Geological research at the Natural History Museum of Moscow University, 1759-1930 （in Russian）

In 2006, the Moscow publishing house Nauka （Science） published a 246-page book by Zoya A. Bessudnova entitled Geological Research at the Natural History. Museum of Moscow University, 1759-1930 as No. 32 in its series ＂Sketches on the History of Geological Knowledge＇. The author is a geologist and Senior Researcher in the Department for the History of Geology of the Vernadsky State Geological Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a member of the International Commission on the History of Geological Sci- ences （INHIGEO）.     

Effect of aluminum and chromium on the germination and growth of two Vigna species

The study deals with the effect of metal toxicity (aluminum, chromium and combination of both the metals) on seed germination, root length, shoot length, seedling length and dry biomass of Vigna radiata and V. sinensis. Chromium adversely affected the seedling by significantly reducing the growth whereas aluminum did not show such effect in both the species. Percentage of germination was good in both the species at different concentration of treatment (aluminum, chromium and combined treatment). Shoot length was also not much affected in V. sinensis as it was greatly inhibited in V. radiata. Both the species showed the purpling of stem. Dry biomass of V. radiata showed positive effect than V. sinensis. However, dry biomass decreased to a lesser extent when treated with aluminum, chromium and combined treatment as compared to control.     

Investigation of upper crust anisotropy in Ghaen-Birjand region, east-central Iran

IntroductionWhenpropagatingthroughananisotropicmedium,ashearwavesplitsintotwo(quasi)shearwaveswithdifferentpropagationspeedsandpolarizedorthogonally.Owingtotherecentdevel-opmentofseismicobservationsystem,detectionofshearwavessplittingwithverysmalldelaytimesbetweenfasterandslowershearwavesbecameavailableandprovidedpowerfulapproachfordetectionofcrustalanisotropy.Crampin(1978)emphasizedtheroleofalignedmicrocracksasacauseofcrustalanisotropyandpointedoutthatforverticallyalignedmicrocracksthedirecti…     

A spatio-temporal three-dimensional conceptualization and simulation of Dera Ismail Khan alluvial aquifer in visual MODFLOW: a case study from Pakistan

Dera Ismail Khan (DIK) is situated in the Lower Indus Basin of Pakistan. The land use has been changed in the canal command area due to irrigation activities near the Indus River. To check the current status and predict the groundwater levels in the area, the unconfined aquifer has been simulated in Visual MODFLOW for a period of 35 years, i.e., from 1985 to 2020. The 2900-km² area has been modeled with a grid of 500 by 500 m and the depth set to 100 m. The aquifer in the study area has been divided vertically and laterally into three and ten zones, respectively, for the characterization. Water wells and streams were used as the sinks and hydrologic boundaries, respectively. The model was successfully calibrated in steady and the non-steady state. The simulation revealed that the whole simulation can be divided into two phases, i.e., before and after the construction of the Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC), whereas the results were summarized in the form of water table depth maps and groundwater budget calculations. To determine the groundwater sustainability, a conjunctive use scenario has been employed to simulate the aquifer dynamics till 2020. The simulation revealed incremental drawdowns till the end.     

ANALYSIS OF SURFACE AIR TEMPERATURE RECORDED IN LAHORE AND MIANWALI OVER THE PAST THREE DECADES

Surface air temperatures recorded over the past three decades at the weather stations located in Lahore (anindustrialized and densely populated city) and Mianwali (a small and sparsely populated city) were analyzed in order tostudy their climatic trend.Lahore,where meteorological data are recorded at two weather stations (city station and air-port station) indicates a cooling trend,of about 0.5℃ per record period of 1953—1992,for the airport station (31°31′N,74°24′E) and a slight warming trend,of about 0.2℃,for the city station (31°33′N,74°20′E) for the record period of 1950—1992.The Mianwali weather station (32°33′N,71°31′E) also shows a slight cooling trend,of about 0.4℃ per recordperiod of 1959—1992.The climatic variability at these stations was studied by computing seasonal and annual tempera-ture anomalies.The results are explained in terms of the local environmental conditions.     

A multi-proxy reconstruction of spatial and temporal variations in Asian summer temperatures over the last millennium

To investigate climate variability in Asia during the last millennium, the spatial and temporal evolution of summer (June–July–August; JJA) temperature in eastern and south-central Asia is reconstructed using multi-proxy records and the regularized expectation maximization (RegEM) algorithm with truncated total least squares (TTLS), under a point-by-point regression (PPR) framework. The temperature index reconstructions show that the late 20th century was the warmest period in Asia over the past millennium. The temperature field reconstructions illustrate that temperatures in central, eastern, and southern China during the 11th and 13th centuries, and in western Asia during the 12th century, were significantly higher than those in other regions, and comparable to levels in the 20th century. Except for the most recent warming, all identified warm events showed distinct regional expressions and none were uniform over the entire reconstruction area. The main finding of the study is that spatial temperature patterns have, on centennial time-scales, varied greatly over the last millennium. Moreover, seven climate model simulations, from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), over the same region of Asia, are all consistent with the temperature index reconstruction at the 99 % confidence level. Only spatial temperature patterns extracted as the first empirical orthogonal function (EOF) from the GISS-E2-R and MPI-ESM-P model simulations are significant and consistent with the temperature field reconstruction over the past millennium in Asia at the 90 % confidence level. This indicates that both the reconstruction and the simulations depict the temporal climate variability well over the past millennium. However, the spatial simulation or reconstruction capability of climate variability over the past millennium could be still limited. For reconstruction, some grid points do not pass validation tests and reveal the need for more proxies with high temporal resolution, accurate dating, and sensitive temperature signals, especially in central Asia and before AD 1400.     

Bias correction method of high-resolution satellite-based precipitation product for Peninsular Malaysia

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Satellite-based precipitation (SBP) is emerging as a reliable source for high-resolution rainfall estimates over the globe. However, uncertainty in SBP is...     

Investigating Parameters of Geomorphic Direct Runoff Hydrograph Models

Water Resources - Formulation of rainfall runoff models and identification of their parameters is difficult step especially for catchments having scanty or no data. Parameters of geomorphic...