Flood risk assessment of River Indus of Pakistan

Annual flood peak discharges is widely used in risk assessment. Major sources of flooding in Pakistan are River Jhelum, River Chenab, River Kabul, and upper and lower parts of River Indus. These rivers are major tributaries of the River Indus System which is one of the most important systems of the world and the greatest system of Pakistan. River Indus is the longest river of Pakistan containing seven gauge stations and several barrages, and it plays a vital role in the irrigation system and power generation for the country. This paper estimates the risk of flood in River Indus using historical data of maximum peak discharges. On the basis of our analysis, we find out which dam/barrage reservoir need to be updated in capacity, and whether there are more dams/barrages needed.     

The Upper Miocene Injana (Upper Fars) Formation of Iraq: insights on provenance history

Petrographic, geochemical, and scanning electron microscope analyses of the sandstone and mudstone units of the Upper Miocene Injana Formation are presented. Furthermore, microprobe analysis for amphiboles, pyroxenes, garnet, and chromian spinels as common heavy mineral species present is done to support other results for better understanding of the provenance history of the Injana Formation. The sandstones of the Injana Formation consist of terrigenous carbonate lithic fragments as common type of sedimentary rock fragments in addition to chert, argillaceous, and rare sandstone fragments. They also include metamorphic and igneous lithic fragments, quartz, feldspars, and mica and generally, the sandstones are lithic arenites and immature. Scanning electron microscopic analysis for the heavy minerals shows that they have been affected by dissolution due to chemical etching and mechanical abrasion through several surface texture generated either in arid and semihumid environment or in diagenetic environment. Clay mineralogy of the mudstone units indicates the presence of illite, chlorite, kaolinite, palygorskite, and illite–smectite mixed layers. Bulk-rock and mineral phase geochemistry in addition to petrographic data suggest the derivation of the Injana Formation from a nearby sources with contribution from igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary provenance mainly from the high lands in the northeastern parts of Iraq which comprise mainly the Zagros mountains and the older sedimentary formations.     

Attribution of runoff change in the alpine basin: a case study of the Heihe Upstream Basin,China

Quantifying the relative contributions of different factors to runoff change is helpful for basin management, especially in the context of climate change and anthropogenic activities. The effect of snow change on runoff is seldom evaluated. We attribute the runoff change in the Heihe Upstream Basin (HUB), an alpine basin in China, using two approaches: a snowmelt-based water balance model and the Budyko framework. Results from these approaches show good consistency. Precipitation accounts for 58% of the increasing runoff. The contribution of land-cover change seems unremarkable for the HUB as a whole, where land-cover change has a major effect on runoff in each sub-basin, but its positive effect on increasing runoff in sub-basins 1 and 3 is offset by the negative effect in sub-basin 2. Snow change plays an essential role in each sub-basin, with a contribution rate of around 30%. The impact of potential evapotranspiration is almost negligible.

EDITOR D. Koutsoyiannis

ASSOCIATE EDITOR S. Huang     

Vicissitudes experienced by the oldest urban center in Bangladesh in relation to the migration of the Brahmaputra River

Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. There are 57 trans-frontier rivers in the country, the widest being the Brahmaputra River. The river's channels have frequently changed course, but the relationship between such river migrations and human settlement patterns has remained unstudied. In this paper, optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon dating techniques were applied to sedimentary and organic materials in the oldest urban center (Wari-Bateshwar) in Bangladesh. The results showed that the landscape around the urban center was dominated by floodplain and peatland facies between 7.9–7.6 and 4.7–1.6 ka, respectively. Humans occupied this area at ~3.2 ka, and manufactured delicate semi-precious gemstone beads between ~2.4 and 1.8 ka. The urban center might be the same as an important city of the Gangaridai described in historical records. Due to fluvial migration at ~1.8 ka, the area surrounding the urban center was covered by fluvial sand. Humans might have been forced to abandon the urban center, leading to the bead processing technology in Bangladesh being lost forever.     

The Spatial Structure of Zooplankton Communities of Pedu Reservoir, Malaysia

A total of 22 species of zooplankton were identified from 8 sampling stations located in the limnetic zone of Pedu reservoir.The zooplankton community was dominated by rotifers (11 species),followed by cladocerans (9 species) and copepods (2 species).Four species of zooplankton comprised of 3 rotifers,Brachionus quadridentata,Brachionus caudatus and Keratella cochlearis and one cladoceran,Ceriodaphnia cornuta were present at all sampling stations.Species richness was highest at Station 2 (17 species) followed by Station 4 and Station 8 (14 species),Station 5 (15 species),Station 7 (11 species),Station 6 (10 species),Station 3 (9 species) and Station 1 (7 species).With an exception of water transparency,all other water quality parameters such as temperature,dissolved oxygen,conductivity,pH and total dissolved solids were not significant when compared between sampling stations.The study found that station 5 which was located in a calm strait,protected from strong wave and wind was a suitable area for zooplankton growth and establishment.Factors supporting the findings included highest water transparency (3.4 m),rich in species numbers (15 species),high diversity index (0.950) and evenness index (0.808).     

Geothermobarometry and fluid inclusions of dioritic rocks in Bangladesh: Implications for emplacement depth and exhumation rate

Application of hornblende thermobarometry and fluid inclusion studies to the Palaeoproterozoic (1.7 Ga) basement rocks from Maddhapara, NW Bangladesh, provide information on the pressure and temperature (P–T) conditions of crystallization, the emplacement depth and composition of magmatic fluid. The basement rocks are predominantly diorite or quartz diorite with a mineral assemblage of plagioclase, hornblende, biotite, quartz, K-feldspar, titanite, and secondary epidote and chlorite. The calculated P–T conditions of the dioritic rocks are 680–725 °C and 4.9–6.4 kbar, which probably correspond to crystallization conditions. Fluid inclusion studies suggest that low- to medium-salinity (0–6.4 wt.% NaCl_eq) H₂O-rich fluids are trapped during the crystallization of quartz and plagioclase. The isochore range calculated for primary aqueous inclusions is consistent with the P–T condition obtained by geothermobarometry. The basement rocks likely crystallized at a depth of 17–22 km, with a minimum average exhumation rate of 12–15 m/Ma during Palaeoproterozoic to Lopingian time. Such slow exhumation indicates low relief continental shield surface during this period.     

Assessment of petroleum biodegradation using stable hydrogen isotopes of individual saturated hydrocarbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon distributions in oils from the Upper Indus Basin,Pakistan

The stable hydrogen isotopic compositions (δD) of selected aliphatic hydrocarbons (n-alkanes and isoprenoids) in eight crude oils of similar source and thermal maturity from the Upper Indus Basin (Pakistan) were measured. The oils are derived from a source rock deposited in a shallow marine environment. The low level of biodegradation under natural reservoir conditions was established on the basis of biomarker and aromatic hydrocarbon distributions. A plot of pristane/n-C₁₇ alkane (Pr/n-C₁₇) and/or phytane/n-C₁₈ alkane (Ph/n-C₁₈) ratios against American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity shows an inverse correlation. High Pr/n-C₁₇ and Ph/n-C₁₈ values and low API gravity values in some of the oils are consistent with relatively low levels of biodegradation. For the same oils, δD values for the n-alkanes relative to the isoprenoids are enriched in deuterium (D). The data are consistent with the removal of D-depleted low molecular weight (LMW) n-alkanes (C₁₄–C₂₂) from the oils. The δD values of isoprenoids do not change with progressive biodegradation and are similar for all the samples. The average D enrichment for n-alkanes with respect to the isoprenoids is found to be as much as 35‰ for the most biodegraded sample. For example, the moderately biodegraded oils show an unresolved complex mixture (UCM), loss of LMW n-alkanes (<C₁₅) and moderate changes in the alkyl naphthalene distributions. The relative susceptibility of alkyl naphthalenes at low levels of biodegradation is discussed. The alkyl naphthalene biodegradation ratios were determined to assess the effect of biodegradation. The dimethyl, trimethyl and tetramethyl naphthalene biodegradation ratios show significant differences with increasing extent of biodegradation.     

Geosynthesis of dibenzothiophene and alkyl dibenzothiophenes in crude oils and sediments by carbon catalysis

Sediment extracts and crude oils have been shown to contain methyl substituted biphenyls and dibenzothiophenes, with isomer distributions suggesting a geochemical relationship between the two compound classes. Laboratory simulation experiments have shown that carbon catalyses the reaction between surface adsorbed sulfur and biphenyl to form dibenzothiophene. Similarly, the methyl substituted biphenyls reacted to yield corresponding methyl dibenzothiophenes. We suggest that the widespread distribution of dibenzothiophene and alkylated dibenzothiophenes in sediments and crude oils is the result of a catalytic reaction of biphenyl ring systems and surface-adsorbed sulfur on the surface of carbonaceous material.