Epi- and endobiont faunal communities on an Egyptian Mediterranean rocky shore: species composition and their competition for space

The exposed calcareous rocky area of the Abu Qir Headland,east of Alexandria,Egypt which range from coarse grains,through pebbles,cobbles,and boulders to rocky platforms,was significantly colonized by sclerobionts(epibionts and endobionts).The epibiont species diversity was comparatively higher than that of endobionts.Epibiont communities included bryozoans(the anascan-grade cheilostome Bifiustra savartii),serpulid(Hydroides elegans,Spirobranchus cf.tetraceros,Vermiliopsis striaticeps and Protula or Apomatus) and spirorbid(Spirorbis) wormtubes,and balanoid barnacles(Amphibalanus amphitrite,Balanus trigonus,and Perforatus perforatus).The cheilostome bryozoan colonies,which developed extensive sheets,proliferated on the study rocky shore either encrusting the bioeroded basement directly,or encrusting other epilithic taxa,particularly balanoid barnacles and serpulid worms.Encrusters displayed a remarkable marginal competitive interaction(overgrowth and stand-off) for space on the study rocky shore.On the other hand,endobionts were not well represented on the studied rocky shore exposure.It was possible to identify three ichnotaxa:Gastrochaenolites,Maeandropolydora,and Finichnus.The findings documented represent a significant contribution to our knowledge of sclerobionts composition,sequence of their colonization and/or bioero sion,and their mutual relationships on the intertidal rocky shore of the Abu Qir Headland.     

Projecting date palm distribution in Iran under climate change using topography,physicochemical soil properties,soil taxonomy,land use,and climate data

This study set out to model potential date palm distribution under current and future climate scenarios using an emission scenario, in conjunction with two different global climate models (GCMs): CSIRO-Mk3.0 (CS), and MIROC-H (MR), and to refine results based on suitability under four nonclimatic parameters. Areas containing suitable physicochemical soil properties and suitable soil taxonomy, together with land slopes of less than 10° and suitable land uses for date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) were selected as appropriate refining tools to ensure the CLIMEX results were accurate and robust. Results showed that large regions of Iran are projected as likely to become climatically suitable for date palm cultivation based on the projected scenarios for the years 2030, 2050, 2070, and 2100. The study also showed CLIMEX outputs merit refinement by nonclimatic parameters and that the incremental introduction of each additional parameter decreased the disagreement between GCMs. Furthermore, the study indicated that the least amount of disagreement in terms of areas conducive to date palm cultivation resulted from CS and MR GCMs when the locations of suitable physicochemical soil properties and soil taxonomy were used as refinement tools.     

Investigation of RS and GIS techniques on MPSIAC model to estimate soil erosion

Soil erosion due to surface water is a standout among the serious threat land degradation problem and an hazard environmental destruction. The first stage for every kind of soil conservation planning is recognition of soil erosion status. In this research, the usability of two new techniques remote sensing and geographical information system was assessed to estimate the average annual specific sediments production and the intensity erosion map at two sub-basins of DEZ watershed, southwest of Lorestan Province, Iran, namely Absorkh and Keshvar sub-basins with 19,920 ha, using Modified Pacific Southwest Inter-Agency Committee (MPSIAC) soil erosion model. At the stage of imagery data processing of IRS-P6 satellite, the result showed that an overall accuracy and kappa coefficient were 90.3% and 0.901, respectively, which were considered acceptable or good for imagery data. According to our investigation, the study area can be categorized into three level of severity of erosion: moderate, high, and very high erosion zones. The amount of specific sediments and soil erosion predicted by MPSIAC model was 1374.656 and 2396.574 m³ km^?2 year^?1, respectively. The areas situated at the center and south parts of the watershed were subjected to significant erosion because of the geology formation and ground cover, while the area at the north parts was relatively less eroded due to intensive land cover. Based on effective of nine factors, the driving factors from high to low impact included: Topography > Land use > Upland erosion > Channel erosion > Climate > Ground cover > Soil > Runoff > Surface geology. The measured sediment yield of the watershed in the hydrometric station (Keshvar station) was approximately 2223.178 m³ km^?2 year^?1 and comparison of the amount of total sediment yield predicted by model with the measured sediment yield indicated that the MPSIAC model 38% underestimated the observed value of the watershed.     

Strategic groundwater resources planning in arid regions

A strategic approach is presented for future groundwater reservoir planning in arid regions where the evaluation of groundwater resources is restricted by scarcity of rainfall, data paucity, restrictive and unrepresentative methodologies, weak economies, almost nonexisting management and optimization programs, frequent groundwater quality variables along short distances, etc. This paper explains the necessary steps in preparing an effective strategic planning program that is expected to provide all the necessary data for identifying alternative solution scenarios especially in arid regions. It is shown on the basis of available scarce data that the risk model of these factors appears as the logarithmic normal probability distribution. The basic decision variables in groundwater storage and recharge planning are furnished with application to Wadi Fatimah in the western central part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea coast. The approach given in this paper provides a basic example for future groundwater reservoir strategic use and management studies in the Kingdom in particular and in any part of the arid regions of the world, in general.     

Assessment of floodplain landuse and channel morphology within meandering reach of the Talar River in Iran using GIS and aerial photographs

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to investigate and monitor the landuse and morphological changes in the floodplain part of the Talar River, northern parts of Iran. In the present study, the aerial photographs have been used to produce landuse maps of the floodplain for three periods including 1968, 1994, and 2013. The quantitative analysis of the produced landuse maps showed that the floodplain has undergone substantial landuse changes. Moreover, the sediment bar and the beach area have been decreased about 97 and 90%, respectively, during the 45-year period. Substantial increases of 192 and 622% have been observed for orchards and residential areas, respectively. On the other hand, not only the forest and riparian vegetation were decreased but also the average width of river was decreased about 25.5 m. In addition, flow length of the study reach increased about 8 m. The RNCI was about ?0.7 m per year indicating sedimentation process. During the period of 1968–2013, Caspian Sea has retreated about 150 m and the delta of Talar River was changed. This study showed that morphological actions during first 26 years (1968–1994) were the stable and last 19 years had the change period, especially sedimentation (bar).     

Soil erosion and sediment yield modeling using RS and GIS techniques: a case study, Iran

Water erosion is a serious and continuous environmental problem in many parts of the world. The need to quantify the amount of erosion, sediment delivery, and sediment yield in a spatially distributed form has become essential at the watershed scale and in the implementation of conservation efforts. In this study, an effort to predict potential annual soil loss and sediment yield is conducted by using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model with adaptation in a geographic information system (GIS). The rainfall erosivity, soil erosivity, slope length, steepness, plant cover, and management practice and conservation support practice factors are among the basic factors that are obtained from monthly and annual rainfall data, soil map of the region, 50-m digital elevation model, remote sensing (RS) techniques (with use of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), and GIS, respectively. The Ilam dam watershed which is located southeast part of Ilam province in western Iran is considered as study area. The study indicates that the slope length and steepness of the RUSLE model are the most effective factors controlling soil erosion in the region. The mean annual soil loss and sediment yield are also predicted. Moreover, the results indicated that 45.25%, 12.18%, 12.44%, 10.79%, and 19.34% of the study area are under minimal, low, moderate, high, and extreme actual erosion risks, respectively. Since 30.13% of the region is under high and extreme erosion risk, adoption of suitable conservation measures seems to be inevitable. So, the RUSLE model integrated with RS and GIS techniques has a great potential for producing accurate and inexpensive erosion and sediment yield risk maps in Iran.     

Three-phase measurements of oil and gas trapping in sand packs

We measure the trapped saturations of oil and gas as a function of initial saturation in water-wet sand packs. We start with a water-saturated column and inject octane (oil), while water and oil are produced from the bottom. Once water production has ceased, air (gas) then enters from the top, allowing oil and gas to drain under gravity for different times. Finally water is then injected from the bottom to trap both oil and gas. The columns are sliced and the fluids analyzed using gas chromatography. We find that for high initial gas saturations more gas can be trapped in the presence of oil than in a two-phase (gas/water) system. The residual gas saturation can be over 20% compared to 14% in two-phase flow [Al Mansoori SK, Iglauer S, Pentland CH, Bijeljic B, Blunt MJ. Measurements of non-wetting phase trapping applied to carbon dioxide storage. Energy Procedia 2009;1(1):3173–80]. This is unlike previous measurements on consolidated media, where the trapped gas saturation is either similar or lower to that reached in an equivalent two-phase experiment. For lower initial gas saturation, the amount of trapping follows the initial-residual trend seen in two-phase experiments. The amount of oil trapped is insensitive to initial gas saturation or the amount of gas that is trapped, again in contrast to measurements on consolidated media. More oil is trapped than would be predicted from an equivalent two-phase (oil/water) system, although the trapped saturation is never larger than the maximum reached in two-phase flow (around 11%) [Pentland CH, Al Mansoori SK, Iglauer S, Bijeljic B, Blunt MJ. Measurement of non-wetting phase trapping in sand packs. In: SPE 115697, proceedings of the SPE annual technical conference and exhibition, Denver, Colorado, USA; 21–24 September 2008]. These initially surprising results are explained in the context of oil layer stability and the competition between snap-off and piston-like advance. In two-phase systems, displacement is principally by cooperative piston-like advance with relatively little trapping, whereas in consolidated media snap-off is generally more significant. However, oil layer collapse events during three-phase waterflooding rapidly trap the oil which acts as a barrier to direct water/gas displacement, except by snap-off, leading to enhanced gas trapping.     

Effectiveness of resettable energy dissipating devices in seismic response modification of elastic SDoF systems

Semi‐active variable stiffness resettable devices can reduce seismic demands and damages in structures. Despite their advantages, variable stiffness resettable devices are under‐utilized mainly because of the shortage of fundamental research in quantifying the sensitivity of key seismic response parameters, and losses, in structures that use such systems for seismic hazard mitigation. Within this setting, the research summarized herein measures the effectiveness of semi‐active resettable energy dissipating devices in the Single‐Degree‐of‐Freedom domain aiming at quantifying the sensitivity of their seismic response to variation in control parameters and generating the required knowledge to utilize such semi‐active devices in the Multi‐Degree‐of‐Freedom domain. The performance (i.e. maximum relative displacement and peak absolute acceleration demands) of Single‐Degree‐of‐Freedom systems with an array of semi‐active control logics under various dynamic excitation regimes is studied. Two sets of 40 ground motions representing various seismic loading conditions (i.e. pulse‐like and rock‐site ground motions) are used, and an efficient control logic for mitigating these seismic demands is proposed. Numerical results show that proposed control logic enables a decrease of 40–60% for both maximum relative displacement and seismic base shear and 15–25% decrease for peak absolute acceleration. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical Investigation of the Optimum Location for Vertical Drains in Gravity Dams

The seepage beneath a concrete dam causes an upward force acting to the dam foundation, known as uplift. Previous literatures show that implementation of drainage wells in gravity dam foundations causes a reduction in uplift forces. The main aim of these wells is to drain excess seepage flow bypassed from the cutoff wall and to reduce the uplift force. The location of the drains in the foundation plays a key role in reducing the pressure. In the present study, effect of the location of drain pipes from the upstream face of the dam (s), space among them (n) and drain’s diameter (d) in uplift force reduction is investigated. The processes of the study have been performed by the Seep/w software based on the finite element method. Results show that the use of a drain system reduced the uplift forces developed beneath the floor of the structure. If the drain is located close to the face of the dam, it may not be effective in reducing the uplift. On the other hand, shifting it too much away from the upstream face of the dam will lead to increased total uplift. It is, therefore, desirable to find out the location of the drain such that the total uplift is optimum. Optimum location of the vertical drains is not fixed, and by increasing vertical drains distances from each other and also decreasing drain diameter, optimum location would be shifted to the downstream. For example introduction of system of pipe drains to the floor of gravity dams reduced the uplift force acting on the floor by up to 80% for d/l = 0.0004, n/l = 0.024 and s/l = 0.08. This reduction in uplift becomes up to 65% for d/l = 0.0004, n/l = 0.048 and s/l = 0.12. The best location of the drain is such that the total uplift is minimum and this is presented in both design charts and algebraic equations in this study.     

Exploiting transformation-domain sparsity for fast query in multiple-point geostatistics

Multiple-point geostatistics has recently attracted significant attention for characterization of environmental variables. Such methods proceed by searching a large database of patterns obtained from a training image to find a match for a given data-event. The template-matching phase is usually the most time-consuming part of a MPS method. Linear transformations like discrete cosine transform or wavelet transform are capable of representing the image patches with a few nonzero coefficients. This sparsifying capability can be employed to speed up the template-matching problem up to hundreds of times by multiplying only nonzero coefficients. This method is only applicable to rectangular data-events because it is impossible to represent an odd-shaped data-event in a transformation domain. In this paper, the method is applied to speed up the image quilting (IQ) method. The experiments show that the proposed method is capable of accelerating the IQ method tens of times without sensible degradation in simulation results. The method has the potential to be employed for accelerating optimization-based and raster-scan patch-based MPS algorithms.