A geometric method to determine the distances of galaxies

Es wird die Möglichkeit diskutiert, die Größenverteilungsfunktion von Kugelsternhaufen für die Entfernungsbestimmung von Galaxien zu nutzen.     

Evaluation and modification of some empirical and semi-empirical approaches for prediction of area-storage capacity curves in reservoirs of dams

The storage capacity of reservoirs is gradually reduced due to sediment accumulation that causes changes in the area-storage capacity (ASC) curves.Establishing these curves and predicting their future change is an important issue for planners,designers and operators of dams.Many empirical and semiempirical approaches have been suggested for establishing and predicting the future changes for these curves.In this study four empirical and semi-empirical methods were evaluated and three of them were modified to be used for the prediction of changes in the ASC curves due to sedimentation,based on the existing sedimentation survey data for 11 reservoirs in the USK For evaluation,these approaches were reviewed and used to determine sedimentation depth and establishing the ASC curves for the Mosul dam reservoir (MDR),which is the biggest hydraulic structure on the River Tigris in northern Iraq.MDR started operating in 1986 with a storage capacity of 11.11 km3 and a water surface area 380 km2 at normal operation stage (330 m a.s.l.).The results obtained from these methods were evaluated using observed bathymetric survey data that had been collected in 2011 after 25 years of the operation of the dam.The evaluation results showed three methods had presented more accurate results for estimating water depth or sedimentation depth at dam site with percentage error about 1.06-3.30％.Whilst for establishing ASC curves,one method presented good agreement result with survey data.Furthermore,ASC and sedimentation depths at dam site of MDR for periods 50,75,100 and 125 years were estimated using the modified approaches and the area reduction method.The results of the modified methods provided reasonable agreement when compared with the area reduction method proposed by the U.S.Bureau of Reclamation and the agreement became better with an increase in time period.     

X-Ray Spectral Study of AGN Sources Content in Some Deep Extragalactic XMM-Newton Fields

We undertake a spectral study of a sample of bright X-ray sources taken from six XMM-Newton fields at high galactic latitudes, where AGN are the most populous class. These six fields were chosen such that the observation had an exposure time more than 60 ksec, had data from the EPIC-pn detector in the full-Frame mode and lying at high galactic latitude |b|>25^∘. The analysis started by fitting the spectra of all sources with an absorbed power-law model, and then we fitted all the spectra with an absorbed power-law with a low energy black-body component model.The sources for which we added a black body gave an F-test probability of 0.01 or less (i.e. at 99% confidence level), were recognized as sources that display soft excess. We perform a comparative analysis of soft excess spectral parameters with respect to the underlying power-law one for sources that satisfy this criterion. Those sources, that do not show evidence for a soft excess, based on the F-test probability at a 99% confidence level, were also fitted with the absorbed power-law with a low energy black-body component model with the black-body temperature fixed at 0.1 and 0.2 keV. We establish upper limits on the soft excess flux for those sources at these two temperatures. Finally we have made use of Aladdin interactive sky atlas and matching with NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) to identify the X-ray sources in our sample. For those sources which are identified in the NED catalogue, we make a comparative study of the soft excess phenomenon for different types of systems.     

Probabilistic seismic hazard maps for the sultanate of Oman

This study presents the results of the first probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) in the framework of logic tree for Oman. The earthquake catalogue was homogenized, declustered, and used to define seismotectonic source model that characterizes the seismicity of Oman. Two seismic source models were used in the current study; the first consists of 26 seismic source zones, while the second is expressing the alternative view that seismicity is uniform along the entire Makran and Zagros zones. The recurrence parameters for all the seismogenic zones were determined using the doubly bounded exponential distribution except the zones of Makran, which were modelled using the characteristic distribution. Maximum earthquakes were determined and the horizontal ground accelerations in terms of geometric mean were calculated using ground-motion prediction relationships developed based upon seismic data obtained from active tectonic environments similar to those surrounding Oman. The alternative seismotectonic source models, maximum magnitude, and ground-motion prediction relationships were weighted and used to account for the epistemic uncertainty. Hazard maps at rock sites were produced for 5?% damped spectral acceleration (SA) values at 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 1.0 and 2.0?s spectral periods as well as peak ground acceleration (PGA) for return periods of 475 and 2,475?years. The highest hazard is found in Khasab City with maximum SA at 0.2?s spectral period reaching 243 and 397?cm/s² for return periods 475 and 2,475 years, respectively. The sensitivity analysis reveals that the choice of seismic source model and the ground-motion prediction equation influences the results most.     

Influence of size of granulated rubber on bearing capacity of fine-grained sand

Nowadays, in most of the advanced and developing countries, waste tires have caused serious environmental problems such as fire and environmental contamination. For reusing them in an appropriate and beneficial way, waste tires have been utilized as a lightweight fill material in geotechnical engineering applications such as highway embankments. In this study, Babolsar fine-grained sand and granulated rubber with sizes in the ranges of 1 to 4, 1 to 9, and 4 to 9 mm were used. A series of model footing tests on reinforced sand with different sizes of granulated rubber were carried out. According to the results, 4- to 9-mm granulated rubber had the highest effect on enhancement of bearing capacity and reduction of fine-grained sand settlement. The results showed that sand-granulated rubber mixtures with granulated rubber in the range of 4 to 9 mm and content of 10% by weight of mixture can increase the bearing capacity of sand up to 50%. In addition, for this mixture, a series of laboratory tests were conducted to determine the optimum width and depth of the reinforcement layer consisting of sand-granulated rubber mixture. The results indicate that the optimum width and the most effective depth of this mixture are 5B and 1B, respectively (where B is the footing width).     

Probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment along Oman coast from submarine earthquakes in the Makran subduction zone

The Sultanate of Oman is among the Indian Ocean countries that were subjected to at least two confirmed tsunamis during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: the 1945 tsunami due to an earthquake in the Makran subduction zone in the Sea of Oman (near-regional field tsunami) and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, caused by an earthquake from the Andaman Sumatra subduction zone (far - field tsunami). In this paper, we present a probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment for the entire coast of Oman from tectonic sources generated along the Makran subduction zone. The tsunami hazard is assessed taking into account the contribution of small- and large-event magnitudes. Results of the earthquake recurrence rate studies and the tsunami numerical modeling for different magnitudes were used through a logic-tree to estimate the tsunami hazard probabilities. We derive probability hazard exceedance maps for the Omani coast considering the exposure times of 100, 250, 500, and 1000 years. The hazard maps consist of computing the likelihood that tsunami waves exceed a specific amplitude. We find that the probability that a maximum wave amplitude exceeds 1 m somewhere along the coast of Oman reaches, respectively, 0.7 and 0.85 for 100 and 250 exposure times, and it is up to 1 for 500 and 1000 years of exposure times. These probability values decrease significantly toward the southern coast of Oman where the tsunami impact, from the earthquakes generated at Makran subduction zone, is low.     

Origin and age of Paleoproterozoic conglomerates and sandstones of the Tarkwaian Group in Burkina Faso, West Africa

The Tarkwaian rocks of Burkina Faso overlie the Birimian Supergroup which is considered to be part of a juvenile crust formed during the Eburnean orogen. They comprise fluviatile pebbles (quartz, rhyolite, chert and schist), embedded in an acid volcaniclastic matrix. During a sinistral transpressive shearing they underwent a low-grade metamorphism characterized by a paragonitic muscovite assemblage formed during isoclinal folding. Fold axes are nearly horizontal, parallel to a stretching lineation and oriented 035–215°.A typologic study of zircons in the volcaniclastics, coupled with radiometric datings, enables the volcanism to be characterized and its age to be determined.The typologic study has shown that: (1) zircons from the rhyolitic pebbles, the matrix of the conglomerates and from the sandstone are basically the same; (2) the zircons' morphology characterizes a calc-alkaline to alkaline evolutionary trend implying three main episodes of volcanism; (3) the morphology of this zircon population is very similar to those usually observed in post-orogenic metasediments or sediments. The tectonic setting is one of intracontinental extension associated with rifting and crustal thinning in the course of a major period of crustal growth around 2.1 Ga. The continental volcaniclastics accumulated in the rift at the same time as the sediments.The radiometric study has shown that there are no reworked Archean rocks. The ages cover the period 2170 to 2124 Ma. Three main volcanic episodes may be defined 2170, 2150 and 2124 Ma; the last one was probably contemporaneous with the sedimentation. Deformation of Tarkwaian rocks took place between 2124 ± 9 Ma (the age of the youngest inherited zircon) and 1991 ± 12 Ma (the age of a post-Tarkwaian granite). This period, 2170 to 2124 Ma, fits well with the main Birimian crustal growth and the ages reported for the Tarkwaian rocks of Ghana. The same period of accretion is also recognized in South America.The Tarkwaian conglomeratic rocks of Burkina Faso do not have gold concentrations similar to those in Ghana and Guyana. With respect to the Tarkwaian rocks of Ghana, where gold is concentrated in the quartz pebbles, they also differ because: (1) there is a volcaniclastic contribution; (2) the zircons from the Tarkwaian rocks in Burkina Faso are euhedral, indicating that transport distances were short; and (3) they have been deformed by shearing.With respect to Guyana, the rocks are very similar and probably have the same origin; the short transport distance may not allow a secondary concentration of gold. These differences, at least, may help explain the lack of economic gold concentration in the Tarkwaian metasediments.     

A bivariate analysis of the volume and duration of low-flow events

: The knowledge of the volume and duration of low-flow events in river channels is essential for water management and the design of hydraulics structures. In this study, both preceding characteristics, X ₁ and X ₂, are considered simultaneously via two types of bivariate distributions whose marginals are exponential. One of these bivariate distributions has been presented by Nagao and Kadoya (1971) and the other has been used by Singh and Singh (1991) to the study of rainfall intensity and rainfall depth. The results are applied to the low-flow series (“peaks-below-threshold”) of Lepreau River (station 01AQ001) in New Brunswick, Canada. These results show that the model that was successfully employed by Singh and Singh (1991) to study rainfall, presents certain difficulties when a very strong correlation, ρ, between the two random variables X ₁ and X ₂, exists. The model by Nagao and Kadoya (1971) seems to be more satisfactory for such situations, although this model seems also to be quite sensitive to variations in ρ.     

A bivariate analysis of the volume and duration of low-flow events

: The knowledge of the volume and duration of low-flow events in river channels is essential for water management and the design of hydraulics structures. In this study, both preceding characteristics, X ₁ and X ₂, are considered simultaneously via two types of bivariate distributions whose marginals are exponential. One of these bivariate distributions has been presented by Nagao and Kadoya (1971) and the other has been used by Singh and Singh (1991) to the study of rainfall intensity and rainfall depth. The results are applied to the low-flow series (“peaks-below-threshold”) of Lepreau River (station 01AQ001) in New Brunswick, Canada. These results show that the model that was successfully employed by Singh and Singh (1991) to study rainfall, presents certain difficulties when a very strong correlation, ρ, between the two random variables X ₁ and X ₂, exists. The model by Nagao and Kadoya (1971) seems to be more satisfactory for such situations, although this model seems also to be quite sensitive to variations in ρ.     

Recent colluvial sedimentation in Jordan: fans evolving into sand ramps

Abstract High‐angle accumulations of sand and escarpment‐derived gravel along the outcrop walls of Plio‐Pleistocene sandstones, eastern Jordan, form small, coalesced colluvial fans, built by rockfalls, rockfall‐derived debris flows, dry sandfalls and sandy grainflows. These deposits are sourced through wind erosion of fault‐controlled outcrops of weakly cemented sandstone and a hard, gypsum‐cemented sandstone and fine conglomerate caprock exposed in sandpits. Eroded sediment is supplied to the fans directly as rockfalls and sandfalls, and indirectly as gully‐confined sandy grainflows. The preserved colluvium fans comprise sandy, matrix‐rich rockfall, rockfall‐derived, dry debris‐flow lenticular gravel deposits and minor lenticular sandy grainflow deposits. The fans develop initially against the footwall escarpment and, as erosion continues, the outcrop and the fans become covered by stable sand sheet ramps in a self‐regulatory geomorphic system. Preserved fan–sand ramp systems in eastern Jordan are characterized by a threefold hierarchy of genetically related bounding surfaces, which develop over short time scales. Rapid fault‐controlled uplift and/or rapid stream incision may produce non‐equilibrium scarp faces, identical to those in the sandpits, associated with the colluvial fan–sand ramp systems. Thus, such systems have the potential to identify fault‐related unconformities, rapid uplift events and episodes of rapid downcutting in the rock record. Colluvium deposits have good preservation potential, but are often associated with complex, coarse, basin‐margin facies, and are thus difficult to identify in the stratigraphic record; a problem exacerbated by the lack of adequate colluvium facies models and diagnostic sedimentary criteria.