Évaluation de la qualité de l'eau par application de la méthode géoélectrique : exemple de la plaine d'El Mida–Gabes nord (Sud tunisien)

The Mida plain, which is part of the North Gabès region (southern Tunisia), is characterized by the deep sandy units of the ‘Continental intercalaire’ (CI) or the limestone of the Lower Senonian. A geophysical survey, by electrical sounding (ES), was undertaken in the studied region to better characterize the deep geological structure of this plain and therefore its aquifer resources potential. The analysis of the results shows that the prospected zone is characterized by the succession of several levels with contrasted resistivities, which are often affected by faults. Among these observed geoelectrical levels, the highly conductor one could host a saline aquifer. Another geoelectrical level corresponding to the resistant bedrock detected at Oudhref horst can contain better-quality water than that of the aquifer detected in the El Mida Graben. In this work, we tried to explain the origin of the salinity of this aquifer. Thus, we hypothesise about a contamination from Jebel Zemlet El Beida through a border fault and another one from the Sebkhet El Hamma. To cite this article: A. Mhamdi et al., C. R. Geoscience 338 (2006).     

HEAVY METAL POLLUTION IN SURFACE SEDIMENTS COLLECTED FROM DRAINAGES RECEIVING DIFFERENT ANTHROPOGENIC SOURCES FROM PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Surface drainage sediments were collected, between January and April in 2005, from 6 sampling sites in Peninsular Malaysia suspected to have received different anthropogenic sources. These drainages included sites near a petrochemical plant, an electronic factory, a metal factory and 2 townships in addition to a relatively unpolluted site (a reference site). Based on the aqua-regia method, the metal concentrations for all the sampling sites except for the agricultural site (reference site) at Sg. Benut were between 60.92-1 019 μg/g dry weight for copper (Cu), 65.32-1 266.6μg/g dry weight for plumbum (Pb), 1.46-15.93 μg/g dry weight for cadmium (Cd), 330.10-484.14 μg/g dry weight for zinc (Zn) and 47.03-120.90 μg/g dry weight for nickel (Ni). All of these ranges were significantly (p< 0.05) higher than those (Cu: 8.77 μg/g; Pb: 57.42 μg/g; Cd: 0.96 μg/g; Zn: 68.21 μg/g; and Ni: 17.87 μg/g) of the reference site at Sg. Benut that only received agricultural disposal. The concentrations for the 5 metals from all the sites (except for the reference site) were higher than the Sediment Quality Values for Hong Kong by Chapman et al (1999) for the 5 metals. Based on the sequential extraction technique, 3 geochemical fractions [easily, freely leachable and exchangeable (EFLE), acid-reducible and oxidisable-organic] were also useful in identifying these polluted sites. The elevated metal concentrations found in the sediments might be related to point sources of industrial effluent and urban waste. Hence, the results emphasized the necessity for the treatment of effluents into this drainage area. As part of the effort to control illegal discharges and dumping into drainages, public awareness should be enhanced.     

Eclipse measurements near 1.2 cm wavelength on September 11, 1969

Measurements performed at wavelength 1.18 cm during the September, 11, 1969, partial solar eclipse are described. No significant limb-brightening was detected. However, a high coronal contribution to the emission at this wavelength was observed. Separation between the emission from the center of a unipolar spot of diameter 1/2 to 1 arc min and its plage region of diameter 3 to 4 arc min was possible.     

SPH-based numerical investigation of mudflow and other complex fluid flow interactions with structures

The understanding of mudflow–structure interactions and debris–flow structure interactions is of paramount importance for the rational design of technical countermeasures. However, to date, only a limited number of studies have investigated this subject. We propose here a numerical approach to this topic using a 2D vertical numerical model based on the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. First, we will test the capacity of the model to simulate unsteady free-surface flows of water and viscoplastic fluid in comparison to laboratory experiments. Then, we will use it prospectively, based on a series of simulations of Bingham fluid free-surface propagations, to determine the momentum reduction resulting from the presence of a simple obstacle perpendicular to the direction of propagation and to determine the characteristics of stresses applied to this obstacle in terms of peak pressure and evolution over time.     

Measurement of Ambient,Interstitial, and Residual Aerosol Particles on a Mountaintop Site in Central Sweden using an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer and a CVI

The Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (Q-AMS) was coupled with a counterflow virtual impactor (CVI) for the first time to measure cloud droplet residuals of warm tropospheric clouds on Mt. Åreskutan in central Sweden in July 2003. Operating the CVI in different operational modes generated mass concentration and species-resolved mass distribution data for non-refractory species of the ambient, interstitial, and residual aerosol. The ambient aerosol measurements revealed that the aerosol at the site was mainly influenced by long-range transport and regional photochemical generation of nitrate and organic aerosol components. Four different major air masses were identified for the time interval of the experiment. While two air masses that approached the site from northeastern Europe via Finland showed very similar aerosol composition, the other two air masses from polar regions and the British Islands had a significantly different composition. During cloud events the larger aerosol particles were found to be activated into cloud droplets. On a mass basis the activation cut-off diameter was approximately 150 nm for nitrate and organics dominated particles and 200 nm for sulfate dominated particles. Generally nitrate and organics were found to be activated into cloud droplets with higher efficiency than sulfate. While a significant fraction of the nitrate in ambient particles was organic nitrates or nitrogen-containing organic species, the nitrate found in the cloud droplet residuals was mainly ammonium nitrate. After passage of clouds the ambient aerosol size distribution had shifted to smaller particle sizes due to the predominantly activation of larger aerosol particles without a significant change in the relative composition of the ambient aerosol.     

Generic rule-sets for automated detection of urban tree species from very high-resolution satellite data

The sustainable management and monitoring of urban forests is an important activity in the urbanized world, and operational approaches require information about the status of urban trees to determine the best strategy. One limitation in urban forest studies is the detection and discrimination of tree species using limited training data. Thus, this study focuses on developing generic rule sets from high-resolution WorldView-2 imagery in conjunction with spectral, spatial, colour and textural information for automated urban tree species detection. The object-based image analysis and its combination with statistical analysis of object features is utilized for this purpose. Results of attribute selection indicated that from 55 attributes, only 26 were useful to discriminate urban tree species, namely Messua ferrea L., Samanea saman and Casuarina sumatrana. Finally, the high overall accuracy, approximately 86.87% with kappa of 0.75 confirmed the transferability of the generic model.     

Monitoring and analysing the Emirate of Dubai’s land use/land cover changes: an integrated,low-cost remote sensing approach

This study presents a modified low-cost approach, which integrates the spectral angle mapper and image difference algorithms in order to enhance classification maps for the purpose of monitoring and analysing land use/land cover change between 2000 and 2015 for the Emirate of Dubai. The approach was modified by collecting 320 training samples from QuickBird images with a spatial resolution of 0.6 m, as well as carrying out field observations, followed by the application of a 3?×?3 Soble filter, sieving classes, majority/minority analysis, and clump classes of the obtained classification maps. The accuracy assessment showed that the targeted 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 classification maps have 88.1252%, 89.0699%, 90.1225% and 96.0965% accuracy, respectively. The results showed that the built-up area increased by 233.721?km² (5.81%) between 2000 and 2005 and continues to increase even up and till the present time. The assessment of changes in the periods 2000–2005 and 2010–2015 confirmed that net vegetation area losses were more pronounced from 2000 to 2005 than from 2010 to 2015, dropping from 47,618 to 40,820?km², respectively. This study is aimed to assist urban planners and decision-makers, as well as research institutes.     

Mapping land subsidence over the eastern Beijing city using satellite radar interferometry*

Beijing City has suffered from groundwater-induced subsidence since the late 1930s and the over-exploration of groundwater could lead to subsidence as much as ?12.0 cm?yr^?1. Previous studies on the ground deformation at Beijing City mainly focused on the period before the year of 2014 when a mega-engineering project was launched to reduce water shortage in Beijing. To study the most recent ground deformation, 19 L-band ALOS-1 PALSAR images (June 2007–January 2011), 24 C-band Sentinel-1 SAR images (June 2015–November 2016) together with 9 ALOS-2 PALSAR acquisitions (September 2014–February 2017) were analysed in this work. Levelling measurements were exploited to verify the ALOS-1-based time series InSAR (TS-InSAR) result while Sentinel-1 and ALOS-2 result were cross-verified with each other. Furthermore, the whole study area was divided into four sub-zones, and the result indicated that the subsidence rates over five townships, Cuigezhuan, Jinzhan, Liyuan, Songzhuang and Yanjiao were accelerating and more attentions should be paid. On the contrary, the town centre of Douge Zhuang township experienced a decreasing trend between these two temporal-periods. Additionally, the time series measurements with respect to five selected measurement points and the profile line along the subsidence hot spots were analysed.     

Enhancement of polysulfone membrane with integrated ZnO nanoparticles for the clarification of sweetwater

Clarification is one of the main steps in producing glycerin from glycerin–rich solution (namely sweetwater) in oleo-chemical industry. In this study, ZnO nanoparticles (9–12 nm in diameter) were incorporated into polysulfone (PSf) membranes to improve the membrane antifouling properties toward the fatty acids in sweetwater. The hybrid membranes were fabricated through wet phase inversion method. The modified membranes exhibited better water permeability, membrane surface hydrophilicity (improvement from 82° to 62.1°) and resistance toward fouling by fatty acids. In this study, the best membrane was obtained in the presence of 3% of ZnO nanoparticles, which showed good fouling resistance, high solution flux and a very high rejection of fatty acids (≥80%) in comparison with the pure PSf membranes, at the same experimental conditions. The enhanced membrane performances during the clarification of sweetwater were attributed to the unique properties of ZnO nanoparticles that were uniformly dispersed in the PSf structures.     

Hydrogeochemistry and groundwater quality assessment of the multilayered aquifer in Lower Kelantan Basin,Kelantan, Malaysia

Continual expansion of population density, urbanization, agriculture, and industry in most parts of the world has increased the generation of pollution, which contributes to the deterioration of surface water quality. This causes the dependence on groundwater sources for their daily needs to accumulate day by day, which raises concerns about their quality and hydrogeochemistry. This study was carried out to increase understanding of the geological setup and assess the groundwater hydrogeochemical characteristics of the multilayered aquifers in Lower Kelantan Basin. Based on lithological data correlation of exploration wells, the study area can be divided into three main aquifers: shallow, intermediate and deep aquifers. From these three aquifers, 101 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed for various parameters. The results showed that pH values in the shallow, intermediate and deep aquifers were generally acidic to slightly alkaline. The sequences of major cations and anions were Na⁺ > Ca²⁺ > Mg²⁺ > K⁺ and HCO₃^? > Cl^? > SO₄^2? > CO₃^2?, respectively. In the intermediate aquifer, the influence of ancient seawater was the primary factor that contributed to the elevated values of electrical conductivity (EC), Cl^? and total dissolved solids (TDS). The main facies in the shallow aquifer were Ca–HCO₃ and Na–HCO₃ water types. The water types were dominated by Na–Cl and Na–HCO₃ in the intermediate aquifer and by Na–HCO₃ in the deep aquifer. The Gibbs diagram reveals that the majority of groundwater samples belonged to the deep aquifer and fell in the rock dominance zone. Shallow aquifer samples mostly fell in the rainfall zone, suggesting that this aquifer is affected by anthropogenic activities. In contrast, the results suggest that the deep aquifer is heavily influenced by natural processes.