Environmental and Health Impacts of Successive Mineral Fertilization in Egypt

Excessive amounts of mineral fertilizers are unnecessarily applied to agricultural soils in Egypt to increase crop yield. The current study aims at assessing the impacts of fertilization with different mineral fertilizers for different cultivation periods on the accumulation of heavy metals in soils and plants grown thereon. In addition, human risks resulted due to the exposure to these metal ions through ingestion, and dermal routes were evaluated. Soil and plant samples were collected from several locations in El‐Behira Governorate, Egypt and their heavy metal contents were measured. The result indicated that there is a continuous accumulation of heavy metals in the soils and the plants grown thereon. Calculation of the hazard index (HI) revealed that humans, especially children, have a potential health risk for both Pb and Cd, which have levels greater than the safe level (1). Finally, the obtained results showed that the continuous application of mineral fertilizers containing high levels of heavy metals pose a potential health threat.     

Identification of steps and pools from stream longitudinal profile data

Field research on step–pool channels has largely focused on the dimensions and sequence of steps and pools and how these features vary with slope, grain sizes and other governing variables. Measurements by different investigators are frequently compared, yet no means to identify steps and pools objectively have been used. Automated surveying instruments record the morphology of streams in unprecedented detail making it possible to objectively identify steps and pools, provided an appropriate classification procedure can be developed.To achieve objective identification of steps and pools from long profile survey data, we applied a series of scale-free geometric rules that include minimum step length (2.25% of bankfull width (W_b)), minimum pool length (10% of W_b), minimum residual depth (0.23% of W_b), minimum drop height (3.3% of W_b), and minimum step slope (10° greater than the mean slope). The rules perform as well as the mean response of 11 step–pool researchers who were asked to classify four long profiles, and the results correspond well with the channel morphologies identified during the field surveys from which the long profiles were generated. The method outperforms four other techniques that have been proposed. Sensitivity analysis shows that the method is most sensitive to the choice of minimum pool length and minimum drop height.Detailed bed scans of a step–pool channel created in a flume reveal that a single long profile with a fixed sampling interval poorly characterizes the steps and pools; five or more long profiles spread across the channel are required if a fixed sampling interval is used and the data suggest that survey points should be located more frequently than the diameter of the step-forming material. A single long profile collected by a surveyor who chooses breaks in slope and representative survey points was found to adequately characterize the mean bed profile.     

Tunnel flexibility effect on the ground surface acceleration response

Flexibility of underground structures relative to the surrounding medium, referred to as the flexibility ratio, is an important factor that influences their dynamic interaction. This study investigates the flexibility effect of a box-shaped subway tunnel, resting directly on bedrock, on the ground surface acceleration response using a numerical model verified against dynamic centrifuge test results. A comparison of the ground surface acceleration response for tunnel models with different flexibility ratios revealed that the tunnels with different flexibility ratios influence the acceleration response at the ground surface in different ways. Tunnels with lower flexibility ratios have higher acceleration responses at short periods, whereas tunnels with higher flexibility ratios have higher acceleration responses at longer periods. The effect of the flexibility ratio on ground surface acceleration is more prominent in the high range of frequencies. Furthermore, as the flexibility ratio of the tunnel system increases, the acceleration response moves away from the free field response and shifts towards the longer periods. Therefore, the flexibility ratio of the underground tunnels influences the peak ground acceleration (PGA) at the ground surface, and may need to be considered in the seismic zonation of urban areas.     

Effects of glacial retreat on proglacial streams and riparian zones in the Coast and North Cascade Mountains

Proglacial stream development was studied in coastal British Columbia and Washington, focusing on reaches exposed by post‐Little Ice Age (LIA) glacier retreat, to address three principal questions: (i) Does the legacy of LIA glaciation influence the evolution of channel morphology? (ii) How long does it take for riparian forest to establish following glacier retreat? (iii) Can newly exposed proglacial streams provide suitable fish habitat? Channel morphologies were identified by field surveys of 69 reaches in 10 catchments. Riparian forest development and potential fish habitat were characterized in those reaches and an additional 22 catchments using GIS analysis. The landscape template imposed by the Quaternary glaciation appears to override most of the modern effects of the LIA in controlling channel‐reach morphology. Binary logistic regression analysis identified elevation and time since deglaciation as primary controls on the presence of riparian forest. At higher elevations, establishment of morphologically functional riparian forest could take several centuries, prolonged by channel instability associated with post‐LIA sediment inputs. Of the recently deglaciated streams included in this analysis, the majority (86%) of the total length was of suitable gradient for fish and could be accessed either by downstream populations or from adjacent lakes. Predicted maximum weekly average stream temperature (MWAT) indicated that the post‐LIA study streams were thermally suitable for cold‐water fish. A future scenario of glacier loss would cause a 14% decline in accessible cold‐water thermal habitat in post‐LIA streams. Decreased summer flows due to glacier retreat could further limit usable habitat by reducing stream depths and wetted perimeters. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tectonics and sedimentation of SW Sarawak basin,Malaysia, NW Borneo

Structurally SW Sarawak basin is a southward sloping basement characterized by passive margin tectonic that has undergone through varioius tectonic phases viz., Triassic extension, Cretaceous transpression and Oligo-Miocene compression. Rock types and sedimentation of deeper basin zone situated between Schwaner mountains block to the south and SW Sarawak basin to the north suggest progressive marine sedimentation. E-W trending Cretaceous carbonate platform (CCP) occurs in the SW Sarawak basin signify a shelf zone where shallow marine sedimentation progressed during Cretaceous transpression. Oligo-Miocene volcanics from subduction melts intercepted basin profusely forming northwest-southeast trending continental arc zone derived from partial melting of subducting slab underneath SW Sarawak basin. Back-arc extension prevailed during Oligo-Miocene and formed several extensional features. Oligo-Miocene subduction also resulted in closure and exhumation of Sri Aman marginal sea-basin to the east. SW Sarawak basin is further divided in two sub-basins viz., Senibong to the west and Kuching to the east separated by a northeast trending morphotectonic ridge that signify structural element formed due to shearing. Marine sedimentation progressed in these sub-basins mainly during Triassic–Jurassic while tidal and fluviatile sedimentation progressed during early to mid-Tertiary having total thickness of sediments about 9 km. Basin closure and exhumation is marked mainly by the formation of Cretaceous carbonate build-up that has been intruded and dissected by the Oligo-Miocene volcanics. Senibong and Kuching sub-basins are characterized by wide range of transpressive features, while, Sri Aman marginal sea-basin is characterized by oceanic assemblages, ophiolite, serpentinite and pillow basalt.     

Understanding data noise in gravity field recovery on the basis of inter-satellite ranging measurements acquired by the satellite gravimetry mission GRACE

Spectral analysis of data noise is performed in the context of gravity field recovery from inter-satellite ranging measurements acquired by the satellite gravimetry mission GRACE. The motivation of the study is two-fold: (i) to promote a further improvement of GRACE data processing techniques and (ii) to assist designing GRACE follow-on missions. The analyzed noise realizations are produced as the difference between the actual GRACE inter-satellite range measurements and the predictions based on state-of-the-art force models. The exploited functional model is based on the so-called “range combinations,” which can be understood as a finite-difference analog of inter-satellite accelerations projected onto the line-of-sight connecting the satellites. It is shown that low-frequency noise is caused by limited accuracy of the computed GRACE orbits. In the first instance, it leads to an inaccurate estimation of the radial component of the inter-satellite velocities. A large impact of this component stems from the fact that it is directly related to centrifugal accelerations, which have to be taken into account when the measured range-accelerations are linked with inter-satellite accelerations. Another effect of orbit inaccuracies is a miscalculation of forces acting on the satellites (particularly, the one described by the zero-degree term of the Earth’s gravitational field). The major contributors to the noise budget at high frequencies (above 9?mHz) are (i) ranging sensor errors and (ii) limited knowledge of the Earth’s static gravity field at high degrees. Importantly, we show that updating the model of the static field on the basis of the available data must be performed with a caution as the result may not be physical due to a non-unique recovery of high-degree coefficients. The source of noise in the range of intermediate frequencies (1–9?mHz), which is particularly critical for an accurate gravity field recovery, is not fully understood yet. We show, however, that it cannot be explained by inaccuracies in background models of time-varying gravity field. It is stressed that most of the obtained results can be treated as sufficiently general (i.e., applicable in the context of a statistically optimal estimation based on any functional model).     

Lithofacies,depositional environments,regional biostratigraphy and age of the Chitarwata Formation in the Bugti Hills,Balochistan, Pakistan

The Oligocene-early Miocene Chitarwata Formation records a critical interval of terrestrial sedimentation that predates the Siwalik deposits on the Potwar Plateau of north-central Pakistan. This Oligocene-early Miocene time interval has long been considered as lacking in the entire Indo-Pakistan region. The Chitarwata Formation is widely exposed in the Sulaiman Range, but has never been described in detail in the Sulaiman Lobe, where the famous fossiliferous strata called ‘Bugti Bone Beds’ have been known for over a century and half. The Chitarwata Formation represents coastal-delta at the base, and plain and fluvial environments at the top. Lithofacies and sedimentary structures of the Chitarwata Formation in the Bugti area are described in detail, and show a clearly distinct lithologic pattern, different from that reported from the Zinda Pir area. The Chitarwata Formation also records an important transition in the evolution of the drainage systems in the area during the late Paleogene and early Neogene. This transition from the west-flowing paleo-Indus fluvial system to the development of the ancestral Indus drainage system may explain the numerous hiatuses that characterize the Chitarwata Formation. The abundance of fossil mammals from the Chitarwata and overlying Vihowa formation in the Bugti Hills provides critical biochronologic information that sheds new light on biostratigraphic correlation with the Zinda Pir area and for the entire Sulaiman Range.     

Chad Basin: Paleoenvironments of the Sahara since the Late Miocene

Since the mid 1990s, the Mission paléoanthropologique francotchadienne (MPFT) conducts yearly paleontological field investigations of the Miocene-Pliocene of the Chad Basin. This article synthesizes some of the results of the MPFT, with focus on the Chad Basin development during the Neogene. We propose an overview of the depositional paleoenvironments of this part of Africa at different scales of time and space, based on a multidisciplinary approach (sedimentary geology, geomorphology, geophysic, numerical simulations and geochronology). The Miocene-Pliocene paleoenvironments are examined through the sedimentary archives of the early hominids levels and the Holocene Lake Mega-Chad episode illustrates the last major paleoenvironmental change in this area. The sedimentary record of the Chad Basin since the Late Miocene can be schematized as the result of recurrent interactions from lake to desert environments.     

Remote sensing applications to geological problems in Egypt: case study, slope instability investigation, Sharm El-Sheikh/Ras-Nasrani Area, Southern Sinai

The Sharm El-Sheikh/Ras-Nasrani area is one of the most attractive tourist resorts in Egypt particularly and in the world in general. The area has been rapidly growing during the last few years. Many construction projects including villages, hotels, beaches, and roads have recently been undertaken. The following study demonstrates the use of high-resolution satellite images, QuickBird imagery, acquired on June 2nd, 2007 (0.61 m spatial resolution), for detailed mapping of the recent developments and the slope instability hazard zones. The results were confirmed by field reconnaissance. Our findings indicate that there are many development areas threatened by unstable zones. The hazard areas have been delineated and classified, and a final slope instability hazard map has been established. Different factors were found to have a crucial impact on the slope instability, some natural and others man-made. These unstable localities need to be remediated and/or monitored to avoid any loss in property and/or lives.