New Discovery of Hipparion theobaldi Skull from the Late Miocene of Padhri, District Jhelum, Punjab, Pakistan and Associated Mammalian Fossil Assemblage

A fossil-bearing locality near Padhri village, Dhok Pathan, 55 km away from the tehsil Dina, Jhelum District, in the Potwar Plateau, Middle Siwaliks, Punjab, northern Pakistan, is significantly rich in mammalian fossils. This site has provided an abundant mammalian fossil fauna of Late Miocene age from the Dhok Pathan Formation (Fm.). The recovered material belongs to four families: Equidae (horses), Rhinocerotidae (rhinos), Bovidae (cows), and Suidae (pigs). We discovered a new skull of hipparionine Hipparion theobaldi from this locality along with 22 specimens from the associated assemblage of fossil mammals. The recovered material includes seven other species: the aceratheriine Chilotherium intermedium, boselaphines Tragoportax punjabicus, Selenoportax vexillarius, Pachyportax latidens, the antelope Gazella lydekkeri and suinine Propotamochoerus hysudricus. The specimens are isolated teeth, fragments of maxilla, mandibles and horn cores. The Dhok Pathan Fm. is generally composed of claystone, siltstone and sandstone beds and, based on the mammalian fauna, the Padhri fossil locality is dated as Late Miocene. Thi99s formation was deposited in a subtropical paleoenvironment and the predominance of fossil bovids indicates extremely moist conditions with small but frequent standing water bodies.     

Effects of climate anomaly on rainfall,groundwater depth,and soil moisture on peatlands in South Sumatra,Indonesia

Climate anomalies can cause natural disasters such as severe fires and floods on peatlands in South Sumatra. Factors that affect the natural disasters on peatlands include rainfall, groundwater level, and soil moisture. This paper aims to study the effect of the climate anomalies in 2019 and 2020 and effects of these influencing factors on peatlands in South Sumatra. The data used in this study was derived from in-situ measurement at two SESAME’s measurement stations in the study area. The results indicate that in the 2019 dry season, the rainfall was minimal, the lowest groundwater table depth was ?1.14 m and the lowest soil moisture was 3.4%. In the 2020 dry season, rainfall was above the monthly average of 100 mm, the lowest groundwater level was ?0.44 m, and the lowest soil moisture was 26.64%. There is also a strong correlation between soil moisture and groundwater table depth. The correlation between the two is stronger when there is less rainfall.     

Allocative efficiency analysis of wheat and cotton in district Khanewal,Punjab, Pakistan

GeoJournal - To compete in the international market, a farmer in Pakistan needs to decrease its production cost. Agricultural researchers and policymakers are focusing on increasing the...     

Spatiotemporal variability of multifractal properties of fineresolution daily gridded rainfall fields over India

Natural Hazards - This study investigated the multifractal characteristics of fine resolution (0.25ox0.25°) daily gridded rainfall fields of India over the period 1901–2013 to examine...     

Quantifying climate-induced drought risk to livelihood and mitigation actions in Balochistan

Natural Hazards - Climate change-induced disasters show the highest risk for agriculture and livelihoods in rural areas of developing countries. Due to changing rainfall pattern, the arid and...     

Effect of Pavement Thickness and Width on Liquefaction-Induced Settlements and the Contribution of Sand Ejecta in Total Settlement

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - This paper investigates the settlement in a pavement due to soil liquefaction. Four 1-g shaking table tests were performed on saturated sand bed-pavement...     

Integrated Reservoir Characterization and Petrophysical Analysis of Cretaceous Sands in Lower Indus Basin,Pakistan

The reservoir character of the Cretaceous sand is evaluated in Lower Indus Basin, Pakistan where water flooding is very common. Thus, prediction of subsurface structure, lithology and reservoir characterization is fundamental for a successful oil or gas discovery. Seismic reflective response is an important tool to detect sub-surface structure. Seismic reflection response is not enough to highlight geological boundaries and fluids in the pore space therefore, the use of integrated approach is vital to map sub-surface heterogeneities with high level of confidence. Based on seismic character and continuity of prominent reflectors four seismic horizons are marked on the seismic sections. All the strata is highly disturbed and distorted with presence of a network of fault bounded horst and graben structures, which indicate that the area was under compressional tectonic regime. These fault bounded geological structure formed structural traps favorable for the accumulation of hydrocarbon. The petrophysical analysis reveals that the Cretaceous sand formation has four types of sand: Sand A, B, C and D with good porosity (15 % average) and low volume of shale. Although complete petroleum system is present with structural traps and reservoir character of sand interval is very good but these sands are highly saturated with water thus are water flooded, which is the main reason of the abundant wells in the study area.     

Riverine flood assessment in Jhang district in connection with ENSO and summer monsoon rainfall over Upper Indus Basin for 2010

Pakistan has experienced severe floods over the past decades due to climate variability. Among all the floods, the flood of 2010 was the worst in history. This study focuses on the assessment of (1) riverine flooding in the district Jhang (where Jhelum and Chenab rivers join, and the district was severely flood affected) and (2) south Asiatic summer monsoon rainfall patterns and anomalies considering the case of 2010 flood in Pakistan. The land use/cover change has been analyzed by using Landsat TM 30 m resolution satellite imageries for supervised classification, and three instances have been compared, i.e., pre-flooding, flooding, and post-flooding. The water flow accumulation, drainage density and pattern, and river catchment areas have been calculated by using Shutter Radar Topography Mission digital elevation model 90 m resolution. The standard deviation of south Asiatic summer monsoon rainfall patterns, anomalies and normal (1979–2008) has been calculated for July, August, and September by using rainfall data set of Era interim (0.75° × 0.75° resolution). El Niño Southern Oscillation has also been considered for its role in prevailing rainfall anomalies during the year 2010 over Upper Indus Basin region. Results show the considerable changing of land cover during the three instances in the Jhang district and water content in the rivers. Abnormal rainfall patterns over Upper Indus Basin region prevailed during summer monsoon months in the year 2010 and 2011. The El Niño (2009–2010) and its rapid phase transition to La Niña (2011–2012) may be the cause of severity and disturbances in rainfall patterns during the year 2010. The Geographical Information System techniques and model based simulated climate data sets have been used in this study which can be helpful in developing a monitoring tool for flood management.     

Storm protection service of the Sundarbans mangrove forest,Bangladesh

Natural Hazards - Storm protection service of mangrove is often undervalued. This paper empirically assessed the damage avoided by the Sundarbans mangrove forest in 15 villages of southwest coastal...