Cyclones and storm surges in Bangladesh: Some mitigative measures

Bangladesh, with its repeated cycle of floods, cyclones, and storm surges, has proved to be one of the most disaster-prone areas of the world. During the years from 1797 to 1991, Bangladesh has been hit by 60 severe cyclones (mostly accompanied by storm surges). This paper gives a brief account of these disasters with particular reference to the wind speed, surge height, loss of life, and damage to crops and properties, etc.In order to protect the coastal areas of Bangladesh from cyclonic storm surges and floods, a major system of embankments was constructed during the 1960s and 1970s, but this is now in need of rehabilitation. The Cyclone Protection Project, which was approved by the World Bank in 1989, would rehabilitate some of the existing embankments, build new embankments, and construct roads. Locally available materials, indigenous technology, and cheap surplus manpower should be used in this project. A variety of fruit trees should be planted along the dikes and roads.To the south-western part of Bangladesh bordering the Bay of Bengal, lies the world's largest single mangrove tract, known as the Sunderban, which covers a total area of 571 500 ha. This mangrove forest is of extreme importance since it provides efficient protection to life and property against cyclones and storm surges. But due to deforestation, the width of the mangrove belt is being rapidly diminished. The author therefore lays emphasis on coastal afforestation.Absolute security against cyclone hazard is probably out of the question, but an effective cyclone warning response can definitely reduce loss of life and damage to property. The author discusses the current conditions for cyclone forecasting and warning in Bangladesh, and then puts forward some proposals for improving the Cyclone Preparedness Programme.     

Tracing subsurface oil pollution leakage using 2D electrical resistivity tomography

This study provides an evaluation of the subsurface oil contaminant flow in an oil production field at the Wadi Feiran fan, along the Gulf of Suez, Egypt. The 2D electrical resistivity tomography technique has been applied along four profiles surrounding the spill location of oil dump site. Theoretical soil resistivity response versus fluid resistivity for different cation exchange capacity values has been studied. Then, a physical model for the current situation of flowing the oil over the groundwater (sea invaded water) of saturated fluvial sediments has been introduced. It was supposed that the crude oil has higher resistivity values and turned to be conductive far away from the oil spill source under the effect of microbial biodegradation. Such conditions of contaminated distribution and its resistivity values have been considered during the inversion and interpretation of the acquired data sets. The processed 2D resistivity profiles reveal that oil plumes are accumulated in the seawater invasion direction, whereas it has low signatures along the profiles parallel to the shore line.     

U-Th-Pb and Trace Element Evaluation of Existing Titanite and Apatite LA-ICP-MS Reference Materials and Determination of 208Pb/232Th-206Pb/238U Date Discordance in Archaean Accessory Phases

The last decade has seen a marked increase in U-Th-Pb petrochronological studies focused on titanite and apatite. This has motivated the need for detailed, phase-specific method development and well-characterised reference materials with a wide variety of ages and chemical compositions. This study presents new U-Th-Pb isotope and major-, minor- and trace-element mass fraction data for ten titanite and five apatite reference materials based on integrated EPMA, LA-ICP-MS and isotope-dilution (ID) multi-collector (MC)-ICP-MS characterisation. Cross-comparison of EPMA and LA-ICP-MS data for the same titanite reference material suite demonstrates that careful selection of EPMA primary reference materials is necessary to minimise inaccuracies. We further identify a significant X-ray interference when measuring low Ce abundances in Ti-bearing phases and outline a method for its correction. New ID-MC-ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS data suggest tri-concordance (defined as concordant ages for the ²³⁸U-²⁰⁶Pb, ²³⁵U-²⁰⁷Pb and ²³²Th-²⁰⁸Pb decay systems) of the MKED-1 titanite reference material and demonstrate the reproducibility of ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th measurements in some secondary titanite reference materials. Integration of ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th results with U-Pb geochronology provides a meaningful tool to help interpret complex U-Th-Pb isotopic age spectra. We provide example applications of ²⁰⁸Pb/²³²Th LA-ICP-MS measurements toward interpreting Archaean titanite ages from the Acasta Gneiss Complex, Northwest Territories, Canada.     

GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping using numerical risk factor bivariate model and its ensemble with linear multivariate regression and boosted regression tree algorithms

In this study, a novel approach of the landslide numerical risk factor(LNRF) bivariate model was used in ensemble with linear multivariate regression(LMR) and boosted regression tree(BRT) models, coupled with radar remote sensing data and geographic information system(GIS), for landslide susceptibility mapping(LSM) in the Gorganroud watershed, Iran. Fifteen topographic, hydrological, geological and environmental conditioning factors and a landslide inventory(70%, or 298 landslides) were used in mapping. Phased array-type L-band synthetic aperture radar data were used to extract topographic parameters. Coefficients of tolerance and variance inflation factor were used to determine the coherence among conditioning factors. Data for the landslide inventory map were obtained from various resources, such as Iranian Landslide Working Party(ILWP), Forestry, Rangeland and Watershed Organisation(FRWO), extensive field surveys, interpretation of aerial photos and satellite images, and radar data. Of the total data, 30% were used to validate LSMs, using area under the curve(AUC), frequency ratio(FR) and seed cell area index(SCAI).Normalised difference vegetation index, land use/land cover and slope degree in BRT model elevation, rainfall and distance from stream were found to be important factors and were given the highest weightage in modelling. Validation results using AUC showed that the ensemble LNRF-BRT and LNRFLMR models(AUC = 0.912(91.2%) and 0.907(90.7%), respectively) had high predictive accuracy than the LNRF model alone(AUC = 0.855(85.5%)). The FR and SCAI analyses showed that all models divided the parameter classes with high precision. Overall, our novel approach of combining multivariate and machine learning methods with bivariate models, radar remote sensing data and GIS proved to be a powerful tool for landslide susceptibility mapping.     

伊拉克底格里斯河摩苏尔河段特性分析

采用天然河道实测资料分析和实验室试验分析方法对伊拉克底格里斯河摩苏尔55km河段的河道床沙组成进行研究,目的是分析河床表层及底层泥沙组成,以及该河段的床沙粗化条件.通过收集天然河道的床沙资料,对沙样进行实验室分析,结果表明:底格里斯河摩苏尔河段床沙已形成粗化:一般河床表层泥沙颗粒大小分布随着河段距离的增加而减小,床沙接近于均勻分布,表层床沙沙样颗粒中圆盘形、 球形、柱形和片状分别为48.34%、25.2%、15.34%和11.08%.在床沙的表层和底层泥沙以粗沙砾石为主,分别为74%和36%.     

Die elektrochemische Bestimmung des im Wasser gelösten Sauerstoffs mit Hilfe einer modifizierten Membranelektrodentechnik

Zusammenfassung Die Anwendungsm?glichkeiten der elektrochemischen Sauerstoffbestimmung wurden durch die Einführung der Kurzzeitmessung erweitert. Diese Methode gibt eine gr?ssere Empfindlichkeit und erlaubt somit die Sauerstoffbestimmung im μg/l-Bereich. Ferner wurde ein System entwickelt, das von der Membrandicke und dem Membranmaterial unabh?ngig ist. Das ist ein Vorteil, der speziell für Sauerstoffmessungen in Kl?ranlagen interessant sein dürfte.

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Summary This paper presents a new electrochemical technique for DO measurements by means of membrane electrodes. In stead of the well-known steady state measurements, a transient technique which is more sensitive was used. This gives the possibility of measuring oxygen in the μl/l range. The system is independent of the membrane material and the membrane thickness. The stirring influence is considerably less than for steady state measurements. The independence of the membrane material will be especially useful for oxygen measurements in waste purification plants.

     

Prediction of fish yield and potential productivity from limnological data in Lake Borollus, Egypt

Four limnological models (lake shoreline development (D_L), Morphoedaphic Index (MEI), primary production and total nutrient input) have been applied to Lake Borollus to estimate existing fish yield and future potential productivity. The estimated existing fish yield from the lake is about 1260 kg/ha (i.e. 53,000 tons/annum), which is at or near its existing potential and is considered in the ultra enriched category. From 1931 to 1935, the estimated fish production of Lake Borollus was about 68 kg/ha, which is considered low enriched category, while from1960 to 1970, the lake belonged to the moderately enriched category, where the estimated fish production was about 155 kg/ha, and then tremendously increased to about 580 kg/ha during the 1980's.Thisincrease in fish yield is mainly attributed to the nutrient loading of the southern and eastern drains to the lake. In the long term, and based on existing nutrient input to fish yield relationships, it is estimated that increased nutrient loading from drainage water may elevate its yield by 24, 580 tons by the year 2005 (i.e. total fish yield could be increased to 77,500 tons/annum). This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Detection of Magnetically Susceptible Dyke Swarms in a Fresh Coastal Aquifer

Groundwater constitutes the main source of freshwater in Shalatein, on the western coast of the Red Sea, in Egypt. The fresh aquifer of Shalatein is intensively dissected by shallow and deep faults associated with the occurrence of dykes and/or dyke swarms. In this context, synthesis of electrical resistivity, ground magnetics, and borehole data was implemented to investigate the freshwater aquifer condition, locate the intrusive dykes and/or dyke swarms, and demarcate the potential freshwater zones. Nine Schlumberger VES’s with maximum current electrode half-spacing (AB/2) of 682 m were conducted. The subsurface was successfully delineated by general four layers. The fresh aquifer of the Quaternary and Pre-Quaternary alluvium sediments was effectively demarcated with true resistivities ranged from 30 to 105 Ωm and thickness ranged between 20 and 60 m. A ground magnetic survey comprised 35 magnetic profiles, each 7 km in length. Magnetic data interpretation of the vertical derivatives (first and second order), downward continuation (100 m), apparent susceptibility (depth of 100 m), and wavelength filters (Butterworth high-pass of wavelengths <100 m and Band-Pass of wavelengths 30–100 m) successfully distinguished the near surface structure with five major clusters of dyke swarms, whereas filters of the upward continuation (300 m) and Butterworth low-pass (wavelengths >300 m) clearly reflected the deep-seated structure. The computed depth by the 3D Euler deconvolution for geological contacts and faults (SI = 0) ranged from 14 to 545 m, whereas for dyke and sill (SI = 1), it ranged from 10 to 1,095 m. The western part of the study area is recommended as a potential freshwater zone as it is characterized by depths >100 m to the top of the dykes, higher thickness of the fresh aquifer (45–60 m), depths to the top of the fresh aquifer ranging from 25 to 40 m, and higher resistivities reflecting better freshwater quality (70–105 Ωm).