The record of the latter glacial and interglacial periods in the Guadalquivir marshlands (Mari López drilling, S.W. Spain)

El estudio de un sondeo de 65 m en las marismas del Guadalquivir permite reconocer siete intervalos que reflejan cambios climáticos y eustáticos e intensa neotectónica durante tres periodos ¡nterglaciares (IS 71, 5 y i) y dos glaciares (IS 6-Riss-, IS 4, 3 y 2-WQrm). Se discute el valor de las 'vetas' como indicadores paleogeográficosPeer reviewe

The record of the lalter glacial and interglacial periods in the Guadalquivir marshlands (Mari López drilling, S.W. Spain)

El estudio de un sondeo de 65 m en las marismas del Guadalquivir permite reconocer siete intervalos que reflejan cambios climáticos y eustáticos e intensa neotectónica durante tres periodos interglaciares (IS 7?, 5 Y 1) Y dos glaciares (15 6-Riss-, 154, 3 Y 2-Würm). Se discute el valor de las 'vetas' como indicadores paleogeográficos

Record of anthropogenic environmental impact in the continental shelf north of Barcelona city

International symposium on applications of isotope techniques in studying past and current environmental changes in the hydrosphere and the atmosphere, 19-23 April 1993, Vienna, Austria.--10 pages, 4 figures, 1 tableThe continental shelf off the Barcelona coast receives polluted materials discharged by the Besós and the Llobregat rivers. A marine sediment core from the Besós river mouth in the inner prodelta (TG8) was dated by the analysis of excess 210Pb using a modified version of the CRS/MV method. The mean sedimentation rate was 1.74 ± 0.09 mm/year and its evo­lution showed a slow decrease from 1923 which became faster from 1962, in good agreement with the two most important periods o f industrial and demographic expansion in Catalonia. Heavy metals concentrations were determined by ICP-AES and showed high values in surface samples for Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb. The observed fluxes reflected well the industrial development of Catalonia, showing two important growth periods during the 1920s and the 1960s. Soot par­ticles were found in all samples by pollen analysis and showed the impact of the combustion of fossil fuel in cars and a nearby fuel oil/natural .gas power plan

A beach-ridge progradation complex reflecting periodical sea-level and climate variability during the Holocene (Gulf of Almería, Western Mediterranean)

Detailed mapping based on aerial photographs at various scales, analysis of morpho-sedimentary units, and radiocarbon dating of the prograding beach-ridge complex of Campo de Dalı´as (Almerı´a) allow the differentiation of six prograding units. These are called: H1, 7400–6000 cal BP; H2, 5400–4200 cal BP; H3, 4200–3000 cal BP; H4, 2700–1900 cal BP; H5, 1900– 1100 cal BP; and H6, 500 cal BP–Present. H-units are deposited during periods of high relative sea level and increased sediment input to the coast. They are bounded by large swales or erosional surfaces associated with lower sea levels and reduced input of sediment to the coast; these correspond to short periods of increased aridity inside the general arid trend recorded in the Western Mediterranean since 5.4 ka. Changes in the flux of Atlantic superficial waters into the Mediterranean Sea, and relative strength of the W/SW winds account for the recorded oscillations of relative sea level. We deduce a decadal periodicity for the deposition of a beach ridge and the adjacent swale, and suggest that it is related to fluctuations of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index and to variations of solar activity. The duration of H-units shows a quasi-millennial periodicity punctuated by short (hundred years) episodes of reduced progradation or erosion representing events of increased aridity likely to be related to Bond’s Holocene cold events

Quaternary palaeoenvironmental changes in South Spain

This paper presents the existing differences between the evolution of the Holocene landscape of the Southeastern and Southwestern areas of the Iberian Peninsula. Moreover, some palaeoenvironmental characteristics of OIS 4 and OIS 3 of the western Andalusia appear. The five presented sequences have been analyzed from palynological and geomorphological point of view. The obtained results show that during the Holocene no significant forest cover existed in the eastern area and that the different phases identified mainly show an alternation of shrub and steppe communities, taking place during the fifth millennium a radical transformation of the landscape and the definitive establishment of the semi-desert conditions that are registered at the present time. In the western area the evolution of the landscape is determined basically by the changes of geomorphological conditions of the coast and the marshland zones of the Guadalquivir and the Tinto-Odiel systems, registering diverse moments of increase of the aridity conditions, without remarkable changes in the vegetal landscape. Sequences obtained do not provide evidence of indicators of human intervention that might be clearly attributable to the pattern of human activities established in the area until a the two millennium ago

El registro de los últimos periodos.glaciares e ¡nterglaciares en las marismas del Guadalquivir (sondeo Mari López, S.O. de España)

El estudio de un sondeo de 65 m en las marismas del Guadalquivir permite reconocer siete intervalos que reflejan cambios climáticos y eustáticos e intensa neotectónica durante tres periodos ¡nterglaciares (IS 71, 5 y i) y dos glaciares (IS 6-Riss-, IS 4, 3 y 2-WQrm). Se discute el valor de las 'vetas' como indicadores paleogeográfico

The Mazarrón Pb–(Ag)–Zn mining district (SE Spain) as a source of heavy metal contamination in a semiarid realm: Geochemical data from mine wastes, soils, and stream sediments

The Mazarrón epithermal ore deposits (SE Spain) formed in Miocene time in relation to the emplacement of dacitic–rhyodacitic domes. The Pb–(Ag)–Zn ore deposits are of the high sulphidation vein and stockwork type. There are two main mining sites: San Cristóbal–Perules (adjacent to the town of Mazarrón) and Pedreras Viejas. The area is located in the southern realm of a Miocene marine basin surrounded by mountains in its western, eastern and southern flanks. A main seasonal river (Rambla de las Moreras) crosses the basin from North to South and is strongly affected by contaminated sediments from the San Cristóbal– Perules mining site. The mine tailings are extremely rich in Pb (mean=12,400 μg g−1) and Zn (mean=6100 μg g−1), whereas As concentrations are also very high (mean=650 μg g−1). Our geochemical survey also covered anthropic soils, stream sediments and the so-called almagres deposits (red alum calcines). All these environmental matrices have also very high concentrations of Pb, Zn, As, and Cd compared to our local or world baseline concentrations. The calcines are rich in As (mean=450 μg g−1), and the main environmental concern relates to the wrong use of these materials as agricultural soils at discrete sites in the district. Besides, the anthropic soils of the district are very rich in Pb (mean=2550 μg g−1) and Zn (mean=1870 μg g−1). On the other hand, the seasonal river Rambla de las Moreras receives contaminated sediments from the San Cristóbal–Perules old mining site and mine wastes, which results in high concentrations of As (mean=120 μg g−1), Pb (mean=2700 μg g−1) and Zn (mean=1090 μg g−1) in the sediments. These high concentrations of dangerous contaminants in an area close to a town of 35,000 inhabitants and adjacent to significant agricultural activity may pose a risk to human health

Discussion: Reply to the comments by Mauz, B. and Antonioli, F. on “Sea Level and Climate Changes during OIS 5e in the Western Mediterranean”

We really appreciate the comments by Mauz and Antonioli on our paper (Bardají et al., 2009), but here we respond to the erroneous statements made in their critical reading of our work. We agree with the authors' historic review of the problems raised when effects of tectonics and sea level oscillations are observed in the record of relative sea-level changes in Western Mediterranean. We should not forget that the Mediterranean itself constitutes a collision plate boundary, with few stable areas within it. Therefore, the study of the Last Interglacial shorelines cannot be simply analysed according to altitude, as they say. What we do not share with Mauz and Antonioli is that “the only solution to this seemed to be determining the age of a coastal deposit using radiometric, dosimetric and chemical dating techniques”.Research financed by Projects CGL2008-3998, CGL2008-04000 and GRACCIE-CSD-2007-00067. CHM acknowledges the financial support from the Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the UNESCO Chair for Global Change Study of Université du Québec à Montréal. This paper is a contribution to IGCP495 (Quaternary Land Ocean Interactions: Driving Mechanisms and Coastal Responses), INQUA Commission on Coastal and Marine Processes and CM Work Group Paleoclimatology and Global Change (UCM 910198).Peer reviewe