Analysis of dry and wet climate characteristics at Uttarakhand (India) using effective drought index

Natural Hazards - Drought is a complex natural disaster that adversely affects human life and the ecosystem. A variety of drought indexes are available for monitoring meteorological drought events....     

Empirical assessment of rockfall and debris flow risk along the Karakoram Highway,Pakistan

Natural Hazards - The Karakoram Highway links north Pakistan with southwest China. It passes through unique geomorphological, geological and tectonic setting. This study focused 200-km-long section...     

Wetting Induced Deformation of Soils Triggering Landslides in Pakistan

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - Shallow and deep seated landslides in natural slopes are often induced by rainfall. The cause of the failure is usually considered to be due to the...     

Prediction criteria for groundwater potential zones in Kemuning District,Indonesia using the integration of geoelectrical and physical parameters

The presence of groundwater is strongly related to its geological and geohydrological conditions.It is,however,important to study the groundwater potential in an area before it is utilized to provide clean water.Werner-Schlumberger’s method was used to analyze the groundwater potential while hydraulic properties such as soil porosity and hydraulic conductivity were used to determine the quality and ability of the soil to allow water’s movement in the aquifer.The results show that the aquifer in the Sekara and Kemuning Muda is at a depth of more than 6 meters below the ground level with moderate groundwater potential.It is also found that the aquifer at depths of over 60 m have high groundwater potential.Moreover,soil porosity in Kemuning is found to be average while the ability to conduct water was moderate.This makes it possible for some surface water to seep into the soil while the remaining flows to the rivers and ditches.     

Intraspecific morphometric diversity of barramundi (Lates calcariferBloch, 1790) in the waters of southern Bangladesh

A total of 160 barramundi's (Lates calcarifer Bloch, 1790) sampled from four rivers (Tentulia, Balaswar, Bakkhali, and Andarmanik) along the southern coastal region of Bangladesh were investigated in terms of morphometric characters to reveal the intraspecific variation. Twenty-five morphometric measurements were extracted using the conventional method and subjected to multivariate analyses (i.e., principal component analysis (PCA), discriminate function analysis (DFA), cluster analysis (CA)) to distinguish individuals from different rivers. The result demonstrated that twenty-two out of 25 measurements was statistically significant (Univariate ANOVA) among all four populations. PCA analysis of morphometric characters resulted in two principal components, PC I and PCⅡ which accounted for 79.25% and 4.28% of the total data variance. PC I-PC Ⅱ plot explained 83.53% of total variance differentiated the population of L. calcarifer into two groups. Discriminate analysis correctly classified about 88.1% of the examined fish into the four areas. The UPGMA dendrogram showed that Bakkhali populations were the most morphologically different populations in comparison to other populations, while Andarmanik and Balaswar populations were very close to each other. The strong morphometric variation between Bakkhali and Tentulia, Andarmanik and Balaswar was observed in the present study, suggested the evidence of the separate stock population of barramundi in these locations, which might require distinct stock management strategies for resource sustainability in the waters of southern Bangladesh. However, if these findings are supported by further molecular markers and geometric morphometry, this would be a strong indication of different stocks of this population in the four rivers of southern Bangladesh.     

Socio-political and ecological stresses on traditional pastoral systems: A review

Journal of Geographical Sciences - Pastoralism is a viable socio-economic system-shaped by landless and agro-pastoral communities in many pastoral regions of the world. This system is mainly based...     

A Holistic Approach to Upwelling and Downwelling along the South-West Coast of India

An attempt has been made to develop a holistic understanding of upwelling and downwelling along the south-west coast of India. The main objective was to elucidate the roles of different forcings involved in the vertical motion along this coast. The south-west coast of India was characterized by upwelling during the south-west monsoon (May to September) and by downwelling during the north-east monsoon and winter (November to February). The average vertical velocity calculated along the south-west coast from the vertical shift of the 26?°C isotherm is 0.57?m/day during upwelling and 0.698?m/day during downwelling. It was concluded that upwelling along the south-west coast of India is driven by offshore Ekman transport due to the alongshore wind, Ekman pumping, horizontal divergence of currents and by the propagation of coastally trapped waves. Whereas downwelling along the coast is driven only by convergence of currents and the propagation of coastally trapped Kelvin waves. Along the west coast of India, the downwelling-favorable Kelvin waves come from the equator and upwelling-favorable waves come from the Gulf of Mannar region.     

Detrital apatite fission track constraints on Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,China: Evidence from Cenozoic strata in Lulehe section,Northern Qaidam Basin

The Northern Qaidam Basin is located at the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. It contains very thick Cenozoic terrestrial clastic sediments, which records the formation of the northern Qaidam Basin due to compressional deformation during the Indo-Asian collision. In this paper, we used detrital apatite fission-track thermochronology, including 4 sandstones and 2 conglomerates samples from the Lulehe section, to reveal the Cenozoic evolution of the northern Qaidam Basin. Fission-track dating indicated the source region of the Lulehe section has experienced important cooling and uplifting in the Late Cretaceous (at ~85.1 Ma and ~65 Ma) and the Eocene (~52 Ma), respectively. The AFT age distribution on the section suggested that the provenance of Lulehe section sediments were mainly derived from the south Qilian Shan (Qilian Mountains) and Altun Shan (Altun Mountains), and two significantly provenance changes may occur at 43.4-46.1 Ma and ~37.8 Ma, respectively. The results may have strong constrains on the Cenozoic deformation and tectonic evolution of the northern Qaidam Basin and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.     

Statistically downscaled probabilistic multi‐model ensemble projections of precipitation change in a watershed

This paper presents the development of a probabilistic multi‐model ensemble of statistically downscaled future projections of precipitation of a watershed in New Zealand. Climate change research based on the point estimates of a single model is considered less reliable for decision making, and multiple realizations of a single model or outputs from multiple models are often preferred for such purposes. Similarly, a probabilistic approach is preferable over deterministic point estimates. In the area of statistical downscaling, no single technique is considered a universal solution. This is due to the fact that each of these techniques has some weaknesses, owing to its basic working principles. Moreover, watershed scale precipitation downscaling is quite challenging and is more prone to uncertainty issues than downscaling of other climatological variables. So, multi‐model statistical downscaling studies based on a probabilistic approach are required. In the current paper, results from the three well‐reputed statistical downscaling methods are used to develop a Bayesian weighted multi‐model ensemble. The three members of the downscaling ensemble of this study belong to the following three broad categories of statistical downscaling methods: (1) multiple linear regression, (2) multiple non‐linear regression, and (3) stochastic weather generator. The results obtained in this study show that the new strategy adopted here is promising because of many advantages it offers, e.g. it combines the outputs of multiple statistical downscaling methods, provides probabilistic downscaled climate change projections and enables the quantification of uncertainty in these projections. This will encourage any future attempts for combining the results of multiple statistical downscaling methods. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generation and migration: Identity crisis and political change among the Moro of the Nuba mountains

During the past half century Moro society has undergone immense economic and social transformations. The Moro adopted rural-urban and rural-rural migration, among other things, to diversify their incomes and augment their sources of livelihood. Politically, the introduction of modern political parties since independence in 1956 and the emergence of regional movements have influenced Moro perception of their reality and relationship with their Hawazma and Jellaba neighbours.I argue in this paper that due to disappointments emanating from harsh living conditions in discordant Northern Sudanese towns, the Moro translate past experiences into a common identity. Migration, in this sense, is seen as a major factor in explaining the Moro crisis of identity and their oscillation between integration and aloofness or modernity and traditionalism.