Palaeoproterozoic U–Pb SHRIMP zircon age from basement rocks in Bangladesh: A possible remnant of the Columbia supercontinent

We present new U–Pb SHRIMP zircon geochronological data for basement rocks in Bangladesh, and discuss the relationship with the formation of the Columbia supercontinent. Euhedral zircons from a diorite sample yield a concordia age of 1730 ± 11 Ma, which is interpreted as the crystallization age. The Palaeoproterozoic age of the examined basement rock and the common occurrences of similar 1.7-Ga geologic units in the Central Indian Tectonic Zone and Meghalaya-Shillong Plateau in Indian Shield suggest their apparent continuation. This, together with the occurrence of similar 1.7-Ga geologic units in the Albany-Fraser belt in Australia and East Antarctica, are used to suggest that the basement rocks in Bangladesh formed towards the final stages of the assembly of the Columbia supercontinent.     

A review on mechanism and future perspectives of cadmium-resistant bacteria

Since the last few decades, cadmium anthropocentric sources have been increased drastically. Various chemical and physical approaches for cadmium remediation have been proposed, but these techniques are quite expensive, not healthy for the environment and not efficient at the low concentration of cadmium. Thus, in the last few years, the cadmium removal by biological approaches has received a great interest. Many bacteria can resist against high concentration of cadmium through different mechanisms. The cadmium-resistant bacteria can be grouped into three levels. The main group consists of bacteria which efflux the cadmium from the cells. The bacteria of the other two groups are capable of detoxifying or binding cadmium. The cadA and cadB gene systems are involved in efflux mechanism, and these encode different efflux pump proteins, while the functional groups such as amine, carboxyl, phosphate and hydroxyl facilitate cadmium binding to bacterial surface such as chemisorption. Many enzymes are involved in the detoxifying the cadmium and make the membrane impermeable against cadmium. This paper also reviews the industrial application of cadmium-resistant bacteria and the future perspectives of genetic engineering, bioelectrochemical system, microbial aggregates and biosorption of cadmium by algae.     

Changes in nutritional values induced by butachlor in juvenile diploid and triploid <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clarias gariepinus</Emphasis>

There is a paucity of information about the effects of environmental stressors on nutritional values in fish. This study investigated the effects of the organochlorine pesticide, butachlor, on key indicators of nutritional value in both diploid and triploid African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). Amino acids (AA), fatty acids (FA), and the proximate composition (protein, lipid, moisture, and ash content) in the white muscle of full-sibling juvenile fish were measured following a 21-day exposure to graded butachlor concentrations [mean measured: 26.3, 48.4, and 66.1 µg/L]. No significant differences in AAs, FAs, protein, lipid, moisture, or ash content were observed between unexposed diploid and triploid fish. In diploids, exposure to butachlor significantly altered the concentrations of some of the AAs and FAs, and protein content, when compared to the control group. In triploid fish, however, butachlor treatments had no effect on the AA or proximate composition, but significantly changed the concentration of two individual FAs in the muscle. Butachlor treatments showed fewer changes in the nutritional values of triploid fish. This research is the first to study the nutritional values in any polyploid animals following the exposure to a contaminant.     

Sedimentology,mineralogy, and geochemistry of the Late Quaternary Meyghan Playa sediments,NE Arak,Iran: palaeoclimate implications

Playas are shallow ephemeral lakes that form in arid and semi-arid regions. Iran has a large number of playas such as Meyghan Playa, which is located in the northeast of Arak city that borders the central Iran and Sanandaj-Sirjan zones. This study aims to investigate the mineralogical, sedimentological, and geochemical characteristics of the playa sediments. In order to determine the palaeoenvironment, we carried out X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies. Meyghan Playa sediments consist of very fine-grained sediments and contain both evaporite and clastic minerals. The evaporite minerals include calcite, gypsum, halite, glauberite, and thenardite, whereas clastic minerals are quartz and clay. The calcite abundance decreases from the margin to the central portion of the playa but gypsum and halite abundances show an increasing trend from the margin to the center. This observation is consistent with the general zonation of other playas. Variations of calcite and gypsum concentration profiles present increasing and decreasing trends with depth, which could be ascribed to the changes in climatic factors. These factors include brine chemical modifications owing to changes in evaporation and precipitation rates and variations in relative abundance of anions-cations or in the rate of clastic and evaporite minerals due to variations in the freshwater influx (climatic changes) with time. A decrease in calcite and increase in sulfate minerals (especially gypsum) with depth is probably due to the higher water level and rainfall, a more humid climate, and salinity variations.     

A numerical study on the impact of thermal alterations in porous media during hot fluid injection process employing a modified Boussinesq model

The Oberbeck-Boussinesq (OB) approximation is widely employed as a simplifying assumption for density-dependent flow problems. It reduces the governing differential equations to simpler forms, which can be handled analytically or numerically. In this study, a modified OB model is formulated to account for the variation of rock permeability and porosity with temperature during the hot fluid injection process in an oil-saturated porous medium under the assumption of local thermal equilibrium (LTE). The mathematical model is solved numerically using a fully implicit control volume finite difference discretization with the successive over relaxation (SOR) method to handle the non-linearity. Subsequently, the numerical model is validated with the analytical solution of the simplified problem successfully. Through detailed sensitivity analyses, the simulation results reveal the hot fluid injection rate as the most important operational parameter to be optimized for a successful thermal flood. The numerical runs show that that for single-phase core-flood simulation, the effect of temperature on the rock absolute permeability and porosity can be neglected without introducing any significant errors in the estimated recovery and temperature profile.     

Analysis of subdiffusion in disordered and fractured media using a Grünwald-Letnikov fractional calculus model

The increasing applications of fractional calculus in simulating the anomalous transport behavior in disordered and fractured heterogeneous porous media has grown rapidly over the past decade. In the present study, a temporal fractional flux relationship is employed as a constitutive equation to relate the volumetric flow rate to the gradient of the pore pressure. The novelty of this paper entails interpreting the time fractional derivative operator in the flux relationship by the Grünwald-Letnikov (G-L) definition as opposed to the Caputo interpretation which has been widely considered. Subsequently, a numerical scheme based on the block-centered finite-difference discretization is formulated to handle the resulting non-linear fractional diffusion model. In addition, a linear stability analysis is successfully performed to establish the stability criterion of the developed numerical scheme. An expression for the modified incremental material balance index was derived to assess the effectiveness of the numerical discretization process. Finally, numerical experiments were performed to provide qualitative insights into the nature of pressure evolution in a hydrocarbon reservoir under the influence subdiffusion. In summary, the results establish that subdiffusion regime results in the development of higher pressure drop in the reservoir. This paper will provide a strong foundation for researchers interested in investigating anomalous diffusion phenomena in porous media.     

Management of saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers using different wells systems: a case study of the Nile Delta aquifer in Egypt

Hydrogeology Journal - Saltwater intrusion (SWI) is a type of pollution that adversely affects the quality of groundwater in coastal aquifers. The Nile Delta aquifer (NDA) in Egypt contains a large...     

Short-term geomorphological evolution of the Poggio Baldi landslide upper scarp via 3D change detection

On 19 March 2010, a 4 million m³ landslide occurred at Poggio Baldi, a small village in the Santa Sofia municipality, central Apennines (Forlì-Cesena, Italy). The landslide caused severe damages to some homes and obstructed both the SS310 national road and the Bidente river. The Poggio Baldi landslide arose in the “Marnoso-Arenacea Romagnola” formation composed of a pelitic-arenaceous turbiditic sequence. The landslide was classified as a rotational landslide, evolving into a partially confined flow-like landslide and causing the reactivation of the deposit of a previous landslide that took place in 1914. This paper reports a study of the phenomena currently occurring on the 100-m high main scarp of this landslide complex. The aim of the study was to assess ground changes that occurred on the upper scarp from 2015 to 2018 and to infer a preliminary evolutionary model capable of supporting short-term landslide scenarios. For this purpose, multi-station terrestrial laser scanner surveys were performed in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Additionally, an unmanned aerial vehicle three-dimensional photogrammetric survey was carried out in 2016. Analyses of the three-dimensional digital models of the main scarp made it possible to carry out several exhaustive multi-temporal investigations and to derive a detailed three-dimensional change detection scheme for it. The results showed an active geomorphological evolution of the rock scarp area due to frequent rockfalls and topples (of the order of a few m³), with significant local volume changes (a few thousand m³/year) and with potential implications for the long-term evolution of the entire slope.

     

Spatial variability of climatic hazards in Bangladesh

Natural Hazards - Climate change is evident with the extreme climatic indices changing all over the world. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. The patterns of...