Estimating mean residence time of karst groundwater in mountainous catchments of Western Himalaya,India

The mean residence time (MRT) of karst groundwater in three mountainous catchments of the Western Himalaya was estimated using multiple approaches: the tritium method, the sine wave model and tracer tests. Water samples were collected from precipitation, glacier melt, streams and karst springs for δ²H and tritium analysis during 2012 and 2013. High tritium values were observed in winter precipitation and low values in summer precipitation. The variation of tritium in karst springs was similar to that of the streams, whereas glacier melt showed lower tritium values. The MRT of cold karst springs was shorter than that of warm karst springs. The tracer breakthrough curves (TBC) retrieved for different springs suggested a short travel time for groundwater and possibly conduit flow. Deterioration of water quality and variation in flux magnitude are the two main practical consequences of the short travel time of karst groundwater in the region.

EDITOR D. Koutsoyiannis

ASSOCIATE EDITOR K. Heal     

腾格里沙漠盐湖氯同位素地球化学特征

δ~(37)Cl值可以用来指示盐湖演化过程中卤水的蒸发浓缩程度、可能的补给来源和控制因素,本文对腾格里沙漠地区12个代表性盐湖卤水样品开展了氯同位素组成研究.结果表明,研究区内沙漠盐湖卤水的δ~(37)Cl值变化范围为-0.10‰~1.36‰,平均值为0.55‰;其中,硫酸钠亚型卤水的δ~(37)Cl值范围为-0.10‰~1.36‰(平均值为0.56‰),硫酸镁亚型卤水的δ~(37)Cl值范围为0.14‰~0.82‰(平均值为0.48‰).对比柴达木盆地现代盐湖分析数据,发现区内沙漠盐湖的δ~(37)Cl平均值明显大于柴达木盆地盐湖的δ~(37)Cl平均值,并且,硫酸钠亚型卤水δ~(37)Cl最高,硫酸镁亚型卤水次之,氯化物型卤水最小.基于不同盐湖地下水咸化程度以及盐湖卤水中δ~(37)Cl值与Br/Cl系数关系的研究,揭示了研究区东部和东北部盐湖可能受到第三系地层咸水的补给,而其他盐湖主要受蒸发浓缩作用影响.δ~(37)Cl值分布特征则显示,腾格里沙漠地区部分盐湖在形成过程中可能受到区域构造活动诱发的第三系深部水补给及水-岩作用等多重因素的影响.     

Protonated Hydroxylamine-Assisted Iron Catalytic Activation of Persulfate for the Rapid Removal of Persistent Organics from Wastewater

This research aims at optimizing the effects of processing conditions, salts, natural organic materials, and water matrices quality on the effectiveness of the Fe(II)/K₂S₂O₈/hydroxylamine process in the degradation of pararosaniline. Assisting the Fe(II)/KPS (potassium persulfate) treatment with protonated hydroxylamine (H₃NOH⁺) increases the degradation rate of pararosaniline by more than 100%. Radical scavenger experiments show that the SO₄^●− radical dominates pararosaniline degradation in the Fe(II)/KPS system, whereas ^●OH is the dominant reactive species in the presence of H₃NOH⁺. The disparity in pararosaniline removal effectiveness upon the Fe(II)/KPS/H₃NOH⁺ and Fe(II)/KPS systems gets more significant with increasing reactants doses (i.e., H₃NOH⁺, H₂O₂, Fe(II)) and solution pH (2–7). Interestingly, H₃NOH⁺ increased the working pH to 6 instead of pH 4 for the Fe(II)/KPS process. Moreover, mineral anions such as Cl⁻, NO₃⁻, NO₂⁻, and SO₄⁻ (up to 10 × 10⁻³ m ) do not affect the efficiency of the Fe(II)/KPS/H₃NOH⁺ process. In contrast, acid humic decreases the performance of the process by ≈20%. In natural mineral water, treated wastewater, and river water samples, the Fe(II)/KPS/H₃NOH⁺ process maintains higher degradation performance (≈95%), whereas the process efficiency is greatly amortized in seawater. The efficiency of the Fe(II)/KPS process was drastically decreased in the various water matrices.     

High-resolution X-ray fluorescence profiling of hybrid event beds: Implications for sediment gravity flow behaviour and deposit structure

Hybrid event beds form when turbidity currents that transport or locally acquire significant quantities of mud decelerate. The mud dampens turbulence driving flow transformations, allowing both mud and sand to settle into dense, near-bed fluid layers and debris flows. Quantifying details of the mud distribution vertically in what are often complex tiered deposits is critical to reconstructing flow processes and explaining the diverse bed types left by mud-bearing gravity flows. High-resolution X-ray fluorescence core scanning provides continuous vertical compositional profiles that can help to constrain mud distribution at sub-millimetre scale, offering a significant improvement over discrete sampling. The approach is applied here to cores acquired from the Pennsylvanian Ross Sandstone Formation, western Ireland, where a range of hybrid event beds have been identified. Raw X-ray fluorescence counts are calibrated against element concentrations and mineral abundances determined on coincident core plugs, with element and element log-ratios used as proxies to track vertical changes in abundances of quartz, illite (including mica), chlorite and calcite cement. New insights include ‘stepped’ (to higher values) as opposed to ‘saw-tooth’ vertical changes in mud content and the presence of compositional banding that would otherwise be overlooked. Hybrid event beds in basin floor sheets that arrived ahead of the prograding fan system have significantly cleaner sandy components than those in mid-fan lobes. The latter may imply that the heads of the currents emerging from mid-fan channels entrained significant mud immediately before they collapsed. Many of the H3 debrites are bipartite with a sandier H3a division attributed to re-entrainment and mixing of a trailing debris or fluid mud flow (H3b) with sand left by the forward part of the flow. Hybrid event bed structure may thus partly reflect substrate interaction and mixing during deposition, and the texture of the bed divisions may not simply mirror those in the suspensions from which they formed.     

Shrinking greenery: Land use and land cover changes in Kurram Agency,Kohi Safid Mountains of north-western Pakistan

Deforestation and other Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes, driven by variety of physical and anthropogenic factors, have altered the mountainous environment. Mountains around the world including northern and north western belts of Pakistan are highly sensitive to deforestation and other LULC changes, which have profound impacts on various sectors of bio-physical and socio-economic systems. Assessment of LULC changes has high significance for protection, conservation and monitoring mountainous environment. The present study is an attempt to assess the landscape changes with particular reference to forest cover depletion in Kurram Agency located in the north western mountain belt of Pakistan. For detailed comparative analysis the study area has been divided into three sections, which coincide with the present administrative divisions of the Agency, i.e., Upper, Lower and Central Kurram. Temporal span of this study covers four decades. In this study, land use map of 1970 and land sat satellite imageries of 1987, 2000 and 2014 were used as spatial data sets. The images were processed and classified into six LULC classes through geospatial packages and change detection maps were prepared for each division and time period. Findings of the study reveal two trends in the four major LULC categories. Forest and rangeland have shrunk, on average, by 15% and 7.5% respectively while, bare soil and rocks outcrops have expanded by 89% and agriculture land by 7.2% in Kurram agency. The water bodies and snow cover have minor fluctuation in its land area. Major causes of shrinking greenery is attributed to high influx of Afghan refugees and high energy demand of growing population. However, with outflow of the refugees from Kurram agency the general trend in forest cover has reverted and deforestation rate has slowed down.     

Remote sensing-based geostatistical hot spot analysis of Urban Heat Islands in Dhaka,Bangladesh

Urban Heat Island (UHI) refers to a phenomenon whereby urban areas experience higher temperatures compared to the surrounding areas. Remote sensing-based Land Surface Temperature (LST) measurements can be utilized to measure UHI. This study emphasized on geostatistical remote sensing-based hot spot analysis ($G_i^{*}$) of UHI in Dhaka, Bangladesh as a way of examining the influences of Land Use Land Cover (LULC) on UHI from 1991 to 2015. Landsat 5 and 7 satellite-based remote sensing indices were used to explore LULC, UHI and environmental footprints during the study period. The Urban Compactness Ratio (C_oR) was used to calculate the urban form and augmented characteristics. The Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) intensity (ΔT) was also used to explore the effects of UHI on the surrounding marginal area. Based on our investigations into LULC, we discovered that around 71.34 per cent of water bodies and 71.82 percent of vegetation cover decreased from 1991 to 2015 in Dhaka city. Contrastingly, according to C_oR readings, 174.13 km² of urban areas expanded by 249.77 per cent. Our hot spot analysis also revealed that there was a 93.73 per cent increase in hot concentration zones. Furthermore, the average temperature of the study area had increased by 3.26°C. We hope that the methods and results of this study can contribute to further research on urban climate.     

Full-scale experimental investigations on the response of a flooded passenger vehicle under subcritical conditions

Natural Hazards - Vehicles can be easily swept away by floodwaters once the flow velocity and depth reach certain critical limits, with probabilities toward fatality reported to be nearly 50%....