimentation, tidal incursion, and land drainage subsidence that led to avulsion success. The processes and feedbacks resulting from human activities are generic and hence relevant to many other deltas today where humaninduced subsidence results in tidal ingression, potentially connecting to rivers and causing unexpected avulsions.

The long-term morphodynamic evolution of estuaries depends on a combination of antecedent topography and boundary conditions, including fluvial input, sea-level change and regional-landscape interactions. Identifying effects of such boundary conditions on estuary evolution is important to anticipate future changes in specific boundary conditions and for hindcasting with numerical and physical models. A comprehensive synthesis of the evolution of the former Old Rhine estuary is presented here, together with its boundary conditions over its full lifespan from 6500 to 1000 cal. yr BP. This system formed during a period of sea-level high stand, during which the estuary served as the main River Rhine outlet. The estuary went through three stages of evolution: a maturation phase in a wide infilling back-barrier basin, a stable mature phase and an abandoning phase, both in a laterally confined setting. The Old Rhine River formed by a river avulsion around 6500 cal. yr

Tràng An is a Vietnamese government supported cultural and ecological park development covering 2,500 hectares that is centred on an isolated massif on the southern edge of the Song Hong delta in Ninh Bình Province, north Vietnam (Fig. 1). The archaeological investigation of Tràng An is being led jointly by the Xuan Truong Construction Corporation and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, under the direction of the lead author. The Corporation is creating an ecologically sensitive development – the ‘Tràng An Tourism Resort’ – within this karstic landscape, which is also the subject of a planned application to UNESCO for World Heritage Site status. International involvement in this work has been at the behest of Nguyêń Van Truong, the General Director of Xuan Truong and at the invitation of the Ninh Bình People's Committee. The research itself is carried out under the guidance of Nguyêń Van Son, the Tràng An Tourism Resort Project Manager. T...

Natural cycles of irradiation during burial and bleaching due to solar exposure during transport increase the Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) sensitivity of quartz sand grains. The relationship between the OSL sensitivity and sediment transport allows to discriminate quartz sand grains with different depositional histories. In this paper, we evaluate the variation of OSL sensitivity in quartz grains deposited during the progradation of the Ilha Comprida barrier on the southern Brazilian, coast. Changes in sand sensitivity recorded by barrier growth since 6 ka ago are controlled by the variation in the proportion of low versus high sensitivity quartz grains. Low sensitivity grains with short sedimentary history are supplied by the Ribeira de Iguape River and reach the barrier through southward alongshore currents during fair weather conditions. Storm conditions shift the alongshore currents to northeast and permit the transport of high sensitivity grains with long sedimentary history from distal southern coastal sectors to the barrier. Therefore, the input of distal sediments for the Ilha Comprida barrier depends on the frequency and intensity of storms. Thus, the OSL sensitivity can be used as proxy for storm activity. The variation of OSL sensitivity through time indicates that the Ilha Comprida barrier changed from a relatively stable to an unstable storm pattern around 2 ka ago. Periods with increased storm activity peaked around AD 500, AD 1500 and AD 1850, approximately on the boundaries of the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age.

Lake Maryut (northwestern Nile Delta, Egypt) was a key feature of Alexandria's hinterland and economy during Greco-Roman times. Its shores accommodated major economic centers, and the lake acted as a gateway between the Nile valley and the Mediterranean. It is suggested that lake-level changes, connections with the Nile and the sea, and possible high-energy events considerably shaped the human occupation history of the Maryut. To reconstruct Lake Maryut hydrology in historical times, we used faunal remains, geochemistry (Sr isotopic signature of ostracods) and geoarcheological indicators of relative lake-level changes. The data show both a rise in Nile inputs to the basin during the first millennia BCE and CE and a lake-level rise of ca. 1.5 m during the Roman period. A high-energy deposit, inferred from reworked radiocarbon dates, may explain an enigmatic sedimentary hiatus previously attested to in Maryut's chronostratigraphy. Kurzfassung: In griechisch-römischer Zeit spielte der Maryut-See (nordwestliches Nil-Delta, Ägypten) eine wirtschaftliche Schlüsselrolle im Hinterland von Alexandria. An seinen Ufern befanden sich wichtige Wirtschaftszentren und der See fungierte als Bindeglied zwischen dem Niltal und dem Mittelmeer. Es ist zu vermuten, dass Schwankungen des Seespiegels, Verbindungen zum Nil und zum Mittelmeer und mögliche Hochenergieereignisse die menschliche Besiedlungsgeschichte des Maryut-Sees beachtlich geprägt haben. Um die Hydrologie des Maryut-Sees in historischer Zeit zu rekonstruieren, untersucht diese Studie Faunenreste, geochemische (Sr-Isotopensignaturen von Ostrakoden) und geoarchäologische Indikatoren, die relative Schwankungen des Seespiegels anzeigen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen sowohl einen Anstieg der Nileinträge in den See während des ersten Jahrtausends v. Chr. und n. Chr. als auch einen Anstieg des Seespiegels um ca. 1,5 m während der Römerzeit. Ein Hochenergieereignis, ausgewiesen durch umgelagerte 14 C Alter, könnte die Ursache eines rätselhaften Hiatus in den Pro-Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the Deutsche Quartärvereinigung (DEUQUA) e.V. 94 C. Flaux et al.: The late Holocene record of Lake Mareotis, Nile Delta, Egypt filen sein, der zuvor in der Chronostratigraphie des Maryut-Sees nachgewiesen wurde. (Abstract was translated by Martin Seeliger.

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This comprehensive report examines the effectiveness of marsh creation and shoreline protection features along the Bayou Lafourche and Belle Pass navigation channel in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. The shoreline protection phase of the West Belle Pass Headland Restoration (TE-23) project consists of a foreshore rock dike, two rock closures, a submerged rock weir, and a flotation channel while the marsh creation phase consists of marsh creation areas, an earthen retention dike, and three earthen closures. The goals established for the marsh creation phase of this project were to create 184.0 acres (74.5 ha) of marsh and increase marsh to open water ratio whereas the shoreline protection phase had a singular goal, to decrease the rate of shoreline retreat along the project area shoreline. To measure these goals, habitats were monitored in project and reference areas for the marsh creation phase while shoreline position was monitored in the project area for the shoreline protection phase. Little saline marsh habitat was created by this project. Only a 5.4 % increase in saline marsh area was attained. Moreover, substantially larger quantities of wetland scrub/shrub-salt and beach/bar/flat habitats were created. In addition, a fairly large upland barren habitat was also constructed, and a large open-water salt acreage still remains. Therefore, the environments created in the project area are not structurally similar to natural saline marshes and will not replicate salt marsh function. Furthermore, the project area is semi-impounded through pre-existing (spoil areas and pipeline canal spoil banks) and constructed (the flotation channel spoil bank and the Evans Canal retention dike) hydrologic barriers. While the project area failed to create structural and functional saline marsh habitat, the reference area showed signs of shoreline and marsh edge erosion during the post-construction period. In contrast to the marsh creation phase, the shoreline protection phase of this project was successful in lowering the Belle Pass and Bayou Lafourche shoreline erosion rate, and the foreshore rock dike is maintaining its structural stability. The inability of this project to create saline marsh environments is a direct result of construction failures, adverse impacts, and bad management practices employed before and during project construction. Moreover, this seems to be a common phenomenon inherent to many beneficial use projects, which are primarily concerned with navigation channel dredging and marsh creation is of secondary importance or simply a mechanism to dispose dredged materials. Therefore, the results of this restoration project seem to suggest that marsh creation, not dredged material disposal, should be emphasized when creating marsh with beneficial use sediments. With careful planning and sitespecific designs, sediments dredged from navigation channels could be utilized to mediate coastal land-loss and create sustainablesalt marsh communities along the rapidly transgressing deltaic plain coast of Louisiana.

Like earth and planetary scientists, most children are curious about the world, the solar system and the rest of the universe. However, for various reasons primary schools emphasise language and calculus rather than natural sciences. When science is taught, examination systems often favour knowledge of the ‘right’ answer over the process of investigation and logical reasoning towards that answer. In order to continue to spark children's curiosity and their motivation to learn and discover, science education hubs at universities and science museums could collaborate more with schools and teachers, and are beginning to do so. The objective of this position paper is to report on recent experiences in earth and planetary science education for pupils in primary and secondary education, to provide examples and inspiration for scientists. We report three examples of initiation and consolidation of science education in primary schools in the Netherlands: (1) a focus on asking questions ...

Globally, rising seas threaten massive numbers of people and significant infrastructure. Adaptation strategies increasingly incorporate nature-based solutions. New science can illuminate where these solutions are appropriate in urban environments and what benefits they provide to people. Together with stakeholders in San Mateo County, California, USA, we co-developed nature-based solutions to support adaptation planning. We created six guiding principles to shape planning, summarized vulnerability to sea-level rise and opportunities for nature-based solutions, created three adaptation scenarios, and compared multiple benefits provided by each scenario. Adaptation scenarios that included investments in nature-based solutions deliver up to eight times the benefits of a traditionally engineered baseline as well as additional habitat for key species. The magnitude and distribution of benefits varied at subregional scales along the coastline. Our results demonstrate practical tools and e...

During the mid-Holocene, the first large-scale civilisations emerged in lower alluvial systems after a marked decrease in sea-level rise at 7-6kyr. We show that as the landscapes of deltas and lower alluvial plains adjusted to this decrease in the rate of relative sea-level rise, the abundance and location of resources available for human exploitation changed as did the network of waterways. This dynamic environmental evolution contributed to archaeological changes in the three fluviodeltaic settings considered herein: Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Huang He in China. Specifically, an increase in the scale and intensity of agricultural practice, and the focussing of power towards a single city can be interpreted as responses to these environmental changes. Other archaeological observations, and the cultural trajectories leading to the formation of the Primary States also need to be considered in light of these evolving landscapes.

Soil erosion plays a crucial role in transferring sediment and carbon from land to sea, yet little is known about the rhythm and rates of soil erosion prior to the most recent few centuries. Here we reconstruct a Holocene erosional history from central India, as integrated by the Godavari River in a sediment core from the Bay of Bengal. We quantify terrigenous fluxes, fingerprint sources for the lithogenic fraction and assess the age of the exported terrigenous carbon. Taken together, our data show that the monsoon decline in the late Holocene, later exacerbated by the Neolithic adoption and Iron Age extensification of agriculture on the Deccan Plateau, significantly increased soil erosion and the age of exported organic carbon. Despite a constantly elevated sea level since the middle Holocene, this erosion acceleration led to rapid continental margin growth. We conclude that in monsoon conditions, aridity boosts rather than supresses sediment and carbon export acting as a veritable...

Globally, rising seas threaten massive numbers of people and significant infrastructure. Adaptation strategies increasingly incorporate nature-based solutions. New science can illuminate where these solutions are appropriate in urban environments and what benefits they provide to people. Together with stakeholders in San Mateo County, California, USA, we co-developed nature-based solutions to support adaptation planning. We created six guiding principles to shape planning, summarized vulnerability to sea-level rise and opportunities for nature-based solutions, created three adaptation scenarios, and compared multiple benefits provided by each scenario. Adaptation scenarios that included investments in nature-based solutions deliver up to eight times the benefits of a traditionally engineered baseline as well as additional habitat for key species. The magnitude and distribution of benefits varied at subregional scales along the coastline. Our results demonstrate practical tools and e...

The Ayeyawady delta is the last Asian megadelta whose evolution has remained essentially unexplored so far. Unlike most other deltas across the world, the Ayeyawady has not yet been affected by dam construction providing a unique view on largely natural deltaic processes benefiting from abundant sediment loads affected by tectonics and monsoon hydroclimate. To alleviate the information gap and provide a baseline for future work, here we provide a first model for the Holocene development of this megadelta based on radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence-dated trench and drill core sediments collected in 2016 and 2017, together with a re-evaluation of published maps, charts and scientific literature. Altogether, this data indicates that Ayeyawady is a mud-dominated delta with tidal and wave influences that has been constructed within a vertically stable Pleistocene incised valley. The sediment-rich Ayeyawady River built meander belt alluvial ridges with avulsive characters. ...