3D Modeling of sediment movement by ships-generated wakes in confined shipping channel

Ship-generated waves and return currents are capable of re-suspending significant quantities of bottom and bank sediments.However,most of the previous studies done on the subject do not show how and where sediment is re-suspended by the wakes and the directions of net transport.In this paper,a 3D numerical model based on hydro-sedimentary coupling is presented to search the relationship between the sediment movement,and the pattern of ship-generated waves around and far away from the vessel and the return currents around the ships.The hydrodynamic model is based on 3D Navier-Stokes equations including the standard k-ε model for turbulence processes,and the sediment transport model is based on a 3D equation for the re-suspended sediment transport.The computation results show that the areas of sediment concentration and transport(whether by resuspension or by the bedload) depend mainly on the position,the speed of the ship in the waterways,the kinematics of ship-generated waves and on the return flows.Thus,a map of sediment distribution and the modes of sediment transport generated by the passage of the ship are presented.     

Forest cover change assessment in conflict-affected areas of northwest Pakistan: the case of swat and shangla districts

This study examines the spatial and temporal forest cover changes in Swat and Shangla districts to understand the deforestation pattern in context of the recent security conflict in these districts. We used multi-resolution satellite images to assess the long term deforestation from 2001 to 2009 and also to identify episodic forest cutting areas appeared during the conflict period of Oct. 2007 - Oct. 2008. There are only 58 ha of deforestation identified during the conflict period while 1268 ha of gross annual deforestation were assessed during last eight years. Most of the deforestation patches persist around the administrative boundaries at sub-district levels (tehsils) which can be attributed to ambiguity in unclear jurisdiction between the forest official. The results highlight that the forest cutting appeared in Swat and Shangla during the conflict period is not as significant when compared with the long term deforestation pattern in the area. On the one side the results of the study are supportive to the picture that emerges from international studies which report high rate of deforestation in the country and on the other side it negates any relation between the security situation and the increasing deforestation in the north western Pakistan. The study concludes that deforestation assessments require verification by independent sources of data, such as satellite imagery to improve our understanding of deforestation processes.     

Geology and petrography of the Nagar Parkar igneous complex,southeastern Sindh,Pakistan: The Kharsar body

Kharsar hill is one of many granitic plutons comprising the Nagar Parkar igneous complex. The eastern part of the hill is occupied by grey-pink granite (earlier) and the western part by pink granite (later). They are composed of perthite, quartz, and plagioclase, with minor opaque oxide, biotite, titanite, local amphibole, and secondary chlorite, epidote, leucoxene/titanite. The pink granite is characterized by the presence of mafic clots. Both the granitoids are intruded by microgranite/aplite, and porphyritic mafic and rhyolite dykes, locally in swarms. These are abundant in a NE trending 200 m wide zone cutting the entire granite hill. The dykes may extend over 1 km in length and >10 m in thickness, but most are < 100 m in length. The felsic dykes are of several generations; some are associated with the two varieties of granite, others are contemporaneous with the rhyolite and mafic dykes. The mafic dykes can be grouped into two types one of which contains hornblende and the other augite as the principal mafic mineral. Major element analyses suggest that the granitic rocks are metaluminous. The Kharsar granites, like the others in Nagar Parkar, may be an extension of the Malani igneous suite of Rajasthan. The occurrence of bimodal mafic-felsic dykes and petrographic variation in the mafic dykes are briefly discussed.     

Use of remote sensing data in comprehending an extremely unusual flooding event over southwest Bangladesh

Natural Hazards - Flooding is one of the natural disasters that affect the livelihood of the people living in the floodplains, like Bangladesh. Here, we proposed to employ SAR satellite images in...     

Landslide susceptibility analysis with a bivariate approach and GIS in Northern Iran

Globally, landslides cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage and hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries each year. A landslide susceptibility map describes areas where landslides are likely to occur in the future by correlating some of the principal factors that contribute to landslides with the past distribution of landslides. A case study is conducted in the mountainous northern Iran. In this study, a landslide susceptibility map of the study area was prepared using bivariate method with the help of the geographic information system. Area density (bivariate) method was used to weight landslide-influencing data layers. An overlay analysis is carried out by evaluating the layers obtained according to their weight and the landslide susceptibility map is produced. The study area was classified into five hazard classes: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. The percentage distribution of landslide susceptibility degrees was calculated. It was found that about 26% of the study area is classified as very high and high hazard classes.     

Parameters affecting the occurrence of quicksand and the drying up of large diameter wells that gain water from the bottom: a case study from Iran

Large diameter fully cased wells that gain water from the bottom are often dug in sandy and collapsible aquifers. They have cylindrical vertical walls lined with brick or concrete. The well bottom is partially filled with aquifer material through which the flow is vertically upward. When the vertical hydraulic gradient reaches a critical value, quicksand occurs and the well structure can be destroyed. Another difficulty encountered is drawdown in the wellbore and the drying up of the well. To overcome these problems, the flow around and beneath these wells is numerically simulated. The simulation results are used to investigate the effect of well and aquifer parameters on quicksand and drawdown. For practical purposes, the dimensionless drawdown-time and dimensionless vertical gradient-time curves are developed. It was found that the ratio of filling material thickness to well radius affects the shape of these type curves. The type curves may be used to predict the time after pumping commences when quicksand occurs and the well dries up. They are also useful to design the safe pumping rate and duration as well as the optimum well radius. These are demonstrated by analyzing the pumping test data from a case study in the arid Chah Kutah region, southern Iran.     

Evaluation of Bioavailability and Partitioning of Aluminum in Sediment Samples of Different Ecosystems by Modified Sequential Extraction Methods

Sequential extraction procedures are widely used to characterize the different operational fractions with different potential toxicity of metals in environmental solid samples. The present work describes the application of different analytical approaches for sequential extraction of aluminum to evaluate its mobility, availability, and persistent chemical forms in sediment samples of different fresh water ecosystems (lake, canal, and river). The conventional BCR three‐stage sequential extraction procedure (C‐BCR) was modified at each stage, by applying ultrasonic device (U‐BCR), in order to shorten the required shaking time of 16 h for each three steps (excluding the hydrogen peroxide digestion in step 3, which was not performed with ultrasonic bath), could be completed in 40, 50, and 45 min, respectively. The aluminum in all extracts were determination by atomic absorption spectrometry using nitrous oxide – acetylene flame. The accuracy of results obtained from C‐BCR and proposed U‐BCR was verified with literature reported values of certified sediment sample (BCR 701). The overall recoveries of aluminum obtained by proposed U‐BCR were found in the range of 96.7–113% of those values obtained with C‐BCR for all fractions. Use of ultrasonic device, provided a large saving in extraction time relative to conventional shaking. It was observed that major part of Al in real sediment samples (80–83% of total Al) were bound to residual fraction. The acid soluble fraction of aluminum extracted by 0.11 mol/L CH₃COOH has good correlation with aluminum content in corresponding water samples of each ecosystem.     

INCOMING LONGWAVE RADIATION ENHANCEMENT BY CLOUD COVER

The effect of cloud cover on incoming longwave radiation reaching the ground surface is investigated using an analytic procedure. Results show that the contribution of a cloud deck depends not only on cloud type, but also on cloudless emissivity. The widely accepted notion that the enhancement factor for a cloud deck depends only on the cloud type is misleading and could lead to inconsistent results. Results in this paper explain the difference between observed and empirically derived incoming longwave radiation during overcast conditions in cold and mountainous regions. The effect of cloudless emissivity should be taken into account to represent adequately the contribution of cloud cover on incoming longwave radiation. The enhancement factor of all cloud types spans a wide range; it reaches its maximum values during dry atmospheric conditions and diminishes, almost linearly, as atmospheric humidity increases. The difference in the enhancement factor could reach as much as 100%. [Key words: longwave radiation enhancement, cloud contribution, clear-sky emissivity, atmospheric radiation, cloud emissivity.]     

Selection of a Landfill Site for Solid Waste Management: An Application of AHP and Spatial Analyst Tool

Selection of a suitable landfill site for Solid Waste Management (SWM) forms an important component of urban planning. The problem of SWM has assumed significant proportion for the municipal authorities in the wake of rapid industrialization, urbanization and resultant pressure on existing resources. Many criteria such as distance from residential locations, transport connectivity, presence of water-bodies (drains, ponds, rivers etc.) and forests, ground water table and geology are taken into consideration while planning for suitable sites. Spatial Analyst Tool along with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model is extremely useful in such multicriteria decision making process. The present study, based on these tools/techniques, endeavours to identify a suitable location for landfill site in a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The study identifies six potential sites out of which one has been proposed and recommended as the best suitable site.