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Contenuto archiviato il 2022-12-23

Geochemical changes in soils and sediments upon rapid rise of the Caspian Sea level, and their environmental consequences

Obiettivo



The Caspian Sea is rising at present at a rate of about 14 cm/year, 100 times faster than global (eustatic) sea level rise in the world oceans in this century. This is mainly a result of increased precipitation in the Volga basin, probably related to changes in global circulation patterns. Caspian Sea level rise (SLR) does not only pose enormous practical ecological and economic problems along the shores but it also serves as an accelerated physical model for slower global SLR. In the framework of the IGBP programme Land and Ocean Interaction in the Coastal Zone, with which this project is co-ordinated, studies of inland seas are priority initial activities.

This programme will study the effect of sea level rise since 1977 on patterns and rates of sedimentation, erosion and concomitant geochemical processes such as diagenesis and soil formation along three different types of shores of the NW (Russian) Caspian Sea: a low-gradient one (Volga Delta), an intermediate-gradient one (Kalmykian Liman coast), and a steep-gradient coast (Dagestan marine terraces near Makhachkala), and to predict the geochemical evolution of soils and sediments with a further sea level rise. Special attention will be given to the rates and patterns of mobilisation and precipitation of ecologically sensitive heavy metals, organic compounds and other chemical compounds in soils and aquatic sediments as a result of physical reworking, changing pH and redox conditions.

Along each coastal type one transect perpendicular to the coast line will be selected using remote sensing imagery and pre-existing data. Each transect will be studied in two ways: monitoring of SLR-triggered changes during the project period using RS imagery, field measurements and laboratory analyses; reconstruction of past changes in each transect from the -29 m datum level (1977) to the -25 m datum level (predicted sea level in 2010) on the basis of existing RS imagery, onshore and offshore shallow augerings, and laboratory analysis. The research will result in a model which will be able to predict the effects of sea level rise on vertical and lateral sedimentation and erosion, the ensuing mechanical and chemical redistribution of ecologically sensitive elements in sediments, soils and vegetation along coasts of different gradient and coastal processes. The results will be published in international and national journals.

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Meccanismo di finanziamento

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Coordinatore

Wageningen Agricultural University
Contributo UE
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Indirizzo
Duivendaal 10
6700 AA Wageningen
Paesi Bassi

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Partecipanti (4)