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ARTICLE IN PRESS MODEL 5 CATENA-01102; No of Pages 15 Catena xx (2006) xxx–xxx www.elsevier.com/locate/catena Dune whitening and inter-dune freshwater ponds in NE Brazil ⁎ Noam Levin a, , Haim Tsoar a, Luis P. Maia b, Vanda Claudino Sales c, Hans Herrmann d a Department of Geography and Environmental Development, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel b Instituto de Ciências do Mar- LABOMAR, Av. Abolicão, 3207, Meireles, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil c Department of Geography, Federal University of Ceará, Brazil d The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Computational Physics, ETH-Hönggerberg, Institut für Baustoffe (IFB), HIF E12, Schafmattstr. 6, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland Received 5 April 2006; received in revised form 13 June 2006; accepted 23 June 2006 Abstract The changes in color of sand dunes from white to yellow or red is often interpreted to signify their age or their source materials. In this study we demonstrate the effect seasonal inter-dune freshwater ponds have on the bleaching of the color of sand dunes by iron reduction in the anaerobic conditions they create. By combining spectral measurements of field samples of dune sand together with the analysis of satellite images covering three dune fields in NE Brazil (Lençóis Maranhenses, Jericoacoara and Canoa Quebrada) we demonstrate its existence in the field. In areas where ponds cover 41% of the dune field (as in Lençóis Maranhenses) an almost total bleaching in the color of the sand occurs after which the dunes remain white with no relation to distance from the coastline. In areas with less ponds (e.g. Jericoacoara or Canoa Quebrada) dune whitening is less active, and there are areas where dune rubification occurs. As this process may have occurred in other dune fields during past climate conditions that may have been different from current ones, interpretations of dunes age based on their color should be handled with care. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Coastal dunes; Ponds; Iron oxides; Rubification; Reduction; Remote sensing 1. Introduction et al., 1973). During the weathering of a primary rock to a soil the iron, predominantly bound in silicates in the reduced state, 1.1. Dune reddening will be released through a combined hydrolytic and oxidative reaction in which atmospheric oxygen takes up the electron There is abundant evidence that many dune sands become (Schwertmann and Taylor, 1977). Due to the extremely low reddened with time. That process is promoted by warm solubility of Fe3+ oxides in the normal pH range of soils, the temperatures, oxidizing conditions and periodic presence of iron released will be precipitated as oxide or hydroxide. moisture (Norris, 1969). Thus the percentage of iron oxides in Williams and Yaalon (1977) have demonstrated reddening in sand dunes may indicate their age, source materials, and sand dunes under laboratory weathering conditions. Their transport paths, as demonstrated for both desert dunes (White research showed that organic matter is not necessary to initiate et al., 1997, 2001) or coastal dunes (Levin et al., 2005; Ben- the process. In Terra Rossa and Rendzina soils (Rhodoxeralfs Dor et al., 2006), in which the sand becomes more yellow or and Xerochrepts, respectively, according to the US Soil red with distance from the coastline. This process is known as Taxonomy) differences in iron oxide mineralogy (red hematite rubification, which is defined as a pedogenesis stage in which vs. yellow goethite) were interpreted by Singer et al. (1998) to iron is released from primary minerals to form free iron oxides be due to differences in the pedoclimate. that coat quartz particles in soils with a thin reddish film (Buol 1.2. Dune whitening ⁎ Corresponding author. Fax: +972 2 6434820. Whereas the reddening of sandy soils and sand dunes is E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Levin). well studied, the opposite process, in which iron is reduced 0341-8162/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.catena.2006.06.006 Please cite this article as: Noam Levin, et al, Dune whitening and inter-dune freshwater ponds in NE Brazil, Catena (2006), doi:10.1016/j. catena.2006.06.006. ARTICLE IN PRESS 2 N. Levin et al. / Catena xx (2006) xxx–xxx Fig. 1. Location map of the field sites. (a) Location of the study area in NE Brazil with respect to South America; (b) the location of the three field sites within the states of Cearã and Maranhão; (c) Canoa Quebrada dunes field site. In the background: a Landsat satellite image from 9/8/1989. The locations of sand samples are marked in orange; (d) Jericoacoara dunes field site. In the background: a Landsat satellite image from 23/8/1992. The locations of sand samples are marked in orange; (e) Lençóis Maranhenses dunes field site. In the background: a Landsat satellite image from 23/5/2000. The locations of sand samples are marked in orange. and the color of sand becomes whiter, has received far less organisms may utilize Fe3+ as final electron receptors to attention. Experimentally, sand abrasion has been shown to accomplish their oxidative decomposition of organic remove only a minor percentage of the iron from grain surface matter. The Fe3+ is thereby reduced to Fe2+, which, being coatings (Bullard et al., 2004; Bullard and White, 2005). generally more soluble, accelerates the dissolution of the Roden et al. (2000) have demonstrated microbial caused oxide (Schwertmann and Taylor, 1977). In wetland soils it reductive dissolution of 95% of synthetic crystalline Fe3+ has been shown that redox depletions occupy N60% of the (goethite) oxide-coated sand in continuous flow column horizon at 15–30 cm depths in soils that were saturated for reactors within 6 months. This was visibly evidenced by 21 days or longer at least 9 years out of 10 (Vepraskas et extensive bleaching of color from the sand in the columns. al., 2004). The reversibility of the oxidation–reduction of iron Whereas the bleaching of sand as it is carried by longshore therefore plays an important role in its behavior in soils. currents is well known (Emery and Neev, 1960), evidence In saturated soil oxygen becomes deficient and micro- from field studies regarding the reduction of ferric iron in Fig. 2. Photographs of the different dune generations found in the study area: (a) Red cliffs of the Barreiras formation, Canoa Quebrada, Ceará, Brazil (photo by N.L.); (b) Red palaeodune sand surface covered by an active white sand dune, Jericoacoara, Ceará, Brazil (photo by N.L.); (c) Stabilized parabolic dunes, east of Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil (photo by H.T.); (d) Aeolionite, west of Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil (photo by N.L.); (e) Barchan dunes, Jericoacoara, Ceará, Brazil (photo by N.L.); (f) Dunes and ponds, Lençóis Maranhenses, Maranhao, Brazil (photo by Reginaldo Lima Verde); (g, h) Mega-ripples in the dune field of Canoa Quebrada (photobyH.T.). Please cite this article as: Noam Levin, et al, Dune whitening and inter-dune freshwater ponds in NE Brazil, Catena (2006), doi:10.1016/j. catena.2006.06.006. ARTICLE IN PRESS N. Levin et al. / Catena xx (2006) xxx–xxx 3 Please cite this article as: Noam Levin, et al, Dune whitening and inter-dune freshwater ponds in NE Brazil, Catena (2006), doi:10.1016/j. catena.2006.06.006. ARTICLE IN PRESS 4 N. Levin et al. / Catena xx (2006) xxx–xxx Table 1 Wind power parameters of drift potential (DP), resultant drift potential (RDP), and wind directionality (RDP/DP) following Fryberger (1979) ID on map Location and measurement DP RDP RDP/DP RDD Percent of time above threshold period (deg.) for moving sand 1 São Luis a 1972–1990 138.4 106 0.77 67.3 16.2 2 Aranaú b 2003 2173 2110 0.97 96 76 3 Pecém b 1995–99 692.2 659.5 0.95 99.2 59 4 Parajuru b 2003 282.3 257.6 0.91 89.8 49.8 5 Natal a 1973–1990 97.7 81.5 0.83 113.8 15.1 6 Recife a 1973–1993 81.9 45.7 0.56 108 7.2 7 Maceió a 1972–1990 34.4 23.1 0.67 84.1 5.5 Locations are ordered along the coast from the north-west (São Luis) towards the south-east (Maceió), and are shown in Fig. 1a. a Taken from International Station Meteorological Climate. Federal Climate Complex, Ashville, Dept. of the Navy/Dept. of Commerce/Dept. of the Air Force. b Data supplied by L.P.M. freshwater commonly indicate only partial reduction (e.g. 1.4. Study aims Lovley and Phillips, 1986; PiPujol and Buurman, 1997). No study has reported yet the bleaching of active dune 1.3. Remote sensing of iron oxides sands due to iron reduction. Our study aims were therefore to present the existence of such a mechanism in the coastal Based on the free iron oxides that redden soil particles, and dunes and freshwater ponds system located in the inter-dune using spectral color indices or linear mixing models, Madeira area in NE Brazil. By combining spectroscopy of sand et al. (1997) and White et al. (1997, 2001) showed that it is samples and satellite-borne remote sensing, we aim to show possible to account for iron oxide status using the Landsat that the presence of temporary freshwater ponds is Thematic Mapper data (only six bands in the VIS–NIR–SWIR responsible for this process. region) over lateritic soils in Brazil, and sand dunes at the Our hypotheses were the following: Namib, and at the Northern Rub'Al Khali (United Arab Emirates), respectively. Field spectroscopy was used by (1) In areas without ponds the process of rubification will Bullard and White (2002) to quantify iron oxide coatings on be evident with downwind distance from the coastline.