Geochemical and geochronological studies of the Muong Hum alkaline granitic pluton from the Phan Si Pan Zone,northwest Vietnam: Implications for petrogenesis and tectonic setting

The Phan Si Pan zone in northwest Vietnam is an important tectonic unit for understanding the geological evolution of the southeast Asian Block. Numerous late Permian A‐type granites outcrop in this zone. In this study, new geochemical and geochronological data derived from the Muong Hum alkaline granitic pluton in the Phan Si Pan zone were investigated for its petrogenesis and tectonic setting. Zircon U–Pb analyses of three samples yielded ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages of (251.1 ±3.5) Ma, (251.2 ±3.8) Ma, and (253.9 ±1.5) Ma, respectively, coinciding with the ages of the acid member of magma from Emeishan large igneous province, southwest China. The Muong Hum granite has 10 000 × Ga/Al and A/CNK values of 4.70–4.93 and 0.87–0.90, respectively, as well as negative Eu anomalies. It shows significant depletion of Ba, Sr, Ti, and P, similar to features of A‐type granite. Zircons have positive ε_Hf(t) values (+1.9 to +8.6) and Hf model ages (T_DM1) of 595–846 Ma, originating a mantle source. Compared with the Panzhihua A‐type granite of the southwest China domain and other A‐type plutons of the Phan Si Pan zone, including Ye Yen Sun, Phu Sa Phin, Nam Xe, Tam Duong Phan Si Pan, and Taihe, the geochemical characteristics and zircon Hf isotopic compositions of the Muong Hum granite demonstrate an affinity of mantle magma. It is believed that the Phan Si Pan zone is an important part of Emeishan large igneous province. It was reworked by the Cenozoic Aillaoshan‐Red River shear fault to its present location.     

Distributed Temperature Sensing to Measure Infiltration Rates Across a Groundwater Recharge Basin

Managed aquifer recharge is used to augment groundwater resources and provide resiliency to water supplies threatened by prolonged droughts. It is important that recharge facilities operate at their maximum efficiency to increase the volume of water stored for future use. In this study, we evaluate the use of distributed temperature sensing (DTS) technology as a tool to measure high-resolution infiltration rates at a large-scale recharge facility. Fiber optic cable was laid out inside a spreading basin in a spiral pattern, at two different depths. The cables measured the propagation of diurnal surface water temperature oscillations into the basin depth. The rate of heat propagation is proportional to the velocity of the water, making it possible to estimate the infiltration rate from the temperature measurements. Our results showed that the infiltration rate calculated from DTS, averaged over the entire basin, was within 5% of the infiltration rate calculated using a conventional metering method. The high-resolution data obtained from DTS, both spatially and temporally, revealed heterogeneous infiltration rates throughout the basin; furthermore, tracking the evolution of infiltration rates over time revealed regions with consistently high infiltration rates, regions with consistently low infiltration rates, and regions that evolved from high to low rates, which suggested clogging within that region. Water utilities can take advantage of the high-resolution information obtained from DTS to better manage recharge basins and make decisions about cleaning schedule, frequency, and extent, leading to improved basin management strategies, reduced O&M costs, and increased groundwater recharge.     

Rotenone treatment has a short-term effect on New Zealand stream macroinvertebrate communities

Invasive fish eradication is a key management strategy in aquatic ecosystems, and is often accomplished using piscicides such as rotenone. However, the effects of piscicides on aquatic invertebrate communities are poorly understood, particularly over long time scales. We monitored invertebrate communities in two treatment and two reference streams prior to and for one year following the use of rotenone to eradicate trout in Zealandia wildlife sanctuary, Wellington. Immediately following treatment, invertebrate density and taxonomic richness declined significantly, and community composition diverged markedly relative to reference streams, with pollution sensitive taxa declining greater than more tolerant taxa. Treatment streams recovered to pre-treatment conditions within 4–12 months of rotenone application, indicating minor long-term impacts on invertebrate communities. Speed of recovery of individual taxa appeared to be associated with life history variables, e.g. generation times and dispersal ability. Untreated upstream reaches and nearby water bodies likely facilitated successful invertebrate community recovery. Our results demonstrate that rapid recovery of New Zealand stream invertebrate communities is possible within one year of rotenone application.     

Evaluation of five gridded rainfall datasets in simulating streamflow in the upper Dong Nai river basin,Vietnam

Rainfall data with an appropriate spatial resolution is a key input to hydrological models. However, networks of rain gauges are often sparsely and unevenly distributed in large catchments, especially in developing countries. High-resolution rainfall datasets, such as the Asian Precipitation Highly Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation of Water Resources (APHRODITE), the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), the Climatic Research Unit Time Series (CRU-TS), the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), have become available to overcome such limitations. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impacts of four land-based rainfall products (APHRODITE, CFSR, CRU-TS, and GPCC) and a satellite-based rainfall product (TRMM) on streamflow of the upper catchment of Tri An reservoir in Vietnam using the Hydrological Modeling System (HEC-HMS). In addition, the available rain gauges data were used for comparison purpose. Result indicates that the TRMM and GPCC data show their best match to rain gauges data in simulating the streamflow in the period 1999–2007. Generally, the results indicate that the TRMM and GPCC data could be alternative solutions.     

Using salt intrusion measurements to determine the freshwater discharge distribution over the branches of a multi-channel estuary: The Mekong Delta case

The fresh water discharge is an important parameter for modelling salt intrusion in an estuary. In alluvial converging estuaries during periods of low flow, when salinity is highest, the river discharge is generally small compared to the tidal flow. This makes the determination of the fresh water discharge a challenging task. Even if discharge observations are available during a full tidal cycle, the fresh water discharge is seldom much larger than the measurement error in the tidal discharge. Observations further upstream, outside the tidal region, do not always reflect the actual flow in the saline area due to withdrawals or additional drainage. Discharge computation is even more difficult in a complex system such as the Mekong Delta, which is a multi-channel estuary consisting of many branches, over which the freshwater discharge distribution cannot be measured directly. This paper presents a new approach to determine the freshwater discharge distribution over the branches of the Mekong Delta by means of an analytical salt intrusion model, based on measurements made during the dry season of 2005 and 2006. It appears that the analytical model agrees well with observations and with a hydraulic model. This paper demonstrates that with relatively simple and appropriate salinity measurements and making use of the analytical salt intrusion model, it is possible to obtain an accurate discharge distribution over the branches of a complex estuary system. This makes the analytical model a powerful tool to analyze the water resources in tidal regions.     

GIS-based landslide susceptibility modeling: A comparison between fuzzy multi-criteria and machine learning algorithms

Hazards and disasters have always negative impacts on the way of life.Landslide is an overwhelming natural as well as man-made disaster that causes loss of natural resources and human properties throughout theworld.The present study aimed to assess and compare the prediction efficiency of different models in landslide susceptibility in the Kysuca river basin,Slovakia.In this regard,the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory combining with the analytic network process(FDEMATEL-ANP),Na?ve Bayes(NB)classifier,and random forest(RF)classifier were considered.Initially,a landslide inventory map was produced with 2000 landslide and nonlandslide points by randomly dividedwith a ratio of 70%:30%for training and testing,respectively.The geospatial database for assessing the landslide susceptibility was generated with the help of 16 landslide conditioning factors by allowing for topographical,hydrological,lithological,and land cover factors.The ReliefF methodwas considered for determining the significance of selected conditioning factors and inclusion in the model building.Consequently,the landslide susceptibility maps(LSMs)were generated using the FDEMATEL-ANP,Na?ve Bayes(NB)classifier,and random forest(RF)classifier models.Finally,the area under curve(AUC)and different arithmetic evaluation were used for validating and comparing the results and models.The results revealed that random forest(RF)classifier is a promising and optimum model for landslide susceptibility in the study area with a very high value of area under curve(AUC=0.954),lower value of mean absolute error(MAE=0.1238)and root mean square error(RMSE=0.2555),and higher value of Kappa index(K=0.8435)and overall accuracy(OAC=92.2%).     

High-resolution simulations for Vietnam - methodology and evaluation of current climate

To assist the government of Vietnam in its efforts to better understand the impacts of climate change and prioritise its adaptation measures, dynamically downscaled climate change projections were produced across Vietnam. Two Regional Climate Models (RCMs) were used: CSIRO’s variable-resolution Conformal-Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM) and the limited-area model Regional Climate Model system version 4.2 (RegCM4.2). First, global CCAM simulations were completed using bias- and variance-corrected sea surface temperatures as well as sea ice concentrations from six Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) global climate models. This approach is different from other downscaling approaches as it does not use any atmospheric fields from the GCMs. The global CCAM simulations were then further downscaled to 10 km using CCAM and to 20 km using RegCM4.2. Evaluations of temperature and precipitation for the current climate (1980-2000) were completed using station data as well as various gridded observational datasets. The RCMs were able to reproduce reasonably well most of the important characteristics of observed spatial patterns and annual cycles of temperature. Average and minimum temperatures were well simulated (biases generally less than 1oC), while maximum temperatures had biases of around 1oC. For precipitation, although the RCMs captured the annual cycle, RegCM4.2 was too dry in Oct.-Nov. (-60% bias), while CCAM was too wet in Dec.- Mar. (130% bias). Both models were too dry in summer and too wet in winter (especially in northern Vietnam). The ability of the ensemble simulations to capture current climate increases confidence in the simulations of future climate.     

Numerical investigation of the effect of seasonal variations of depthof-closure on shoreline evolution

The current study presents the effects of seasonal variations in the depth-of-closure(Dc)on shoreline evolution using a numerical,one-line shoreline model.Beach erosion of the southern beach of the Nha Trang Coast,which is located in south central of Vietnam,is selected as the study area.This study area is immensely influenced by the tropical monsoon climate that has a clear pattern of large waves in the northeast monsoon season and calm waves in the non-monsoon season.The analysis of the long-term measured shoreline variations from a video-camera system has found a strong correlation of these variations to the monsoon-dominated wave characteristics in the Nha Trang Bay.Therefore,a new approach for determining the depth-of-closure with consideration of the seasonal wave climate changes is purposed in the current study.By implementing this new approach into a numerical,one-line shoreline model,it is found that the seasonal variations of Dc appear to better describe the periodical shoreline evolution due to the monsoon-dominated wave characteristics for the Nha Trang Coast.Such important findings are considered to commonly apply for monsoon-dominated coastal regions in general.These findings are useful information not only for scientific readers but also for the coastal authorities and managers in order to make better countermeasure plans against this kind of erosion mechanism in the future.     

On the potential for CO2 mineral storage in continental flood basalts - PHREEQC batch- and 1D diffusion-reaction simulations

ABSTRACT: Continental flood basalts (CFB) are considered as potential CO2 storage sites because of their high reactivity and abundant divalent metal ions that can potentially trap carbon for geological timescales. Moreover, laterally extensive CFB are found in many place in the world within reasonable distances from major CO2 point emission sources.Based on the mineral and glass composition of the Columbia River Basalt (CRB) we estimated the potential of CFB to store CO2 in secondary carbonates. We simulated the system using kinetic dependent dissolution of primary basalt-minerals (pyroxene, feldspar and glass) and the local equilibrium assumption for secondary phases (weathering products). The simulations were divided into closed-system batch simulations at a constant CO2 pressure of 100?bar with sensitivity studies of temperature and reactive surface area, an evaluation of the reactivity of H2O in scCO2, and finally 1D reactive diffusion simulations giving reactivity at CO2 pressures varying from 0 to 100?bar.Although the uncertainty in reactive surface area and corresponding reaction rates are large, we have estimated the potential for CO2 mineral storage and identified factors that control the maximum extent of carbonation. The simulations showed that formation of carbonates from basalt at 40?C may be limited to the formation of siderite and possibly FeMg carbonates. Calcium was largely consumed by zeolite and oxide instead of forming carbonates. At higher temperatures (60 - 100?C), magnesite is suggested to form together with siderite and ankerite. The maximum potential of CO2 stored as solid carbonates, if CO2 is supplied to the reactions unlimited, is shown to depend on the availability of pore space as the hydration and carbonation reactions increase the solid volume and clog the pore space. For systems such as in the scCO2 phase with limited amount of water, the total carbonation potential is limited by the amount of water present for hydration of basalt.     

OpenCIS—Open Source GIS‐based web community information system

Geographic Information System (GIS) technology has many applications and plays a vital role in the majority of the daily operations by government and public administration. However, due to its technical complexity and cost, communities lacking the expertise and resources cannot benefit from this technology. The OpenCIS project, a user‐friendly free Open Source GIS‐based Web Community Information System, seeks to address this issue by bridging the gap between a simple map viewer and full GIS, representing one of the first steps towards the goal of grassroots empowerment through GIS technology.