Kriging of water levels in the Souss aquifer,Morocco

Universal kriging is applied to water table data from the Souss aquifer in central Morocco. The procedure accounts for the spatial variability of the phenomenon to be mapped. With the use of measured elevations of the water table, an experimental variogram is constructed that characterizes the spatial variability of the measured water levels. Spherical and Gaussian variogram models are alternatively used to fit the experimental variogram. The models are used to develop contour maps of water table elevations and corresponding estimation variances. The estimation variances express the reliability of the kriged water table elevation maps. Universal kriging also provides a contour map of the expected elevation of the water table (drift). The differences between the expected and measured water table elevations are called residuals from the drift. Residuals from the drift are compared with residuals obtained by more traditional least-squares analysis.     

Evaluating some factors that affect feasility of using ground penetrating radar for landmine detection

Ground penetrating radar （GPR） is one of the promising technologies that can be used to detect landmines. Many factors may affect the ability of GPR to detect landmines. Among those factors are： 1） the type of landmine material （metallic or plastic）, 2） conditions of the host soil （soil texture and soil moisture）, and 3） the radar frequency utilized. The impact of these factors on the ability of GPR to detect landmines is investigated by studying their effect on the dielectric permittivity contrast between the landmine and the host soil, as well as on the attenuation of the radar waves. The impact of each factor was theoretically reviewed and modeled using the Matlab and Mathcad software packages. Results of the computer modeling were correlated with GPR data acquired for metallic and plastic landmine types. It was found that the ability of GPR to detect landmines depends to a great extent on the landmine type, water content of the host soil, utilized radar frequency, and soil texture. The landmines are much easier to detect than plastic landmines for any soil conditions and any radar frequency. Increasing the soil＇s moisture content, regardless of soil texture, eases the detection of the plastic landmine and worsens the detection of the metallic mines. Increasing the percentage of clay in the soil causes the same effect as the moisture content. However, higher radar frequency delivers better results for landmine detection as long as the percentage of clay and the moisture content in the soil remains low. The results of this study are expected to help in selecting optimum radar antennae and data acquisition parameters depending on the landmine type and environmental conditions.     

A Least-squares Window Curves Method for Interpretation of Magnetic Anomalies Caused by Dipping Dikes

We have developed a least-squares method to determine simultaneously the depth and the width of a buried thick dipping dike from residualized magnetic data using filters of successive window lengths. The method involves using a relationship between the depth and the half-width of the source and a combination of windowed observations. The relationship represents a family of curves (window curves). For a fixed window length, the depth is determined for each half-width value by solving one nonlinear equation of the form f (z) = 0 using the least-squares method. The computed depths are plotted against the width values representing a continuous curve. The solution for the depth and the width of the buried dike is read at the common intersection of the window curves. The method involves using a dike model convolved with the same moving average filter as applied to the observed data. As a result, this method can be applied to residuals as well as to measured magnetic data. Procedures are also formulated to estimate the amplitude coefficient and the index parameter. The method is applied to theoretical data with and without random errors. The validity of the method is tested on airborne magnetic data from Canada and on a vertical component magnetic anomaly from Turkey. In all cases examined, the model parameters obtained are in good agreement with the actual ones and with those given in the published literature.     

Textural attributes, mineralogy and provenance of sand dune fields in the greater Al Ain area, United Arab Emirates

Sand dunes and interdune sediments around Al Ain city have markedly high carbonate contents which increase towards Jabal Hafit mountain and the Arabian Gulf coast. The dunes are composed predominantly of well-sorted fine sands, consisting of unstrained quartz and carbonate grains together with minor proportions of chert and feldspars. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) examination reveals that quartz grains display various mechanically- and chemically-formed surface textures. The heavy minerals are dominated by opaques and pyroxenes with minor tourmaline, garnet, rutile, epidote, monazite, zircon, hornblende and staurolite.Interdune sediments consist of fine and very fine, poorly- to extremely poorly-sorted sands together with small concentrations of gravel, silt and clay. The light sand fractions compositionally resemble those of dunes but contain, in addition, gypsum, anhydrite, halite and celestite. Percentages of pyroxenes are higher whereas those of zircon, tourmaline and rutile are lower than in dunes. X-ray diffractometry reveals that the clay fractions consist solely of palygorskite. Generally, interdune sediments are much less mature texturally and mineralogically than dune sands; the maturity of both types of sediments decreases toward the NE of the study area.Sand dunes in the various districts of the greater Al Ain area are genetically related. Also, there is a partial genetic relationship between the dunes and interdune sediments; both are mainly multicyclic. Their major parts were brought mainly by the dominant north-west (El Shamal) winds from older dune fields in other localities in U.A.E., Qatar and El-Rub El-Khali. Local contributions to the dune fields from Jabal Hafit mountain, the Oman Mountains and the calcareous coast of the Arabian Gulf were, in cases, significant. Also, authigenesis by groundwater under highly evaporitic conditions played a major role in the formation of interdune sediments through the genesis of the clay and some nonclay minerals.     

Drought assessment in a south Mediterranean transboundary catchment

ABSTRACT

Predicting the impacts of climate change on water resources remains a challenging task and requires a good understanding of the dynamics of the forcing terms in the past. In this study, the variability of precipitation and drought patterns is studied over the Mediterranean catchment of the Medjerda in Tunisia based on an observed rainfall dataset collected at 41 raingauges during the period 1973–2012. The standardized precipitation index and the aridity index were used to characterize drought variability. Multivariate and geostatistical techniques were further employed to identify the spatial variability of annual rainfall. The results show that the Medjerda is marked by a significant spatio-temporal variability of drought, with varying extreme wet and dry events. Four regions with distinct rainfall regimes are identified by utilizing the K-means cluster analysis. A principal component analysis identifies the variables that are responsible for the relationships between precipitation and drought variability.     

Neoproterozoic magmatism in NW Sinai,Egypt: magma source and evolution of collision-related intracrustal anatectic leucogranite

The present study deals with tectonomagmatic evolution of the collision-related leucogranite located near the northwest corner of exposed basement in Sinai, Egypt. The area is composed of: (1) a gabbroic complex; (2) amphibolite; (3) post-orogenic leucogranite; (4) Feiran gneisses. The amphibolite and gabbroic suites, generated in an island arc environment, have a high Fe-tholeiitic affinity and were derived from two independent magmas. On the basis of rare earth element (REE) patterns, the gabbroic melts could have been generated from a garnet- and amphibole-bearing, enriched mantle, and were subsequently modified by fractional crystallization of pyroxene and amphibole with minor plagioclase, whereas the amphibolite melts could be derived from garnet-free depleted mantle.The leucogranite has high Al₂O₃ content (>13 wt%), alumina saturation index (ASI) mostly >1, and normative corundum, indicating a peraluminous nature. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns for the leucogranite show light REE enrichment (La/Sm_N=2.7–4.86), general flattening of the heavy REE (Gd/Lu_N=1.2–2), and negative europium (Eu) anomalies (Eu/Eu*=0.24–0.47). The peraluminous nature and enrichment of the incompatible elements (K, Rb, Ba and Th) in the leucogranite strongly suggest derivation from a crustal source. The most probable source for the leucogranite magmas is represented by the adjacent Feiran gneisses, which could have generated the leucogranite by dehydration melting under water-undersaturated conditions. It appears likely that the restite unmixing model is responsible for the chemical variations within the leucogranite. In accordance with this model, the chemical variation of the leucogranite can be attributed to varying degrees of separation of restitic material from the melt during its emplacement and solidification and fractional crystallization could have played a minor role during magma ascent through the crust.