Concentration of K-feldspar from a pegmatitic feldspar ore by flotation

Abundant reserves of Na-feldspar (albite) and K-feldspar (orthoclase or microcline) are found in granites, syenite, tracite and pegmatites. As both feldspar minerals have similar chemical structure and physicochemical properties, their separation is challenging. Flotation is known to be the only technique to enable their separation. The fundamentals on the separation of these minerals were well documented in our earlier studies. In this study, a pegmatite ore with a K₂O/Na₂O (3.78:3.37) ratio of 1.12 was studied in a Denver flotation cell both at natural and acidic pH using HF and H₂SO₄. Because of the perthitic structure of the ore no significant separation is observed at natural pH. Interestingly, a selective separation was achieved at low pH using HF and H₂SO₄ (pH 2.5–2.8). The selectivity is induced by the addition of Na⁺ ions through depression of albite. Selective separation has been carried out by stagewise flotation using the tree technique. Accordingly, a pegmatite ore composed of 3.37% Na₂O and 3.78% K₂O is upgraded to 10.51% K₂O and 3.02% Na₂O with a K₂O/Na₂O = 3.48 in HF medium and to 2.55 in H₂SO₄ medium. It is shown that products recovered in other stages are also considered as commercially significant. Especially, quartz, which is recovered in the tailings in HF medium, is suitable for glass industry. The overall results show that commercial utilization of these results is possible.     

Crowdsourced approaches for stage measurements at ungauged locations using smartphones

ABSTRACT

The growing availability of smart devices with advanced sensors has increased the opportunities for citizen science applications for environmental monitoring. Accurate and widespread monitoring of river stage is vital for modeling water resources. Reliable data points are required for model calibration and validation in forecast studies. While current embedded monitoring systems provide accurate measurements, the cost to replicate these systems on a large domain is prohibitively expensive, limiting the quantity of data available. This project describes a new method to accurately measure river levels using smartphone sensors. Pictures of the same point on the river’s surface are taken to perform calculations based on the GPS location and spatial orientation of the smartphone. The proposed implementation is significantly more accessible than existing water measuring systems while offering similar accuracy. A case study is performed to evaluate the accuracy and sensitivity of the measurements to changes in distance.     

Validation of the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) fire monitoring product using ground observations over Turkey

Validation of the active fire monitoring (FIR) product from Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager sensor of Meteosat Second Generation satellite is performed over Turkey. Ground truth data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry for the years 2007, 2008, and 2009 is used by taking the active fire months of April–September into consideration. The contingency tables are obtained on a monthly basis and categorical statistics of probability of detection (POD) and false alarm rate (FAR) are derived. The results are introduced for each subclass, namely probable, possible, and combined cases. The highest POD amounts of 8.5, 1.93, and 9.4 % are obtained for the possible, probable, and combined cases, respectively, with the lowest FAR amounts of 70.9, 4.5, and 86.1 % for the same categories. FIR product validation with respect to predefined burnt area thresholds is introduced in the second part of the study in order to investigate burnt area effect in active fire detection. Increasing POD values with respect to burnt area amount is obtained with relatively higher values in probable than possible type. On the other hand, FAR variation is observed to be not correlated with the burnt area amount.     

Automatic extraction of sparse trees from high-resolution ortho-images

Obtaining information about tree species distribution in agricultural lands is a topic of interest for various applications, such as tree inventory, forest management, agricultural land management, crop estimation, etc. This information can be derived from images obtained from modern remote sensing technology, which is the most economical way as compare to field surveys covering large geographic areas. Therefore, in this study, a new method is proposed for extraction and counting of sparse and regular distributed individual pistachio trees from agricultural areas on large scale from high-resolution digital ortho-photo maps, which were obtained using an airborne sensor (Ultracam-X). The input images were first smoothed by applying Gaussian filter to reduce the impact of noise. Normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVI) were then derived to obtain vegetation areas followed by Otsu’s global thresholding algorithm to obtain candidate tree areas. Further, connected component (CC) analysis was applied to segregate each object. Morphological processing was performed to fill holes within tree objects and get smooth contours, which were obtained by using the Moore-neighbor tracing method (MNTM) for each CC, while geometrical constraints were applied to undermine possible non-tree elements from output image. To further improve the segmentation results for sparse trees, a new method was applied, called quadratic local analysis (QLA). QLA helped to segment the trees, which were missed by the Otsu method due to low contrast and resulted in improved accuracy (3–6%). The obtained results were compared with well-known support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Proposed method produced slightly better results (1–5%) than SVM for extraction of pistachio trees and obtained accuracy for QLA and SVM were 96 and 91% for region 1, while 91 and 90% for region 2 respectively.     

Linear genetic programming to scour below submerged pipeline

Genetic programming (GP) has nowadays attracted the attention of researchers in the prediction of hydraulic data. This study presents Linear Genetic Programming (LGP), which is an extension to GP, as an alternative tool in the prediction of scour depth below a pipeline. The data sets of laboratory measurements were collected from published literature and were used to develop LGP models. The proposed LGP models were compared with adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model results. The predictions of LGP were observed to be in good agreement with measured data, and quite better than ANFIS and regression-based equation of scour depth at submerged pipeline.     

Hyperspectral Image Classification Using Relevance Vector Machines

This letter presents a hyperspectral image classification method based on relevance vector machines (RVMs). Support vector machine (SVM)-based approaches have been recently proposed for hyperspectral image classification and have raised important interest. In this letter, it is genuinely proposed to use an RVM-based approach for the classification of hyperspectral images. It is shown that approximately the same classification accuracy is obtained using RVM-based classification, with a significantly smaller relevance vector rate and, therefore, much faster testing time, compared with SVM-based classification. This feature makes the RVM-based hyperspectral classification approach more suitable for applications that require low complexity and, possibly, real-time classification.     

Late Cenozoic uplift of western Turkey: Improved dating of the Kula Quaternary volcanic field and numerical modelling of the Gediz River terrace staircase

A set of 13 new unspiked K–Ar dates has been obtained for the Quaternary basaltic volcanism in the Kula area of western Turkey, providing improved age control for the fluvial deposits of the Gediz River that underlie these basalt flows. This dating is able, for the first time, to resolve different ages for the oldest basalts, assigned to category β2, that cap the earliest Gediz deposits recognised in this area, at altitudes of 140 to 210 m above present river level. In particular, the β2 basalt capping the Sarnıç Plateau is dated to 1215 ± 16 ka (± 2σ), suggesting that the youngest underlying fluvial deposits, 185 m above present river level, are no younger than marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 38. In contrast, the β2 basalt capping the adjacent Burgaz Plateau is dated to 1014 ± 23 ka, suggesting that the youngest underlying fluvial deposits, 140 m above present river level, date from MIS 28. The staircase of 11 high Gediz terraces capping the latter plateau is thus dated to MIS 48-28, assuming they represent consecutive 40 ka Milankovitch cycles, although it is possible that as many as two cycles are missing from this sequence such that the highest terrace is correspondingly older. Basalt flows assigned to the β3 category, capping Gediz terraces 35 and 25 m above the present river level, have been dated to 236 ± 6 ka and 180 ± 5 ka, indicating incision rates of 0.15 mm a^− 1, similar to the time-averaged rates since the eruptions of the β2 basalts. The youngest basalts, assigned to category β4, are Late Holocene; our K–Ar results for them range from zero age to a maximum of 7 ± 2 ka.This fluvial incision is interpreted using numerical modelling as a consequence of uplift caused by a regional-scale increase in spatial average erosion rates to 0.1 mm a^− 1, starting at 3100 ka, caused by climate deterioration, since when a total of 410 m of uplift has occurred. Parameters deduced on this basis from the observed disposition of the Early Pleistocene Gediz terraces include the local effective viscosity of the lower crust, which is 2 × 10¹⁸ Pa s, the Moho temperature of 660 °C, and the depth of the base of the brittle upper crust, which is 13 km. The thin lithosphere in this area results in high heat flow, causing this relatively shallow base of the brittle upper crust and the associated relatively thick lower-crustal layer, situated between depths of 13 and 30 km. It estimated that around 900 ka, at the start of the 100 ka Milankovitch forcing, the spatial average erosion rate increased slightly, to 0.12 mm a^− 1; the associated relatively sluggish variations in uplift rates are as expected given the relatively thick lower-crustal layer.This modelling indicates that the growth of topography since the Pliocene in this study region has not involved a steady state. The landscape was significantly perturbed by the Middle Pliocene increase in erosion rates, and has subsequently adjusted towards—but not reached—a new steady state consistent with these increased erosion rates. It would not be possible to constrain what has been occurring from the Middle to Late Pleistocene or even the Early Pleistocene uplift response alone; information regarding the starting conditions is also essential, this being available in this region from the older geological record of stacked fluvial and lacustrine deposition. This result has major implications for the rigorous modelling of uplift histories in regions of rapid erosion, where preservation of information to constrain the starting conditions is unlikely.     

First results on determination of cosmogenic 36Cl in limestone from the Yenicekale Complex in the Hittite capital of Hattusha (Turkey)

We have measured ³⁶Cl in three rock surfaces of the Yenicekale building complex in Hattusha (Bo?azköy, Turkey). Hattusha was the capital of Hittite Empire which lasted from about 1650/1600 to 1200 BC. At Yenicekale, Hittite masons flattened the summit of an outcropping limestone knoll to form an artificial platform as the foundation for a building. Next they built a circuit wall along the lateral precipices of the flattened bedrock platform. We took one sample from the limestone bedrock platform and two samples from limestone building blocks of the circuit wall for cosmogenic ³⁶Cl analysis. Calculated exposure ages are 20 ± 1 ka for the sample from the bedrock platform and 24 ± 1 ka and 52 ± 2 ka for the circuit wall blocks. These exposure ages are significantly older than the age expected based on the estimated time of construction between 3.2 ka and 3.7 ka. We conclude that the sampled surfaces contain significant inherited cosmogenic ³⁶Cl. We cannot directly determine exposure ages for the building complex based on these three samples. On the other hand we may use the measured concentrations to determine how much of the rock was removed from the platform during flattening. To this end we modeled the variation of ³⁶Cl production with depth at Yenicekale using the results from the bedrock sample. We conclude that the Hittite masons removed only around 3 m from top of the limestone block. This means that the volume of rock removed from the bedrock platform is significantly less than the volume in the circuit wall atop the platform. They did not gain enough rock from this flattening to make the building. In agreement with this, the first results of our detailed microfacies analysis indicate that many of the building blocks are not of the same facies as the underlying limestone and must have been quarried elsewhere. Although we were not able to exposure date the Yenicekale complex due to the presence of inherited ³⁶Cl, our data suggest that Hittite masons excavated (most of) the building stones not at Yenicekale, but in quarries outside of Hattusha and then transported them to the construction site. These quarries have not yet been identified.     

Performances of Reverse Osmosis Membranes for Treatment of Olive Mill Wastewater

In the following study, two methods were employed in which olive mill wastewaters were treated by using reverse osmosis membranes (BW30 and XLE). In the first, wastewater was centrifuged and then passed through the reverse osmosis whereas in the second, an ultrafiltration was placed between the centrifuge and the reverse osmosis. The reverse osmosis experiments were conducted under 10, 15, 20, and 25 bar. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies under 25 bar were found to be 97.5% for both BW30 and XLE membranes. The highest conductivity removal rates obtained under 25 bar for BW30 and XLE membranes were found to be 95.6 and 96.2%, respectively. As for the highest permeation flux values obtained under 25 bar, they were separately determined for BW30 and XLE as 15.3 and 21.2 L m^?2 h^?1, respectively. The performances of the membranes were also evaluated in terms of their mass transfer coefficients. According to this, all mass transfer coefficients were found to be <1 and also in proximate to one another; this clearly reflects the results as COD and conductivity removals were approximate and there was a lack of any significant difference, whether ultrafiltration was applied or not.     

The Effect of Oxygen on Anaerobic Color Removal of Azo Dye in a Sequencing Batch Reactor

In this study, various amounts of oxygen were added to the anaerobic phase of an anaerobic‐aerobic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) receiving azo dye remazol brilliant violet 5R to mimic the input of oxygen into the anaerobic zones of biological textile wastewater treatment plants. The effect of oxygen on the anaerobic biodegradative capability of the mixed microbial culture for remazol brilliant violet 5R was investigated. To investigate the effect of oxygen on anaerobic azo dye biodegradation, the anaerobic phase of the SBR cultures were exposed to a very low limited amount of oxygen for various air flow rates. Initially, an air flow rate of 20 mL/min was applied, further on the air flow rate in the anaerobic phase was increased up to 40 mL/min. System performance was determined by monitoring chemical oxygen demand, color removal rate, activities of anaerobic (azo reductase) and aerobic enzymes (catechol 2,3‐dioxygenase, catechol 1,2‐dioxygenase). The results of percentage COD reduction at each stage were similar for all runs, giving an overall reduction of 96%. Anaerobic color removal efficiency and azo reductase activity of anaerobic microorganisms were adversely affected by the addition of oxygen. Color removal efficiencies of the anaerobic phases decreased from 80% down to 42 and 38% for the limited oxygen conditions of 20 mL/min and 40 mL/min, respectively. It was observed that the activity of catechol 2,3‐dioxygenase and catechol 1,2‐dioxygenase, involved in breakage of aromatic rings, increased after they are exposed to oxygen limited conditions compared to fully anaerobic conditions. It was also observed that catechol 1,2‐dioxygenase enzyme activity increased by increasing the oxygen level on oxygen limited conditions in the anaerobic zone.