Browsing by Author "Boski, T."
Now showing 1 - 10 of 70
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- A high-precision liDAR-based method for surveying and classifying coastal notchesPublication . Terefenko, Pawel; Wziatek, Dagmara Zelaya; Dalyot, Sagi; Boski, T.; Lima-Filho, Francisco PinheiroFormation of notches is an important process in the erosion of seaside cliffs. Monitoring of coastal notch erosion rate and processes has become a prime research focus for many coastal geomorphologists. Observation of notch erosion rate considers a number of characteristics, including cliff collapse risk, distinction of historical sea levels, and recognition of ongoing erosional mechanisms. This study presents new approaches for surveying and classifying marine notches based on a high-precision light detection and ranging (LiDAR)-based experiment performed on a small region of a coastal cliff in southern Portugal. A terrestrial LiDAR scanner was used to measure geometrical parameters and surface roughness of selected notches, enabling their classification according to shape and origin. The implemented methodology proved to be a highly effective tool for providing an unbiased analysis of marine morphodynamic processes acting on the seaside cliffs. In the analyzed population of voids carved into Miocene calcarenites in a coastal cliff section, two types of notch morphology were distinguished, namely U-shaped and V-shaped. The method presented here provides valuable data for landscape evaluation, sea-level changes, and any other types of analyses that rely on the accurate interpretation of cliff morphological features.
- Algarve: a study case for global vs regional climatic changes in mid latitude estuaries during the HolocenePublication . Veiga-Pires, C.; Mestre, Nélia; Moura, Delminda; Luis, Joaquim; Boski, T.Located at the extreme southwestern end of the Iberian Peninsula, in the South of Portugal, the Algarve province is bordered to the north by the Alentejo province, to the east by the Guadiana River, and to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean. Its coastal region can be divided into two different sectors: the eastern sector, which is mainly made of barrier island and lagoon system named the Ria Formosa, and the western sector mainly represented by clastic and carbonated cliffs. In each sector, we sampled long and short sedimentary cores (ca. 30m and 3m, respectively) in two different estuaries. Therefore, the different sedimentary records obtained from the four estuaries should permit to identify global vs. west-eastern regional climatic changes through the observation of several proxies. Two of these proxies are sediment color and magnetic susceptibility, which have been acquired every five centimeters along core depth, using the Colortron II spectrophotometer and SM-20 magneto-susceptometer, respectively. Sediment surfaces of short cores were also digitized using the Mustek 1200 A3 PRO Scanner. Furthermore, short cores have been sampled every five centimeters along depth in order to analyze the sediment for its major and minor elements content, its organic carbon content, and its granulometry and mineralogy. Some shell fragments have also been sampled and sent for radiocarbon radiometry or AMS dating, allowing therefore constructing some absolute chronologies for the several cores. Some relative chronologies based on digital color profiles are also being used in order to correlate sedimentary sequences between cores. All the cores are mainly composed of clay, with the existence of soil horizons at the top of the cores and frequent sand layers towards their base. Several element profiles along depths are compared, namely those regarding Sr, Ca, F, Ba, Al and Ti, as well as their ratios. First results indicate that geochemical and color data allow to identify similar sequences from west to east probably related to major climate episodes. Although, pronounced differences in mineralogy and accumulation rates from on site to another are probably due to differences, respectively, in the geochemistry of the drainage basin substratum and in the flow rate of the rivers, and therefore to local precipitation. We acknowledge FEDER and OE that financed this study through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) (POCTI/CTA/39733/2001).
- An attempt to develop spectrophotometry as a proxy for sedimentary studies in estuarine environmentsPublication . Veiga-Pires, C.; Mestre, Nélia; Moura, Delminda; Luis, Joaquim; Boski, T.In deep-sea sediment studies, reflectance has been used as a proxy for high vs. low productivity intervals for several years. This value of the white-black scale is obtained through the use of spectrophotometers when using the CIE Lab color system, which also gives values on green-red and blue-yellow scales. In estuarine/continental sediment studies, color data are still often based on Munsell Table which does not allow to obtain numeric and continuous data and which is biased by the observer’s choice.
- An attempt to use CIE Lab digital colour to study sediment profiles from the Alvor estuary, South PortugalPublication . Veiga-Pires, C.; Mestre, Nélia; Moura, Delminda; Martins, H.; Boski, T.The study of estuarine sedimentary records is of great interest for paleo-environmental and paleo-climatologic reconstructions, because they represent environments that are sensitive to sea level and climatic variations, and also because they are characterized high sedimentary rates. However, due to the price and time needed to analyze the geochemical composition of sediments, it is very difficult to obtain profiles with a high resolution needed toanswer present scientific problems. In the present work, we report results obtained by applying solid-state spectrophotometry on cores from the Alvor's estuary (Algarve), which allows acquiring almost continous, high resolution, digital colour profiles. CIE Labcolour data, obtained with a Colortron spectrophotometer in there cores, were to geochemical sediment characteristics using multivariate statistical analyses.(...)
- Aplicação multimédia sobre a Ria Formosa e seus fins educacionais (ForDid)Publication . Oliveira, Sónia; Boski, T.; Moura, Delminda; Mendes da Silva de Sousa, Carlos A; Gomes, Ana; Pereira, LauraNa atualidade torna-se inquestionável a necessidade de integrar a aprendizagem com as novas tecnologias de modo a cativar e facilitar a compreensão dos temas abordados através de aplicações didáticas. Durante a última década o Centro de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental (CIMA) assumiu a responsabilidade de criar meios eficazes de comunicação entre o público em geral e a comunidade científica, através de plataformas multimédia interativas. Foram objecto destas aplicações didáticas as várias vertentes do património natural do Algarve. Após o sucesso das primeiras aplicações GuaDid e MonDid visando o Estuário do Rio Guadiana e a Serra de Monchique respectivamente, o desafio de criar e inovar foi acrescido, resultando numa nova aplicação – ForDid, visando a divulgação do importante sistema lagunar Ria Formosa.
- Biomarker patterns in a time-resolved holocene/terminal Pleistocene sedimentary sequente from the Guadiana river estuarine area (SW Portugal/Spain border)Publication . González-Vila, Francisco; Polvillo, Olivia; Boski, T.; Moura, Delminda; Andrés, JoséThe vertical distribution of terrestrial and phytoplankton biomarker compounds in a sediment core from the coastal estuarine zone of the Guadiana river (southwest border between Portugal and Spain) was determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Significant downcore fluctuations were observed in the patterns of the most abundant alkyl series (n-alkanes and n-fatty acids), as well as in several biomarker ratios. In addition, a specific contribution from conifers is reflected in the presence of a resin acid series that first appears 6500 years BP. The observed changes in the lipid assemblage within the Holocene suggest recent variations in the planktonic and terrigenous supply, which are attributed mainly to the evolution of the circulation pattern in the estuary and to the alteration of vegetation cover within the Guadiana drainage basin. Our data suggest that on a 103–104 year time-scale, little or no diagenetic change occurred with respect to the compounds in question.
- Biomarkers as indicators of sedimentary organic matter sources and early diagenetic transformation of pentacyclic triterpenoids in a tropical mangrove ecosystemPublication . Kumar, Mukesh; Boski, T.; Lima-Filho, Francisco P.; Bezerra, Francisco H. R.; Gonzalez-Vila, Francisco J.; Alam Bhuiyan, Md Khurshid; Gonzalez-Perez, Jose A.Mangrove vegetation covers extensive areas along Brazilian tropical coasts and accumulates large amounts of organic carbon in the intertidal sediments. We have investigated the molecular biomarker composition of mangrove sediments from the Potengi estuary North-East Brazil. To characterise sources and fate of sedimentary organic matter (OM), a direct analytical pyrolysis approach was used. The sediment pyrolysates yielded homologous series of aliphatic compounds (n-alkane/n-alkene doublets, n-alkanoic acid and n-alkan-2-ones), triterpenoids and lignin-derived methoxphenols, indicating that most of the sedimentary OM input originates from terrestrial vascular plants. High abundance of long-chain n-alk-1-ene series with an even carbon number predominance peaking at C-28:1-most likely originated from local mangrove vegetation-is found co-eluted with the saturated odd carbon n-alkane series. The occurrence of lignin and n-alkan-2-one biomarkers in the sediments has provided parallel information about the input from vascular plants dominating the intertidal zone. This was further corroborated by the presence of the triterpenols (beta-amyrin, and germanicol), that provided chemotaxonomic information on mangrove derived leaf wax in sedimentary OM. The unsaturated triterpenoid including teraxerol acetate, olean-12-ene, olean-18-ene, oleana-11, 13(18)-diene, a-neoursa-3(5), 12-diene and aneooleana-3(5), 12-diene, were also observed in sediment pyrolysates. The presence of these unsaturated pentacyclic triterpenoids revealed an early diagenetic alteration of terrestrial OM in the sediments. This study has demonstrated that routine application of analytical pyrolysis may provide important insight into the sources of sedimentary OM and its diagenetic fate in mangrove intertidal sediments.
- Caracterização da evolução do perfil longitudinal das ribeiras do oeste do Algarve - dados preliminaresPublication . Rodrigues, Bruno; Veiga-Pires, C.; Moura, Delminda; Fernandes, Paulo; Boski, T.A actual rede hidrográfica na região do Algarve, devido à proximidade do mar e ao seu contexto tectónico, teve ao longo da sua formação uma forte influência dos efeitos eustáticos, tendo também o clima regional um papel fulcral na incisão do vales actuais a diferentes escalas temporais.
- Characterization of the sedimentary environment of the Gilão River Mouth, based on sedimentological and mineralogical analysisPublication . Rocha, F.; Boski, T.; Gomes, Celso; Moura, Delminda; Veiga-Pires, C.The main objective of this paper is to use the mineralogical composition of the fine and clay fractions of the sediments from the studied borehole to a better characterization of the Gilão Estuary sedimentary environment.
- Chronology of the sedimentary processes during the postglacial sea level rise in two estuaries of the Algarve coast, Southern PortugalPublication . Boski, T.; Camacho, Sarita; Moura, Delminda; Fletcher, William; Wilamowski, A.; Veiga-Pires, C.; Correia, Victor; Loureiro, C.; Santana, PauloFour profiles of estuarine sediments obtained from boreholes drilled in the Algarve, Southern Portugal were studied in order to reconstruct the process of sediment accumulation driven by the postglacial sea level rise. In addition to the sedimentological analysis, the Foraminifera Index of Marine Influence (FIMI) permitted assessment of the nature and organization of sedimentary facies in the BelicheeGuadiana and Gilão-Almargem estuaries. The Beliche- Guadiana CM5 and Almargem G2 profiles accumulated in a sheltered environment, with the former presenting an almost continuous record of the sea level rise since ca 13 000 cal yr BP. The G1 and G3 profiles from the Gilão-Almargem area represent a more discontinuous record of the last 8000 years, which accumulated in the more dynamic environment of an outer estuary. The integration of all radiocarbon ages of dated levels, led to an estimate of sediment accumulation rates. Assuming a constant position of the sediment surface with respect to the tidal range and a negligible compaction of sediment, the sea level rose at the rate of 7 mm yr ^-1 in the period from 13 000 to 7500 cal yr BP. This process slowed down to ca 0.9 mm yr 1 from 7500 cal yr BP until the present. The marked historical change in the rate of sediment accumulation in these estuaries also occurred with the accumulation of organic matter and is, therefore, important data for global biogeochemical models of carbon. The main obstacle to obtain higher temporal resolution of the sedimentary processes was the intense anaerobic respiration of organic matter via sulphate reduction, which did not allow any accumulation of peat and, furthermore, led to erasure of the palaeontological record by acid formed from the subsequent oxidation of sulphides.