Groundwater flow modelling in the central zone of Hanoi, Vietnam

On the basis of a review of the Quaternary sedimentary architecture in the area of Hanoi city (Vietnam), a numerical, deterministic and three-dimensional groundwater flow model has been built for a simulation between 1995 and 2004. The sedimentary architecture has been constructed on the basis of the data from 32 drillings covering the entire Quaternary sequence (but with little sedimentological detail), as well as hydrographical and hydrogeological data. Both steady- and transient-state conditions were tested. Results calculated by the model seem to indicate that the conceptual hypotheses adopted are reasonable for the modelled domain and period. The simulation allows for calculation of the regional groundwater flow trends. It is also used for assessing the relative importance of the various recharge sources of the shallow aquifer system in Hanoi, and for estimating the interactions between groundwater and the Red River

Dust outpaces bedrock in nutrient supply to montane forest ecosystems

Dust provides ecosystem-sustaining nutrients to landscapes underlain by intensively weathered soils. Here we show that dust may also be crucial in montane forest ecosystems, dominating nutrient budgets despite continuous replacement of depleted soils with fresh bedrock via erosion. Strontium and neodymium isotopes in modern dust show that Asian sources contribute 18–45% of dust deposition across our Sierra Nevada, California study sites. The remaining dust originates regionally from the nearby Central Valley. Measured dust fluxes are greater than or equal to modern erosional outputs from hillslopes to channels, and account for 10–20% of estimated millennial-average inputs of bedrock P. Our results demonstrate that exogenic dust can drive the evolution of nutrient budgets in montane ecosystems, with implications for predicting forest response to changes in climate and land use