Considerations for conducting incubations to study the mechanisms of As release in reducing groundwater aquifers

Microbial Fe reduction is widely believed to be the primary mechanism of As release from aquifer sands in Bangladesh, but alternative explanations have been proposed. Long-term incubation studies using natural aquifer material are one way to address such divergent views. This study addresses two issues related to this approach: (1) the need for suitable abiotic controls and (2) the spatial variability of the composition of aquifer sands. Four sterilization techniques were examined using orange-colored Pleistocene sediment from Bangladesh and artificial groundwater over 8 months. Acetate (10 mM) was added to sacrificial vials before sterilization using either (1) 25 kGy of gamma irradiation, (2) three 1-h autoclave cycles, (3) a single addition of an antibiotic mixture at 1× or (4) 10× the typical dose, and (5) a 10 mM addition of azide. The effectiveness of sterilization was evaluated using two indicators of microbial Fe reduction, changes in diffuse spectral reflectance and leachable Fe(II)/Fe ratios, as well as changes in P-extractable As concentrations in the solid phase. A low dose of antibiotics was ineffective after 70 days, whereas autoclaving significantly altered groundwater composition. Gamma irradiation, a high dose of antibiotics, and azide were effective for the duration of the experiment.     

Analytical solutions for tidal propagation in a rectangular basin

The tidal propagation in a rectangular basin of an estuary has been studied in this paper. The dynamic response of the tidal current and elevation inside the basin has been obtained using the concept of Kelvin waves and spectrum of Poincare waves. In this study, we have found that initial tidal elevations are amplified near the closed end of the basin or at the tidal barrier site.     

Non-linear wave loads on large circular cylinders: a perturbation technique

The forces and overturning moments exerted by second order waves on large vertical circular cylinders are analysed. The mathematical equations governing the physical system are the three-dimensional Laplace's equation satisfied by the velocity potential ?(x,y,z,t) and the boundary conditions, namely the dynamic boundary condition which is obtained from the Bernoulli's equation, kinematic boundary condition, radiation condition, bottom boundary condition and the zero radial velocity condition on the surface of the cylinder. The non-linearity of the mathematical problem is evidenced in the free surface boundary conditions viz. dynamic and kinematic boundary conditions. Analytical solutions are obtained using the perturbation technique. These solutions are compared with various experimental data. The comparison shows favourable agreement between the theory and the experimental results.     

Numerical solutions of ideal two-fluid equations very closed to the event horizon of Schwarzschild black hole

The 3+1 formalism of Thorne, Price and MacDonald has been used to derive the linear two-fluid equations describing transverse and longitudinal waves propagating in the two-fluid ideal collisionless plasmas surrounding a Schwarzschild black hole. The plasma is assumed to be falling in radial direction toward the event horizon. The relativistic two-fluid equations have been reformulate, in analogy with the special relativistic formulation as explained in an earlier paper, to take account of relativistic effects due to the event horizon. Here a WKB approximation is used to derive the local dispersion relation for these waves and solved numerically for the wave number k.     

Irrigation and farm water management in Pakistan

Present irrigation practices and water management techniques in Pakistan are the result of a long process. Through a cultural-historical approach, generic relationships of some present patterns are traced to their origin. The origin of irrigation was probably in small alluvial valleys of Southwest Asia, which is also considered the hearth of seed agriculture. From a simple beginning the irrigation and water management systems have become extremely complicated to support Pakistan's largest irrigation network in the world.Part of the research for this paper was done at the Department of Geography, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany during the summer of 1992.     

Distribution of heavy metals in the core sediments of a tropical wetland system

Five sediment cores from the fresh water region of the Vembanad wetland system were studied for the trace element contents The average concentration of iron, manganese, nickel, copper, zinc, cadmium, lead, mercury and chromium were determined. The core samples were collected using gravity type corer, digested with a mixture of nitric acid and perchloric acid and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Heavy metals such as iron, copper, nickel and zinc reported enrichment towards the surface of the core sediment sample collected from the centre of the lake. Lead, cadmium and mercury showed uniform distribution through out the core. Quality of the sediments were evaluated based on sediment quality guidelines, pollution load index, sum of toxic units and with effect range low/effect range median and threshold effect level/probable effect level values of Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. The degree of contamination for each station was determined. The concentration of different heavy metals has been compared with the world average concentration of shale values. Results of the analysis showed that Vembanad lake is facing serious metal pollution with increased rate of deposition.     

Scaling property of regional floods in New South Wales Australia

Regional flood frequency analysis (RFFA) is often used in hydrology to estimate flood quantiles when there is a limitation of at-site recorded flood data. One of the commonly used RFFA methods is the index flood method, which is based on the assumptions that a region satisfies criterion of simple scaling and it can be treated homogeneous. Another RFFA method is quantile regression technique where prediction equations are developed for flood quantiles of interest as function of catchment characteristics. In this paper, the scaling property of regional floods in New South Wales (NSW) State in Australia is investigated. The results indicate that the annual maximum floods in NSW satisfy a simple scaling assumption. The application of a heterogeneity test, however, reveals that NSW flood data set does not satisfy the criteria for a homogeneous region. Finally, a set of prediction equations are developed for NSW using quantile regression technique; an independent test shows that these equations can provide reasonably accurate design flood estimates with a median relative error of about 27%.     

Indices based assessment of built-up density and urban expansion of fast growing Surat city using multi-temporal Landsat data sets

GeoJournal - The population growth in urban areas leads to the expansion of built-up area which leads to a number of serious problems like environmental pollution, destruction of urban ecology,...