Rates and patterns of contemporary floodplain sedimentation: A case study of the river Culm,Devon, UK

A variety of methids have been used to document contemporary rates of overbank sedimentation along an 11 km reach of the floodplain of the River Culm in Devon, UK. These have included measurements of the conveyance loss of suspended sediment between upstream and downstream measuring stations, the use of sediment traps, and the application of caesium-137 measurements to estimate the rate of accumulation of fine sediment over the past 30 years. The resultant data point to sedimentation rates typically of the order of 1500 g m^–2 year^–1 or 1.5 mm year^–1. Values in excess of 15000 g m^–2 year^–1 or 15 mm year^–1 have been documented in closed depressions and in backwater embayments close to the channel, whereas minimal deposition and even scour may occur along those areas that function as secondary channels during floodplain inundation.     

Malaria reinfestation on the Northern Border of Argentina

Until 1950 malaria was a major public health hazard in Argentina affecting a large number of people in the northern territory. In that year a Malaria Eradication Programme began and this initiated a dramatic fall in incidence especially in the north east in subsequent years.In 1970 there was an increase in the incidence in the north west of the country. Than, in 1989 malaria was diagnosed along the northeastern border. The earlier outbreak was associated with the growth of border traffic and increasing immigration. Ecological changes consequent upon the building of large dams in the Paraná basin have been blamed for the outbreak in 1989.The reinfestation of malaria of northern Argentina is analysed, from the point of view of the trends in incidence during the period 1937–89 and especially the increase after 1970. Control measures are also proposed.     

Applications of innovative polygonal trend analyses to precipitation series of Eastern Black Sea Basin,Turkey

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Examining historical variations of hydroclimatic variables can provide crucial information about changes of water resources in a water cycle. In this study,...     

The performance of SPI and PNPI in analyzing the spatial and temporal trend of dry and wet periods over Iran

Drought monitoring is carried out using various drought indices, including SPI, to generate time series of dry and wet periods. Furthermore, the dispersion of dry and wet periods was embossed with different intensities (high, medium, and low) over the data record years. Although these results were very necessary for planning and predicting future droughts, it appeared that the application of any trend over dry and wet periods could provide more accurate and unbiased or safer predictions in terms of analysis process. Generally, most of the researchers believed that the results of a drought trend analysis have been influenced by short-term persistence or significant autocorrelation with different lags on drought event time series and the mentioned impact should be preferably removed. Accordingly, drought monitoring was accomplished using SPI and PNPI drought indices to extract time series of dry and wet periods in terms of 50-year (1965–2014) annual rainfall data of 40 synoptic stations over Iran. Having used the basic and modified Mann–Kendall nonparametric tests, it was attempted to analyze the trend of dry and wet periods extracted from mentioned indices. The results represent the relative advantage of using the modified Mann–Kendall test in drought trend analysis. Furthermore, it was shown that the trend of dry and wet periods was negative in the majority of selected stations and that this trend was significant at 95% confidence level in northwest of Iran. Also, the results indicated the similar performance of SPI and PNPI indices in trend analysis of dry and wet periods.

     

Delineation of groundwater potential zones using remote sensing,GIS, and AHP technique in Tehran–Karaj plain,Iran

Evaluation of groundwater resources in dry areas without enough data is a challenging task in many parts of the world, including Tehran–Karaj plain in Iran, which includes Tehran, the capital city of Iran and Karaj, one of Iran’s biggest cities. Water demand due to increasing agricultural and industrial activities caused many problems in the field of water resources management. In this study, the potential of groundwater resources was evaluated using remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS), and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for the first time. Digital Elevation Model from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission was used to generate a slope map and drainage density map. Three Landsat-8 satellite images were utilized to provide lineament density and land cover/land use maps. Geological and soil type maps were provided from the Geological Survey and Mineral Explorations of Iran (GSI). Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission data were used to prepare average annual precipitation map. Discharge values from 102 pumping wells in the time period of 2002–2014 were used to evaluate the results. Seven data layers were prepared, and the geodatabase was made in GIS. The layers and their classes were assigned weights using AHP method. Finally, the layers were overlaid based on their weights, and the potential map of groundwater resources was generated. The area was classified into five zones with very high, high, moderate, low, and very low potentials. The zones covered 5.95, 32.90, 22.70, 10.20, and 28.25% of the study area, respectively. The results showed good agreement with the field data obtained from discharge wells.     

Dimensional analysis of two-phase flow including a rate-dependent capillary pressure–saturation relationship

The macroscopic modelling of two-phase flow processes in subsurface hydrosystems or industrial applications on the Darcy scale usually requires a constitutive relationship between capillary pressure and saturation, the P_c(S_w) relationship. Traditionally, it is assumed that a unique relation between P_c and S_w exists independently of the flow conditions as long as hysteretic effects can be neglected. Recently, this assumption has been questioned and alternative formulations have been suggested. For example, the extended P_c(S_w) relationship by Hassanizadeh and Gray [Hassanizadeh SM, Gray WG. Mechanics and thermodynamics of multiphase flow in porous media including interphase boundaries. Adv Water Resources 1990;13(4):169–86] proposes that the difference between the phase pressures to the equilibrium capillary pressure is a linear function of the rate of change of saturation, thereby introducing a constant of proportionality, the coefficient τ. It is desirable to identify cases where the extended relationship needs to be considered. Consequently, a dimensional analysis is performed on the basis of the two-phase balance equations. In addition to the well-known capillary and gravitational number, the dimensional analysis yields a new dimensionless number. The dynamic number Dy quantifies the ratio of dynamic capillary to viscous forces. Relating the dynamic to the capillary as well as the gravitational number gives the new numbers DyC and DyG, respectively. For given sets of fluid and porous medium parameters, the dimensionless numbers Dy and DyC are interpreted as functions of the characteristic length and flow velocity. The simulation of an imbibition process provides insight into the interpretation of the characteristic length scale. The most promising choice for this length scale seems to be the front width. We conclude that consideration of the extended P_c(S_w) relationship may be important for porous media with high permeability, small entry pressure and high coefficient τ when systems with a small characteristic length (e.g. steep front) and small characteristic time scale are under investigation.     

Compositional characteristics and geodynamic significance of late Miocene volcanic rocks associated with the Chah Zard epithermal gold–silver deposit,southwest Yazd,Iran

Whole‐rock geochemical and Sr–Nd isotopic data are presented for late Miocene volcanic rocks associated with the Chah Zard epithermal Au–Ag deposit in the Urumieh‐Dokhtar Magmatic Arc (UDMA), Iran, to investigate the magma source, petrogenesis and the geodynamic evolution of the study area. The Chah Zard andesitic to rhyolitic volcanic rocks are characterized by significant Large Ion Lithophile Element (LILE) and Light Rare Earth Element (LREE) enrichment coupled with High Field Strength Element (HFSE) depletion. Our geochemical data indicate an adakitic‐like signature for the volcanic rocks (e.g. SiO₂ > 62 wt%, Al₂O₃ > 15 wt%, MgO < 1.5 wt%, Sr/Y > 70, La/Yb > 35, Yb < 1 ppm, and Y < 18 ppm, and no significant Eu anomalies), distinguishing them from the other volcanic rocks of the UDMA. The Chah Zard volcanic rocks have similar Sr and Nd isotopic compositions; the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr(i) ratios range from 0.704 902 to 0.705 093 and the ε_Nd(i) values are from +2.33 to +2.70. However, the rhyolite porphyry represents the final stage of magmatism in the area and has a relatively high ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio (0.705 811). Our data suggest that the andesitic magmas are from a heterogeneous source and likely to result from partial melting of a metasomatized mantle wedge associated with a mixture of subducted oceanic crust and sediment. These melts subsequently underwent fractional crystallization along with minor amounts of crustal assimilation. Our study is consistent with the model that the volcanic host rocks to epithermal gold mineralization in the UDMA are genetically related to late Miocene Neo‐Tethyan slab break‐off beneath Central Iran.     

The application of multiple linear regression method in reference evapotranspiration trend calculation

Trend analysis of reference evapotranspiration (ET₀), as a key factor in irrigation programming, has an important role in water resources management. Many parameters affect ET₀ and their variations can change its values. In this paper, the effect of temporal variation of meteorological variables including wind speed, temperature, solar radiation and saturation vapor pressure deficit on temporal variations of ET₀ was analyzed. Trend analysis of ET₀ and its more effective meteorological parameters was accomplished in 30 synoptic stations which are located in Iran using Spearman’s Rho test. The multiple linear regressions were also used to determine the relationship between ET₀ trend and the trend of its more effective parameters. Increasing and decreasing trends in ET₀ were obtained at annual and seasonal scales. Many studied stations which had decreasing trend in the annual and seasonal periods have been located in the arid climates while all stations which have been located in humid and very-humid climates, had an increasing trend in annual and seasonal periods. The trend results in studied variables showed that annual and seasonal values of wind speed, temperature and saturation vapor pressure deficit decrease however the values of solar radiation increases in most studied stations. Multiple linear regressions results demonstrated that ET₀ trend can be calculated by the trend of two more effective variables including wind speed and saturation vapor pressure deficit.