Ecohydrology and flood risk management under climate vulnerability in relation to the sustainable development goals (SDGs): a case study in Nagaa Mobarak Village,Egypt

Natural Hazards - This article aims to provide a thorough assessment of water quality and quantity incorporating the estimation of future patterns as a result of climate change from economic,...     

Prospects of Measuring the Angular Power Spectrum of the Diffuse Galactic Synchrotron Emission with SKA1 Low

The Diffuse Galactic Syncrotron Emission (DGSE) is the most important diffuse foreground component for future cosmological 21-cm observations. The DGSE is also an important probe of the cosmic ray electron and magnetic field distributions in the turbulent interstellar medium (ISM) of our galaxy. In this paper we briefly review the Tapered Gridded Estimator (TGE) which can be used to quantify the angular power spectrum C _? of the sky signal directly from the visibilities measured in radio-interferometric observations. The salient features of the TGE are: (1) it deals with the gridded data which makes it computationally very fast, (2) it avoids a positive noise bias which normally arises from the system noise inherent to the visibility data, and (3) it allows us to taper the sky response and thereby suppresses the contribution from unsubtracted point sources in the outer parts and the side lobes of the antenna beam pattern. We also summarize earlier work where the TGE was used to measure the C _? of the DGSE using 150 MHz GMRT data. Earlier measurements of C _? are restricted to \(\ell \le \ell _{\max } \sim 10^{3}\) for the DGSE, the signal at the larger ? values is dominated by the residual point sources after source subtraction. The higher sensitivity of the upcoming SKA1 Low will allow the point sources to be subtracted to a fainter level than possible with existing telescopes. We predict that it will be possible to measure the C _? of the DGSE to larger values of \(\ell _{\max }\) with SKA1 Low. Our results show that it should be possible to achieve \(\ell _{\max }\sim 10^{4}\) and ～10⁵ with 2 minutes and 10 hours of observations respectively.     

Numerical study on the effects of floodplain vegetation on river planform style

The effects of floodplain vegetation on river planform have been investigated for a medium‐sized river using a 2D morphodynamic model with submodels for flow resistance and plant colonization. The flow resistance was divided into a resistance exerted by the soil and a resistance exerted by the plants. In this way it was possible to reproduce both the decrease in bed shear stress, reducing the sediment transport capacity of the flow within the plants, and the increase in hydraulic resistance, reducing the flow velocities. Colonization by plants was obtained by instantaneously assigning vegetation to the areas that became dry at low water stages. This colonization presents a step forward in the modelling of bank accretion. Bank erosion was related to bed degradation at adjacent wet cells. Bank advance and retreat were reproduced as drying and wetting of the computational cells at the channel margins. The model was applied to a hypothetical case with the same characteristics as the Allier River (France). The river was allowed to develop its own geometry starting from a straight, uniform, channel. Different vegetation densities produced different planforms. With bare floodplains, the river always developed a braided planform, even if the discharge was constant and below bankfull. With the highest vegetation density (grass) the flow concentrated in a single channel and formed incipient meanders. Lower vegetation density (pioneer vegetation) led to a transitional planform, with a low degree of braiding and distinguishable incipient meanders. The results comply with flume experiments and field observations reported in the literature.     

Mesozoic paleostress evolution in the Saharian platform (southern Tunisia)

Abstract

A detailed analysis of brittle deformations in the Saharian platform of southern Tunisia is based on studies of fault-slip data sets and joint sets. It allows reconstruction of the Mesozoic paleostress evolution. During the Permo-Triassic, N-S extensions occurred with high late Permian subsidence rates. During the Norian, strike-slip movements reactivated former normal faults. During the Jurassic and the Cretaceous a succession of extensional events was characterized by : (1) a N-S extension which dominated from late Triassic to early Aptian. We relate this extension to the Africa-Eurasia divergence; (2) a ENE-WSW extension during the Cenomanian. We relate this extension to the opening of «he African basins ; (3) a NE-SW Senonian extension that continued during the Cenozoic in the Jeffara and in the Gabes Gulf, during the further evolution of the northern African margin. The various compressional trends recorded in the platform are attributed to Cenozoic events.     

DEM and GIS analysis of sub-watersheds to evaluate relative tectonic activity. A case study of the North–south axis (Central Tunisia)

Morphotectonic analysis using geomorphic indexes has been developed as a basic tool to identify recent tectonic deformation in specific areas.This study was undertaken to develop an integrated quantitative geomorphic analysis of tectonic activity in the North–south axis, central of Tunisia. Different geomorphic indexes, including elongation ratio (E), drainage basin asymmetry (Af), hypsometric integral (Hi), Valley floor width-to-height ratio (Vf), mountain front sinuosity (Smf), and stream length gradient index (SL) were calculated. The relationships between the calculated indexes, their correlations and their significance (based on p-values) were also investigated.. Using the hierarchical cluster analysis based on Ward’s method, these indexes were classified into three classes describing the relative, different effect of tectonics in each fault segment. The higher deformation is concentrated in the NE-SW Boudinar fault, followed, in order of decreasing activity, by Goubrar, Gouleb, and Majoura normal faults. This pattern of variation in the relative degree of tectonic activity is consistent with field evidence.     

Apport de la gravimétrie à l’étude des structures effondrées du Nord-Est de la Tunisie: implications hydrogéologiques

Résumé

Cette étude basée sur l’analyse des données gravimétriques a pour but d’améliorer la connaissance des structures effondrées du Nord-Est de la Tunisie. La carte de l’anomalie résiduelle a d’abord été calculée à partir de la carte de l’anomalie de Bouguer en enlevant un gradient régional. La résiduelle calculée fournit des informations sur la variation de la densité dans les bassins sédimentaires de l’Oued Chafrou-Khlidia, de Mornag et de Grombalia. Afin de mettre en évidence les différentes structures géologiques (failles, bassins, etc.) dans le secteur d’étude, différentes techniques (gradient vertical, gradient horizontal, prolongement vers le haut, déconvolution d’Euler) ont été appliquées à la carte gravimétrique des structures effondrées du Nord-Est de la Tunisie. Les résultats obtenus ont permis de dresser une carte structurale présentant le système de failles responsable de la structuration de la zone d’étude. Cette carte constitue un document très utile pour orienter les recherches hydrogéologiques futures qui seront menées dans ces plaines.

Editeur Z.W. Kundzewicz

Citation Ouerghi, S., Rebai, N., Gabtni, H., Farhat, B., et Bouaziz, S., 2013. Apport de la gravimétrie à l’étude des structures effondrées du Nord-Est de la Tunisie: implications hydrogéologiques. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (6), 1361–1373.     

Modelling of cement suspension flow in granular porous media

A theoretical model of cement suspensions flow in granular porous media considering particle filtration is presented in this paper. Two phenomenological laws have been retained for the filtration rate and the intrinsic permeability evolution. A linear evolution with respect to the volume fraction of cement in the grout has been retained for the filtration rate. The intrinsic permeability of the porous medium is looked for in the form of a hyperbolic function of the porosity change. The model depends on two phenomenological parameters only. The equations of this model are solved analytically in the one‐dimensional case. Besides, a numerical resolution based on the finite element method is also presented. It could be implemented easily in situations where no analytical solution is available. Finally, the predictions of the model are compared to the results of a grout injection test on a long column of sand. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evolution of elastic properties in finite poroplasticity and finite element analysis

The formulation of the poroelastoplastic constitutive equations at large strains of a fully saturated material is performed focusing on the usually ignored influence of large strain plasticity on the poroelastic properties. A micromechanics approach allows to take into account the evolution of the microstructure geometry which in turn induces a coupling between elasticity and plasticity. Such a coupling results in an additional term in the macroscopic Cauchy stress rate equation derived from inclusion‐based estimates that leads to a modified Jaumann derivative. The pressure rate equation is also analysed. The finite element discretization of finite poroplasticity is then presented taking into account the elasticity–plasticity coupling. Application to the consolidation situation shows that the coupling may lead to non‐negligible effects. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A search for nearby counterparts to the moving objects in the Hubble Deep Field

Ibata et al. have recently discovered very faint, moving objects in the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). The number, apparent magnitudes and proper motions of these objects are consistent with old white dwarfs making up part of the Galactic dark halo. We review a number of ground-based proper motion surveys in which nearby dark-halo white dwarfs might be present, if they have the colours and absolute magnitudes proposed. No such objects have been found, whereas we argue here that several times more would be expected than in the HDF. We conclude that it is unlikely that hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs make up a significant fraction of the Galactic dark matter. No limits can be placed as yet on helium-atmosphere dwarfs from optical searches.     

Kinematical diagrams for conical relativistic jets

We present diagrams depicting the expected inter-dependences of two key kinematical parameters of radio knots in the parsec-scale jets of blazars, deduced from VLBI observations. The two parameters are the apparent speed (υ _app = cβ _app) and the effective Doppler boosting factor (δ _eff) of the relativistically moving radio knot. A novel aspect of these analytical computations of β-δ diagrams is that they are made for parsec-scale jets having a conical shape, with modest opening angles (ω up to 10°), in accord with the VLBI observations of the nuclei of the nearest radio galaxies. Another motivating factor is the recent finding that consideration of a conical geometry can have important implications for the interpretation of a variety of radio observations of blazar jets. In addition to uniform jet flows (i.e., those having a uniform bulk Lorentz factor, Γ), computational results are also presented for stratified jets where an ultra-relativistic central spine along the jet axis is surrounded by a slower moving sheath, possibly arising from a velocity shear.