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The homes and companies located on the banks of the Cauca River have altered the conditions of the quality of the water generated by residual discharges. Therefore, this paper proposes to analyze the biological and physicochemical conditions of the surface waters that cross the urban area of Popayán, Colombia, and determine if they are suitable for human consumption. For this, an in-situ sampling was carried out in the two river stations. The two points were covered taking into account the dry and rainy seasons. At each point, the parameters were measured to calculate the contamination indicators. Likewise, Ph, diluted oxygen, conductivity and temperature parameters were measured, also other physicochemical parameters such as total alkalinity, total hardness, total phosphorus and suspended total solids were measured as well as the microbiological parameters like total coliforms. It was found that the water source contains high levels of pollutant load and that biological discharge is one of the main causes that alters the quality of the water for drinking. The number of macroinvertebrates in the river decreases by 48% as the river advances through the urban area of the city. According to the BMWP values, highly contaminated carbonated waters enter the urban area. However, due to the flow throughout the water source, the Cauca River can regulate the pollution load according to the result evidenced in the Icomi, Icomo, and Icosus indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Ingeniería y Competitividad is the property of Universidad del Valle and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: This paper presents the latest results of research done in the Colombian Andean region known as Middle Cauca River Basin, an important location for the study of the origins of plant use and the dispersal of domesticates throughout the Americas due to its geographical position in northwest South America. We discuss human–environment interactions during Pleistocene/Holocene transition to middle Holocene (ca 10,000–4000 BP), specifically human–plant interaction and environmental factors that led to the adoption of horticultural practices. Three lines of evidence are analyzed: archaeological stratigraphy, lithic technology, and microbotanical remains. Our results suggest that early Holocene environmental stability allowed Middle Cauca settlers to use the diverse local resources for several millennia, altering the local vegetation, and leading to the development of horticultural practices that included the use of both local and foreign plants. These results inform the ongoing debate about the antiquity and nature of plant domestication and dispersals in the Americas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The net water supply refers to water employed by the man for various uses including agriculture, industry, domestic and recreation; in Colombia, is defined by Resolution 0865 of 2004 the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development, where supply surface use two different reduction factors: 25% for environmental flow and 25% for water quality. The application of these two reductions is limited in most cases, applying these percentages to the lowest average monthly flow multiyear, therefore, quality studies are not directly included in this calculation. This paper presents the methodology for calculate the reduction for water quality, from the identification of appropriate quality and pollution, ICA, ICO, using information from two sub-basin tributaries of the Cauca river basin: Hondo river and Zanjón Oscuro, located in the upper Cauca River basin, finding a direct relationship between the reduction and water pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a palynofacies analysis on late Holocene fluvio-palustrine sediments from a succession that outcrops as a terrace proximal to the Cauca River, Colombia, in northern South America. The succession is composed of laminated clay, organic-rich laminae, sand beds and buried soils. These buried soils range in thickness from 2 to 16 cm and are composed of silty clay with varying degrees of root bioturbation and have a gray-green-bluish color. They could classify as Entisols and in this article we refer to them as paleosols. Samples from each of these sediment types (except sand), and samples from two modern-analog environments, also on the proximal part of the Cauca River, i.e. sediment from a seasonally flooded pond and the upper-most layer of a modern soil, were analyzed for organic matter content. Prior to selection of an organic matter extraction method, four protocols were tested on the modern pond sediment sample. A modified protocol involving flotation with ZnCl proved to be the best method for these sediment types. We produced an atlas of the main taxa and their relative proportions found in this study and propose this method as an excellent approach to environmental reconstruction of fluvial environments. Very little work has been done on fluvio-palustrine palynofacies in the Neotropics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Caldasia is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We conducted a paleolimnological investigation of late Holocene deposits on a distal, constrained floodplain of the Cauca River, northern Colombia, i.e. the La Caimana sedimentary succession. The record starts sometime between 4,500 and 4,000 cal yr BP, when the first high-energy fluvial events inundated an ancient soil surface. From that time until about 3,260 cal yr BP, a stable and probably seasonal flooding regime was established on the floodplain. From ~3,260 to ~2,800 cal yr BP, ephemeral and shallow swamps developed on the floodplain. Their formation and duration depended on their connection with the Cauca River. From ~2,800 to ~2,400 cal yr BP, fluvial influence became more dominant, establishing a semi-permanent connection between the river and the floodplain. From ~2,400 to 1,400 cal yr BP, episodic formation of ephemeral swamps occurred. During this stage, floodplain lakes displayed high salinity and nutrient concentrations, and possibly alkaline conditions as a consequence of reduced water volume when the connection with the river was reduced or lost completely. A change in the hydrological regime occurred from ~1,400 to ~850 cal yr BP, when high-energy fluvial events were punctuated by periods of reduced flooding that enabled soil formation. Generally, connection with the Cauca River resulted in lake waters with low salinity and nutrient concentration, whereas loss of connection with the river led to lakes with greater salinity and nutrient content. Paleocurrent analyses indicate that flows came predominantly from the Cauca River, suggesting the lakes were formed by the impoundment of La Caimana Creek. The sedimentary succession of La Caimana offers a unique, high-resolution record of the evolution and dynamics of an ancient floodplain of the Cauca River and its aquatic ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Ciencias is the property of Universidad del Valle and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)