Impact of rainfall intensity on the hydrological performance of erosion control geotextiles

The impact of erosion control geotextiles on the surface runoff from slopes is quite variable and depends strongly on site-specific conditions (soil characteristics, slope morphology, climate, etc.), as has been shown in several earlier studies. In addition, little is known about the proportion of runoff reduction that is caused by the geotextile and the proportion that is caused by soil characteristics. To shed more light on this issue, an experiment was carried out to test the impact of 500 g m^?2 jute nets (J500) and 400 g m^?2; 700 g m^?2 coir nets (C400, C700) on the surface runoff from simulated rainfall of four different intensities (I ₁ = 18.7; I ₂ = 27.2; I ₃ = 53.6; I ₄ = 90.5 mm h^?1). Data on runoff volume, peak discharge and time to peak discharge were collected from 40 simulated rainfall events. An impermeable “no-soil” subgrade was used to examine the impact of the geotextile on runoff without any influence of soil. All tested geotextiles significantly reduced runoff (volume, peak discharge) at all rainfall intensities, with the exception of C400 and C700 during simulated rainfall intensity I ₄. J500 seemed to have the most effective runoff reduction performance at all rainfall intensities. In general, as the rainfall intensity increased, the effectiveness of the geotextiles decreased. Interesting behaviour was observed for J500 under simulated rainfall intensity I ₄—the effectiveness of the geotextile increased with the duration of the rainfall.     

Modeling of seawater intrusion in a coastal aquifer of Karaburun Peninsula,western Turkey

Seawater intrusion is a major problem to freshwater resources especially in coastal areas where fresh groundwater is surrounded and could be easily influenced by seawater. This study presents the development of a conceptual and numerical model for the coastal aquifer of Karareis region (Karaburun Peninsula) in the western part of Turkey. The study also presents the interpretation and the analysis of the time series data of groundwater levels recorded by data loggers. The SEAWAT model is used in this study to solve the density-dependent flow field and seawater intrusion in the coastal aquifer that is under excessive pumping particularly during summer months. The model was calibrated using the average values of a 1-year dataset and further verified by the average values of another year. Five potential scenarios were analyzed to understand the effects of pumping and climate change on groundwater levels and the extent of seawater intrusion in the next 10 years. The result of the analysis demonstrated high levels of electrical conductivity and chloride along the coastal part of the study area. As a result of the numerical model, seawater intrusion is simulated to move about 420 m toward the land in the next 10 years under “increased pumping” scenario, while a slight change in water level and TDS concentrations was observed in “climate change” scenario. Results also revealed that a reduction in the pumping rate from Karareis wells will be necessary to protect fresh groundwater from contamination by seawater.     

Engineering risk assessment on water structures under climate change effects

The increase in the average temperature in the lower atmosphere caused by climate change triggers changes in various elements of the hydrological cycle at different scales depending on location in the world. Although numerous published studies are concerned with the effect of climate change on hydrological elements such as temperature, precipitation, evaporation, wind, and runoff, unfortunately, the performance of water engineering structures is not taken into consideration. Nevertheless, as an integral part of the whole water resources systems, engineering structures such as dams, canals, culverts, and wells are also subject to climate change impacts. This examines the performance of engineering structures by taking into account how climate change impacts on the risk assessment formulation. For this purpose, the risk concept is redefined and the climate change impact is taken into account by a factor dependent on the positive or negative slope of the trend from the historical record. The risk levels are revised for 10-year, 50-year, and 100-year return periods. The application of the proposed methodology is given for precipitation records for three different meteorological stations in the southeastern European province of Turkey and for the same number of stations from central east-west belt over Saudi Arabia. It is observed that including the climate change factor in the risk calculation formulation generally leads to an increase in the return period and in the risk compared to conventional calculations. Therefore, it is recommended that rather than using the standard risk formulation, the simple, effective climate change risk approach, as suggested in this paper, be applied to future water engineering structure designs.     

A support for the existence of paleolakes and paleorivers buried under Saharan sand by means of “gravitational signal” from EIGEN 6C4

The goal of this study is to demonstrate that and how the recent gravitational and topographic data support the findings made by geologists and others as for the existence of the paleolakes and paleoriver systems, now buried under the sands of Sahara. It is always important and useful to have such an independent analysis supporting certain results, and this paper is such a case. We make use of the gravity disturbances (or anomalies), the Marussi tensor of the second derivatives of the disturbing geopotential, the gravitational invariants and their certain ratio, the strike angle and the virtual deformations. The geopotential is represented by the global combined (from satellite and terrestrial data) high-resolution gravity field model EIGEN 6C4 (till degree and order 2160 in spherical harmonic expansion). The topography is derived from the ASTER GDEM and ETOPO 1 models (both are used). With all these data, we confirm the existence of huge paleolakes or paleoriver systems under the Saharan sands known or anticipated in an independent way by geologists for the lakes MegaChad, Fazzan and Chotts; for Tamanrasset river valley; and Kufrah Basin, presumptive previous flow of the Nile River. Moreover, we suggest a part of the Grand Egyptian Sand Sea as another “candidate” for a paleolake and hence for a follow-up survey.     

A hidden suture within the northern Paleotethyan margin: Paleogeographic/paleo-tectonic constraints on the late Paleozoic 'Veles Series' (Vardar Zone,North Macedonia)

There is little consensus in characterizing the effects of the migrated late Pan-African/Lower Paleozoic configuration (western Paleotethys and precursory Paleozoic oceans) and its Variscan, late Variscan, and Eo-Cimmerian involvement. Constrained by a limited choice of the geological, biostratigraphical, and paleogeographical constraints, the focus of this regional geological synthesis is the little-known Devonian – Lower Carboniferous polymetamorphic 'Veles Series' (southern Vardar-Axios Zone, Northeast Mediterranean). Kinematic reconstructions indicate that the drifted carbonate platform assemblage of the 'Veles Series' including its Lower Carboniferous collision occurred along an active margin of southwestern Moesia, Laurussian foreland. Despite the fact that the dominant, low-grade metamorphic imprint across the 'Veles Series' is compatible with the ‘soft’ Eo-Cimmerian docking (i.e. Triassic), the documented Lower Carboniferous age suggests a Variscan involvement.A distinctive Late Paleozoic age is consistent with the north Gondwana and Variscan developments, reflected by the peculiar protoliths pallet portraying the presence of the oceanic crust to deep-marine equivalents. Accommodated to the west (paleo-south) of the late Cadomian Serbo-Macedonian Unit (a segment of the former peri-Gondwanan terrane assembly) and to the north of the Cimmerian Minoan system (East Mediterranean), the 'Veles Series' reflects a migrated rift to carbonate platform system. Despite the significant Alpine overprinting, based on this regional geological synthesis we propose that the 'Veles Series' is a 60 km-long suture segment documenting a so far rather poorly explored Variscan segment of the Paleotethyan lithosphere exposed within Balkans/Northeast Mediterranean.     

Near-nucleus imaging of comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock 1983H1

Several digital image processing techniques were used to improve the visibility of details, fans and jets, in the inner coma of the comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock 1983 VII on the short CCD-exposures taken by R. E. Schild with the 61-cm telescope through three I, J, and F band filters, at the Whipple Observatory during the close approach from May 6 through May 12, 1983. About 140 CCD images with the pixel size of 0.73 give a resolution about 20 km, and selected CDD frames presented together with isophotes demonstrate the variation and interrelation of the coma morphology and the nucleus activities during the observing period. Results and processed images are compared with observations taken by other observers during the same period.     

Persistence of Planetary Waves in the Lower Ionosphere

The transient planetary waves in the atmosphere and ionosphere seem to occur in the form of bursts of a couple of waves with limited persistence. To study persistence of planetary wave events in the lower ionosphere, data from two radio paths from Central Europe are used, Luxembourg – Panská Ves (f = 6.09 MHz, f _eq = 2.1-2.2 MHz) and Deutschlandfunk – Panská Ves (f = 1539 kHz, f _eq = 650-700 kHz). The absorption along the former radio paths is formed very predominantly at altitudes of about 90-100 km, whereas the latter absorption is formed mostly at altitudes of about 85-90 km. The persistence of planetary wave type oscillations is studied in three period bands centred at 5, 10 and 16 days. Waves with period T near 5 days reveal a typical persistence of wave events around 5 cycles. Waves with T = 10 days are less persistent with a typical persistence of 3-4 cycles. The typical persistence of waves T = 16 days is no more than 3 cycles. In terms of number of cycles, the persistence of oscillations evidently decreases with increasing period. On the other hand, in terms of number of days, the persistence seems rather to increase with increasing period.