Hydro-mechanical evaluation of stabilized mine tailings

. In this study, mine tailings waste was stabilized using a combination of lime, fly ash type "C", and aluminum. Treated samples were subjected to mineral identification for evaluating the formation of ettringite and gypsum. Also, unconfined compression, hydraulic conductivity, and cyclic freeze and thaw tests were performed to evaluate the hydro-mechanical properties of the stabilized samples. Experimental results have shown that the application of lime and fly ash type "C" to high sulfate content tailings has improved its plasticity, workability, and volume stability. Moreover, upon addition of aluminum to lime and fly ash in a sulfate-rich environment, ettringite and calcium sulfo-aluminate hydrate are formed in these samples. Application of 5% lime, 10% fly ash type "C", in combination with 110 ppm aluminum, resulted in the formation of a solid monolith capable of producing more than 1,000 kPa of unconfined compressive strength, and reduced tailings permeability to 1.96᎒^–6 cm s^–1, which is less than the recommended permeability of 10^–5 cm s^–1 by most environmental protection agencies for reusability of solidified/stabilized samples. The permeability of the treated tailings samples remained below the recommended permeability, even after exposing the treated samples to 12 freeze and thaw cycles. Therefore, based on the experimental results, it is concluded that treatment of high sulfate-content tailings with lime and fly ash, combined with the availability of aluminum for reactions, is a successful method of solidifying highly reactive mine tailings.     

Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural Production in the Sahel – Part 1. Methodological Approach and Case Study for Millet in Niger

In the last 30 years the climate of the West African Sahel has shown various changes, especially in terms of rainfall, of which inter-annual variabilityis very high. This has significant consequences for the poor-resource farmers, whose incomes depend mainly on rainfed agriculture. The West African Sahel is already known as an area characterized by important interaction between climate variability and key socio-economic sectors such as agriculture and water resources. More than 80% of the 55 million population of West African Sahel is rural, involved in agriculture and stock-farming, the two sectors contributing almost 35% of the countries' GDPs. It is thereforeobvious that climate change seriously affects the economies of these countries. Adding to this situation the high rate of population increase(3%), leading to progressive pressure upon ecosystems, and poorsanitary facilities, one comes to the conclusion that Sahelian countries, Niger amongst them, will be highly vulnerable to climate change.This paper investigates the impact of current climate variability and future climate change on millet production for three major millet-producing regions in Niger. Statistical models have been used to predict the effects of climate change on future production on the basis of thirteen available predictors. Based on the analysis of the past 30-years of rainfall and production data, the most significant predictors of the model are (i) seasurface temperature anomalies, (ii) the amount of rainfall in July, August and September, (iii) the number of rainy days and (iv) the wind erosion factor. In 2025, production of millet is estimated to be about 13% lower as a consequence of climate change, translated into a reduction of the total amount of rainfall for July, August and September, combined with an increase in temperature while maintaining other significant predictors at a constant level. Subsequently,various potential strategies to compensate this loss are evaluated, including those to increase water use efficiency and to cultivate varieties that are adapted to such circumstances.     

The factors controlling the distribution of carbonate content in Kuwait Bay sediments

The present study has been undertaken to determine the nature and the factors controlling the distribution of carbonate content in Kuwait Bay sediments. The carbonate content that may be deposited with Kuwait Bay sediments is attributed to the interplay of the deposits fallout from the dust storms over Kuwaiti territory, the deposits carried in suspension by the currents from Shatt Al-Arab area and to the skeletal parts of microorganisms that may be originated in the sediments. The carbonate content increases in the coarse sediments rather than in the fine sediments. The mineral components of the carbonate present are in the form of calcite, aragonite and some dolomite. Therefore, the texture of the sediments, the rate of deposition in addition to the biological interference may exert a considerable control over carbonate distribution.     

A crustal suture and lineament in North Africa

A possible suture between an old craton in West Africa and the Arabian—Nubian shield is marked by a persistent zone of Phanerozoic weakness. This zone extends between the Nile and Niger deltas and passes through the Qattara embayment, along the Bahariya fault, through the Kufra basin, between the Tibesti and Jabal al Uwaynat massifs, through the Bahr el Ghazal and Lake Chad areas, and along the Benoue trough.     

First international payment for marine ecosystem services: The case of the Banc d’Arguin National Park,Mauritania

This article investigates whether the European Union-Mauritania fisheries agreement, which allocates part of the Europe's financial contribution to the conservation of marine ecosystems located within the Banc d’Arguin National Park, can be regarded as a payment for ecosystem service. A framework for qualification as such payment scheme was established based on an extensive literature review. The criteria identified for the qualification as a payment to ecosystem service pertain to: (1) the definition of the ecosystem service(s) involved; (2) the mechanism involved by the payment; and (3) the nature of the transaction. Interviews with local beneficiaries and subsequent data analysis led to the conclusion that this mechanism could be regarded as a payment to ecosystem service and so, through the European Union-Mauritania Fisheries agreement, the European Union were investing to protect local fish resources that could be exploited by its fishing fleet. This agreement, involving the first International Payment to Ecosystem Service of this kind, marks an important step towards better consideration of marine conservation in international public policy and foreign fishing policy in particular. However, this payment is small when compared to revenues generated through the exploitation of developing countries’ fishing grounds by fishing countries. Nevertheless it opens the door for more detailed applications of payment to ecosystem service schemes to other ecosystems contexts, and can provide a useful alternative source of financing of marine biodiversity conservation.     

GIS and multi-criteria analysis to select potential sites of agro-industrial complex

The selection of the potential sites to the creation of an agro-industrial complex requires a large amount of spatial information. Geographical information systems are capable of managing this information, providing the ability to integrate multiple layers of information and deriving new ones. This study incorporates environmental, social, economic, geological and infrastructural data. A multi-criteria analysis is performed to select the potential sites to the creation of an agro-industrial complex in the city of Sfax (the southern coast of Tunisia). The comparison by pair method adopted in this paper, based on a linear combination pondered after having assigned to every factor of decision a coefficient of level-headedness, creates many scenarios among which we selected the sustainable development one. This scenario assigned the highest weight to the economical, environmental and social factors (0.3 for each factor), which shows the presence of nine suitable sectors for the creation of an agro-industrial complex. The ELECTRE method enabled us to make a site ordering for the identification of the most three appropriate sites.     

Lithospheric extension and the opening of the Red Sea: sediment-basalt relationships in Yemen*

This paper analyses new field and radiometric age data on the timing of extension, sedimentation and magmatism related to the opening of the Red Sea. The first evidence of widespread extension is found in synsedimentary fissures in the fluviatile to shallow marine Tawilah Formation of Cretaceous to early Tertiary age. The first indication of magmatism is the eruption of alkaline basalts (43.5–21.2 Ma) on to marine and non-marine sandstones of lower to middle Tertiary age. The lack of an angular unconformity at the sediment-basalt contact, over a period of 25 Myr, corroborates a diachronous relationship between the Tawilah sandstones and the Yemen Volcanics. These data also indicate that the onset of volcanism in Yemen was in the Eocene, as is the case in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. A passive rifting model is supported by early extension and sedimentation followed by syn- and post-tectonic magmatism.     

On the iron interpretation of the 6.4 keV emission line from SGR 1900+14

A 6.4 keV emission line was discovered in an unusual burst from the soft gamma repeater SGR 1900+14 with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The line was detected in part of a complex multipeak precursor that preceded the unusual burst of 1998 August 29, i.e. two days after the giant flare of August 27 from the source. The origin of the line was not firmly identified and two possible interpretations were equally plausible including (a) Kα fluorescence from a small iron rich material that was ejected to the magnetosphere during the August 27 flare, and (b) proton or α-particle cyclotron resonance. If the iron scenario was correct, we expect to find evidence for the line during the intervening interval between the flare and the August 29 burst, i.e. on August 28. Here we present the results of the August 28 burst observation, taken with RXTE. We detect a total of seven bursts whose individual and joint spectra do not show evidence for spectral lines. We also investigated a sample of nine bursts before and after the August 29 burst (from 1998 June to December) that do not reveal evidence for a spectral line near 6.4 keV or elsewhere. These results disfavor the iron scenario and make the proton/α-particle cyclotron resonance interpretation more plausible. The appearance of the emission line in part of a complex burst and its absence from the studied sample indicate that the line is likely due to a transient phenomenon that may depend on the burst morphology, energetics and the properties of the emission region.      

Does salinity change determine zooplankton variability in the saline Qarun Lake(Egypt)?

Zooplankton and 14 abiotic variables were studied during August 2011 at 10 stations in Lake Qarun,Egypt.Stations with the lowest salinity and highest nutrient concentrations and turbidity were close to the discharge of waters from the El-Bats and El-Wadi drainage systems.A total of 15 holozooplankton species were identified.The salinity in Lake Qarun increased and fluctuated since 1901:12 g/L in 1901;8.5 g/L in 1905;12.0 g/L in 1922;30.0 g/L in 1985;38.7 g/L in 1994;35.3 g/L in 2006,and 33.4 g/L in 2011.The mean concentration of nutrients(nitrate,nitrite and orthophosphate) gradually increased from 35,0.16 and 0.38 ? g/L,respectively,in 1953–1955 to 113,16.4,and 30.26 ? g/L in 2011.From 1999–2003 some decrease of species diversity occurred.Average total zooplankton density was 30 000 ind./m 3 in 1974–1977;356 125 ind./m 3 in 1989;534 000 ind./m 3 in 1994–1995;from 965 000 to 1 452 000 ind./m 3 in 2006,and 595 000 ind./m 3 in 2011.A range of long-term summer salinity variability during the last decades was very similar to a range of salinity spatial variability in summer 2011.There is no significant correlation between zooplankton abundance and salinity in spatial and long-term changes.We conclude that salinity fluctuations since at least 1955 did not directly drive the changes of composition and abundance of zooplankton in the lake.A marine community had formed in the lake,and it continues to change.One of the main drivers of this change is a regular introduction and a pressure of alien species on the existent community.Eutrophication also plays an important role.The introduction of Mnemiopsis leidyi,first reported in 2014,may lead to a start of a new stage of the biotic changes in Lake Qarun,when eutrophication and the population dynamics of this ctenophore will be main drivers of the ecosystem change.