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Impact of Aboveground Disturbances on Subsurface Environments
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Impact of Aboveground Disturbances on Subsurface Environments

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 5268

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Manuel Francisco Costa-Pereira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CERENA, Insituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: natural risks; speleothem mineralogy; X-ray tomography; cave mineralogy; Karst evolution; volcanic caves; cultural heritage; analytical methods for mineral characterization; water-rock interaction; environmental remediation; past clime assessment
Dr. Ana Zélia Miller

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS-CSIC), 41012 Sevilla, Spain; HERCULES Laboratory, University of Évora, 7000-809 Évora, Portugal
Interests: geomicrobiology; microbe–mineral interactions; biodeterioration; biofilms; bioreceptivity; biodiversity; cultural heritage; subsurface environments; volcanic caves; geochemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Nicasio Tomás Jiménez-Morillo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Universidade de Évora Ap 94, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal
Interests: molecular characterization of organic matter in complex matrices; biogeochemical markers in complex matrices; chemical evaluation of fire-affected organic matter; analytical techniques for organic matter characterization (e.g. Py-GC/MS, GCxGC/MS, ATR-FT/IR, FT-ICR/MS, Py-CSIA)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Speleothems are typically used as climate archives of caves, as their formation depends on the amount and geochemistry of water dripping into the cave. Likewise, soil minerals, microbes, and organic matter from the surface are transported along bedrock discontinuities and deposited on speleothem surfaces during rain events. The two main sources of organic matter in speleothems are assumed to derive from the overlying soil and sediments or from microbial communities thriving in caves. A considerable number of anthropogenic contamination sources and urban surface activities, such as agriculture, building constructions, and sanitary sewer systems, may dictate the diversity and distribution of microbial communities thriving in subterranean ecosystems. Therefore, speleothems may provide information on local climate and other variables, such as changes in microbial composition, vegetation, precipitation, and the occurrence of floods, droughts, or fires.

Since secondary mineral deposits have the potential to provide information about former climatic conditions, land use, and surface disturbances, a better knowledge of its nature and origin can help to improve our understanding on the impact of environmental changes in subterranean ecosystems.

This Special Issue on “Impact of Aboveground Disturbances on Subsurface Environments” intends to compile the latest advances on these topics towards promoting better knowledge on the impact of natural hazards and anthropogenic disturbances in the subsurface. Therefore, we invite the authors to submit recent and original research papers and/or reviews to improve our knowledge on how surface alterations change the underground environment.

Best regards,

Dr. Manuel Francisco Costa Pereira
Dr. Ana Zélia Miller
Dr. Nicasio Tomás Jiménez-Morillo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • speleothems
  • caves
  • environmental changes
  • anthropogenic disturbances
  • underground water contamination
  • natural hazards
  • wildfires
  • subsurface microbial diversity
  • stable isotopes

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 2417 KiB  
Article
Sulfidic Habitats in the Gypsum Karst System of Monte Conca (Italy) Host a Chemoautotrophically Supported Invertebrate Community
by Giuseppe Nicolosi, Sandro Galdenzi, Maria Anna Messina, Ana Z. Miller, Salvatore Petralia, Serban M. Sarbu and Marco Isaia
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(5), 2671; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19052671 - 25 Feb 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1706
Abstract
The great diversity of the invertebrate community thriving in the deepest sections of the gypsum karst system of the Monte Conca sinkhole (Sicily, Italy) suggests the existence of a complex food web associated with a sulfidic pool and chemoautotrophic microbial activity. To shed [...] Read more.
The great diversity of the invertebrate community thriving in the deepest sections of the gypsum karst system of the Monte Conca sinkhole (Sicily, Italy) suggests the existence of a complex food web associated with a sulfidic pool and chemoautotrophic microbial activity. To shed light on the peculiarity of this biological assemblage, we investigated the species composition of the invertebrate community and surveyed trophic interactions by stable isotope analysis. The faunal investigation conducted by visual censuses and hand sampling methods led to the discovery of a structured biological assemblage composed of both subterranean specialized and non-specialized species, encompassing all trophic levels. The community was remarkably diverse in the sulfidic habitat and differed from other non-sulfidic habitats within the cave in terms of stable isotope ratios. This pattern suggests the presence of a significant chemoautotrophic support by the microbial communities to the local food web, especially during the dry season when the organic input from the surface is minimal. However, when large volumes of water enter the cave due to local agricultural activities (i.e., irrigation) or extreme precipitation events, the sulfidic habitat of the cave is flooded, inhibiting the local autotrophic production and threatening the conservation of the entire ecosystem. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Aboveground Disturbances on Subsurface Environments)
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26 pages, 3945 KiB  
Article
Protection of Water Resources from Agriculture Pollution: An Integrated Methodological Approach for the Nitrates Directive 91–676-EEC Implementation
by Carmine Massarelli, Daniela Losacco, Marina Tumolo, Claudia Campanale and Vito Felice Uricchio
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13323; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph182413323 - 17 Dec 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2552
Abstract
Nitrogen is a vital nutrient helpful to plants and crop growth. However, among the leading causes of water resources pollution is the excess nitrogen from agricultural sources. In European Union countries, the Nitrates Directive has been approved to reduce this problem monitoring of [...] Read more.
Nitrogen is a vital nutrient helpful to plants and crop growth. However, among the leading causes of water resources pollution is the excess nitrogen from agricultural sources. In European Union countries, the Nitrates Directive has been approved to reduce this problem monitoring of water bodies with regard to nitrate concentrations, designation of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs), and establishing codes of good agricultural practices and measures to prevent and reduce water pollution from nitrates. In light of this, we propose an integrated methodological approach to better manage a environmental issue as the perimeter of NVZs with the prospective that our approach could be used in the future by other member states representing a Best Practice in that direction. The methodology is based on data integration applied in a GIS environment. Different available data representing the knowledge of the territory were harmonised, systematised and georeferenced, in order to increase the environmental framework, preserve the contamination of the water resource and give indications on the measures to be implemented to apply in the best way possible the Nitrates Directive. Finally, it was also possible to overcome the infringement procedure in progress for Italy and the Puglia region and proceed to new designation of NVZs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Aboveground Disturbances on Subsurface Environments)
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