Transition Pathways to Sustainable Agricultural Water Management: A Review of Integrated Modeling Approaches

Agricultural water management (AWM) is an interdisciplinary concern, cutting across traditional domains such as agronomy, climatology, geology, economics, and sociology. Each of these disciplines has developed numerous process-based and empirical models for AWM. However, models that simulate all major hydrologic, water quality, and crop growth processes in agricultural systems are still lacking. As computers become more powerful, more researchers are choosing to integrate existing models to account for these major processes rather than building new cross-disciplinary models. Model integration carries the hope that, as in a real system, the sum of the model will be greater than the parts. However, models based upon simplified and unrealistic assumptions of physical or empirical processes can generate misleading results which are not useful for informing policy. In this article, we use literature and case studies from the High Plains Aquifer and Southeastern United States regions to elucidate the challenges and opportunities associated with integrated modeling for AWM and recommend conditions in which to use integrated models. Additionally, we examine the potential contributions of integrated modeling to AWM — the actual practice of conserving water while maximizing productivity

Depositional setting, provenance and tectonic-volcanic setting of Eocene-Recent deep-sea sediments of the oceanic Izu-Bonin forearc, NW Pacific (IODP Expedition 352)

New biostratigraphical, geochemical, and magnetic evidence is synthesized with IODP Expedition 352 shipboard results to understand the sedimentary and tectono-magmatic development of the Izu–Bonin outer forearc region. The oceanic basement of the Izu–Bonin forearc was created by supra-subduction zone seafloor spreading during early Eocene (c. 50–51 Ma). Seafloor spreading created an irregular seafloor topography on which talus locally accumulated. Oxide-rich sediments accumulated above the igneous basement by mixing of hydrothermal and pelagic sediment. Basaltic volcanism was followed by a hiatus of up to 15 million years as a result of topographic isolation or sediment bypassing. Variably tuffaceous deep-sea sediments were deposited during Oligocene to early Miocene and from mid-Miocene to Pleistocene. The sediments ponded into extensional fault-controlled basins, whereas condensed sediments accumulated on a local basement high. Oligocene nannofossil ooze accumulated together with felsic tuff that was mainly derived from the nearby Izu–Bonin arc. Accumulation of radiolarian-bearing mud, silty clay, and hydrogenous metal oxides beneath the carbonate compensation depth (CCD) characterized the early Miocene, followed by middle Miocene–Pleistocene increased carbonate preservation, deepened CCD and tephra input from both the oceanic Izu–Bonin arc and the continental margin Honshu arc. The Izu–Bonin forearc basement formed in a near-equatorial setting, with late Mesozoic arc remnants to the west. Subduction-initiation magmatism is likely to have taken place near a pre-existing continent–oceanic crust boundary. The Izu–Bonin arc migrated northward and clockwise to collide with Honshu by early Miocene, strongly influencing regional sedimentation

A 210Pb–226Ra–230Th–238U study of Klyuchevskoy and Bezymianny volcanoes, Kamchatka

Klyuchevskoy is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, erupting lavas at a rate of ∼1 m3/s, equivalent to a 50 km length of mid-ocean ridge. Bezymianny is located 20 km south of the summit vent of Klyuchevskoy and has been erupting silicic andesites since its spectacular avalanche eruption in 1956. Major and trace element concentrations and long-lived radiogenic isotope data suggest that basalts and basaltic andesites from Klyuchevskoy and andesites from Bezymianny were derived by different degrees of partial melting of nearly identical mantle sources. Lavas with higher SiO2 concentrations represent the differentiation products of lower degrees of melting after the mantle was fluxed with a fluid derived almost entirely from subducted altered basaltic crust with little or no sediment contribution. The higher SiO2 concentrations for lavas derived from smaller degree melts suggest that they underwent more fractionation because of the loss of their higher water contents. High Th isotope compositions for all lavas from both volcanoes suggest that a significant time transpired between U addition by a slab-fluid and melting. If the excess 226Ra in the lavas is from the slab-fluid, then long term multistage fluxing before melting is required to maintain these 226Ra excesses. An alternative model attributes the excess Ra to melting caused by upwelling mantle in association with rifting of the central Kamchatka depression. The greater Ra excess for Klyuchevskoi’s basaltic andesites compared to its basalts is consistent with generation of the Ra excesses during decompression melting, and a less than few thousand year time frame of differentiation after melting. The lower Ra excesses for Bezymianny’s andesites compared to the more mafic lavas suggest a time frame of fractionation that is longer than this by several thousand years. When time since eruption is accounted for, all samples have (210Pb/226Ra) within 2σ analytical error of one, suggesting that significant long-term gas fluxing of 222Rn into or out of both magma systems has not occurred

238U and 232Th-decay series constraints on the timescales of crystal fractionation to produce the phonolite erupted in 2004 near Tristan da Cunha, South Atlantic Ocean

Phonolite pumice found floating offshore of Tristan da Cunha following intense seismic activity southeast of the island July 29–30, 2004 was analyzed for 238U- and 232Th-series nuclides to determine initial 230Th, 226Ra, 210Pb, 210Po, 228Ra, and 228Th activities. The initial (210Po/210Pb) value of 0.15 for the phonolite shows that, like most subaerial lavas, this subaqueous tephra degassed most of its 210Po upon eruption. The (230Th/232Th) and (238U/232Th) values for the phonolite are similar to those of the trachyandesites erupted in 1961 from Tristan da Cunha. However, the relative activities of 210Pb, 226Ra, and 230Th in the phonolite contrast with those of the trachyandesites, in that 210Pb and 230Th are both strongly enriched with respect to 226Ra. In addition, the phonolite had a small deficit in 228Ra with respect to 232Th. The Ra deficits likely resulted from partitioning into feldspars and hornblende in a time frame that extended over several decades to a century. These disequilibria can be explained by crystal fractionation at a decreasing rate through time at an average of 3–5 × 10−3 year−1. The calculated crystallization rate is about an order of magnitude faster than has been calculated for most other phonolites and trachytes, and about half that calculated for crystallization of the Makaopuhi lava lake. These data imply that the 2004 magma was not the differentiated cap of a much larger body that remained at depth. Instead, it was likely the residue of a relatively small body of more mafic magma that was injected into the crust southeast Tristan and underwent extensive and rapid crystal fractionation before it erupted

The role of basalt replenishment in the generation of basaltic andesites of the ongoing activity at Arenal volcano, Costa Rica: evidence from clinopyroxene and spinel

The bulk composition of magma erupted from Volcan Arenal has remained nearly constant (SiO2 = 53.6-54.9 wt%; MgO = 5.0-4.5 wt%) during almost 30 years of continuous activity (1969-1996). None the less, clinopyroxene (cpx) phenocrysts and their spinel inclusions record a much more complex open-system evolution in which steady-state production of the erupted basaltic andesitic magma is linked to episodic injections of basalt into Arenal's magma conduit/reservoir system. High-resolution major element zoning profiles (electron microprobe) on a large number of phenocrysts (>14,000 analyses), tied to back-scattered electron (BSE) images, have been used to assess the compositional characteristics of the magmatic end members as well as the timing and dynamics of magma replenishment events. No two cpx phenocrysts have exactly the same zoning profile. The vast majority of our analyses record the crystallization of cpx (Cr2O3 < 0.12 wt%; Mg# = 65-79; Al/Ti = 2-7) from a liquid comparable to or more evolved than erupted magma compositions. However, half of all cpx grains are cored by high-Cr cpx (Cr2O3 = 0.2-0.72 wt%) or contain similar basaltic compositions as abrupt growth bands in phenocrysts with and without high-Cr cores; phenocrysts with high-Cr cpx occur throughout the ongoing activity. In a few cases, high-Cr cpx occurs very near the outer margin of the grain without an apparent growth hiatus, particularly in 1968/69 and 1992/93. The main conclusions are: (1) all basaltic andesitic lavas erupted at Arenal during the ongoing activity that began in July, 1968, are the products of magma mixing, (2) clinopyroxenes record multiple replenishment events of basaltic magma in contrast to the near constancy of erupted bulk compositions, (3) some phenocrysts preserve records of multiple interactions with basaltic magmas requiring magmatic processes to operate on time-scales shorter than residence times of some phenocrysts, (4) multiple occurrences of clinopyroxene with high-Cr rims suggest that basalt replenishment events have occurred with sub-decadal frequency and may predate eruption by months or less. From this we infer that Arenal volcano is underlain by a continuously active, small-volume magmatic reservoir maintained in quasi-steady state by basalt recharge over several decades. The monotony of erupting Arenal magmas implies that fractionation, recharge, ascent, and eruption are well balanced in order for magmas to be essentially uniform while containing phenocrysts with vastly different growth histories at the time of eruption

Transition Pathways to Sustainable Agricultural Water Management: A Review of Integrated Modeling Approaches

Agricultural water management (AWM) is an interdisciplinary concern, cutting across traditional domains such as agronomy, climatology, geology, economics, and sociology. Each of these disciplines has developed numerous process-based and empirical models for AWM. However, models that simulate all major hydrologic, water quality, and crop growth processes in agricultural systems are still lacking. As computers become more powerful, more researchers are choosing to integrate existing models to account for these major processes rather than building new cross-disciplinary models. Model integration carries the hope that, as in a real system, the sum of the model will be greater than the parts. However, models based upon simplified and unrealistic assumptions of physical or empirical processes can generate misleading results which are not useful for informing policy. In this article, we use literature and case studies from the High Plains Aquifer and Southeastern United States regions to elucidate the challenges and opportunities associated with integrated modeling for AWM and recommend conditions in which to use integrated models. Additionally, we examine the potential contributions of integrated modeling to AWM — the actual practice of conserving water while maximizing productivity