Hydrochemistry and Classification of Groundwater Resources of Ishwardi Municipal Area,Pabna District,Bangladesh

The chemical property of groundwater depends largely on the mineralogical composition of the rocks through which the water has moved and the rate of movement and these characteristics of surface water depend on organic and inorganic reactions, industrial effluents, rainfall and temperature etc. The underground water tends to contain more dissolved materials than those in surface water because of their more intimate and longer contact with organic materials of soil and rock particles. The groundwater of the studied area is dominant of alkaline earth’s (Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺) and weak acids (HCO₃ ⁻) which may be classified as Magnesium-Bicarbonate and Calcium Carbonate types. Genetically, the groundwater of the area belongs to both “Normal Chloride” “Normal Sulphate” and “Normal Carbonate” to “Super Carbonate” group. Based on EC, SAR and RC, the groundwater of the area varies from good–excellent quality for irrigation purposes with low alkali hazard and medium salinity hazard.     

Integrated stratigraphy and 40Ar/39Ar chronology of the early to middle Miocene Upper Freshwater Molasse in western Bavaria (Germany)

A detailed integrated stratigraphic study (biostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy) was carried out on five sections from the western part of the Bavarian Upper Freshwater Molasse of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB), greatly improving the chronostratigraphy of these sediments. The sections belong to the lithostratigraphic units Limnische Untere Serie (UL) and Fluviatile Untere Serie (UF) and contain 19 (mostly new) small-mammal bearing levels, significantly refining the local biostratigraphy. Radiometric ages obtained from glass shards from tuff horizons are used together with the biostratigraphic information for constructing and confirming the magnetostratigraphic correlation of the studied sections to the Astronomical Tuned Time Scale (ANTS04; Lourens et al. in Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press, 2004). This correlation implies that the UL lithostratigraphic unit corresponds to the latest Ottnangian and the Early Karpatian, whereas the UF corresponds to the Karpatian and the Early Badenian. This indicates that the Brackish- to Freshwater Molasse transition already occurred during the late Ottnangian. The pre-Riesian hiatus occurred in the latest Karpatian and lower Early Badenian in Eastern Bavaria and Bohemia and in the Late Karpatian and earliest Badenian in Western Bavaria. The geochemical and Ar–Ar data of volcanic ashes suggest that highly evolved silicic magmas from a single volcano or volcanic center, characterized by a uniform Nd isotopic composition, erupted repetitively over the course of at least 1.6 Myr. Three phases of eruptive activity were identified at 16.1 ± 0.2 Ma (Zahling-2), 15.6 ± 0.4 Ma (Krumbad), and 14.5 ± 0.2 Ma (Heilsberg, Hegau). The correlation of the local biostratigraphic zonation to the ANTS04 enables further the characterization of both the Ottnangian–Karpatian and Karpatian–Badenian boundaries in the NAFB by small-mammal biostratigraphy. According to these results the Ottnangian–Karpatian boundary is contemporaneous with the first appearance datum of Megacricetodon bavaricus (in the size of the type population) and the first common occurrence of Keramidomys thaleri, whereas Ligerimys florancei, Melissiodon dominans and Prodeinotherium aff. bavaricum have been already disappeared during the late Ottnangian. The Karpatian–Badenian boundary is characterized by a significant size increase of the large Megacricetodon lineage and possibly a (re-)immigration of Prodeinotherium bavaricum.     

Copula based analysis of rainfall severity and duration: a case study

The main objective of this study is to investigate the joint distribution of rainfall severity and rainfall duration in the state of Victoria, Australia, based on monthly rainfall data from selected rain-gauge stations which are located in the north-eastern and south-western parts of the state, during the period from 1950 to 2010. Traditional approach for considering the joint distribution of rainfall characteristics using standard bivariate modeling presents some limitations that can be circumvented by using Copula models. Archimedean and extreme-value copulas will be used to obtain the bivariate distribution of rainfall severity and duration. The Standard Precipitation Index (SPI), which is employed extensively to quantify rainfall severity, will be discussed in detail. Several goodness of fit tests will be performed to find the best fitting copulas and the results will be summarized. The final fitted copulas will then be applied to obtain the joint and conditional return periods from a minimum of two years to one hundred years of rainfall events in Victoria.     

Pile Head Cyclic Lateral Loading of Single Pile

This paper presents an elastic continuum model using an extended nonlinear Davies and Budhu equations, which enables the nonlinear behavior of the soil around the long elastic pile to be modeled using a simple expression of pile-head stiffness method. The calculated results were validated with the measured full-scale dynamic field tests data conducted in Auckland residual clay. An idealized soil profile and soil stiffness under small strain (i.e. shear modulus, G _s and shear wave velocity, V _s of the soil) determined from in situ testing was used to model the single pile tests results. The predictions of these extended equations are also confirmed by using the three-dimensional finite-element OpenSeesPL (Lu et al. in OpenSeesPL 3D lateral pile-ground interaction: user manual, University of California, San Diego, 2010). A soil stiffness reduction factor, G _s /G _s,max of 0.36 was introduced to the proposed method and model. It was found to give a reasonable prediction for a single pile subjected to dynamic lateral loading. The reduction in soil stiffness found from the experiment arises from the cumulative effects of pile–soil separation as well as a change in the soil properties subjected to cyclic load. In summary, if the proposed method and model are accurately verified and properly used, then they are capable of producing realistic predictions. Both models provide good modelling tools to replicate the full-scale dynamic test results.     

Impact of rangeland enclosure and seasonal grazing on protected and unprotected rangelands in Chakwal region,Pakistan

Scrub rangelands support livestock grazing and provide ecosystem services to their inhabitants.The present study was conducted in Chakwal,an important tract of ...     

Cultural characteristics of chromium resistant unicellular cyanobacteria isolated from local environment in Pakistan

Many unicellular cyanobacteria were isolated from different places： fields, ponds, polluted water, and soils from Muredkey and Kasur tannery areas, near Lahore, Pakistan. Different media like BG 11 medium, Bold Basal medium, Chu＇s # 10 medium and Gotham＇s medium, in standard forms and with slight variations of ingredients, and different pH, temperature and light regimes were checked for the optimum growth of the isolates. The isolation pro- cedure was repeated with different concentrations of chromium to select the resistant strains. These selected strains grew on chromium of the range 100-200 μg/ml in BG 11 medium. Cyanobacteria were maintained in solid and liquid media with/without shaking. Cyanobacterial strains were collected from natural habitats that were accompanied by a diversified group of organisms including bacteria, protozoan, and rotifers etc. In order to eliminate these agents termed as contaminants, we used several methods including phenol treatment, use of antibiotic and careful manual picking of unicellular cyanobacteria. Resistance of these strains against different heavy metals （ZnSO4, MnSO4, NiSO4, COCl2, Pb（NO3）3, CuSO4, HgCl2, AgNO3 and CdCl2） and antibiotics （erythromycin, streptomycin, kanamycin, chloramphenicol, neomycin） was evaluated. Optimum temperature was 30℃ with variable pH for the reduction of Cr^6＋ in to Cr^3＋ in majority of strains.     

Balance characteristics of multivariate background error covariances and their impact on analyses and forecasts in tropical and Arctic regions

For variational data assimilation, the background error covariance matrix plays a crucial role because it is strongly linked with the local meteorological features, and is especially dominated by error correlations between different analysis variables. Multivariate background error (MBE) statistics have been generated for two regions, namely the Tropics (covering Indonesia and its neighborhood) and the Arctic (covering high latitudes). Detailed investigation has been carried out for these MBE statistics to understand the physical processes leading to the balance (defined by the forecasts error correlations) characteristics between mass and wind fields for the low and high latitudes represented by these two regions. It is found that in tropical regions, the unbalanced (full balanced) part of the velocity potential (divergent part of wind) contributes more to the balanced part of the temperature, relative humidity, and surface pressure fields as compared with the stream function (rotational part of wind). However, the exact opposite happens in the Arctic. For both regions, the unbalanced part of the temperature field is the main contributor to the balanced part of the relative humidity field. Results of single observation tests and six-hourly data assimilation cycling experiments are consistent with the respective balance part contributions of different fields in the two regions. This study provides an understanding of the contrasting dynamical balance relationship that exists between the mass and wind fields in high- and low-latitude regions. The study also examines the impact of MBE on Weather Research and Forecasting model forecasts for the two regions.     

New holographic dark energy in modified f(R) Horava-Lifshitz gravity

In this paper, we study the new holographic dark energy model in the framework of modified f(R) Horava-Lifshitz Gravity. We apply correspondence scheme to construct model the in underlying scenario using power-law form of scale factor. To explore accelerated expansion of the universe, some well-known cosmological parameters (equation of state parameter and squared speed of sound) and cosmological planes (ω _Λ – \(\omega'_{\varLambda}\) and statefinder) are discussed for reconstructed model. It is interesting to conclude that these parameters represent phantom behavior of the universe with stable configuration. also, the cosmological planes show compatible results with recent observations for accelerated expansion of the universe.     

Relevance of Pentane- and Hexane-Utilizing Bacterial Indicators for Finding Hydrocarbon Microseepage: A Study from Jamnagar Sub-basin, Saurashtra, Gujarat, India

Mesozoic sediments are source rocks for nearly half the world’s hydrocarbon reserves. Hence, there is great interest in the oil industry to know the trap and sub-trappean sediment thickness and their extent in the trap covered regions of Jamnagar study area. The microbial prospecting method is applied in the Jamnagar sub-basin, Gujarat for evaluating the prospects for hydrocarbon exploration by investigating the anomalous abundance of n-pentane- and n-hexane-oxidizing bacteria of this area. A total of 150 near-surface soil samples were collected in Jamnagar sub-basin, Gujarat for the evaluation of hydrocarbon resource potential of the basin. In this study, bacterial counts for n-pentane-utilizing bacteria range between 1.09 × 10² and 9.89 × 10⁵ cfu/g and n-hexane-utilizing bacteria range between 1.09 × 10² and 9.29 × 10⁵ cfu/g. The adsorbed hydrocarbon gases consisting of ethane plus hydrocarbons (ΣC₂₊) of 1–977 ppb and n-pentane (nC₅) of 1–23 ppb. The integrated geomicrobial and adsorbed soil gas studies showed the anomalous hydrocarbon zones nearby Khandera, Haripur, and Laloi areas which could probably aid to assess the true potential of the basin. Integrated geophysical studies have shown that Jamnagar sub-basin of Saurashtra has significant sediment thickness below the Deccan Traps and can be considered for future hydrocarbon exploration.