Groundwater qanat potential mapping using frequency ratio and Shannon’s entropy models in the Moghan watershed,Iran

The purpose of current study is to produce groundwater qanat potential map using frequency ratio (FR) and Shannon's entropy (SE) models in the Moghan watershed, Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran. The qanat is basically a horizontal, interconnected series of underground tunnels that accumulate and deliver groundwater from a mountainous source district, along a water- bearing formation (aquifer), and to a settlement. A qanat locations map was prepared for study area in 2013 based on a topographical map at a 1:50,000-scale and extensive field surveys. 53 qanat locations were detected in the field surveys. 70 % (38 locations) of the qanat locations were used for groundwater potential mapping and 30 % (15 locations) were used for validation. Fourteen effective factors were considered in this investigation such as slope degree, slope aspect, altitude, topographic wetness index (TWI), stream power index (SPI), slope length (LS), plan curvature, profile curvature, distance to rivers, distance to faults, lithology, land use, drainage density, and fault density. Using the above conditioning factors, groundwater qanat potential map was generated implementing FR and SE models, and the results were plotted in ArcGIS. The predictive capability of frequency ratio and Shannon's entropy models were determined by the area under the relative operating characteristic curve. The area under the curve (AUC) for frequency ratio model was calculated as 0.8848. Also AUC for Shannon's entropy model was 0.9121, which depicts the excellence of this model in qanat occurrence potential estimation in the study area. So the Shannon's entropy model has higher AUC than the frequency ratio model. The produced groundwater qanat potential maps can assist planners and engineers in groundwater development plans and land use planning.     

Development and application of Shannon’s entropy integrated information value model for landslide susceptibility assessment and zonation in Sikkim Himalayas in India

Natural Hazards - The state of Sikkim in India has many steep slopes and has been susceptible to landslides. Since 1968 there have been innumerable losses of lives and properties due to landslides....     

Flash-flood potential assessment and mapping by integrating the weights-of-evidence and frequency ratio statistical methods in GIS environment – case study: Bâsca Chiojdului River catchment (Romania)

Given the significant worldwide human and economic losses caused due to floods annually, reducing the negative consequences of these hazards is a major concern in development strategies at different spatial scales. A basic step in flood risk management is identifying areas susceptible to flood occurrences. This paper proposes a methodology allowing the identification of areas with high potential of accelerated surface run-off and consequently, of flash-flood occurrences. The methodology involves assessment and mapping in GIS environment of flash flood potential index (FFPI), by integrating two statistical methods: frequency ratio and weights-of-evidence. The methodology was applied for Bâsca Chiojdului River catchment (340 \(\hbox {km}^{2}\)), located in the Carpathians Curvature region (Romania). Firstly, the areas with torrential phenomena were identified and the main factors controlling the surface run-off were selected (in this study nine geographical factors were considered). Based on the features of the considered factors, many classes were set for each of them. In the next step, the weights of each class/category of the considered factors were determined, by identifying their spatial relationships with the presence or absence of torrential phenomena. Finally, the weights for each class/category of geographical factors were summarized in GIS, resulting the FFPI values for each of the two statistical methods. These values were divided into five classes of intensity and were mapped. The final results were used to estimate the flash-flood potential and also to identify the most susceptible areas to this phenomenon. Thus, the high and very high values of FFPI characterize more than one-third of the study catchment. The result validation was performed by (i) quantifying the rate of the number of pixels corresponding to the torrential phenomena considered for the study (training area) and for the results’ testing (validating area) and (ii) plotting the ROC (receiver operating characteristics) curve.     

Timimoun’s foggara (Algeria): an heritage in danger

Timimoun is located in the hyper-arid zone of the Sahara, with an annual rainfall not exceeding 100 mm/year. To fill the shortage of rainfall, the oasis has developed a traditional means for mobilization of the groundwater. In the foggara with this hydraulic system, oases have been developed throughout the region of Timimoun over ten centuries. Today, we witness the gradual disappearance of foggaras; we lose about one to two foggaras per year for over half a century. The discharge of the 250 functional foggaras shows a significant drop: 850 l/s in 1960 and 355 l/s in 2001, enough to irrigate 350 ha. The causes of declining foggaras are technical, social, and environmental. The surveys that we have led nearly with the population in the ksour during two missions in 2007 and 2008 in the oasis of Timimoun reveal that socio-economic problems (Heritage and depopulation) are common to both types of foggara (foggara of the Erg and foggara Albian). Environmental problems (silting and flooding of the galleries by wild plants) are the main causes of the disappearance of foggaras of Erg. Technical problems (collapse of tunnels) are mainly the causes of degradation to Albian’s foggaras. Attempts to introduce changes to foggaras are temporary solutions. The modern collection of water (pump and drilling) is gradually replacing the traditional hydraulic system.     

Crustal Poisson’s ratio anomalies in the eastern part of North China and their origins

Seismic tomography can provide both fine P-wave and S-wave velocity structures of the crust and upper mantle.In addition,with proper computation,Poisson’s ratio images from the seismic velocities can be determined.However,it is unknown whether Poisson’s ratio images have any advantages when compared with the P-wave and S-wave velocity images.For the purposes of this study,high-resolution seismic tomography under the eastern part of North China region was used to determine detailed 3-D crustal P- and S-wave seismic velocities structure,as well as Poisson’s ratio images.Results of Poisson’s ratio imaging show high Poisson’s ratio(high-PR) anomalies located in the Hengshan-North Taihang-Zhangjiakou(H-NT-Z) region,demonstrating that Poisson’s ratio imaging can provide new geophysical constraints for regional tectonic evolution.The H-NT-Z region shows a prominent and continuous high-PR anomaly in the upper crust.Based on Poisson’s ratio images at different depths, we find that this high-PR anomaly is extending down to the middle crust with thickness up to about 26 km.According to rock physical property measurements and other geological data,this crustal Poisson’s ratio anomaly can be explained by Mesozoic partial melting of the upper mantle and basaltic magma underplating related to the lithospheric thinning of the North China craton.     

Shear wave velocity imaging of landslide debris deposited on an erodible bed and possible movement mechanism for a loess landslide in Jingyang,Xi’an,China

The South Jingyang Plateau, with a total area of 70 km², is located in Shaanxi Province, China. Since 1976, more than 50 landslides of different types have occurred repeatedly on the edge slopes of the plateau due to the start of diversion irrigation on the plateau, resulting in great loss of lives and property. To better understand the initiation and movement mechanisms of these loess landslides, we surveyed them and carried out a detailed investigation of a large landslide in the Xihetan area. Our field survey results revealed that although most of these landslides had a long runout with high mobility, most of the landslide materials originating from the edge slopes may have been in an unsaturated state when the landslide occurred. This suggests that the materials at the toe of the edge slope as well as on the travel path along the river terrace might have played a key role in landslide movement. To examine how the materials on the travel path were involved in the landsliding, we used a multichannel surface wave technique and surveyed shear wave velocity (V _s ) profiles of the landslide deposits. We also examined the internal geometry of the deposits that outcropped on the right-side slope of the landslide foot. The longitudinal profile of V _s along the direction of movement showed that terrace deposits near the toe of the edge slope may have been sheared upward, indicating that at the toe, the surface of rupture might be located inside the terrace deposits. The V _s contours showed an A-shaped fold within the landslide deposits in the middle part of the travel path and became greater in the most distal toe part. The V _s profile across the deposits showed a U-shaped belt, in which the soil layers have smaller V _s . This belt may be the boundary between the sliding landslide debris and terrace deposits. The observed internal geometry of the landslide deposits indicates that a sliding surface developed within the sandy layer underlying the gravel layer. Therefore, we inferred that after failure, the displaced landslide materials overrode and sheared the terrace deposits along its main sliding direction, resulting in the formation of thrust folds within the terrace deposits, and greater V _s on the distal toe part of the landslide.     

Faulting and folding in quaternary deposits of Tehran’s piedmont (Iran)

Tehran lies on the southern flank of the Central Alborz, an active mountain belt characterized by many historical earthquakes, some of which have affected Tehran itself. The border between the Alborz Mountain and the Tehran’s piedmont (northern part of Tehran City) is marked by the North Tehran Fault (NTF), dividing the Eocene rock formation from the alluvial units of different ages (Early Pleistocene to the recent alluvium). A detail mapping of the piedmont, combined with structural study reveal that two active thrust faults (situated south of the NTF) are of importance for hazard assessment of the City. The geomorphological evidences along the NTF are not in agreement with an active fault, indicating that the fault activity may have been shifted southward. Furthermore differentiation of newly recognized alluvial units and their inferred ages, together with the mapped fault pattern permit us to characterize the Quaternary deformation. The Late Pleistocene alluvial deposits consist of three alluvial fans among them the youngest one together with the modern alluvial fan defines the Holocene deposit. The present deformation in the piedmont is accommodated along vertically left-lateral strike-slip faults and low-angle thrust faults trending in range from N070 to N110E.     

Determination of potential hazardous elements in an coals (Canakkale- Turkey)-I

It is known that the increasing use of coal as an energy source led to the growing environmental and health problems. But comprehensive knowledge of coal quality parameters may help to reduce some of these problems. The ?anakkale-?an coalfield is located …     

Source parameters of earthquakes in the reservoir-triggered seismic (RTS) zone of Koyna–Warna, Western India

New empirical relations are derived for source parameters of the Koyna–Warna reservoir-triggered seismic zone in Western India using spectral analysis of 38 local earthquakes in the magnitude range M _L 3.5–5.2. The data come from a seismic network operated by the CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, India, during March 2005 to April 2012 in this region. The source parameters viz. seismic moment, source radius, corner frequency and stress drop for the various events lie in the range of 10¹³–10¹⁶ Nm, 0.1–0.4 km, 2.9–9.4 Hz and 3–26 MPa, respectively. Linear relationships are obtained among the seismic moment (M ₀), local magnitude (M _L), moment magnitude (M _w), corner frequency (fc) and stress drop (?σ). The stress drops in the Koyna–Warna region are found to increase with magnitude as well as focal depths of earthquakes. Interestingly, accurate depths derived from moment tensor inversion of earthquake waveforms show a strong correlation with the stress drops, seemingly characteristic of the Koyna–Warna region.     

Variability of the date of monsoon onset over Kerala (India) of the period 1870–2014 and its relation to sea surface temperature

Monsoon onset over Kerala (India) which occurs every year is a major climatic phenomenon that involves large scale changes in wind, rainfall and sea surface temperature (SST). Over the last 150 years, the date of monsoon onset over Kerala (DMOK) has varied widely, the earliest being 11 May, 1918 and the most delayed being 18 June, 1972. DMOK has a long term (1870–2014) mean of 01 June and standard deviation of 7–8 days. We have studied the inter-annual and decadal time scale variability of DMOK and their relation with SST. We found that SST anomalies of large spatial scale similar to those in El Nino/La Nina are associated with the inter-annual variability in DMOK. Indian Ocean between latitudes \(5^{\circ }\hbox {S}\) and \(20^{\circ }\hbox {N}\) has two episodes of active convection associated with monsoon onset over Kerala (MOK), one around DMOK and the other about six weeks earlier (called pre-monsoon rain peak or bogus monsoon onset) and in between a two week period of suppressed convection occurs over north Indian Ocean. A prominent decadal time scale variability was found in DMOK having large and statistically significant linear correlation with the SST gradient across the equator over Indian and Pacific oceans, the large correlation persisting for several months prior to the MOK. However, no linear trend was seen in DMOK during the long period from 1870 to 2014.     

Landslide susceptibility mapping by frequency ratio and logistic regression methods: an example from Niksar–Resadiye (Tokat,Turkey)

Turkey confronts loss of life and large economic losses due to natural disasters caused by its morphologic structure, geographical placement, and climate characteristics. The Kuzulu (Koyulhisar) landslide, which caused loss of life and property on 17th March 2005, occurred in an area near the country’s most important active fault, the North Anatolian Fault Zone. To mitigate and prevent landslide damages, prediction of landslide susceptibility areas based on probabilistic methods has a great importance. The purpose of this study was to produce a landslide susceptibility map by the logistic regression and frequency ratio methodologies for a 733-km² area near the North Anatolian Fault Zone from the southeast of Niksar to Resadiye in Tokat province. Conditioning parameters, such as elevation, slope gradient, slope aspect, distance to streams, roads, and faults, drainage density, and fault density, were used in the analysis. Before susceptibility analysis, the landslides observed in the area were separated into two groups for use in analysis and verification, respectively. The susceptibility maps produced had five different susceptibility classes such as very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. To test the performance of the susceptibility maps, area under curve (AUC) approach was used. For the logistic regression method, the AUC value was 0.708; while for the frequency rate method, this value was 0.744. According to these AUC values, it could be concluded that the two landslide susceptibility maps obtained were successful.     

Numerical modeling to predict the spread of landslide of schist’s area under climatic event of Ain El Hammam (Algeria)

The several reactivations of the landslide of Ain El Hammam (AEH) after each important weather event compel us to look closely at its triggering factors and predict its mechanisms and its evolution at the longer term. In this sense, the prediction of the slope behavior becomes necessary. This paper presents a numerical model of the AEH landslide using Plaxis® software. This model considers hydraulic effects such as precipitation and pore pressure even in the unsaturated parts. Soil and rock behaviors are described with proper elasto-plastic models named Hardening Soils and Jointed Rocks. The first model takes into account hardening on isotropic and deviatoric mechanism as well as a non-associated flow rule. The second model considers a non-isotropic elasticity with perfect plasticity along with given sliding directions. The hydraulic and mechanical models are coupled with an effective stress concept. To detect unstable areas in the landslide, we developed a Matlab® program to take into account the Hill’s bifurcation criterion, which is based on sign of the second-order work. It has been proved that this criterion allows detecting all failure modes that can appear in rate-independent materials and especially the ones that develop before the plasticity limit criterion. From such computations, we can predict the shape and position of slip surface responsible of the actual ground movement of the slope. To validate the numerical results, analysis of field measurement is included. We use high resolution of electrical tomography to delineate the geometry and position of failure surface and approve our results.     

State power and environmental initiatives in China: Analyzing China’s green building program through an ecological modernization perspective

This paper applies the ecological modernization (EM) framework to analyze China’s green building program. EM focuses on the effective institutionalization of environmental objectives into respective political and economic systems, and thus provides valuable insights into the roles of the state and other stake holders in environmental regulation. Since the mid-2000s, the Chinese government has advanced an aggressive green building campaign, which is distinguished by its speed, scale, and evolution from one of voluntary participation to a top-down implementation through administrative hierarchies. While this has resulted in a remarkable growth of green building projects, questions remain about the effectiveness and sustainability of such a state-centered approach. Though interviews with officials, planners, architects, real estate developers, and property managers in several Chinese cities, data analysis of the green building stock, and surveys of architects, this paper analyzes Chinese green building patterns and situates such patterns among the contradictory motivations of different levels of government and their relationships to different stake holders. This research finds that the top-down state apparatus is not sufficient to overcome these contradictions and the profit motives of the property developers. However, many under-developed opportunities exist to leverage property developers, building professionals, and the public to engage in green building practices. In the end, I argue that the state must embrace reform to build flexible and collaborative movements with other parties with strong public participation. China’s ecological modernization process may feature a stronger state and faster changes, but it is not exempted from the need of political modernization.     

Stress State of the Earth’s Crust in the Western Tien Shan in Central Asia (Uzbekistan): A Mathematical Stress Model

Geotectonics - Seismic and tectonic processes were analyzed, taking into account the dimensions of tectonic structures and geological factors that determine the features of the relationship between...     

Making a new area in Xiong’an: Incentives and challenges of China’s “Millennium Plan”

On April 1, 2017, China announced to initiate the Xiong’an New Area (XNA) plan, which is a national-level strategy aimed at alleviating the pressures felt by Beijing and promoting the integration of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) city-region. In China, a city-region can be viewed as an outcome of state spatial selectivity that aims to manage crises and maintain governance through strong state involvement. This paper attempts to provide a broad view of the XNA plan by examining it in the context of China’s long-term efforts to coordinate the BTH region, explaining the incentives associated with choosing Xiong’an, and analyzing the challenges the plan has faced. Considering that theoretical insights based on Western experience may not be applicable to China, this paper can contribute to the debate revealing the logics of city-region building in different contexts.     

Women’s perceptions of health,quality of life,and malaria management in Kakamega County,Western Province,Kenya

We assess women’s perceptions of health risks in relation to quality of life concerns, with attention to variables viewed as central to maintaining or improving health and well-being. In this paper, we specifically underscore how a life-threatening disease—malaria—is experienced and bio-cyclically understood and managed in relation to seasonal hunger, food insecurities, and livelihood vulnerabilities. The study, conducted June–July 2013, draws on field data and interviews with 60 women farmers of the Luhya community along the Yala River in Kakamega County, Western Province, Kenya. Major findings suggest the following: (1) women’s perceived desired quality of life is shaped by priorities for children’s education, nutrition, food security, and economic security in their rural communities; (2) malaria emerged as a challenging household health problem that curtails livelihood opportunities for most study participants; and (3) local understandings of malaria transmission, particularly how and when female mosquitoes become infected with malaria-causing protozoans, was low, but malaria symptoms were relatively well-understood. The interest and motivation to institute new malaria risk reduction practices at the community level are explored, including attention to building upon the Luhya tradition of oral storytelling in order to promote actions to eliminate malaria. This analysis of local narratives of health risks illustrates these points and demonstrates how women’s constructions of health risks and well-being provide a basis for developing interventions targeting income generation and microloan opportunities that could support Kenyan women in their intersecting approaches to malaria, securing nutritious diets, and enhancing the local health environment.     

Tracking an upper limit of the “Carnian Crisis” and/or Carnian stage in the Western Carpathians (Slovakia)

International Journal of Earth Sciences - The Late Triassic timescale, especially the Carnian–Norian boundary, is poorly constrained mainly due to a paucity of high-precision radio-isotopic...     

Stratigraphy and sedimentary environments for cretaceous deposits in the southern part of the Var’egansk Megabar (Western Siberia)

Results of comprehensive studies of the Var’egansk Megabar sections in boreholes which penetrated the upper part of the Pokur Formation and the lower part of the Kuznetsovo Formation are presented. The stratigraphic range of the studied deposits spans the upper Albian-lower Turonian. Palynological and lithofacies studies resulted in the refinement of sedimentary paleoenvironments in the region under study. It has been confirmed that the upper part of the Pokur Formation was formed under coastal-marine conditions; it characterizes mainly different deltaic facies. Sandy rocks of the Pokur Formation upper part mostly formed in delta channels, whereas silty-clayey rocks, in marshy-swamp environments. Deposition of the Kuznetsovo Formation is confined to a major sea transgression, and it proceeded under normal sea conditions.