The research project for this PhD set out to provide a best practice example of bringing together industry (Hanson Heidelberg Cement Group), a charitable body (The Parks Trust), non-departmental public body (Environment Agency) and academia (Cranfield University). The Parks Trust (landowner) and Hanson (quarry operator) worked together with the vision of creating a new floodplain forest landscape along a 1 km reach of the River Great Ouse following extraction of gravels from the site. It was the first project of its kind in the United Kingdom where planning permission was obtained specifically for the creation of a floodplain forest habitats post quarrying. The aim of the PhD research was to determine appropriate ecological approaches to apply to the assessment and future monitoring of habitat outcomes of a floodplain forest restoration project at a mineral extraction site. A central element of the research was the design of a scientifically justified monitoring programme, with key variables determined being: soil characteristics, water quality, vegetation development, site topography and water table level data. An Adaptive Monitoring Framework (AMF) was chosen to set the proposed monitoring within which was complemented with the hypothesis - The ratio of wet/dry vegetation within the floodplain forest is determined by the site topography and water table level. The hypothesis was tested by analysis of the key variables through fieldwork and existing data sources supplemented with a study of the water table level interaction with two typical floodplain forest tree species (Salix viminalis and Populus trichocarpa x deltoides) in a glasshouse experiment. Findings from the field and experimental research were then used within a spatially based landscape ecology scenario approach to identify the most suitable areas of the study site for specific species planting according to soil-water levels and topography in the floodplain forest. Outputs of this research enhance understanding of the key aspects to consider when assessing floodplain forest re-creation/restoration and enable guidelines and recommendations to be developed for land managers based on a long-term and an adaptive ecological monitoring approach. These management guidelines and recommendations based on a systematic scientific approach applied within the research should be appropriate to other similar restoration projects. The research provides the background evidence on what should be measured to determine the environmental changes of the floodplain forest habitat restoration as it develops towards restoration success.

Bancos de dados geológico-geotécnicos podem atuar como instrumentos interessantes de auxílio a atividades de planejamento e gestão urbana e ambiental. Entretanto, as informações utilizadas nessas ferramentas nem sempre se encontram disponíveis ou de maneira acessível. Este trabalho aborda a elaboração de um sistema de apoio à decisão em ambiente de SIG (ArcGis 9.1); trata da implementação de um banco de dados geológico-geotécnicos da cidade de João Pessoa - PB, a partir de sondagens à percussão com Standard Penetration Test (SPT). O banco de dados foi projetado para atuar como forma de apoio às ações de planejamento e gestão urbanas do município, assim como importante subsídio ao meio acadêmico e profissional. A pesquisa envolveu etapas preparatórias essenciais para a estruturação do Banco de Dados e para o desenvolvimento de análises e modelagens espaciais, tais como a geração da base topográfica digital da área de estudo, a produção do Modelo Digital do Terreno e a localização e inserção das informações geológicosgeotécnicas obtidas nos perfis das sondagens. Para as modelagens e análises espaciais foram utilizados e comparados métodos de interpolação determinísticos (Topo to Raster) e geoestatísticos (Krigagem Ordinária). As principais variáveis espaciais analisadas foram profundidade do lençol freático (N.A.) e \'N IND.SPT\'. Foram gerados mapas do lençol freático e mapas com uso sugerido para fundações em três setores distintos da área de estudo e para diferentes profundidades, como principais produtos cartográficos. / Geological-geotechnical databases have been used as important assistant tools in urban and environmental management activities. However, the kind of information necessary for one to work with such tools may not always be available or easily supplied. This work concerns the generation of a Decision Support System undertaken through means of a Geographic Information System (Arcgis 9.1). It presents the development of a geological geotechnical database of João Pessoa-PB, based on information obtained from boring logs of soundings with Standard Penetration Tests. This database has been designed to act as an additional support to the urban and environmental management city activities, as it might also work as an important resource to academic and practical fields. The research evolved important stages of database preparation and organization (digital topographic base), followed by spatial modeling and analysis such as digital elevation model (DEM) generation, location and insertion of all geological-geotechnical information. Deterministic (Topo to Raster) and Geostatistical (Ordinary Krigging) methods were used and compared during spatial modeling and analysis of two main variables: water table level and \'N IND.SPT\' values. Results were integrated in order to obtain water table level maps, as to foundation engineering works, for three different area sectors and depths.

Bancos de dados geológico-geotécnicos podem atuar como instrumentos interessantes de auxílio a atividades de planejamento e gestão urbana e ambiental. Entretanto, as informações utilizadas nessas ferramentas nem sempre se encontram disponíveis ou de maneira acessível. Este trabalho aborda a elaboração de um sistema de apoio à decisão em ambiente de SIG (ArcGis 9.1); trata da implementação de um banco de dados geológico-geotécnicos da cidade de João Pessoa - PB, a partir de sondagens à percussão com Standard Penetration Test (SPT). O banco de dados foi projetado para atuar como forma de apoio às ações de planejamento e gestão urbanas do município, assim como importante subsídio ao meio acadêmico e profissional. A pesquisa envolveu etapas preparatórias essenciais para a estruturação do Banco de Dados e para o desenvolvimento de análises e modelagens espaciais, tais como a geração da base topográfica digital da área de estudo, a produção do Modelo Digital do Terreno e a localização e inserção das informações geológicosgeotécnicas obtidas nos perfis das sondagens. Para as modelagens e análises espaciais foram utilizados e comparados métodos de interpolação determinísticos (Topo to Raster) e geoestatísticos (Krigagem Ordinária). As principais variáveis espaciais analisadas foram profundidade do lençol freático (N.A.) e \'N IND.SPT\'. Foram gerados mapas do lençol freático e mapas com uso sugerido para fundações em três setores distintos da área de estudo e para diferentes profundidades, como principais produtos cartográficos. / Geological-geotechnical databases have been used as important assistant tools in urban and environmental management activities. However, the kind of information necessary for one to work with such tools may not always be available or easily supplied. This work concerns the generation of a Decision Support System undertaken through means of a Geographic Information System (Arcgis 9.1). It presents the development of a geological geotechnical database of João Pessoa-PB, based on information obtained from boring logs of soundings with Standard Penetration Tests. This database has been designed to act as an additional support to the urban and environmental management city activities, as it might also work as an important resource to academic and practical fields. The research evolved important stages of database preparation and organization (digital topographic base), followed by spatial modeling and analysis such as digital elevation model (DEM) generation, location and insertion of all geological-geotechnical information. Deterministic (Topo to Raster) and Geostatistical (Ordinary Krigging) methods were used and compared during spatial modeling and analysis of two main variables: water table level and \'N IND.SPT\' values. Results were integrated in order to obtain water table level maps, as to foundation engineering works, for three different area sectors and depths.

Dans les Landes de Gascogne, le fonctionnement de la nappe phréatique superficielle plio-quaternaire est très liée au fonctionnement de la végétation subjacente. Pour comprendre la variabilité à l'échelle du paysage de la productivité de ces forêts, il est important de passer de l'échelle de la parcelle à celle du bassin versant. La mise en place d'un dispositif de suivi de type bassins versants jumelés à l'échelle de petits bassins versants forestiers situés dans le Massif Landais : les bassins versants du Tagon (Biganos) et du Bouron (Belin-Beliet) a permis le suivi hydrologique et piézométrique de la nappe plio-quaternaire. Le dispositif inclut une modification du couvert végétal par l'occurrence de deux tempêtes successives à 10 ans d'intervalle. La collecte de données cartographiques, numériques et statistiques a permis une reconstitution de l'usage des terres et des classes d’âges des peuplements forestiers, pour la période 1984- 2010 sur les deux bassins versants. Cette reconstitution a ainsi permis de retrouver l'évolution des stocks de carbone et de biomasse des peuplements pour les deux sites expérimentaux et de quantifier l'impact d'une tempête sur l'organisation paysagère des peuplements (âge et variabilité). Le lien entre les forêts de Pin maritime et la nappe phréatique plio-quaternaire a été mis en évidence par : (1) l'étude de la croissance des arbres pour des sites où la profondeur de la nappe était contrastée, au travers d'une étude dendrologique et (2) l'analyse d'oscillations journalières sur les séries chronologiques des fluctuations demi-horaires du niveau phréatique, qui peuvent être attribuées à l’évapotranspiration journalière. La compréhension des liens entre variables hydroclimatiques et quantité de bois produite, i.e. largeur de cerne, de manière rétrospective, a permis d'identifier les facteurs de variabilité et les facteurs limitants pour chaque type de site, en lien avec la profondeur de la nappe superficielle. L’analyse des chroniques piézométriques a mis en lumière l'importance des prélèvements journaliers dans la vidange de l'aquifère. La dernière partie de ce travail pose les bases d'une future modélisation couplée végétation-nappe pour le bassin versant du Bouron. La reconstitution spatiale du fonctionnement de la nappe phréatique a été entreprise en régime stationnaire puis en régime dynamique avec le modèle NEWSAM de l'Ecole des Mines de Paris. Les facteurs expliquant le fonctionnement de l'aquifère et les flux d'eau à l'échelle de la petite région sont identifiés. L'effet de la recharge, issue du modèle de végétation pour le Pin maritime GRAECO, est en particulier testé, via une étude de sensibilité, en relation avec les différences de recharge induites par les différents types de couverts, et en particulier, l'âge des peuplements. Les points clefs à améliorer sont identifiés afin de perfectionner les modèles utilisés, et de reproduire de façon réaliste le fonctionnement de petits bassins versants dans la région. / In the Landes de Gascogne area, the functioning of the shallow plio-quaternary water-table is tightly linked with the functioning of the top vegetation. In order to understand the variability of forest productivity at the landscape scale, there is a need to move forward the stand scale to the watershed scale. Part of this study was to setup hydrological equipment of paired-watershed, representative of the forested plain in the Leyre watershed, considering water-table level and hydrologic measurement. The selected sites were the Bouron watershed (Belin-Beliet) and the Tagon watershed (Biganos), which were contrastingly impacted by two storms within the last 10 years. The land-cover cartography was obtained with satellite, in-situ and statistical data, on a retrospective basis, accross the 1984-2010 period. Those maps give the evolution of the land use and the Pinus pinaster stand age. The reconstitution of the age structure thought time, converted to carbon and biomass stock, are showing the impact of a storm, comparing the control watershed to the damaged one. The link between forests and water-table was explored on : (1) the growth of trees developing in sites with contrasted water-table levels, by way of dendrological measurement and (2) the analysis of diurnal oscillation on the water-table level signal, attributed to vegetation removal. The understanding of the link between hydroclimatic data and wood production, i.e., ring width, shows that limitating factors should not be the same across different sites. In particular, water-table deeper than 3 meter is not a determinant resource for growth, but nutriment may be more limitating at those sites. On the other side, discharge of the water-table cannot be dissociated to evapotranspiration reprise. Oscillations in the diurnal signal of water-table level shows that this removal can be determinant, and deeper than expected according to the vegetation cover. The last part of this work build the basis of a future model, representing the coupling between vegetation and water-table at the watershed scale. The dynamic of the aquifer was simulated in permanent and transient state with the NEWSAM hydrogeological model (Ecole des Mines, Paris). Different processes were identified as key factor to explain water-table functioning, such as recharge effect, zone vadose impact and surface drainage. The recharge effect, coming from GRAECO, was particularly tested, thought a sensitivity analysis, in relation with growing proportion of young forest stand (less than 5 years old). Points to improve and refine are identified in order to perfect the two models used here.