Experimental Comparative Study between Conventional and Green Parking Lots: Analysis of Subsurface Thermal Behavior under Warm and Dry Summer Conditions

Green infrastructure has a role to play in climate change adaptation strategies in cities. Alternative urban spaces should be designed considering new requirements in terms of urban microclimate and thermal comfort. Pervious pavements such as green parking lots can contribute to this goal through solar evaporative cooling. However, the cooling benefits of such systems remain under debate during dry and warm periods. The aim of this study was to compare experimentally the thermal behavior of different parking lot types (PLTs) with vegetated urban soil. Four parking lots were instrumented, with temperature probes buried at different depths. Underground temperatures were measured during summer 2019, and the hottest days of the period were analyzed. Results show that the less mineral used in the surface coating, the less it warms up. The temperature difference at the upper layer can reach 10 °C between mineral and non-mineral PLTs. PLTs can be grouped into three types: (i) high surface temperature during daytime and nighttime, important heat transfer toward the sublayers, and low time shift (asphalt system); (ii) high (resp. low) surface temperature during daytime (resp. nighttime), weak heat transfer toward the sublayers, and important time shift (paved stone system); and (iii) low surface temperature during daytime and nighttime, weak heat transfer toward the sublayers, and important time shift (vegetation and substrate system, wood chips system, vegetated urban soil). The results of this study underline that pervious pavements demonstrate thermal benefits under warm and dry summer conditions compared to conventional parking lot solutions. The results also indicate that the hygrothermal properties of urban materials are crucial for urban heat island mitigation

Interannual (1999-2005) morphodynamic evolution of macro-tidal salt marshes in Mont-Saint-Michel Bay (France)

International audienceThis paper provides a detailed study on the sedimentation patterns and the recent morphodynamic evolution affecting the macro-tidal salt marshes located west of the Mont-Saint-Michel (France). Twenty-two stations along three transects on the marshes were seasonally monitored for marsh surface level variations from 1999 to 2005, using a sediment erosion bar. The corresponding erosion/accretion rates were obtained together with data on topography, vegetation cover, and grain size of surface sediment. To examine the mechanisms contributing to the salt marsh sedimentation, the data and their evolution were treated with respect to tides, relative mean regional sea level, and wind speed/frequency variations. From 1999 to 2005, the marsh was globally accreting (from 3.45 to 38.11 mm yr(-1) in the low marsh, up to 4.91 mm yr(-1) in the middle marsh, and up to 1.35 mm yr(-1) in the high marsh), while the study was conducted during a window of decreasing trend in mean regional sea level (-2.45 mm yr(-1) according to regional-averaged time series). These sedimentation rates are one of the highest recorded worldwide: however, the sedimentation was not found to be continuous over the period in question. This pattern is illustrated by the strong extension of the marshes from 1999 to 2002, and the relative stability observed from 2003 to 2005. The imported and reworked sediments are trapped and fixed by the dense vegetation (Puccinellia maritima, Halimione portulacoides), inducing the general seaward extension of the marshes. The processes governing sediment budget (accretion/erosion) show annual, seasonal, and spatial variability on the marsh. Spatial variations display contrasted patterns of erosion/sedimentation between the low, middle, and high marsh, and between the different transects. These patterns are a result of distance from sediment sources, strong heterogeneity in vegetation cover (human induced or not), and contrasting topographic and micro-topographic characteristics. The higher accretion rates are observed in distal settings in the low marsh, and strongly decrease toward the middle and high marsh. This evolution results from a decrease in accommodation space/water column thickness, and frequency of inundation coupled with an increase in station elevation, but also from the cumulated effects of vegetation cover and micro-topography. The vegetation cover of the low and middle marsh enhance the settling and fixing of fine sediments imported through tides or dispersed by flood and ebb currents. The seasonal evolution of the marshes is marked by contrasting effects of water storage in the sediment. The overall seasonal sediment budget is controlled by the variation of the frequency of inundation relative to tidal range and marshes topography. Autumns are influenced by the tide (equinoxes), relative mean regional sea level, and variations in wind speed/frequency. Winter wind speed and frequency in relation with tidal variations appear to be the main parameters regulating winter marsh evolution. Summers are predominantly under the influence of local variations in water storage (desiccation) while external parameters generally display a low influence. Although it is not governed by any one parameter, springtime sediment budget seems to result from strong interaction between the above-cited parameters, despite the significant frequency of inundation (equinoxes). (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Environmental controls on the Late Holocene carbonate sedimentation of a karstic lake in the Middle-Atlas Mountains (Lake Afourgagh, Morocco)

International audienceThe Lake Afourgagh sediment record and facies successions provide an outstanding example of environmentally controlled carbonate sedimentation. Afourgagh is a small, shallow permanent lake located in the Middle-Atlas Mountains in Morocco in a karstic context. It is fed by ground waters that are relatively enriched in Mg resulting from the leaching of the Jurassic dolomitic bedrock of the catchment. This eutrophic lake is episodically restricted and characterized by alkaline waters with a fluctuating high Mg/Ca ratio. The maximum extension of the Holocene shoreline coincides with evidence of a lake stabilization level corresponding to the outflow of the lake through a wadi. Lakeshore terrace sediments deposited on an alluvial fan siltstone during the past ca 2500 cal yr BP comprise four main facies: a littoral crust, palaeosols, palustrine silts and charophyte tufas, which reflect different environments from the shoreline toward the deeper water. In the more distal parts, the charophyte tufas display a wellexpressed lamination punctuated by the development of microstromatolites on algae thalli. The mineralogical composition of the carbonates is linked to the facies. While the charophyte tufas are characterized by a relatively high content in aragonite, in addition to low-Mg calcite, the littoral crust is mainly composed of magnesite. This pattern is related to the evolving chemistry of water due to the influence of charophyte proliferation during dry summers. Calcium-carbonate precipitation on algae thalli (both bioinduced and microbially mediated) progressively induces an increase in the Mg/Ca ratio of the lake water, while the capillary evaporation of shallow ground waters causes precipitation of a magnesite precursor on the shoreline, producing magnesite during early diagenesis. This effect is characteristic of two episodes: part of the Roman Warm Period and the beginning of the Dark Age Cold Period. The carbonate mineralogy of the different depositional sequences at Afourgagh indicates lake-level and water-chemistry fluctuations under a climatic influence. Therefore, among other regional records, the Lake Afourgagh sedimentary record provides useful evidence for reconstructing these environmental changes

Thirteen years after : dynamics of trace metals in free-ranging small mammals related to soil aging (2006-2019)

International audienceThe lability of trace metals (TM) in the soil is time-dependent, and temporal changes in metals' state are known as "soil aging." However, there is no study assessing a long-term change in the environmental availability of metals and the effects of soil aging on the dynamics of bioaccumulation of TM in terrestrial wild mammals. This study aims to estimate whether and how soil aging affects the transfers of TM in terrestrial food webs. Based on long-term monitoring from 2006 to 2019 in metal-contaminated sites, we compared the temporal change in the availability of TM in the soil to temporal trends of TMs in small mammals' tissues

Thirteen years after : dynamics of trace metals in free-ranging small mammals related to soil aging (2006-2019)

International audienceThe lability of trace metals (TM) in the soil is time-dependent, and temporal changes in metals' state are known as "soil aging." However, there is no study assessing a long-term change in the environmental availability of metals and the effects of soil aging on the dynamics of bioaccumulation of TM in terrestrial wild mammals. This study aims to estimate whether and how soil aging affects the transfers of TM in terrestrial food webs. Based on long-term monitoring from 2006 to 2019 in metal-contaminated sites, we compared the temporal change in the availability of TM in the soil to temporal trends of TMs in small mammals' tissues