RESUMEN
Flash floods may influence the development of trees growing on channel bars and floodplains. In this study, we analyze and quantify anatomical reactions to wounding in diffuse-porous (Alnus glutinosa L.) and ring-porous (Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl. and Quercus pyrenaica Willd.) trees in a Mediterranean environment. A total of 54 cross-sections and wedges were collected from trees that had been injured by past flash floods. From each of the samples, micro-sections were prepared at a tangential distance of 1.5 cm from the injury to determine wounding-related changes in radial width, tangential width and lumen of earlywood vessels, and fibers and parenchyma cells (FPC). In diffuse-porous A. glutinosa, the lumen area of vessels shows a significant (non-parametric test, P-value <0.05) decrease by almost 39% after wounding. For ring-porous F. angustifolia and Q. pyrenaica, significant decreases in vessel lumen area are observed as well by 59 and 42%, respectively. Radial width of vessels was generally more sensitive to the decrease than tangential width, but statistically significant values were only observed in F. angustifolia. Changes in the dimensions of earlywood FPC largely differed between species. While in ring-porous F. angustifolia and Q. pyrenaica the lumen of FPC dropped by 22 and 34% after wounding, we observed an increase in FPC lumen area in diffuse-porous A. glutinosa of approximately 35%. Our data clearly show that A. glutinosa represents a valuable species for flash-flood research in vulnerable Mediterranean environments. For this species, it will be possible in the future to gather information on past flash floods with non-destructive sampling based on increment cores. In ring-porous F. angustifolia and Q. pyrenaica, flash floods leave less drastic, yet still recognizable, signatures of flash-flood activity through significant changes in vessel lumen area. In contrast, the use of changes in FPC dimensions appears less feasible for the determination of past flash-flood events as these two species do not react with the same intensity and clarity as A. glutinosa.
Asunto(s)
Alnus/anatomía & histología , Inundaciones , Fraxinus/anatomía & histología , Enfermedades de las Plantas/clasificación , Quercus/anatomía & histología , Madera/anatomía & histología , Alnus/crecimiento & desarrollo , Pared Celular/ultraestructura , Fraxinus/crecimiento & desarrollo , Región Mediterránea , Tallos de la Planta/anatomía & histología , Tallos de la Planta/crecimiento & desarrollo , Quercus/crecimiento & desarrollo , Madera/crecimiento & desarrolloRESUMEN
This paper compiles the available information on historic tailings dam failures with the purpose to establish simple correlations between tailings ponds geometric parameters (e.g., dam height, tailings volume) and the hydraulic characteristics of floods resulting from released tailings. Following the collapse of a mining waste dam, only a part of tailings and polluted water stored at the dam is released, and this outflow volume is difficult to estimate prior the incident. In this study, tailings' volume stored at the time of failure was shown to have a good correlation (r2=0.86) with the tailings outflow volume, and the volume of spilled tailings was correlated with its run-out distance (r2=0.57). An envelope curve was drawn encompassing the majority of data points indicating the potential maximum downstream distance affected by a tailings' spill. The application of the described regression equations for prediction purposes needs to be treated with caution and with support of on-site measurement and observations. However, they may provide a universal baseline approximation on tailing outflow characteristics (even if detailed dam information is unavailable), which is of a great importance for risk analysis purposes.
Asunto(s)
Accidentes , Desastres , Residuos Industriales , Minería , Eliminación de Residuos Líquidos/métodos , Ingeniería , Análisis de Regresión , Medición de RiesgoRESUMEN
A detailed search and re-evaluation of the known historical cases of tailings dam failure was carried out. A corpus of 147 cases of worldwide tailings dam disasters, from which 26 located in Europe, was compiled in a database. This contains six sections, including dam location, its physical and constructive characteristics, actual and putative failure cause, sludge hydrodynamics, socio-economical consequences and environmental impacts. Europe ranks in second place in reported accidents (18%), more than one third of them in dams 10-20 m high. In Europe, the most common cause of failure is related to unusual rain, whereas there is a lack of occurrences associated with seismic liquefaction, which is the second cause of tailings dam breakage elsewhere in the world. Moreover, over 90% of incidents occurred in active mines, and only 10% refer to abandoned ponds. The results reached by this preliminary analysis show an urgent need for EU regulations regarding technical standards of tailings disposal.