1
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West C, Reinecke R, Rosolem R, MacDonald AM, Cuthbert MO, Wagener T. Ground truthing global-scale model estimates of groundwater recharge across Africa. Sci Total Environ 2023; 858:159765. [PMID: 36309251 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2022] [Revised: 10/15/2022] [Accepted: 10/23/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Groundwater is an essential resource for natural and human systems throughout the world and the rates at which aquifers are recharged constrain sustainable levels of consumption. However, recharge estimates from global-scale models regularly disagree with each other and are rarely compared to ground-based estimates. We compare long-term mean annual recharge and recharge ratio (annual recharge/annual precipitation) estimates from eight global models with over 100 ground-based estimates in Africa. We find model estimates of annual recharge and recharge ratio disagree significantly across most of Africa. Furthermore, similarity to ground-based estimates between models also varies considerably and inconsistently throughout the different landscapes of Africa. Models typically showed both positive and negative biases in most landscapes, which made it challenging to pinpoint how recharge prediction by global-scale models can be improved. However, global-scale models which reflected stronger climatic controls on their recharge estimates compared more favourably to ground-based estimates. Given this significant uncertainty in recharge estimates from current global-scale models, we stress that groundwater recharge prediction across Africa, for both research investigations and operational management, should not rely upon estimates from a single model but instead consider the distribution of estimates from different models. Our work will be of particular interest to decision makers and researchers who consider using such recharge outputs to make groundwater governance decisions or investigate groundwater security especially under the potential impact of climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles West
- Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
| | - Robert Reinecke
- Institute for Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Rafael Rosolem
- Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; Cabot Institute for the Environment, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Alan M MacDonald
- British Geological Survey, Lyell Centre, Edinburgh EH14 4AP, United Kingdom
| | - Mark O Cuthbert
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, United Kingdom; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Thorsten Wagener
- Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom; Institute for Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
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2
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Cuthbert MO, Rau GC, Ekström M, O'Carroll DM, Bates AJ. Global climate-driven trade-offs between the water retention and cooling benefits of urban greening. Nat Commun 2022; 13:518. [PMID: 35082304 PMCID: PMC8792007 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28160-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Urban greening can potentially help mitigate heat-related mortality and flooding facing the >4 billion urban population worldwide. However, the geographical variation of the relative combined hydrological and thermal performance benefits of such interventions are unknown. Here we quantify globally, using a hydrological model, how climate-driven trade-offs exist between hydrological retention and cooling potential of urban greening such as green roofs and parks. Using a Budyko framework, we show that water retention generally increases with aridity in water-limited environments, while cooling potential favors energy-limited climates. Our models suggest that common urban greening strategies cannot yield high performance simultaneously for addressing both urban heat-island and urban flooding problems in most cities globally. Irrigation, if sustainable, may enhance cooling while maintaining retention performance in more arid locations. Increased precipitation variability with climate change may reduce performance of thinner green-infrastructure more quickly compared to greened areas with thicker soils and root systems. Our results provide a conceptual framework and first-order quantitative guide for urban development, renewal and policymaking.
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Affiliation(s)
- M O Cuthbert
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. .,School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
| | - G C Rau
- Institute of Applied Geosciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - M Ekström
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - D M O'Carroll
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - A J Bates
- School of Animal, Rural & Environmental Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
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3
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Singer MB, Asfaw DT, Rosolem R, Cuthbert MO, Miralles DG, MacLeod D, Quichimbo EA, Michaelides K. Hourly potential evapotranspiration at 0.1° resolution for the global land surface from 1981-present. Sci Data 2021; 8:224. [PMID: 34429438 PMCID: PMC8385079 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-021-01003-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Challenges exist for assessing the impacts of climate and climate change on the hydrological cycle on local and regional scales, and in turn on water resources, food, energy, and natural hazards. Potential evapotranspiration (PET) represents atmospheric demand for water, which is required at high spatial and temporal resolutions to compute actual evapotranspiration and thus close the water balance near the land surface for many such applications, but there are currently no available high-resolution datasets of PET. Here we develop an hourly PET dataset (hPET) for the global land surface at 0.1° spatial resolution, based on output from the recently developed ERA5-Land reanalysis dataset, over the period 1981 to present. We show how hPET compares to other available global PET datasets, over common spatiotemporal resolutions and time frames, with respect to spatial patterns of climatology and seasonal variations for selected humid and arid locations across the globe. We provide the data for users to employ for multiple applications to explore diurnal and seasonal variations in evaporative demand for water.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Bliss Singer
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, United Kingdom.
- Water Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, United Kingdom.
- Earth Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
| | - Dagmawi Teklu Asfaw
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, United Kingdom
| | - Rafael Rosolem
- Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, BS8 1TR, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Cabot Institute for the Environment, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1QU, United Kingdom
| | - Mark O Cuthbert
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, United Kingdom
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia
| | - Diego G Miralles
- Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL), Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium
| | - David MacLeod
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, United Kingdom
| | - Edisson Andres Quichimbo
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, United Kingdom
| | - Katerina Michaelides
- Earth Research Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
- School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, United Kingdom
- Cabot Institute for the Environment, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1QU, United Kingdom
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4
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Cuthbert MO, Taylor RG, Favreau G, Todd MC, Shamsudduha M, Villholth KG, MacDonald AM, Scanlon BR, Kotchoni DOV, Vouillamoz JM, Lawson FMA, Adjomayi PA, Kashaigili J, Seddon D, Sorensen JPR, Ebrahim GY, Owor M, Nyenje PM, Nazoumou Y, Goni I, Ousmane BI, Sibanda T, Ascott MJ, Macdonald DMJ, Agyekum W, Koussoubé Y, Wanke H, Kim H, Wada Y, Lo MH, Oki T, Kukuric N. Author Correction: Observed controls on resilience of groundwater to climate variability in sub-Saharan Africa. Nature 2020; 588:E25. [PMID: 33268899 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2985-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mark O Cuthbert
- Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK. .,School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. .,Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. .,Water Research Institute, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
| | | | - Guillaume Favreau
- Université Grenoble Alpes, IRD, CNRS, Grenoble INP, IGE, Grenoble, France.,Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Niamey, Niger
| | - Martin C Todd
- Department of Geography, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK
| | - Mohammad Shamsudduha
- Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK.,Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, London, UK
| | | | | | - Bridget R Scanlon
- Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - D O Valerie Kotchoni
- Université d'Abomey-Calavi, Institut Nationale de l'Eau, Chaire Internationale de Physique Mathématique et Applications, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Cotonou, Benin
| | - Jean-Michel Vouillamoz
- Université Grenoble Alpes, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement, Grenoble, France
| | - Fabrice M A Lawson
- Université d'Abomey-Calavi, Institut Nationale de l'Eau, Chaire Internationale de Physique Mathématique et Applications, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Cotonou, Benin
| | | | - Japhet Kashaigili
- Department of Forest Resources Assessment and Management, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
| | - David Seddon
- Department of Geography, University College London, London, UK
| | | | | | - Michael Owor
- Department of Geology and Petroleum Studies, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Philip M Nyenje
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Yahaya Nazoumou
- Department of Geology, Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey, Niger
| | - Ibrahim Goni
- Department of Geology, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Youssouf Koussoubé
- Département des Sciences de la Terre, Université Ouaga I Pr Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Heike Wanke
- Department of Geology, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia.,Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
| | - Hyungjun Kim
- Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yoshihide Wada
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
| | - Min-Hui Lo
- Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Taikan Oki
- Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.,Institute for Future Initiatives, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Neno Kukuric
- International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre, Delft, The Netherlands
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5
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Jones MD, Abu‐Jaber N, AlShdaifat A, Baird D, Cook BI, Cuthbert MO, Dean JR, Djamali M, Eastwood W, Fleitmann D, Haywood A, Kwiecien O, Larsen J, Maher LA, Metcalfe SE, Parker A, Petrie CA, Primmer N, Richter T, Roberts N, Roe J, Tindall JC, Ünal‐İmer E, Weeks L. 20,000 years of societal vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in southwest Asia. WIREs Water 2019; 6:e1330. [PMID: 33362922 PMCID: PMC7754156 DOI: 10.1002/wat2.1330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2018] [Revised: 11/08/2018] [Accepted: 11/12/2018] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The Fertile Crescent, its hilly flanks and surrounding drylands has been a critical region for studying how climate has influenced societal change, and this review focuses on the region over the last 20,000 years. The complex social, economic, and environmental landscapes in the region today are not new phenomena and understanding their interactions requires a nuanced, multidisciplinary understanding of the past. This review builds on a history of collaboration between the social and natural palaeoscience disciplines. We provide a multidisciplinary, multiscalar perspective on the relevance of past climate, environmental, and archaeological research in assessing present day vulnerabilities and risks for the populations of southwest Asia. We discuss the complexity of palaeoclimatic data interpretation, particularly in relation to hydrology, and provide an overview of key time periods of palaeoclimatic interest. We discuss the critical role that vegetation plays in the human-climate-environment nexus and discuss the implications of the available palaeoclimate and archaeological data, and their interpretation, for palaeonarratives of the region, both climatically and socially. We also provide an overview of how modelling can improve our understanding of past climate impacts and associated change in risk to societies. We conclude by looking to future work, and identify themes of "scale" and "seasonality" as still requiring further focus. We suggest that by appreciating a given locale's place in the regional hydroscape, be it an archaeological site or palaeoenvironmental archive, more robust links to climate can be made where appropriate and interpretations drawn will demand the resolution of factors acting across multiple scales. This article is categorized under:Human Water > Water as Imagined and RepresentedScience of Water > Water and Environmental ChangeWater and Life > Nature of Freshwater Ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nizar Abu‐Jaber
- Center for the Study of Natural and Cultural HeritageGerman Jordanian UniversityAmmanJordan
| | | | - Douglas Baird
- Department of Archaeology, Classics and EgyptologyUniversity of LiverpoolLiverpoolUK
| | | | | | | | - Morteza Djamali
- Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie (UMR 7263—CNRS/Aix‐Marseille Université/IRD/Université d'Avignon)Aix‐en ProvenceFrance
| | - Warren Eastwood
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental SciencesUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamUK
| | - Dominik Fleitmann
- Department of Archaeology and Centre for Past Climate ChangeUniversity of ReadingReadingUK
| | - Alan Haywood
- School of Earth and EnvironmentUniversity of LeedsLeedsUK
| | - Ola Kwiecien
- Institute for Geology, Mineralogy and GeophysicsRuhr‐Universität BochumBochumGermany
| | - Joshua Larsen
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental SciencesUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamUK
| | - Lisa A. Maher
- Department of AnthropologyUniversity of CaliforniaBerkeleyCalifornia
| | | | - Adrian Parker
- Department of Social Sciences, Human Origins and Palaeoenvironments Research GroupOxford Brookes UniversityOxfordUK
| | - Cameron A. Petrie
- Department of Archaeology and AnthropologyUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK
| | - Nick Primmer
- School of GeographyUniversity of NottinghamNottinghamUK
| | - Tobias Richter
- Center for the Study of Early Agricultural SocietiesUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
| | - Neil Roberts
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental SciencesPlymouth UniversityPlymouthUK
| | - Joe Roe
- Institute of ArchaeologyUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | | | - Ezgi Ünal‐İmer
- Department of Geological EngineeringHacettepe UniversityAnkaraTurkey
| | - Lloyd Weeks
- School of Humanities, Arts and Social SciencesUniversity of New EnglandArmidaleNew South WalesAustralia
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6
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Schmidt SI, Cuthbert MO, Schwientek M. Towards an integrated understanding of how micro scale processes shape groundwater ecosystem functions. Sci Total Environ 2017; 592:215-227. [PMID: 28319709 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2017] [Revised: 03/05/2017] [Accepted: 03/06/2017] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Micro scale processes are expected to have a fundamental role in shaping groundwater ecosystems and yet they remain poorly understood and under-researched. In part, this is due to the fact that sampling is rarely carried out at the scale at which microorganisms, and their grazers and predators, function and thus we lack essential information. While set within a larger scale framework in terms of geochemical features, supply with energy and nutrients, and exchange intensity and dynamics, the micro scale adds variability, by providing heterogeneous zones at the micro scale which enable a wider range of redox reactions. Here we outline how understanding micro scale processes better may lead to improved appreciation of the range of ecosystems functions taking place at all scales. Such processes are relied upon in bioremediation and we demonstrate that ecosystem modelling as well as engineering measures have to take into account, and use, understanding at the micro scale. We discuss the importance of integrating faunal processes and computational appraisals in research, in order to continue to secure sustainable water resources from groundwater.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanne I Schmidt
- Centre for Systems Biology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
| | - Mark O Cuthbert
- Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre, UNSW Australia, 110 King Street, Manly Vale 2093, Australia; Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Marc Schwientek
- Center of Applied Geoscience, University of Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
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7
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Rivett MO, Cuthbert MO, Gamble R, Connon LE, Pearson A, Shepley MG, Davis J. Highway deicing salt dynamic runoff to surface water and subsequent infiltration to groundwater during severe UK winters. Sci Total Environ 2016; 565:324-338. [PMID: 27177139 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.04.095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2015] [Revised: 04/13/2016] [Accepted: 04/13/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Dynamic impact to the water environment of deicing salt application at a major highway (motorway) interchange in the UK is quantitatively evaluated for two recent severe UK winters. The contaminant transport pathway studied allowed controls on dynamic highway runoff and storm-sewer discharge to a receiving stream and its subsequent leakage to an underlying sandstone aquifer, including possible contribution to long-term chloride increases in supply wells, to be evaluated. Logged stream electrical-conductivity (EC) to estimate chloride concentrations, stream flow, climate and motorway salt application data were used to assess salt fate. Stream loading was responsive to salt applications and climate variability influencing salt release. Chloride (via EC) was predicted to exceed the stream Environmental Quality Standard (250mg/l) for 33% and 18% of the two winters. Maximum stream concentrations (3500mg/l, 15% sea water salinity) were ascribed to salt-induced melting and drainage of highway snowfall without dilution from, still frozen, catchment water. Salt persistance on the highway under dry-cold conditions was inferred from stream observations of delayed salt removal. Streambed and stream-loss data demonstrated chloride infiltration could occur to the underlying aquifer with mild and severe winter stream leakage estimated to account for 21 to 54% respectively of the 70t of increased chloride (over baseline) annually abstracted by supply wells. Deicing salt infiltration lateral to the highway alongside other urban/natural sources were inferred to contribute the shortfall. Challenges in quantifying chloride mass/fluxes (flow gauge accuracy at high flows, salt loading from other roads, weaker chloride-EC correlation at low concentrations), may be largely overcome by modest investment in enhanced data acquisition or minor approach modification. The increased understanding of deicing salt dynamic loading to the water environment obtained is relevant to improved groundwater resource management, highway salt application practice, surface-water - ecosystem management, and decision making on highway drainage to ground.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael O Rivett
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
| | - Mark O Cuthbert
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Richard Gamble
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Lucy E Connon
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Andrew Pearson
- Environment Agency, Olton Court, 10 Warwick Road, Olton, Solihull, West Midlands B92 7HX, UK
| | - Martin G Shepley
- Environment Agency, Olton Court, 10 Warwick Road, Olton, Solihull, West Midlands B92 7HX, UK
| | - John Davis
- Environment Agency - Staffordshire, Warwickshire & West Midlands Area, Sentinel House, 9 Wellington Crescent, Fradley Park, Lichfield, WS13 8RR, UK
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8
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Abstract
Groundwater is essential to modern human survival during drought periods. There is also growing geological evidence of springs associated with stone tools and hominin fossils in the East African Rift System (EARS) during a critical period for hominin evolution (from 1.8 Ma). However it is not known how vulnerable these springs may have been to climate variability and whether groundwater availability may have played a part in human evolution. Recent interdisciplinary research at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, has documented climate fluctuations attributable to astronomic forcing and the presence of paleosprings directly associated with archaeological sites. Using palaeogeological reconstruction and groundwater modelling of the Olduvai Gorge paleo-catchment, we show how spring discharge was likely linked to East African climate variability of annual to Milankovitch cycle timescales. Under decadal to centennial timescales, spring flow would have been relatively invariant providing good water resource resilience through long droughts. For multi-millennial periods, modelled spring flows lag groundwater recharge by 100 s to 1000 years. The lag creates long buffer periods allowing hominins to adapt to new habitats as potable surface water from rivers or lakes became increasingly scarce. Localised groundwater systems are likely to have been widespread within the EARS providing refugia and intense competition during dry periods, thus being an important factor in natural selection and evolution, as well as a vital resource during hominin dispersal within and out of Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark O. Cuthbert
- Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Gail M. Ashley
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America
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9
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Handley-Sidhu S, Hriljac JA, Cuthbert MO, Renshaw JC, Pattrick RAD, Charnock JM, Stolpe B, Lead JR, Baker S, Macaskie LE. Bacterially produced calcium phosphate nanobiominerals: sorption capacity, site preferences, and stability of captured radionuclides. Environ Sci Technol 2014; 48:6891-6898. [PMID: 24823240 DOI: 10.1021/es500734n] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
A Serratia sp. bacterium manufactures amorphous calcium phosphate nanominerals (BHAP); this material has shown increased sorption capacity for divalent radionuclide capture. When heat-treated (≥450 °C) the cell biomass is removed and the biominerals are transformed to hydroxyapatite (HAP). Using a multimethod approach, we have elucidated both the site preferences and stability of analogue radionuclide incorporation for Sr, Co, Eu, and U. Strontium incorporates within the bulk amorphous inorganic phase of BHAP; however, once temperature modified to crystalline HAP, bonding was consistent with Sr substitution at the Ca(1) and/or Ca(2) sites. Cobalt incorporation occurs within the bulk inorganic amorphous phase of BHAP and within the amorphous grain boundaries of HAP. Europium (an analogue for trivalent actinides) substituted at the Ca(2) and/or the Ca(3) position of tricalcium phosphate, a known component of HAP grain boundaries. Uranium was surface complexed with no secondary minerals detected. With multiple sites for targeted radionuclide incorporation, high loadings, and good stability against remobilization, BHAP is shown to be a potential material for the remediation of aqueous radionuclide in groundwater.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Handley-Sidhu
- School of Geography Earth and Environmental Sciences, ‡School of Biosciences, §School of Chemistry, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston , Birmingham B15 2TT, U.K
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10
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Cuthbert MO, McMillan LA, Handley-Sidhu S, Riley MS, Tobler DJ, Phoenix VR. A field and modeling study of fractured rock permeability reduction using microbially induced calcite precipitation. Environ Sci Technol 2013; 47:13637-13643. [PMID: 24147737 DOI: 10.1021/es402601g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Microbially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) offers an attractive alternative to traditional grouting technologies for creating barriers to groundwater flow and containing subsurface contamination, but has only thus far been successfully demonstrated at the laboratory scale and predominantly in porous media. We present results of the first field experiments applying MICP to reduce fractured rock permeability in the subsurface. Initially, the ureolytic bacterium, Sporosarcina pasteurii, was fixed in the fractured rock. Subsequent injection of cementing fluid comprising calcium chloride and urea resulted in precipitation of large quantities (approximately 750 g) of calcite; significant reduction in the transmissivity of a single fracture over an area of several m(2) was achieved in around 17 h of treatment. A novel numerical model is also presented which simulates the field data well by coupling flow and bacterial and solute reactive transport processes including feedback due to aperture reduction via calcite precipitation. The results show that MICP can be successfully manipulated under field conditions to reduce the permeability of fractured rock and suggest that an MICP-based technique, informed by numerical models, may form the basis of viable solutions to aid pollution mitigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark O Cuthbert
- Water Sciences (Hydrogeology), School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham , Birmingham, B15 2TT, U.K.
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11
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Rivett MO, Turner RJ, Glibbery Née Murcott P, Cuthbert MO. The legacy of chlorinated solvents in the Birmingham aquifer, UK: observations spanning three decades and the challenge of future urban groundwater development. J Contam Hydrol 2012; 140-141:107-123. [PMID: 23022878 DOI: 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2012.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2011] [Revised: 07/31/2012] [Accepted: 08/10/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Licensed abstraction well data collected during 1986-2008 from a total of 77 wells mainly located at industrial sites combined with historic land use data from 1975 has allowed insight into the legacy of chlorinated solvent contamination in the Birmingham aquifer that underlies the UK's second largest city. This legacy, expected to be reasonably symptomatic of those occurring in other urban aquifers, was characterised by: dominance of parent solvents, particularly TCE (trichloroethene) that widely exceeded drinking-water quality criteria; greater TCE occurrence in wells in proximity to increased historic land use by the metal/engineering solvent-user industry (the relationship providing a first-pass indicator of future resource development potential); regional groundwater vulnerability controls; well abstraction changes (over months to decades) influential of observed concentration transients and anticipated plume capture or release; persistence of contamination over decades (with less soluble PCE (perchloroethene) showing increased persistence relative to TCE) that was reasonably ascribed to slow contaminant release from DNAPL (dense non-aqueous phase liquid) sources and, or low permeability layers; presence of dechlorination products arising from solvent (bio)degradation, although this key attenuation process appeared to have moderate to weak influence regionally on plumes; and, inadvertent, but significant solvent mass removal from the aquifer by industrial abstractions. Key challenges to realising future urban groundwater development were identified based on the observed legacy and well capture zone simulations. Despite the extensive contamination of the aquifer, it should still be possible to develop wells of high (several megalitres per day) capacity for drinking water supply (or other lower grade uses) without the requirement for solvent treatment. In those areas with higher risk of contamination, our dataset, together with application of emergent risk assessment approaches (that our dataset may serve to validate), could be used to inform potential abstractors as to whether solvent treatment is likely to be required at a particular abstraction site with time. Challenges identified that were relevant to the future development of Birmingham and urban aquifers more generally include the adequacy of groundwater quality monitoring data and uncertainties in contaminant source terms, abstraction well capture zone predictions and plume natural attenuation, in particular degradation rates. The study endorses that despite significant solvent contamination encountered, strategies can, and need, to be increasingly found to reclaim urban aquifer resources and more sustainably meet urban water demands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael O Rivett
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
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Cuthbert MO, Greswell RB, Mackay R. A wet/wet differential pressure sensor for measuring vertical hydraulic gradient. Ground Water 2011; 49:781-782. [PMID: 22023693 DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6584.2011.00789.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- M O Cuthbert
- School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
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