Two-dimensional modelling of hydrodynamics and water quality of a stratified dam reservoir in the southern side of the Mediterranean Sea

A vertical two-dimensional, laterally averaged hydrodynamic and water quality model CE-QUAL-W2 was used to simulate water temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, chlorophyll a, total suspended solids, alkalinity, ammonium, phosphate, and total iron in the Sejnane Dam (North Tunisia) in response to external forcings that characterize main features of climate in the southern side of the Mediterranean Sea. The hydrodynamic modelling results show that the model is able to reproduce accurately the measured water surface elevation, spatio-temporal patterns of temperature, dissolved oxygen and other state of variables and to capture most of the seasonal changes in the reservoir. Three scenarios involving the impacts of severe drought season, summer rainfall and total suspended solids load on hydrodynamics and water quality are analyzed. Severe drought reduces the thickness of hypoxic waters from 10 to 2–4 m and shifts the temperature of the entire water column up to 5 °C during summer and about 1.2 °C in winter. The thermocline takes place 1 month before that of the reference and sinks to the bottom faster by 1–2 m per month. Summer rainfall dilutes the first waves of the autumn rains and disrupts the thermal gradient in the water column, which may show complex thermal structures. TSS load has the most negative effects on water quality in that it shifts the phosphorus concentration by 1–3 mg/l and promotes an early warming of surface water in spring and an early cooling since late summer by up to 1 °C. During summer stratification, it contributes to the cooling of the metalimnion by 2 °C on average, which may alter its structure and dynamics as an aquatic biotope.     

Extending F‐Perceptory to model fuzzy objects with composite geometries for GIS

When analyzing spatial issues, geographers are often confronted with many problems with regard to the imprecision of the available information. It is necessary to develop representation and design methods which are suited to imprecise spatiotemporal data. This led to the recent proposal of the F‐Perceptory approach. F‐Perceptory models fuzzy primitive geometries that are appropriate in representing homogeneous regions. However, the real world often contains cases that are much more complex, describing geographic features with composite structures such as a geometry aggregation or combination. From a conceptual point of view, these cases have not yet been managed with F‐Perceptory. This article proposes modeling fuzzy geographic objects with composite geometries, by extending the pictographic language of F‐Perceptory and its mapping to the Unified Modeling Language (UML) necessary to manage them in object/relational databases. Until now, the most commonly used object modeling tools have not considered imprecise data. The extended F‐Perceptory is implemented under a UML‐based modeling tool in order to support users in fuzzy conceptual data modeling. In addition, in order to properly define the related database design, an automatic derivation process is implemented to generate the fuzzy database model.     

Geochemistry and quality assessment of groundwater using graphical and multivariate statistical methods. A case study: Grombalia phreatic aquifer (Northeastern Tunisia)

The Grombalia coastal aquifer, situated in Northeastern Tunisia, is a water source for public, agricultural, and industrial supplies in the region. The overexploitation of this aquifer, since 1959, and the agriculture activities led to the degradation, by places, of the water quality. The present study implemented graphical, modeling, and multivariate statistical tools to investigate natural and anthropogenic processes controlling Grombalia groundwater mineralization and water quality for promoting sustainable development. To attempt this goal, groundwater was collected from 33 observation wells in January 2004, and samples were analyzed for 10 physicochemical parameters (temperature, pH, salinity, Na⁺, Ca²⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl^?, HCO^3?, and SO ₄ ^2? ). Hydrochemical facies using Piper diagram indicates a predominance of a mixed facies, of the Na-Cl-HCO₃ type, or Na-Ca-Cl-SO₄ type, and, with less expansion, Na Cl type. The main factors controlling Grombalia groundwater mineralization seem to be mineral dissolution of highly soluble salts especially, the halite dissolution existing in the surface salty deposits and, with less importance, the ion exchange and reverse ion exchange process with clay minerals existing in the aquifer. The comparison of the major ions of the Grombalia groundwater, with the World Health Organization norms of potability (WHO 2004), reveals that these waters cannot be used for human consumption without any treatment. Most waters of the Grombalia aquifer, with a relatively high salinity, are not suitable for irrigation, in ordinary conditions. Nevertheless, they can be used for permeable soils, with an adequate drainage and applying an excess of leaching water.     

Modeling and Optimization of Fluoride and Cadmium Trapping in Phosphogypsum Using Design Methodology

The manufacturing of phosphoric acid from natural calcium phosphate generates a solid residue containing 25–30% humidity. This solid residue (phosphogypsum) generates acidic solution (pH ≈ 2.5) containing several toxic ionic species, that coat its grains. Fluorides and heavy metals such as cadmium are considered the most harmful species contained in the released solution from phosphogypsum. The purpose of this work is to study the trapping of fluorides and cadmium in phosphogypsum as well as effluent neutralization before its discharge into natural recipient. Therefore, calcium carbonate finely ground was added and fully mixed with wet phosphogypsum. A four factors central composite design was used to model and to optimize the operating parameters that govern the process. The studied factors were temperature, reaction time, mass, and grains size of CaCO₃. Considered responses were pH, F⁻, and Cd²⁺ concentrations in the released solution after reaction with CaCO₃. The optimum operating conditions were quite efficient to trap, respectively, 99% Cd²⁺ and 97% of F⁻ with a final pH of 6.66. So an original, easy, simple, and cost effective method to trap some toxic species on phosphogypsum through CaCO₃ addition would likely to be integrated in phosphoric acid manufacturing plant.