Recent glacier changes in the Kashmir Alpine Himalayas,India

Using Landsat data at decadal interval (1980–2013), the glacier fluctuations (glacier area, equilibrium line altitude and specific mass balance) of nine benchmark glaciers in Kashmir Himalaya were estimated. The observed changes were related to topographic and climatic variables in order to understand their influence. From the data analysis, it was observed that the glaciers have shrunk by 17%, ELA has shifted upwards (80–300 m) and SMB shows variation in glacier mass loss from ?0.77 to ?0.16 m.w.e. Annual air temperature showed a significant increasing trend, and a slight but insignificant decrease in precipitation was observed during the period. It is evident that in the same climatic regime, varying topography plays a key role in determining the glacier changes. It is believed that the observed changes in the glacier geometry and dynamics, if continued, shall have adverse effect on the streamflows, water supplies and other dependent sectors in the region.     

Vulnerability of the groundwater in the quaternary aquifer at El Shalal-Kema area, Aswan, Egypt

El Shalal-Kema area is located east of Aswan town and Nile River. The Quaternary sediments (unconsolidated material of sands, gravels, and clays intercalation) represent the main aquifer in the studied area. Its water is under unconfined condition, and the water table is shallow (vary from 7.5 to 16.3 m). The concerned aquifer is recharged mainly from Aswan Dam Lake, from the excess irrigation water and from septic tanks, where the area is not served by sewage system. The direction of the groundwater movement is generally from south to north. The transmissivity values of the Quaternary aquifer (from three pumping tests) are relatively high (vary from 1,996 to 3,029 m²/day). The exploitation of groundwater is carried out where there is continuous withdrawal for industrial and domestic uses with a total average quantity of groundwater of 71,304 m³ per day (25.67 million m³ per year). The hydrochemical characteristics of the Quaternary aquifer is studied based on the chemical analysis of 29 groundwater and four surface water samples collected from different sites. The chemical composition of the groundwater is dominated by calcium Ca²⁺ from the cations and bicarbonate (HCO ₃ ^? ) from the anions, and the order of cation abundance is Ca²⁺ > Na⁺ > Mg²⁺ > K⁺ and HCO ₃ ^? > SO ₄ ^2? > Cl^? among the anions. The groundwater types are normal chloride water, normal sulfate water, and normal carbonate water. The hypothetical salt combination revealed the presence of different salts arranged in terms of their predominant as Ca(HCO₃)₂, Mg(HCO₃)₂, NaCl, Na₂SO₄, MgSO₄, KCL, NaHCO₃, MgCl₂, CaSO₄, and K₂SO₄. The analytical measurements to the NO₂ and NH₃ reveal that their values decrease in summer and increase in winter due to the stoppage of pumping which leads to the increase of the wastewater quantities that reach the groundwater. The chemical and microbiological analyses show that the aquifer in this area is contaminated with fecal and disease-causing bacteria. The main cause of this contamination is the outflow from the septic tanks; therefore, the construction of sewage network is a vital solution. Chlorination is important to disinfect the groundwater at the tanks before its distribution to the houses.     

Geochemical characterization of zoned zircon from Wadi Abu Rusheid psammitic gneiss, south Eastern Desert, Egypt

A unique zircon was studied in the gneiss samples collected from the Wadi Abu Rusheid psammitic gneiss using electron scanning microscope and electron probe microanalyses. This zircon can be categorized into two types according to the texture and trace element content: (l) magmatic zircon slightly enriched in HfO₂ with ordinary zone. (2) Overgrowths of zircon occur as two species, the first species being highly enriched in HfO₂ with irregular zoning. The second species is highly enriched in HfO₂ forming a rim around the second species with a very sharp thinner boundary. The first type shows a distinct oscillatory internal zoning pattern without change in shape of this zone and has conspicuous inclusion-free zircon overgrowths with distinct poor concentrations in Y, Hf, Th, U, Nb, and Ta in both rim and core. The second type shows two species, the first one displays distinct irregular interval zoning and irregular overgrowth with abrupt change in composition of these zones with distinct enrichment in Y, Hf, Th, U, Nb, and Ta in the rim relative to the core. The second species is forming a rim around the first species also with distinct enrichment in Y, Hf, Th, U, Nb, and Ta content. These indicate that two events (crystallization environment) have played an important role in the formation of this zircon and largely reflect differences in whole-rock trace element contents between the successive generations of this zircon. The first event is believed to be of magmatic origin giving rise to normal composition of magmatic zircon. The second event shows an intense successive process of metasomatic activity during the formation of the Abu Rusheid radioactive gneiss. Electron microprobe analysis indicates that oscillatory zoned zircon shows poor content of Y, Hf, Th, U, Nb, Ta, and rare earth elements (REE) in the rim and core, while overgrowths of zircon are slightly enriched by these elements. Also, these analyses indicate that the Abu Rusheid psammitic gneiss has been significantly enriched by the thorite mineral (Th content up to 54.72% ThO₂) and columbite-bearing minerals (Nb content up to 64.74% Nb₂O₅, Ta content up to 9.32% Ta2O₅). The poor content of REE in overgrowths of zircon indicates mobilization of REE during the metamorphism processes of gneiss.     

Individual tree crown segmentation in tropical peat swamp forest using airborne hyperspectral data

Abstract

Individual tree crown segmentation is important step for deriving various information for fine-scale analysis of ecological process. However, only several studies have applied tree crown segmentation in tropical forest ecosystems, especially in mixed peat swamp forests. In this study, hyperspectral data were used to detect changes in the biochemical and biophysical characteristics, which are important factors for tree crown segmentation. Principal Component Analysis method was performed to investigate its influence on crown segmentation. Visually Selected PCs, 160 PCs and 160 Spectral Bands image were used and two segmentation techniques; Watershed Transformation and Region Growing segmentation were applied on those images. The highest accuracy was achieved for the crown segmentation is using Region Growing segmentation, based on 1:1 measurement, D value and RMSE value. The results obtained from 160 PCs image using region growing algorithm shows better accuracy with D value of 0.2 (80% accuracy, 20% error) and RMSE of 9.9 m².     

Kinetics of Methyldiethanolamine Mineralization by Using UV/H2O2 Process

The UV/H₂O₂ is one of the popular techniques in the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and has been applied in the wastewater treatment during recent two decades. UV exposure on the H₂O₂ generate highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (OH^?), which are used to degrade organic contaminants through oxidation processes in wastewater. This present study involves the estimation of hydroxyl radical rate constants of methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) mineralization at different temperatures by using UV/H₂O₂ in aqueous solution. Laboratory experiments have been conducted and the profile of MDEA mineralization has been established. The hydroxyl radical rate constants and the activation energy of mineralization process have been calculated. The estimated hydroxyl rate constants and the activation energy are in good agreement with those reported in the literature.     

Envelope instability in giant planet formation

We compute the growth of isolated gaseous giant planets for several values of the density of the protoplanetary disk, several distances from the central star and two values for the (fixed) radii of accreted planetesimals. Calculations were performed in the frame of the core instability mechanism and the solids accretion rate adopted is that corresponding to the oligarchic growth regime. We find that for massive disks and/or for protoplanets far from the star and/or for large planetesimals, the planetary growth occurs smoothly. However, notably, there are some cases for which we find an envelope instability in which the planet exchanges gas with the surrounding protoplanetary nebula. The timescale of this instability shows that it is associated with the process of planetesimals accretion. The presence of this instability makes it more difficult the formation of gaseous giant planets.     

An Overview of the Use of Rockbolts as Support Tools in Mining Operations

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - Historically, the idea of designing and installing rockbolts in rockmasses can be traced back to the construction of the Snowy Mountain hydroelectric...     

Lahars risk at the Tacaná Volcano Complex (México–Guatemala) from numerical simulations and physical vulnerability analysis

Natural Hazards - The Nile River provides Egypt with most of its water resources. Medium- and long-rage forecasts of Nile flows at Aswan have been recognized as of significant importance to allow...     

U-Th-Pb and Trace Element Evaluation of Existing Titanite and Apatite LA-ICP-MS Reference Materials and Determination of 208Pb/232Th-206Pb/238U Date Discordance in Archaean Accessory Phases

The last decade has seen a marked increase in U-Th-Pb petrochronological studies focused on titanite and apatite. This has motivated the need for detailed, phase-specific method development and well-characterised reference materials with a wide variety of ages and chemical compositions. This study presents new U-Th-Pb isotope and major-, minor- and trace-element mass fraction data for ten titanite and five apatite reference materials based on integrated EPMA, LA-ICP-MS and isotope-dilution (ID) multi-collector (MC)-ICP-MS characterisation. Cross-comparison of EPMA and LA-ICP-MS data for the same titanite reference material suite demonstrates that careful selection of EPMA primary reference materials is necessary to minimise inaccuracies. We further identify a significant X-ray interference when measuring low Ce abundances in Ti-bearing phases and outline a method for its correction. New ID-MC-ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS data suggest tri-concordance (defined as concordant ages for the ²³⁸U-²⁰⁶Pb, ²³⁵U-²⁰⁷Pb and ²³²Th-²⁰⁸Pb decay systems) of the MKED-1 titanite reference material and demonstrate the reproducibility of ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th measurements in some secondary titanite reference materials. Integration of ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th results with U-Pb geochronology provides a meaningful tool to help interpret complex U-Th-Pb isotopic age spectra. We provide example applications of ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th LA-ICP-MS measurements toward interpreting Archaean titanite ages from the Acasta Gneiss Complex, Northwest Territories, Canada.