Community structure of epiphytic algae on three different macrophytes at Acarlar floodplain forest （northern Turkey）

The aim of this study was to determine the species composition, biodiversity and, relative abundance of epiphytic algae and their relationship with environmental variables on three different macrophytes( Nymphaea alba, Ceratophyllum demersum, Typha latifolia) at Acarlar Floodplain Forest(AFF). Epiphytic algae were gathered monthly by collecting aquatic plants between November 2011 and October 2012, except in winter when there were no plants. In this study, 67 taxa on N. alba, 66 taxa on C. demersum and 66 taxa on T. latifolia were identified as epiphytic algae. The mean value of species richness was 17, that of diversity was 1.5 and that of evenness was 0.54 for epiphytic algae on N. alba, 17, 1.1, and 0.39 on C. demersum, and 18, 1.64, and 0.56 on T. latifolia, respectively. Oscillatoria sp. and Komvophoron crassum(Vozzen) Anagnostidis and Komárek were the most abundant and consistent epiphytic algal species, occurring in high abundance on all macrophytes. Results show that species composition of epiphytic algae was different, but diversity values were similar on all the macrophytes. The hydrological pulse is one of the most important factors determining the physical and chemical environment of the epiphytic algal community. However, substrate type also affected the colonization by F. capucina, O. sancta, P. catenata, and L. truncicola more than the epiphytic algal seasonality.     

Integration of GPS with a WiFi high accuracy ranging functionality

High accuracy seamless positioning is required to support a vast number of applications in varying operational environments. Over the last few years, the global positioning system (GPS) has become the de facto technology for positioning applications. However, its performance is limited in indoor and dense urban environments due to multipath as well as signal attenuation and blockage. A number of techniques integrating GPS with other positioning technologies have been developed to address the limitations of standalone GPS in these difficult environments. While most of the developed techniques cover the outages of GPS in such environments, they do not provide acceptable performance, in terms of positioning accuracy, especially for some mission-critical (e.g. safety) applications. This paper proposes a tightly coupled (i.e. in the measurement domain) GPS/WiFi integration method which, in addition to addressing GPS outages, improves the overall positioning accuracy to the meter-level, thus satisfying the requirements of a number of location based services and intelligent transport systems applications. The performance of the proposed GPS/WiFi integration method is assessed for a number of scenarios in a simulation environment for an identified dense urban area in London, UK.     

Reactive Transport Modeling of ZVI Column Experiments for Nickel Remediation

MIN3P, a multicomponent reactive transport model for variably saturated porous media, is used to simulate the outputs of column tests carried out using zero valent iron (ZVI) for nickel contaminated groundwater remediation. The objective of this study is to investigate the main chemical reactions involved in contaminant removal and the main causes of the reactivity decline of ZVI over time. According to the results of the model the major causes of ZVI reactivity loss is identified in the mineral precipitation of α‐FeOOH on iron surface that probably caused ZVI passivation and led to a decline of the electron transfer rate. An existing empirical relationship between mineral precipitation and the reactivity loss of ZVI, included in the model, reproduced the changes in nickel removal observed during different laboratory column tests.     

Modelling fluxes of water and sediment between Venice Lagoon and the sea

To describe the exchange of water and sediment through the Venice Lagoon inlets a 3-D hydrodynamic and sediment transport model has been developed and applied to a domain comprising Venice Lagoon and a part of the Adriatic Sea. The model has been validated for both current velocities and suspended particle concentration against direct observations and from observations empirically derived fluxes from upward-looking acoustic Doppler current profiler probes installed inside each inlet. The model provides estimates of the suspended sediment transport in the lower 3 m of the water column that is not detected by acoustic Doppler current profiler sensors. The bedload model prediction has been validated against measured sand transport rates collected by sand traps deployed in the Lido and Chioggia inlets. Results indicate that, in the Lido inlet, 87% of the total load is in suspension, while the rest moves as bedload.     

The influence of changes in tidal asymmetry on residual sediment transport in the Western Scheldt

This study fits into a wider research program from RWS RIKZ concerning the exchange of sediment between the coast and the tidal basins, Western Scheldt and Wadden Sea, which are the largest basins along the Dutch Coast, over different time-scales. For both basins, questions about the evolution of the import/export at the mouth recently arose. In case of the Western Scheldt, which is the subject of this study, mainly the uncertainty about the future developments after the change from import to export at the mouth was noticed in the 1990s, which necessitated a more detailed study of this area.     

Geoaccumulation and distribution of heavy metals in the urban river sediment

Current study presents the application of chemometric techniques to comprehend the interrelations among sediment variables whilst identifying the possible pollution source at Langat River,Malaysia.Surface sediment samples（0-10 cm）were collected at 22 sampling stations and analyzed for total metals（~（48）Cd,~（29）Cu,~（30）Zn,~（82）Pb）,pH,redox potential（Eh）,salinity,electrical conductivity（EC）,loss on ignition（LOI）and cation exchange capacity（CEC）.The principal component analysis（PCA）scrutinized the origin of environmental pollution by various anthropogenic and natural activities：four principal components were obtained with 86.34%（5 cm）and88.34%（10 cm）.Standard,forward and backward stepwise discriminant analysis effectively discriminate 2variables（84.06%）indicating high variation of heavy metals accumulation at both depth.The cluster analysis accounted for high input of Zn and Pb at LA8,LA 10,LA 11 and LA 12 that mergers three（5 cm）and four（10cm）into clusters.This is consistent with the contamination factor（C_1）that shows high Cd（LA 1）and Pb（LA 7,LA 8,LA 10,LA 11 and LA 12）contaminations at 5cm.These indicate that Pb and Zn are the most bioavailable metals in the sediment with significant positive linear relationship at both sediment depths.Therefore,this approach is a good indication of environmental pollution status that transfers new findings on the assessment of heavy metals by interpreting large complex datasets and predicting the fate of heavy metals in the sediment.     

Obruks, as giant collapse dolines caused by hypogenic karstification in central Anatolia, Turkey: Analysis of likely formation processes

Understanding the development of collapse dolines is crucially important because sudden formation of these landforms threatens property and life. Obruks are mega collapse dolines developed in the lacustrine Neogene carbonates of the Konya Closed Basin in central Turkey. These landforms with diameters and depths reaching several hundreds of meters are characterized by their cylindrical or inverted truncated cone shaped surface morphology and contain lakes if they intersect the local water table. Evaluations based on geological, geophysical, hydrogeological data and the groundwater’s chemical and isotopic compositions suggest a hypogenic mechanism for the development of obruks. This process seems to be driven by the upward migration of a deep-seated carbon dioxide flux from an intrusive magmatic body. Presence of volcanogenic elements (i.e. Li and F) and remarkably high dissolved carbon dioxide (logPCO₂?=?10^?1 atm) in fresh groundwater, hydrothermal springs with elevated He contents (R/Ra?=?4.77), highly enriched carbon-13 isotopic composition of total dissolved inorganic carbon (¹³C_TDIC?=??1.12 ‰ V-PDB) in the regional groundwater and presence of widespread carbon dioxide discharges, constitute apparent evidence for the hypogenic fluid migration into the Neogene aquifer where enhanced dissolution due to mixing between the shallow-fresh and deep-saline groundwaters gives rise to obruk formation.     

Continental Oxygen Isotopic Record of the Last 170,000 Years in Jerusalem

A long radiometrically dated oxygen isotopic record of continental climatic variations since the penultimate glaciation was obtained from a stalagmite deposited in a sealed cave in Jerusalem. This record shows that speleothems have the potential of assigning dates to long- and short-term climatic events, with possible refining of Milankovitch tuning of ice and marine records which themselves are not datable. Short-term (1000-yr) events are very significant in the region, reaching 50% of glacial/interglacial fluctuations. The Mediterranean Sea was the most probable source of local precipitation throughout the last glacial cycle.     

Records of cosmogenic radionuclides Be, Al and Cl in corals: First studies on coral erosion rates and potential of dating very old corals

We present results of measurements of cosmogenic ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al and ³⁶Cl, and the indigenous (intrinsic) concentrations of the stable elements Be, Al and Cl in 120-200 kyr old corals from Barbados and Puerto Rico. The concentration levels of these radionuclides in the corals lie in the range 10⁴ to 10⁸ atoms/g. A comparison of the measured nuclide concentrations with those expected to be produced in the corals by nuclear interactions of energetic cosmic radiation shows that (i) the radionuclides ²⁶Al and ³⁶Cl are derived from in situ cosmic ray interactions in the corals after their formation, but that (ii) the radionuclide ¹⁰Be owes its provenance in the coralline lattice primarily due to incorporation of dissolved beryllium in seawater in the lattice structure of the corals.