Karst system developed in salt layers of the Lisan Peninsula,Dead Sea,Jordan

The Lisan Peninsula, Jordan, is a massive salt layer accumulated in the inner part of the Dead Sea’s precursory lakes. This tongue-shaped, emergent land results in a salt diapir uplifted in the Dead Sea strike-slip regional stress field and modified by the water level fluctuations of the last lake during the Holocene. These two elements, associated with dissolution caused by rainfall and groundwater circulation, resulted in an authentic karst system. Since the 1960s, the Dead Sea lowering of 80 cm to 1 m per year caused costly damages to the industrial plant set up on the peninsula. The Lisan karst system is described in this article and the components of the present dynamic setting clarified.     

Seismic hazard analysis and local site effect of the 2017 Mw 7.3 Sarpol-e Zahab,Iran, earthquake

Natural Hazards - A strong earthquake occurred on November 12, 2017, in Sarpol-e Zahab city, western Iran, with the moment magnitude ( $$M_{{\text{w}}}$$ ) of 7.3 and a focal depth of...     

Debris flow initiation and sediment recharge in gullies

Landslides that enter gullied low-order drainages can either initiate debris flow or stop, depositing sediment in the channel. This process is one of the most common ways that debris flows initiate, but little attention to date has been paid to evaluating the factors that affect whether or not the initial landslide will become a debris flow or deposit sediment in the channel. Statistically significant parameters that determine whether slope failures become debris flows or act to recharge in-channel sediment are channel gradient, angle of entry of failure into the channel, initial failure volume, and the amount of in-channel stored sediment. Steeper channels, low angles of entry, lower volumes of in-channel sediment, and larger initial failures were more likely to result in debris flows. This study found that as the volume of in-channel stored sediment increased, the volume of initial failure required to initiate a debris flow also increased. This result calls into question the simple supply-limited model of cyclical debris recharge and debris flow in low-order gullied drainages and suggests a negative feedback mechanism between debris accumulation and debris flow susceptibility.     

Modern diatom assemblages in surface sediments from shallow lakes and streams in southern Pampas (Argentina)

Diatom assemblages preserved in continental sedimentary successions of the southern Pampas (Argentina) can provide useful indicators of past environmental changes. Ecological data, however, are scarce. In order to provide modern data for diatom-based paleoenvironmental reconstructions, sediments from shallow lakes and streams of the region were analyzed. A total of 131 diatom species were identified. Canonical correspondence analysis was used to identify the physical and chemical environmental parameters that best explained the distribution of taxa. Cocconeis placentula, Hippodonta hungarica, Navicula veneta, Cyclotella meneghiniana and Nitzschia amphibia were the most widely extended species. The highest percentage variance in diatom data was explained by conductivity and nutrient concentrations. Diatom assemblage composition was more variable in shallow lakes than in streams, which is in agreement with the different hydrological and geomorphological characteristics of these environments. The results obtained in the present work provide useful analogues for paleoenvironmental reconstructions of water bodies in southern Pampas.     

Numerical modeling of general circulation,thermohaline structure,and residence time in Gorgan Bay,Iran

Gorgan Bay is a semi-enclosed basin located in the southeast of the Caspian Sea, Iran. The bay is recognized as a resting place for migratory birds as well as a spawning habitat for native fish. However, apparently, no detailed research on its physical processes has previously been conducted. In this study, a 3D coupled hydrodynamic and solute transport model was used to investigate general circulation, thermohaline structure, and residence time in Gorgan Bay. Model outputs were validated against a set of field observations. Bottom friction and attenuation coefficient of light intensity were tuned in order to achieve optimum agreement with the observations. Results revealed that, due to the interaction between bathymetry and prevailing winds, a barotropic double-gyre circulation, dominating the general circulation, existed during all seasons in Gorgan Bay. Furthermore, temperature and salinity fluctuations in the bay were seasonal, due to the seasonal variability of atmospheric fluxes. Results also indicated that under the prevailing winds, the domain-averaged residence time in Gorgan Bay would be approximately 95 days. The rivers discharging into Gorgan Bay are considered as the main sources of nutrients in the bay. Since their mouths are located in the area with a residence time of over 100 days, Gorgan Bay could be at risk of eutrophication; it is necessary to adopt preventive measures against water quality degradation.     

Developing nonlinear models for sediment load estimation in an irrigation canal

The study was performed to estimate the weekly sediment load in Thal canal located in Mianwali district Punjab, Pakistan. Past records of sediments and discharge have been considered as the input parameters. The best input combinations have been identified with the help of advanced algorithms including full, sequential and increasing embedding, genetic algorithm and hill climbing in combination with the gamma test. Model training has been carried out using two artificial neural network-based algorithms, namely Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno (BFGS), back-propagation and a local linear regression technique. A variety of statistical parameters including R square, root mean squared error, mean square error and mean bias error (MBE) has been calculated in order to evaluate the best models. The results strongly suggested that BFGS-based model performed better than all other models with remarkably low values of MBE. Significantly high values of correlation coefficient (R square) in both training and testing evidenced a close similarity between actual and predicted sediment load values for the same model.     

Impact of Drain Effluent on Surficial Sediments in the Mediterranean Coastal Wetland: Sedimentological Characteristics and Metal Pollution Status at Lake Manzala,Egypt

Surface sediments were collected from Lake Manzala, the Mediterranean coastal wetland located to the east of the Nile Delta, Egypt, to assess the effect of drain effluent on the spatial variations of sedimentary characteristics and heavy metal pollution. Grain-size compositions, textures, and heavy metal distribution patterns in sediments are presented using GIS technique. Results of the analysis of the sediment showed a clear effect of drain effluent, with an increase in fine fractions and homogeneous suspensions in transportation mode. Lake sediments were dominated by sandy mud textures, and mode of transportation was homogeneous suspension and rolling. Spatial distribution of heavy metals(Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, and Pb) was studied in the lake's surficial sediments, along with their relationship to drain effluent and their contamination status in the ecological system. Heavy metal pollution status was assessed by means of accepted sediment quality guidelines and contamination assessment methods(contamination factor, contamination degree, modified contamination degree, geo-accumulation, and enrichment factor). Among the determined heavy metals, Pb had the most ecological risk. Generally, the heavy metals in the surface sediments indicated pollution risk ranging from moderate to considerable, particularly, in those sites facing drains and inlets that had the highest toxic effluent. The results were interpreted by statistical means. A cluster analysis defined areas facing drain discharge and inlets as separated groups. ANOVA indicated that most of the sedimentation and studied metals directed this clustering.     

A Fuzzy Rule-Based Approach to Address Uncertainty in Risk Assessment and Prediction of Blast-Induced Flyrock in a Quarry

Strict control of the environmental impacts of blasting operations needs to be completely in line with the regulatory limits. In such operations, flyrock control is of high importance especially due to safety issues and the damages it may cause to infrastructures, properties as well as the people who live within and around the blasting site. Such control causes flyrock to be limited, hence significantly reducing the risk of damage. This paper serves two main objectives: risk assessment and prediction of flyrock. For these objectives, a fuzzy rock engineering system (FRES) framework was developed in this study. The proposed FRES was able to efficiently evaluate the parameters that affect flyrock, which facilitate decisions to be made under uncertainties. In this study, the risk level of flyrock was determined using 11 independent parameters, and the proposed FRES was capable of calculating the interactions among these parameters. According to the results, the overall risk of flyrock in the studied case (Ulu Tiram quarry, located in Malaysia) was medium to high. Hence, the use of controlled blasting method can be recommended in the site. In the next step, three optimization algorithms, namely genetic algorithm (GA), imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO), were used to predict flyrock, and it was found that the GA-based model was more accurate than the ICA- and PSO-based models. Accordingly, it is concluded that FRES is a very useful for both risk assessment and prediction of flyrock.