Water and heat fluxes above a lowland dipterocarp forest in Peninsular Malaysia

We measured the fluxes of sensible and latent heat between a low‐land dipterocarp forest in Peninsular Malaysia and the atmosphere. No clear seasonal or interannual changes in latent heat flux were found from 2003 to 2005, while sensible heat flux sometimes fluctuated depending on the fluctuation of incoming radiation between wet and dry seasons. The evapotranspiration rates averaged for the period between 2003 and 2005 were 2·77 and 3·61 mm day^?1 using eddy covariance data without and with an energy balance correction, respectively. Average precipitation was 4·74 mm day^?1. Midday surface conductance decreased with an increasing atmospheric water vapour pressure deficit and thus restricted the excess water loss on sunny days in the dry season. However, the relationship between the surface conductance and vapour pressure deficit did not significantly decline with an increase in volumetric soil water content even during a period of extremely low rainfall. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using combined AHP–genetic algorithm in artificial groundwater recharge site selection of Gareh Bygone Plain,Iran

Flood spreading is one of the suitable strategies to control and benefit from floods which in turn improve the groundwater recharge, makes soil more fertile, and increases nutrients in soil. It is also a method for reusing sediment, which is usually wasted. Thus, selection of suitable areas for flood spreading and directing the flood water into permeable formations are amongst the most effective strategies in flood spreading projects. Having combined analytic hierarchy process (AHP) of multi-criteria decision analysis and genetic algorithm (GA) of artificial intelligence approaches, this paper addresses the problem of finding the most suitable area location for flood spreading operation in the Gareh Bygone Plain of Iran. To this end, the nine effective geodata layers including slope, alluvium thickness, geology, morphology, electrical conductivity, land use, drainage density, aquifer transmissivity, and elevation were prepared in geographic information system environment. This stage was followed by elimination of the exclusionary areas for flood spreading while determining the potentially suitable ones. Having closely examined the potentially suitable areas using the proposed methodology, the land suitability map for flood spreading was produced. The AHP and GA were used for ranking all the alternatives and weighting the criteria involved, respectively. The results of the study showed that most suitable areas for the artificial groundwater recharge are located in Quaternary Qft ₂ and Qsf geologic units and in morphological units of pediment and Alluvial fans with slopes not exceeding 2 %. Finally, further evidence for the acceptable efficiency of the integrated AHP–GA method in locating most suitable flood spreading areas have been provided by such significant spatial coincidence between the produced map and the control areas located near Kowsar research station, where the earlier flood spreading projects were successfully performed.     

Hydrodynamic behavior of Kangan gas-capped deep confined aquifer in Iran

The Kangan aquifer (KA) is located beneath the Kangan gas reservoir (KGR), 2,885 m below the ground surface. The gas reservoir formations are classified into nine non-gas reservoir units and eight gas reservoir units based on the porosity, water and gas saturation, lithology, and gas production potential using the logs of 36 production wells. The gas reservoir units are composed of limestone and dolomite, whereas the non-gas reservoir units consist of compacted limestone and dolomite, gypsum and shale. The lithology of KA is the same as KGR with a total dissolved solid of 333,000 mg/l. The source of aquifer water is evaporated seawater. The static pressure on the Gas–Water Contact (GWC) was 244 atm before gas production, but it has continuously decreased during 15 years of gas production, resulting in a 50 m uprising of the GWC and the expansion of KA water and intergranular water inside the gas reservoir. The general flow direction of the KA is toward the northern coast of the Persian Gulf due to the migration of water to the overlying formations via a trust fault. The KA is a gas-capped deep confined aquifer (GCDCA) with special characteristics differing from a shallow confined aquifer. The main characteristics of a GCDCA are unsaturated intergranular water below the confining layers, no direct contact of the water table (GWC) with the confining layers, no vertical flow via the cap rock, permanent uprising of the GWC during gas production, and permanent descend of GWC during water exploitation.     

Hornblende gabbros of Wadi Az Zarib area,Central Eastern Desert,Egypt: opaque mineralogy,geochemistry, tectonic setting,and petrogenesis

A small intrusive fresh gabbroic mass intrudes the Neoproterozoic metasediments and Dokhan volcanics of Wadi Az Zarib area, Central Eastern Desert. It is composed of hornblende gabbros and leuco-hornblende gabbros. Their petrography, opaque mineralogy, and geochemistry are addressed to elucidate their tectonic setting and petrogenesis. They represent a subduction-related calc–alkaline magma that evolved in an island arc setting. In terms of maturity, the supposed arc represents an intermediate stage between continental arc and active continental margin. Thermobarometry and physical–chemical data of the parent magma as deduced from compositions of amphiboles, biotite, and plagioclase indicate crystallization temperatures of 931–825 °C at pressures of 6.16–4.01 kbar and H₂O_melt of 6.4–5.2 wt%. Data, as presented, argue in favor of fractional crystallization mechanism to be accounted to the present suite to interpret the observed variations. The evolution of the suite from hornblende gabbros to leuco-hornblende gabbros was accompanied by decreasing of MgO, CaO, Cr, and Ni with simultaneous increasing of Al₂O₃, TiO₂, Na₂O, K₂O, Ba, Rb, Sr, La, and Ce. Residuals calculated during mass balance fractional crystallization modeling suggest that brown and green hornblendes are the main fractionated phases which derived the melt composition towards the leuco-hornblende gabbros.     

The effects of wastewater reuse on potato growth properties under greenhouse lysimeteric condition

In this study, raw and treated wastewaters were reused for potato cultivation in order to verify the effect of wastewater on crop yield, crop’s heavy metals’ concentration as well as some major traits of potato. To this regard, a completely randomized test was designed with five water treatments and three replications. The watering were as follows: raw wastewater (T₁), treated wastewater (T₂), a combination of 50 % raw wastewater and 50 % fresh water (T₃), a combination of 50 % treated wastewater and 50 % fresh water (T₄), and fresh water (T₅). The experiments were run during October 2009–June 2010 in the greenhouse of Bu-Ali Sina University. The results show that the effects of treatments were significant on the length and number of stems per plant (p < 0.05). The number of nodes and weight of tubers, crop yield and heavy metal (cadmium, nickel and lead) concentration in shoots and tubers were also significant (p < 0.01). The results indicated that the highest length of stem (55.44 cm) was obtained in T₂ which had no significant differences from that of T₁. The maximum and minimum tuber weights and crop yield were obtained in T₁ and T₅, respectively. Based on crop yield rate, the watering ranked as follows: T₁ > T₃ > T₂ > T₄ > T₅. The maximum and minimum heavy metal values were observed in T₁ and T₅, respectively. Based on the cadmium, nickel and lead accumulations in shoots and tubers (except cadmium in shoots), the watering treatments ranked as: T₁ > T₃ > T₂ > T₄ > T₅.     

An effective visualization and comparison of online terrain draped with multi-sensor satellite images

The objective of this paper is to discuss the effectiveness of visualizing online 3D terrain draped with different satellite imageries. The topographic data of the study area were obtained from the contour maps of Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia. The high resolution satellite imageries used in this project involving QUICKBIRD (0.6 m resolution), IKONOS (1 m resolution), and SPOT5 (5 m resolution). R2V software was used for editing the contour data, whereas Arc GIS was used for overlaying the imageries over the 3D terrain data. Then the data were exported into Virtual Reality Markup Language to compare the effectiveness of different satellite imageries based on the data file size, imageries size, number of images tile, loading time during office hours (from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and out of office hours (after 5 p.m.), frame rate per second, and visualization quality. The results revealed that IKONOS satellite imageries are better for an effective online 3D terrain visualization utilizing GIS data even though it has lower resolution compared to QUICKBIRD.     

New paleomagnetic results from the northern margin of the Kohistan Island Arc

Different phases of remanent magnetizations have been identified in the Cretaceous–Tertiary rocks collected from the northern margin of the Kohistan Island Arc, northern Pakistan. Among them, a magnetite-related component is recognized as the most useful one because of its relatively stable behaviour and widespread presence in the volcanics and red beds. Calculation of mean direction for this component reveal two visible groupings in terms of paleomagnetic directions (Yasin + Baris Group: D?=?341.6º, I?=?10.6º, α ₉₅?=?23.3 º, k?=?11.7, N?=?5; Sandhi Group: D?=?28.4º, I?=??27.4º, α ₉₅?=?32.5 º, k?=?8.96, N?=?4). The fold tests applied to both these groups are inconclusive, indicating a syn-folding to post-folding origin for this component. A set of inclinations from this study provide new insight into post-collision northward displacement of the Kohistan Arc with respect to its surrounding terranes. Reliability of the paleomagnetic declinations from this study is not fully guaranteed, but when compared with previously reported paleomagnetic directions, a systematic increase in counter-clockwise deflections towards west has been detected along this paleo-island arc. This trend of declinations is well matched with the extrusion model of Asia, where counter-clockwise rotation has been suggested for the tectonic terranes around Western Himalaya. Another important observation is a divergence in paleomagnetic declinations across the rivers, which may indicate the presence of faulted zones under the cover of flowing water. This aspect can be compared to recent geological interpretations that Kohistan may not have acted as a rigid block following its collision with India but may have been deformed through localized shears and faults.     

Investigation of the Effects of Baffles on the Shallow Water Sloshing in A Rectangular Tank Using A 2D Turbulent ISPH Method

Liquid sloshing is a common phenomenon in the liquid tanks transportation. Liquid waves lead to fluctuating forces on the tank wall. Uncontrolled fluctuations lead to large forces and momentums. Baffles can control these fluctuations. A numerical method, which has been widely used to model this phenomenon, is Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics(SPH). The Lagrangian nature of this method makes it suitable for simulating free surface flows. In the present study, an accurate Incompressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics(ISPH) method is developed and improved using the kernel gradient correction tensors, particle shifting algorithms, k–ε turbulence model, and free surface particle detectors. Comparisons with the experimental data approve the ability of the present algorithm for simulating shallow water sloshing. The main aim of this study is to investigate the effects of the vertical baffle on the damping of liquid sloshing. Results show that baffles number has a major role in sloshing fluctuation damping.     

Origin of groundwater salinity in the Fasa Plain,southern Iran,hydrogeochemical and isotopic approaches

The study area, the Fasa Plain, is situated in the semiarid region of Fars Province in the south of Iran. The Salloo diapir is a salt dome that crops out in the northwest of the study area. Isotopic and hydrochemical analyses were used to examine the water and how the origin of salinity and the diapir affect the quality of the groundwater quality in the study area. Groundwater was sampled from 31 representative pumping wells in alluvial aquifer and five springs in order to measure their stable isotope compositions, bromide ion concentration, and physical and chemical parameters. The alluvial aquifer was organized into two main groups based on the chemistry, with Group 1 consisting of low-salinity well samples (544–1744 µS/cm) with water type Ca–Mg–HCO₃–SO₄ which were taken in the center and north of the area, and Group 2 consisting of high-salinity samples (2550–4620 µS/cm) with water type Ca–Mg–Cl–SO₄ which were taken from the wells in the south and southwest of the area. A saline spring near the salt dome with an EC of 10,280 µS/cm has water type Na–Cl, while the compositions of the water in the other karstic springs is comparable to the fresh groundwater samples. All groundwater samples are undersaturated with respect to gypsum, anhydrite, and halite and are supersaturated with respect to calcite and dolomite. Stable isotopes (δ¹⁸O and δ²H) differentiated four water types: saline springs, freshwater spring, fresh groundwater, and saline groundwater. The results indicate that meteoric water is the main origin of these water resources. Halite dissolution from the salt dome was identified as the origin of salinity. The Na/Cl and Cl/Br ratios confirmed the results. Groundwater compositions in the southwestern part of the area are affected by the intrusion of saltwater from the salt dome. The average saltwater fraction in the some water wells is about 0.2%. In the south and southwestern part of the area, the saltwater fraction is positive in mixed freshwater/saltwater (Group 2). Different processes interact together to change the hydrochemical properties of Fasa’s alluvial aquifer. The main processes that occur in the aquifer are mixing, gypsum dissolution, and calcite precipitation.