Availability of coastal groundwater discharge as an alternative water resource in a large-scale reclaimed land,Korea

This study was conducted to identify the availability of coastal groundwater discharge (CGD), subsurface fluids flowing from inland through the coastal area to sea, as an alternative water resource for a large-scale reclaimed land. The behaviors of stable isotopes indicated that groundwater originated from inland precipitation and traveled as CGD along the coast line. Most of the groundwater samples collected from domestic wells installed along the old coast line were considered to be relatively fresh from the correlation analysis among chemical constituents. The average electrical conductivity (EC) values of the samples were identified as averaging 1,125–1,297 μS cm^?1, corresponding to appropriate crop growth. A weathered-rock layer in a small catchment within the reclaimed land was proved to be a main CGD pathway, with electrical resistivity anomalies ranging from 7 to 14 Ω m. Five monitoring wells were placed in this catchment to delineate the occurrence of CGD. Long-term vertical EC profiling results for the monitoring wells indicated that CGD occurs within a depth of 30 m below the ground surface. Annual monitoring data for groundwater level and EC demonstrated that the water quality of CGD was improved by introducing fresh terrestrial groundwater. A remarkable improvement in water quality (EC decrease of 900–1,600 μS cm^?1) of CGD was observed during the saline water pumping test that explains how CGD could be an alternative water resource for the reclaimed land.     

Satellite-based assessment of large-scale land cover change in Asian arid regions in the period of 2001–2009

Arid regions in Asia are commonly characterized by rapidly growing populations with limited land resources and varying rainfall frequencies under climatic change. Despite being one of the most important environmental challenges in Asia, the changing aridity in this region, particularly due to large-scale land cover change, has not been well documented. In this study, we used rainfall data and a new land heterogeneity index to identify recent trend in land cover changes in the Asian arid regions. The result indicates a significant decreasing trend of barren lands and an increasing trend of vegetated lands. Although the potential land cover change is commonly believed to be strongly sensitive to rainfall change, such sensitivity has not been observed during the nine-year period (2001–2009) analyzed. Through the analyses of two separate periods (2001–2005 and 2005–2009), the sensitivity of rainfall to land cover change in arid regions is found to be dependent on the initial spatial heterogeneity of vegetated land cover. The approach used and the findings in this study represent an important step toward better understanding of large-scale land cover change in the Asian arid regions, and have the potential to predict future land cover change under various climate change scenarios.     

Spatio-temporal dynamics of heavy metals in sediments of the river estuarine system: Mahanadi basin (India)

Dynamics of heavy metals in the surface sediments of Mahanadi river estuarine system were studied for three different seasons. This study demonstrates that the relative abundance of these metals follows in the order of Fe > Mn > Zn > Pb > Cr > Ni ≥ Co > Cu > Cd. The spatial pattern of heavy metals supported by enrichment ratio data, suggests their anthropogenic sources possibly from various industrial wastes and municipal wastes as well as agricultural runoff. The metal concentrations in estuarine sediments are relatively higher than in the river due to adsorption/accumulation of metals on sediments during saline mixing, while there is a decreasing trend of heavy metal concentrations towards the marine side. The temporal variations for metals, such as Fe, Mn, Zn, Ni and Pb exhibit higher values during monsoon season, which are related to agricultural runoff. Higher elemental concentrations are observed during pre-monsoon season for these above metals (except Ni) at the polluted stations and for metals, such as Cr, Co and Cd at all sites, which demonstrate the intensity of anthropogenic contribution. R-mode factor analysis reveals that “Fe–Mn oxy hydroxide”, “organic matter”, “CaCO₃”, and “textural variables” factors are the major controlling geochemical factors for the enrichment of heavy metals in river estuarine sediment and their seasonal variations, though their intensities were different for different seasons. The relationships among the stations are highlighted by cluster analysis, represented in dendrograms to categorize different contributing sites for the enrichment of heavy metals in the river estuarine system.     

A case study for the integration of predictive mineral potential maps

This study aims to elaborate on the mineral potential maps using various models and verify the accuracy for the epithermal gold (Au) — silver (Ag) deposits in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment assuming that all deposits shared a common genesis. The maps of potential Au and Ag deposits were produced by geological data in Taebaeksan mineralized area, Korea. The methodological framework consists of three main steps: 1) identification of spatial relationships 2) quantification of such relationships and 3) combination of multiple quantified relationships. A spatial database containing 46 Au-Ag deposits was constructed using GIS. The spatial association between training deposits and 26 related factors were identified and quantified by probabilistic and statistical modelling. The mineral potential maps were generated by integrating all factors using the overlay method and recombined afterwards using the likelihood ratio model. They were verified by comparison with test mineral deposit locations. The verification revealed that the combined mineral potential map had the greatest accuracy (83.97%), whereas it was 72.24%, 65.85%, 72.23% and 71.02% for the likelihood ratio, weight of evidence, logistic regression and artificial neural network models, respectively. The mineral potential map can provide useful information for the mineral resource development.     

Decoupling of the East Asian summer monsoon and Indian summer monsoon between 20 and 17 ka

Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 2, with its profound environmental and climatic changes from before the last glacial maximum (LGM) to the last deglaciation, is an ideal period for understanding the evolution of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and Indian summer monsoon (ISM), two Asian monsoon sub-systems. With 875 stable oxygen isotope ratios and 43 ²³⁰Th dates from stalagmites in Sanxing Cave, southwestern China, we construct and interpret a new, replicated, Asian summer monsoon (ASM) record covering 30.9–9.7 ka with decadal resolution. δ¹⁸O records from this site and other reported Chinese caves display similar long-term orbitally dominated trends and synchronous millennial-scale strong and weak monsoonal events associated with climate changes in high northern latitudes. Interestingly, Sanxing δ¹⁸O and Arabian Sea records show a weakening ISM from 22 to 17 ka, while the Hulu and Qingtian records from East and Central China express a 3-ka intensifying EASM from 20 to 17 ka. This decoupling between EASM and ISM may be due to different sensitivities of the two ASM sub-systems in response to internal feedback mechanisms associated with the complex geographical or land-ocean configurations.     

A Study on Crack Damage Stress Thresholds of Different Rock Types Based on Uniaxial Compression Tests

When rock samples are loaded until macroscopic fractures develop, the failure process can be divided into several stages based on axial and lateral strain responses or the acoustic emission sequence during uniaxial compression tests. Several stress thresholds may be identified: the crack closure stress σ _cc, crack initiation stress σ _ci, crack damage stress σ _cd, and uniaxial compressive strength σ _ucs; these may be used as a warning indicator for rock rupture. We investigated the crack damage stress σ _cd, its threshold, and a possible relationship between σ _cd and the uniaxial compressive strength. The σ _cd of different rock types were compiled from previous studies based on uniaxial compression tests. The results showed that the overall averages and standard deviations of σ _cd /σ _ucs for igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks were ~0.78 (±0.11), ~0.85 (±0.11), and ~0.73 (±0.18), respectively. There were no significant differences in σ _cd /σ _ucs between the different rock types, except that the sedimentary rock had a slightly larger standard deviation attributed to the variation of porosity in the samples, while the metamorphic rock had higher average σ _cd /σ _ucs resulting from the small statistical sample size. By excluding the higher-porosity (>10 %) rock samples, the averages and standard deviations of σ _cd /σ _ucs for igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks were ~0.78 (±0.09), ~0.85 (±0.09), and ~0.78 (±0.11), respectively. The results imply that the rock origin process (i.e., igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary) has a minimal effect on σ _cd /σ _ucs. The ratio σ _cd/σ _ucs could be an essential intrinsic property for low-porosity rocks, which could be used in rock engineering for predicting the failure process.     

Coupling typhoon rainfall forecasting with overland-flow modeling for early warning of inundation

Taiwan suffers from an average of three or four typhoons annually, and the inundation caused by the heavy precipitation that is associated with typhoons frequently occurs in lowlands and floodplains. Potential inundation maps have been widely used as references to set up non-structural strategies for mitigating flood hazards. However, spatiotemporal rainfall distributions must be addressed to improve the accuracy of inundation forecasting for emergency response operations. This study presents a system for 24-h-ahead early warning of inundation, by coupling the forecasting of typhoon rainfall with the modeling of overland flow. A typhoon rainfall climatology model (TRCM) is introduced to forecast dynamically the spatiotemporal rainfall distribution based on typhoon tracks. The systematic scheme for early warning of inundation based on the spatiotemporal downscaling of rainfall and 2D overland-flow modeling yields not only the extent of inundation, but also the time to maximum inundation depth. The scheme is superior to traditional early warning method referring to the maximum extent and depth of inundation determined from conditional uniform rainfall. Analytical results show that coupling TRCM with an overland-flow model yields satisfactory inundation hydrographs for warning of the extent and peak time of inundation. This study also shows that the accuracy of forecasting spatiotemporal rainfall patterns determines the performance of inundation forecasting, which is critical to emergency response operations.     

Development of an empirical model for rainfall-induced hillside vulnerability assessment: a case study on Chen-Yu-Lan watershed,Nantou, Taiwan

In Taiwan, the hillside is about 70 % of total area. These areas also have steep topography and geological vulnerability. When an event of torrential rain comes during a typhoon, the landslide disasters usually occur at these areas due to the long duration and high intensity of rainfall. Therefore, a design which considers the potential landslide has become an important issue in Taiwan. In this study, a temporal characteristic of landslide fragility curve (LFC) was developed, based on the geomorphological and vegetation factors using landslides at the Chen-Yu-Lan watershed in Taiwan, during Typhoon Sinlaku (September 2008) and Typhoon Morakot (August 2009). This study addressed an effective landslide hazard assessment process, linking together the post-landslide damage and post-rainfall data for LFC model. The Kriging method was used to interpolate the rainfall indices (R ₀, R, I) for numerical analysis. Remote sensing data from SPOT images were applied to analyze the landslide ratio and vegetation conditions. The 40-m digital elevation model was used for slope variation analysis in the watershed, and the maximum likelihood estimate was conducted to determine the mean and standard deviation parameters of the proposed empirical LFC model. This empirical model can express the probability of exceeding a damage state for a certain classification (or conditions) of landslides by considering a specific hazard index for a given event. Finally, the vulnerability functions can be used to assess the loss from landslides, and, in the future, to manage the risk of debris flow in the watershed.     

Effect of growing watershed imperviousness on hydrograph parameters and peak discharge

An increasing impervious area is quickly extending over the Wu‐Tu watershed due to the endless demands of the people. Generally, impervious paving is a major result of urbanization and more recently has had the potential to produce more enormous flood disasters than those of the past. In this study, 40 available rainfall–runoff events were chosen to calibrate the applicable parameters of the models and to determine the relationships between the impervious surfaces and the calibrated parameters. Model inputs came from the outcomes of the block kriging method and the non‐linear programming method. In the optimal process, the shuffled complex evolution method and three criteria were applied to compare the observed and simulated hydrographs. The tendencies of the variations of the parameters with their corresponding imperviousness were established through regression analysis. Ten cases were used to examine the established equations of the parameters and impervious covers. Finally, the design flood routines of various return periods were furnished through use of approaches containing a design storm, block kriging, the SCS model, and a rainfall‐runoff model with established functional relationships. These simulated flood hydrographs were used to compare and understand the past, present, and future hydrological conditions of the watershed studied. In the research results, the time to peak of flood hydrographs for various storms was diminished approximately from 11 h to 6 h in different decrements, whereas peak flow increased respectively from 127 m³ s^?1 to 629 m³ s^?1 for different storm intensities. In addition, this study provides a design diagram for the peak flow ratio to help engineers and designers to construct hydraulic structures efficiently and prevent possible damage to human life and property. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-frequency near-bottom acoustic reflection signatures of hydrocarbon seeps on the Northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope

Acoustic reflection signatures of four hydro-carbon seeps were classified using near-bottom 25-kHz echosounder profiles. Echo patterns were compared with ground-truth data obtained by submersible observations and shallow coring. Six echo types were distinguished: strong reflections from (1)?exposed or (2)?buried hard substrates, such as authigenic carbonate or gas hydrate; acoustic scattering in (3)?unlayered or (4)?layered sediments owing to gas, shells, or disseminated carbonates; (5)?attenuation caused by gas; and (6)?undisturbed sediments. Echo type distributions suggest that high spatial variability indicates a younger, vigorous seep, whereas extensive hard substrate implies an older, encrusted seep.