Hydrochemical evolution and variation of groundwater and its environmental impact at Sohag, Egypt

Groundwater resources of Sohag, Egypt are currently threatened by contamination from agricultural and urbanization activities. Groundwater in Sohag area has a special significance where it is the second source for fresh water used for agricultural, domestic, and industrial purposes. Due to growing population, agriculture expansion, and urbanization, groundwater quality assessment needs more attention to cope with the increasing water demand in this arid zones and limited water resources. The aim of this paper is to address the integrated role of geochemical processes, agriculture and urbanization in evolution of groundwater composition, and their impact on groundwater quality to help in management and protection of groundwater resources of study area using geochemical modeling techniques and geographical information systems. Spatial variation of groundwater hydrochemical properties, rock–water interaction, ion exchange, and assessment of groundwater quality were investigated. Results indicated that groundwater properties are varied spatially and its evolution in the study area is generally controlled by the prevailed geochemical processes represented by leaching, dissolution, and precipitation of salts and minerals, ion exchange, in addition to human activities represented by agriculture and urbanization as well as climatic and poor drainage conditions. Management alternatives should be followed in the study area to avoid degradation of groundwater quality and provide sustainable development.     

Geo-environmental effect of landfill site, southeast of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Landfilled wastes manifest slow decomposition, producing emanation of gases, and outflow of leachate. Waste mass shows various chemical reactions and complex evolutions that occur under the influence of natural agents, as rain and microorganisms. These reactions lead to biological, physical, and chemical transformations of wastes. The intensity of the phenomenon is related to the air and the humidity. These factors originate from the initial composition of the solid waste, the operating mode of the landfill, and the geological and hydrogeological conditions. Leachate is considered a major source of groundwater pollution. It has a complex nature; it typically contains high concentrations of chemical hazardous including heavy metals, chemical compounds that may severely pollute the environment. These challenges are faced all over the world by environment protection agencies and waste management bodies. The challenge differs according to the specific situation of the site, the climatic, environmental, and geological factors. The international literature is rich with studies in this concern. Each country or region of the world has its own legislation and laws governing waste management, e.g., the European Commission Legislation, the US Environmental Agency, and so forth. The main objective of this study is to shed light on the environmental consequences of a landfill site located in the southeast of Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. It constitutes a peculiar case because of its situation, its exploitation mode, and nature of buried wastes. The study made use of satellite MSS, TM, ETM and SPOT image 2007, and Digital Elevation Model (DEM), respectively. Geological, morphological, hydrological, hydrochemical, and detailed drainage analyses were performed. Records of meteorological stations were also used in this study. The satellite images illustrate the evolution of the site through time since its start in the 1990s of the twentieth century. The main geological units outcropping in the area are the Sulaiy Formation, the Yamama Formation, Khabra deposits, floodplain deposits, alluvium, and sheet gravel. Drainage analyses shows a dendritic nature for the network, a total area of 2,113 km², basin slope of 0.016, perimeter of 430?×?10³, and a mean elevation of 635 m. Annual rainfall is around 100 mm, evapotranspiration is about 2,900 mm, wind speed averages at 5.1 km/h, and runoff peak is within 2.7–4.7 m³/s. A plume of total dissolved solids and nitrates was observed to initiate from the landfill site. Heavy metal concentration confirms the same result. Planners, environmentalists, decision makers, and other interest groups can use the findings of this study for environmental management of the landfill and protection of the downstream part of the Sulaiy tributary from leachate contamination. The results indicate the importance of monitoring landfills through the combined use of ground and satellite monitoring.     

Quality assessment of groundwater at south Al Madinah Al Munawarah area, Saudi Arabia

Groundwater is the main source of irrigation within south Al Madinah Al Munawarah region. It is also an important source of drinking water in many areas including Madinah city. The wells installed in the aquifer of the study area (south Madinah city) are not currently regulated by the local authorities although they are a key component of water supply. The aquifers in the study area range from unconfined to semi-confined and confined. The main aim of this study is to assess the groundwater in the region for drinking and agricultural uses. For this purpose, hydrochemical analyses of major, minor and trace constituents and nutrients were performed on 29 groundwater samples from the aquifer located about 20 km south of Madinah. The recharge rate of the aquifer of the study area was estimated to be 6.58 % of the annual precipitation using the chloride mass-balance method. Chloride was positively correlated with major ions, which suggests that agricultural activities have some effect on groundwater chemistry through leaching of readily soluble salts from the soil zone. Groundwater of the study area is characterized by dominance of Na over Ca. Chloride was found to be the most dominant anion and replaced by HCO₃, thus reflecting geochemical evolution in the study area. The groundwater of the study area is not safe for drinking but can be safely used for salt-tolerant crops.     

Recent warming trend in the coastal region of Qatar

The objective of this study was to analyze long-term temperature-related phenomena in the eastern portion of the Middle East, focusing on the coastal region of Qatar. Extreme temperature indices were examined, which were defined by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices, for Doha, Qatar; these indices were then compared with those from neighboring countries. The trends were calculated for a 30-year period (1983–2012), using hourly data obtained from the National Climatic Data Center. The results showed spatially consistent warming trends throughout the region. For Doha, 11 of the 12 indices studied showed significant warming trends. In particular, the warming trends were represented by an increase in the number of warm days and nights and a decrease in the number of cool nights and days. The high-temperature extremes during the night have risen at more than twice the rate of their corresponding daytime extremes. The intensity and frequency of hot days have increased, and the minimum temperature indices exhibited a higher rate of warming. The climatic changes in Doha are consistent with the region-wide heat-up in recent decades across the Middle East. However, the rapid economic expansion, increase of population since the 1990s, and urban effects in the region are thought to have intensified the rapidly warming climate pattern observed in Doha since the turn of the century.     

Conflicts and water governance challenge in irrigated areas of semi-arid regions

Agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions faces two of the principal global challenges: sustainability and water scarcity in the context of climate changes. To overcome the water scarcity constraint, Tunisia adopted different strategies and policies. Since 1989, it has embarked on a policy of decentralization and participatory water management in irrigated areas “IA.” This policy has led to the state disengagement in favor of collective water management. Since then, water management becomes a task of irrigator associations. These associations have experienced a series of transformations ranging from “collective interest associations: CIA” to the current form “Development Agricultural Groups: GDAs.” In spite of these institutional changes, GDAs are suffering from several problems impeding their functioning such as budgetary deficit, conflicts between stakeholders, leaving of irrigated activity by some farmers, and inequality. The current situation of GDA and most IA hypothesizes the existence of local governance problems; these governance problems are causing a performance decrease in IA. The analysis of the interdependence between governance and performance of irrigation water management, in Nadhour IA, is the main aim of this paper. To conduct this analysis, the strategic analysis approach was adopted. Assuming that IA forms a concrete action system, the analysis of structured games between actors allowed assessing their power, convergence, divergence, and ambivalence. Results confirm the hypothesis of a significant effect of governance problems, including political source, on the performance of water management in IA.     

Beach erosion along the coastline of Alexandria, Egypt

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On the use of the capability polar plots program for dynamic positioning systems for marine vessels

As the capability of polar plots becomes better understood, improved dynamic positioning (DP) systems are possible since the control algorithms greatly depend on the accuracy of the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic models. The measurements and estimation of the environmental disturbances have an important role in the optimal design and selection of a DP system for a marine vessel. The main objective of this work is to present a new software program capable of estimating the environmental forces, thrusters capability calculations, and capability polar plots for marine vessels. A flowchart illustrating the logic and data flow of a developed software program, the Capability Polar Plot Program (CPPP), and the estimated results for two case studies for a scientific drilling vessel and a survey vessel are presented. It is obvious from the obtained results that the developed program has a future potential for the estimation of the Capability Polar Plots for marine vessels. Moreover, the developed software program would be considered as a marine tool for the thrusters' selection and their configuration for marine vessels and floating production units for the Oil and Gas industries.     

Levels and distributions of organic source tracers in air and roadside dust particles of Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

The concentrations of n-alkanes, unresolved complex mixture (UCM), petroleum molecular markers, other tracers of cooking and burning emissions, and natural background in atmospheric particles and roadside dust particles were measured at eight locations in the city center and the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Atmospheric particles were collected using high-volume filtration (PM-10, GFF) over 24 h average periods. Road dusts were swept up, dried and sieved. Both types of samples were extracted with dichloromethane/methanol mixture (3:1 v/v) by ultrasonic agitation. The extracts were then fractionated by column chromatography and the alkanes subjected to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Total extracts were also analyzed directly by GC–MS after silylation. The molecular distributions of compounds as well as diagnostic geochemical ratios were determined in order to identify the sources of the organic compounds. Samples collected from a rural area and lubricating oils were also analyzed for comparisons. Anthropogenic and biogenic sources such as vehicular emissions, waxes of higher plants, food cooking operations, and biomass and domestic refuse burning processes contributed to the organic matter content of atmospheric and to lesser extent, roadside dust particles.