Ranking of productivity improvement strategies in Iran mineral sector based on integrated SWOT-FAHP-FTOPSIS analysis

The Iran’s mineral sector, as a major supplier of mineral industries, plays a central role on Iran economy. Promoting the productivity in this area leads to the enhancement of the business environment. Also, it can influence the production chain and minerals value added. In this study, a comprehensive study was conducted on the major barriers/drivers factors affecting the efficiency in the mining sector. Furthermore, 16 key factors were identified using the expert views. These parameters are divided into four main categories: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. In addition, a hierarchy model was designed in which the mentioned four efficient strategic parameters were implemented and the SWOT analysis was applied, as well as the nine macro strategies were determined. In order to prioritize these strategies, multiple steps were carried out. First, the subfactors were weighted by implementing the fuzzy multi attribute decision-making technique by combining the experts’ views and triangular fuzzy numbers. Subsequently, the strategies were prioritized by employing the group Fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) model. The sensitive analysis of the results presents some minor changes in score of the alternatives, but no alteration was affected in the prioritized strategies. The results revealed the importance of resource allocation strategies related to the existing investments as well as supporting and facilitating the new technology in the mining sector.     

Sealing efficiency analysis for shallow-layer caprocks in CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> geological storage

The CO₂ migrated from deeper to shallower layers may change its phase state from supercritical state to gaseous state (called phase transition). This phase transition makes both viscosity and density of CO₂ experience a sharp variation, which may induce the CO₂ further penetration into shallow layers. This is a critical and dangerous situation for the security of CO₂ geological storage. However, the assessment of caprock sealing efficiency with a fully coupled multi-physical model is still missing on this phase transition effect. This study extends our previous fully coupled multi-physical model to include this phase transition effect. The dramatic changes of CO₂ viscosity and density are incorporated into the model. The impacts of temperature and pressure on caprock sealing efficiency (expressed by CO₂ penetration depth) are then numerically investigated for a caprock layer at the depth of 800 m. The changes of CO₂ physical properties with gas partial pressure and formation temperature in the phase transition zone are explored. It is observed that phase transition revises the linear relationship of CO₂ penetration depth and time square root as well as penetration depth. The real physical properties of CO₂ in the phase transition zone are critical to the safety of CO₂ sequestration. Pressure and temperature have different impact mechanisms on the security of CO₂ geological storage.     

An extension to the DRASTIC model to assess groundwater vulnerability to pollution: application to the Haouz aquifer of Marrakech (Morocco)

An extension to the DRASTIC model is proposed in order to assess aquifer vulnerability to pollution. In contrast to the DRASTIC model, which considers the unsaturated and saturated zones together and computes a global intrinsic vulnerability index, the suggested approach discriminates between the aquifer vertical vulnerability (a concept related to the pollutant percolation) and the groundwater susceptibility (a concept that depends on the behaviour and uses of the groundwater). This approach is applied to the Haouz aquifer (Morocco) that supplies water to the Marrakech area. This aquifer is widely overexploited and there is evidence that the groundwater quality is threatened by various sources of pollution. Evaluation of the vertical vulnerability indicates that the aquifer mainly presents a moderate-to-weak vertical vulnerability. The zones potentially most favourable to pollutant percolation are mainly located in Central Haouz, along or near the surface wadis. The aquifer susceptibility is high in places located near the N’Fis, Baaja and Issil wadis. Everywhere else, low-to-moderate susceptibility is observed. This new approach therefore enables areas of vertical vulnerability and areas of susceptibility to be delineated separately. As a result, it constitutes a valuable decision-making tool for optimising the management of aquifer water resources and land-use planning.     

Predators of juvenile blue crabs outside of refuge habitats in lower Chesapeake Bay

Blue crabsCallinectes sapidus in lower Chesapeake Bay are subject to high rates of predation during the late summer of their first year of growth as they migrate out of vegetated nursery habitats. Predators, potentially contributing to this pattern, were identified in video-recorded field observations of tethered juvenile crabs (20–25 mm carapace width). Predators were also tested in large laboratory tanks containing similarly-sized untethered crabs as prey. Seven different predators attacked tethered crabs in the field. Only two predators, larger blue crabs and northern puffers,Sphoeroides maculatus, consistently succeeded in preying on crabs in both field and laboratory settings. These results confirm the importance of cannibalism on juvenile blue crabs and identify puffers as a potentially overlooked source of predation pressure.     

The Role of Organic Matter During Metal Enrichment in Permian Kupferschiefer of the Rudna Mine,Southwest Poland

The bulk composition of organic matter and saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons extracted from 16 samples collected from two Kuperschiefer profiles in the Rudna mine,Southwest Poland has been analyzed to study the role of organic matter during base metal enrichment in the Kupferschiefer shale.The results indicated that the extract yields and saturated hydrocarbon yields decreased with increasing base metal contents.GC and GC/MS analyses indicated that n -alkanes and alkylated aromatic compounds were depleted and may have served as hydrogen donators for thermochemical sulfate reduction.The enrichment of base metal is closely connected with the destruction of hydrocarbons.     

Gneiss-Water Interaction and Water Evolution During the Early Stages of Dissolution Experiments at Room Temperature

Gneiss-distilled water interaction at room temperature was investigated with batch-reactors to study water-rock reaction and geochemical evolution of the aqueous phase with time. The ion concentrations in water were controlled not only by the dissolution of primary minerals, but also by the precipitation of secondary minerals. The decreasing fraction sizes of gneiss could favor dissolution and precipitation simultaneously. Ca^2 and K^ were the major cations, and HCO3^- was the major anion in water. All the ions except Ca^2 increased in concentration with time. The Ca^2 release from the rock to the aqueous phase was initially much faster than the release of K^ , Na^2 and Mg^2 . But after about 5 - 24 hours, the Ca^2 concentrations in water decreased very slowly with time and became relatively stable. During the experiment, the water varied from the Ca-( K)-HCO3-type water to the K-Ca-HCO3-type water, and then to the K-(Ca, Na)-HCO3-type water. The water-gneiss interaction was dominated by the dissolution of Kfeldspar in the solution. The remaining secondary minerals were mainly kaolinite, illite and K (Mg) -mica.     

Mechanism and geochemical implications of the Late Holocene organic carbon burial event: an example from the southwest coast of India

Carbonaceous clay found in the palaeo-deposits of Meenachil River basin was analysed for the total organic carbon, nitrogen and textural characters. Radiocarbon dating of this clay formation and the embedded carbonized wood fragments was also done. The values obtained for the organic carbon, nitrogen and C/N ratio of the carbonaceous clay exhibited a very remarkable range, suggestive of different environmental conditions of formation. It is evident from the present study that since the lignin and cellulose are the dominant components of terrestrial higher plants, allochthonous and submerged organic matter have high C/N ratio. The radio carbon dating of the sediment and wood samples suggested that the palaeo-deposits of Meenachil River basin were formed as result of many transgrassive–regressive episodes, which had started even before the formation of Vembanad Lake. The formation of carbonaceous clay, as found sandwiched in palaeo-deposits, was due to the global eustatic sea-level fluctuations and tectonism.     

Hydrologic characteristics of floods in Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) delta

In the middle of 2007, a severe flood affected the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. This is a natural disaster that takes people’s lives, destroys livestock, infrastructures and communication systems and, damages crops and fish ponds. Despite many adverse impacts, the flood situation is an accepted phenomenon to the citizens of Bangladesh, due to the immense increase of soil fertility due to the flood, plus, the recharge of aquifer, ecosystem and fish. The flood of 2007 was the 5th major flood of the last 20 years when more than thirty-five percent of the area of the country was inundated with flood water. As in the past, the flood of 2007 had its own significance. The geography of the country contains a floodplain delta of three major river basins: the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna (GBM). The mean monthly rainfall plot from the TRMM satellite data has shown that for both the Meghna and Brahmaputra basins, the rainfall was higher during July 2007 than any other months of the last 2 years. This excess rainfall had accumulated in the Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers and carried downstream to Bangladesh. This was the main cause of the flooding in 2007. The first crossing above the danger level of the river waters was observed at Durgapur station of the Someswari and at Sunamganj station of the Surma on the nineteenth of July, 2007 inside Bangladesh. In terms of magnitude of the peak and duration of the flood, the Brahmaputra was higher in 2007 than during 2004. However, the Ganges river water level never crossed the danger level during flood of 2007. The Meghna was lower during the flood peak for the duration of the flood in 2007. The year–to-year variability in both the magnitude and duration of the flood suggests changes in rainfall and landuse pattern of the catchment.     

The Response of Estuarine Macrobenthic Communities to Natural- and Human-Induced Changes: Dynamics and Ecological Quality

Anthropogenic activities are a disturbance factor of coastal systems and can be widely recognized as a major threat to the health of coastal systems. However, natural events cannot be disregarded from management issues because of their significant influence on the communities living in these areas. Based on long-term subtidal data from the Mondego Estuary (Portugal), the effects of natural events (e.g., floods and droughts) on macrobenthic communities were compared with the anthropogenic events. Sampling stations were grouped into characteristic zones (mouth, north arm, south arm) so the community dynamics of each of these estuarine areas could be followed over time. Environmental assessment was performed for stations using the Benthic Assessment Tool (BAT), and compared with the existing pressures. Human impacts persist over a number of years and gradually reduce ecosystem health, as discussed in the European Water Framework Directive. Paradoxically, natural events cause stronger impacts but are of a shorter duration, which allows for a faster recovery of macrobenthic communities. The study showed that caution should be taken when developing and implementing water policies so as not to disregard the importance of the different events (natural and human-caused) on the ecosystem health (e.g., community degradation and water quality and ecological quality status assessment).