Geochemical assessment of Paleocene limestones of Sinn El-Kaddab Plateau,South Western Desert of Egypt,for industrial uses

The present work assesses the potential industrial uses of Paleocene limestone deposits, Garra Formation in Sinn El-Kaddab Plateau, South Western Desert of Egypt, based on their mineralogy and geochemical characteristics. Eighty-six limestone samples collected from ten stratigraphic columnar sections were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) techniques. Petrographically, Garra limestone deposits consist dominantly of benthic foraminiferal wackestone and packstone microfacies. The XRD data revealed dominance of low-Mg calcite as essential carbonate mineral in the studied limestone. The bulk rock XRF results revealed CaO (29.28–55.75%) with an average of 52.74%. The CaO exhibits a strong negative correlation with MgO, SiO₂, TiO₂, Al₂O₃, and moderate negative correlation with Fe₂O₃ which indicates that the contribution of these elements is mainly due to detrital input. On the other hand, Al₂O₃ and Na₂O contents exhibit significant negative correlation with loss of ignition (LOI) wt% indicating their incorporation within terrigenous matrix. The average Sr content attains 1297 ppm indicating deposition in temperate marine environment. The average molar CaCO₃% values of bulk samples have been computed for individual columnar sections to determine the purity status of Garra limestone deposits. They range from impure (CaCO₃%?=?79.92%) to high-pure (CaCO₃%?=?97.76%) limestone. Therefore, Garra limestone deposits have extremely valuable uses in a wide spectrum of industrial applications including Portland cement, steel, ceramics, whiting, chemical uses, paper, and feed stuff.     

Detection of soil salinity changes and mapping land cover types based upon remotely sensed data

Soil salinity is a major environmental hazard. The global extent of primary and secondary salt affected soils is about 955 and 77 M?ha, respectively. Soil salinity tends to increase in spite of considerable effort dedicated to land reclamation. This requires careful monitoring of the soil salinity status. The objectives of this study were: (a) to evaluate the capability of thematic mapper (TM) and multispectral scanner (MSS) imagery for mapping land cover types, (b) to analyse the spectral features of sail crusts relative to bare soil and gravely soil surface conditions, and (c) to detect the soil salinity changes during the period 1975–2004 in the Ardakan area located in the central Iranian Deserts. The Landsat MSS and TM on two different dates of September 14, 1975 and September 11, 2004, respectively, were used. Due to great confusion between some classes, the TM 6 was included in the band combination. The result of the image classification based on the combination of TM bands 3, 4, 5, and 6 showed of the classification results. For multi-temporal analysis, both TM and MSS images were classified with the same method but with a different number of training classes. The TM-classified image was regrouped to make it comparable with MSS regrouped classified image. The comparison between the classified images showed about 39% of the total area had changed in 29 years. The result of this study revealed the possibility of detecting important soil salinity changes by using Landsat satellite data     

Modelling flash flood propagation in urban areas using a two-dimensional numerical model

This paper reports on the numerical modelling of flash flood propagation in urban areas after an excessive rainfall event or dam/dyke break wave. A two-dimensional (2-D) depth-averaged shallow-water model is used, with a refined grid of quadrilaterals and triangles for representing the urban area topography. The 2-D shallow-water equations are solved using the explicit second-order scheme that is adapted from MUSCL approach. Four applications are described to demonstrate the potential benefits and limits of 2-D modelling: (i) laboratory experimental dam-break wave in the presence of an isolated building; (ii) flash flood over a physical model of the urbanized Toce river valley in Italy; (iii) flash flood in October 1988 at the city of Nîmes (France) and (iv) dam-break flood in October 1982 at the town of Sumacárcel (Spain). Computed flow depths and velocities compare well with recorded data, although for the experimental study on dam-break wave some discrepancies are observed around buildings, where the flow is strongly 3-D in character. The numerical simulations show that the flow depths and flood wave celerity are significantly affected by the presence of buildings in comparison with the original floodplain. Further, this study confirms the importance of topography and roughness coefficient for flood propagation simulation.     

Vegetation response to climate and climatic extremes in northwest Bangladesh: a quantile regression approach

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The present study assessed the vegetation response to climate in the water-stressed northwest Bangladesh (NWB). The quantile regression analysis was employed...     

Modeling of strong motion generation area of the Uttarkashi earthquake using modified semiempirical approach

The semiempirical approach based on envelope summation method given by Midorikawa (Tectonophysics 218:287–295, 1993) has been modified in this paper for modeling of strong motion generation areas (SMGAs). Horizontal components of strong ground motion have been simulated using modifications in the semiempirical approach given by Joshi et al. (Nat Hazard 71:587–609, 2014). Various modifications in the technique account for finite rupture source, layering of earth, componentwise division of energy and frequency-dependent radiation pattern. In this paper, SMGAs of the Uttarkashi earthquake have been modeled. Two different isolated wave packets in the recorded accelerogram have been identified from recorded ground motion, which accounts for two different SMGAs in the entire rupture plane. The approximate locations of SMGAs within the rupture plane were estimated using spatio-temporal variation of 77 aftershocks. Source parameters of each SMGA were calculated from theoretical and observed source displacement spectra computed from two different wave packets in the record. The final model of rupture plane responsible for the Uttarkashi earthquake consists of two SMGAs, and the same has been used to simulate horizontal components of acceleration records at different station using modified semiempirical technique. Comparison of the observed and simulated acceleration records in terms of root mean square error confirms the suitability of the final source model for the Uttarkashi earthquake.     

Investigation of seawater intrusion using stable and radioisotopes at coastal area south of Beirut,the Capital of Lebanon

In this study, field measurements were made and environmental isotopes and radiological properties were determined in six selected wells located in the coastal area south of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. It is one of the many district areas in Lebanon, threatened by the penetration of seawater into aquifers. Two sampling campaigns were carried out to determine possible seasonal variations. High electrical conductivity was observed, ranging from 1080 to 7900 μS/cm. The total dissolved solids values ranged from 530 to 5600 mg/L. This is attributed to a seawater intrusion confirmed by high chlorine concentrations that ranged from 400 to 3500 mg/L. Isotope data for δ¹⁸O/δ²H showed enrichment that is relatively small at the end of wet season due to recharge by local precipitation and infiltration. Carbon-14 ages and ²³⁴U/²³⁸U ratios confirmed the presence of young water. No radiological hazard was observed as all values lay below the guidance levels of the WHO.     

A new look on Imperial Porphyry: a famous ancient dimension stone from the Eastern Desert of Egypt—petrogenesis and cultural relevance

International Journal of Earth Sciences - Imperial Porphyry, a famous dimension stone of spectacular purple color, was quarried in the Mons Porphyrites area north of Jabal Dokhan in the Eastern...     

Mumbai 2005, Bihar 2008 Flood Reflected in Mass Changes Seen by GRACE Satellites

Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites were launched on March 17 2002 to derive with unprecedented accuracy, estimates of the global high resolution model of the earth’s gravity field. Local gravity changes with change in mass or mass redistribution. The mass changes can be due to hydrological events, seismic events or postglacial rebound, majorly. GRACE is sensitive to changes at large spatial scale since the resolution of GRACE is 400 km. Hydrological activities over basins provide sufficient mass changes to be detected by GRACE. In this research paper the discussion would be about two major flooding events in India, one being the 2005 monsoon flooding in Mumbai and nearby states and other being flood experienced by Bihar in 2008. The GRACE data is in the form of matrix consisting spherical harmonic coefficients. These coefficients are processed to obtain mass changes in terms of equivalent water height at a spatial scale of 400 km. The strategy of analysis is also discussed which need to be followed depending upon limitations of GRACE observation and requirement of application, here in this case application is flood induced mass change detection. Time-series and residual plots are generated and they show the flooding events for the concerned area as outliers. Better visualisation is obtained by residual plot, if there is a trend or systematic behaviour in time-series. This work points towards the qualitative capability of GRACE to detect flooding events at large spatial scale. Quantitative analysis requires in-situ data over the period of GRACE which is not possible for the cases discussed here.     

Development of an infinite element boundary to model gravity for subsurface civil engineering applications

The accurate modelling of gravity is of crucial importance for a variety of issues including, but not restricted to, the identification of buried objects. Gravity is an unbounded problem, which causes challenges when applying numerical models, i..e.., it results in computational difficulties when specifying the relevant boundary conditions. In order to address this, previous research has tended to generate artificial boundary conditions, e.g., truncating the simulated domain and adding many unrealistic zero-density layers, which introduces more unknown parameters and unnecessarily excessive computational time. In order to overcome such inaccuracies, this paper proposes an innovative development of the finite element modelling technique, which represents a step change in the field of gravity forward modelling. A comprehensive formulation of an infinite element to reproduce the far-field boundary effect using only one layer of infinite elements is presented. The developed model considerably reduces the computational time while obtaining high degrees of accuracy. The model is validated against the exact solution of the problem, and its results show an excellent performance. The proposed method can significantly improve the postprocessing and interpretation stages of data analysis relevant to micro-gravity sensors. The new method is applied to subsurface civil engineering although its applicability is manifold.     

Stochastic ground-motion simulation of two Himalayan earthquakes: seismic hazard assessment perspective

The earthquakes in Uttarkashi (October 20, 1991, M _w 6.8) and Chamoli (March 8, 1999, M _w 6.4) are among the recent well-documented earthquakes that occurred in the Garhwal region of India and that caused extensive damage as well as loss of life. Using strong-motion data of these two earthquakes, we estimate their source, path, and site parameters. The quality factor (Q _β ) as a function of frequency is derived as Q _β (f) = 140f ^1.018. The site amplification functions are evaluated using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio technique. The ground motions of the Uttarkashi and Chamoli earthquakes are simulated using the stochastic method of Boore (Bull Seismol Soc Am 73:1865–1894, 1983). The estimated source, path, and site parameters are used as input for the simulation. The simulated time histories are generated for a few stations and compared with the observed data. The simulated response spectra at 5% damping are in fair agreement with the observed response spectra for most of the stations over a wide range of frequencies. Residual trends closely match the observed and simulated response spectra. The synthetic data are in rough agreement with the ground-motion attenuation equation available for the Himalayas (Sharma, Bull Seismol Soc Am 98:1063–1069, 1998).