Flood exposure and social vulnerability in the United States

Natural Hazards - Human exposure to floods continues to increase, driven by changes in hydrology and land use. Adverse impacts amplify for socially vulnerable populations, who disproportionately...     

Impact of droughts on child mortality: a case study in Southern African countries

Natural Hazards - Natural hazards like floods and droughts affect many aspects of life. The study in particular examined the impacts of droughts on under-five mortality rate in Southern Africa,...     

Classification of rocks radionuclide data using machine learning techniques

The aim of this study is to assess the performance of linear discriminate analysis, support vector machines (SVMs) with linear and radial basis, classification and regression trees and random forest (RF) in the classification of radionuclide data obtained from three different types of rocks. Radionuclide data were obtained for metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous rocks using gamma spectroscopic method. A P-type high-purity germanium detector was used for the radiometric study. For analysis purpose, we have determined activity concentrations of ²³²Th, ²²⁶Ra and ⁴⁰K radionuclides, published elsewhere (Rafique et al. in Russ Geol Geophys 55:1073–1082, 2014), in different rock samples and built the classification model after pre-processing the data using three times tenfold cross-validation. Using this model, we have classified the new samples into known categories of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic. The statistics depicts that RF and SVM with radial kernel outperform as compared to other classification methods in terms of error rate, area under the curve and with respect to other performance measures.     

Changes in Shale Rock Properties and Wave Velocity Anisotropy Induced by Increasing Temperature

Natural Resources Research - Water saturation, organic matter content, and fractures are important factors influencing the physical properties of shale. In this study, shale samples were subjected...     

Characterization of the Lebanese Jurassic–Cretaceous carbonate stratigraphic sequence: a geochemical approach

The Lebanese crustal segment is part of a much larger carbonate platform deposited along the northwestern margin of the Arabian Plate, in the eastern Mediterranean region. It is made up mainly of Jurassic–Cretaceous carbonate rocks. Most of this stratigraphic sequence is exposed in the Nahr Ibrahim canyon and surrounding areas in central Lebanon. The various formations, from the oldest unit (the Lower Jurassic Kesrouane Formation) to the Upper Cretaceous Chekka Formation, are made up of different types of carbonate rocks including micritic limestone, medium‐ to coarse‐grained dolostone, biomicritic (chalk), biosparrudite limestone, micritic dolostone, pelmicrite, marl and marly limestone. Results of this first chemical investigation on the Lebanese carbonate platform show that the micritic limestone of the Kesrouane Formation is relatively enriched in Ca, Na and Sc, and has low rare‐earth element (REE) contents. The marl units of the Hammana Formation are enriched in Al, Fe, K, Ti, Rb, Ga, Nb, U, Th and REE. The chalk of the Chekka Formation shows the highest phosphorus content. A significant increase in P and Sr contents with time (from the Lower Jurassic to the Upper Cretaceous carbonate units) characterizes the Lebanese sequence; this is interpreted to be related to a possible increase in continental weathering rates during the Mesozoic. Enrichment in Ni, Ti and Nb in some formations is interpreted to be linked to Mesozoic volcanism in central Lebanon. The Cretaceous formations are subdivided according to their REE patterns into two distinct groups: limestones (Mdairej, Sannine and Maameltain formations) which are depleted in REE; and marl/chalk (Hammana and Chekka formations) which are significantly enriched in REE. On several geochemical variation diagrams, such as the K–Ti–P triangular plot, the Lebanese Mesozoic carbonate formations are found to occupy distinct compositional fields. Thus, carbonate geochemistry could prove to be a powerful tool (especially when combined with petrographic data) in characterizing and correlating carbonate formations (chemical stratigraphy), particularly in regions where field evidence may be limited. Results of this study have significant implications for the entire carbonate platform that covers a large part of the eastern Mediterranean region. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rare Earth and Other Trace Element Content of NRCC HISS-1 Sandy Marine Sediment Reference Material

The National Research Council (NRC), Ottawa, Canada sandy marine sediment reference material HISS-1 was characterised for thirty-seven trace elements by neutron activation optimised irradiation, cooling and counting protocols using the low power Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) as a neutron source. This INAA methodology quantified twenty additional elements including ten rare earth (Ce, Dy, Eu, Ho, La, Lu, Nd, Sm, Tb and Yb) and ten other elements (Ba, Br, Cs, Ga, Hf, Rb, Sc, Ta, Th and Zr) missing in the final NRCC certification. A large number of values produced by different irradiation schemes together with the use of certified reference materials in the quantification step that showed good precision, provided confidence in the results. The reliability of the REE data was checked by plotting chondrite-normalised graphs.     

A critical review on waste paper sorting techniques

Efficient waste paper recycling has a significant role in the sustainable environment. Recyclable waste paper as a fundamental ingredient of municipal solid wastes (MSWs) is indeed an “urban ore”. Waste papers are considered as the solid recovered fuel which is recovered from MSW. Recyclable waste papers are segregated into various grades to produce high-quality products. Moreover, sorted paper streams save energy, chemicals, and water, as well as reduce sludge and rejects. Information technology is widely integrated with the waste management industry into its operations such as recycling, reuse, segregating based on categories and so on. This review article focuses on the life cycle of waste paper and existing waste paper sorting techniques. In the paper industry, many types of sensors are used in different mechanical and optical waste paper sorting systems. Such sensors include lignin, gloss, stiffness, mid-infrared, infrared, and color sensors. In this review, also described the effectiveness of different waste paper sorting systems, and finally, recommended appropriate waste paper sorting techniques based on effectiveness and low-cost implementation.     

Development of a New Index to Assess the Rock Mass Drillability

Knowledge of drillability of rock masses in engineering projects is very important in determining drilling costs. In drilling operations, so many parameters such as the properties of rock and the drilling equipment affect the drilling performance. In this study, after discussing the rock mass drillability process and identifying all the effective parameters, interaction matrixes based on the rock engineering systems, that analyze the interrelationship between the parameters affecting rock engineering activities, is introduced to study the rock mass drillability tribosystem. Given that interaction matrix codes are not unique numbers, and then possible interactive intensities are calculated for each matrix and a group decision-making method, Fuzzy–Delphi–AHP technique has been used to obtain appropriate weights. As a result, rock mass drillability index (RMDI) is presented to classify the rock mass drillability. The results indicate the ability of this method to analyze rock mass drillability procedure. Drilling data along with laboratory rock properties from Sungun copper mine were collected and were ranked according to the new classification system. Fifteen zones at the mine site were ranked based upon the new index RMDI and a reasonable correlation was obtained between measured drilling rate at the zones and RMDI data.     

Regionalisation of the parameters of the log‐Pearson 3 distribution: a case study for New South Wales,Australia

The index flood method is widely used in regional flood frequency analysis (RFFA) but explicitly relies on the identification of ‘acceptable homogeneous regions’. This paper presents an alternative RFFA method, which is particularly useful when ‘acceptably homogeneous regions’ cannot be identified. The new RFFA method is based on the region of influence (ROI) approach where a ‘local region’ can be formed to estimate statistics at the site of interest. The new method is applied here to regionalize the parameters of the log‐Pearson 3 (LP3) flood probability model using Bayesian generalized least squares (GLS) regression. The ROI approach is used to reduce model error arising from the heterogeneity unaccounted for by the predictor variables in the traditional fixed‐region GLS analysis. A case study was undertaken for 55 catchments located in eastern New South Wales, Australia. The selection of predictor variables was guided by minimizing model error. Using an approach similar to stepwise regression, the best model for the LP3 mean was found to use catchment area and 50‐year, 12‐h rainfall intensity as explanatory variables, whereas the models for the LP3 standard deviation and skewness only had a constant term for the derived ROIs. Diagnostics based on leave‐one‐out cross validation show that the regression model assumptions were not inconsistent with the data and, importantly, no genuine outlier sites were identified. Significantly, the ROI GLS approach produced more accurate and consistent results than a fixed‐region GLS model, highlighting the superior ability of the ROI approach to deal with heterogeneity. This method is particularly applicable to regions that show a high degree of regional heterogeneity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mineral chemistry and geochemical aspects of Gebel Filat granites, South Eastern Desert, Egypt

Gebel Filat granites form one of Egyptian younger granite intrusions in Wadi Allaqi region, South Eastern Desert of Egypt. They are perthitic monzogranites composed mainly of K-feldspars, plagioclase, and quartz with minor biotite. Plagioclase feldspars are Na-rich and have low anorthite content (An_2–3). Potash feldspars are mainly perthitic microcline and have chemical formula as (Or_96–96.6 Ab_3.4–4 An₀). Biotite is Mg-rich and seems to be derived from calc-alkaline magma. Chlorite is pycnochlorite with high Mg content, revealing its secondary derivation from biotite. The estimated formation temperatures of biotite and chlorite are (689–711°C) and (602–622°C), respectively. Gebel Filat monzogranites are metaluminous, high-K calc-alkaline, I-type granites. They are late orogenic granites related to subduction-related volcanic arc magmatism. They are enriched in LILE and depleted in HSFE indicating highly differentiation character. The REE patterns display an enrichment in LREE due to presence of zircon and allanite as accessories and depletion in HREE with slight negative Eu anomaly $ \left( {{\text{Eu}}/{\text{Eu}} * = 0.51 - 0.97} \right) $ . The parent magma of Gebel Filat monzogranites were emplaced at moderate depths (20–30 km) under moderate conditions of water-vapor pressure (1–5 kbar) and crystallization temperature [700–750°C]. The source magma of these granites seems to be derived from partial melting of lower crust material rather than upper mantle. The geochemical characteristics of pegmatites revealed that they are related to post orogenic within plate magmatism and not genetically related to the parent magma of Gebel Filat monzogranites. Distribution of radioactive elements (U and Th) in the studied rocks indicates normal U–Th contents for Filat monzogranites and U–Th bearing pegmatites. The positive correlations of each of Zr and Y versus U and Th are attributed to presence of zircon and allanite as accessories which incorporate U and Th in their crystal lattice.