Benthic foraminiferal turnover across the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) event in Eastern Desert,Egypt

Benthic foraminiferal fauna are analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively at three stratigraphic sections in Eastern Desert of Egypt (Serai, Duwi, and Um El Huetat). These sections embrace the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) interval which is represented by the occurrence of five distinctive beds. These beds constitute the Dababiya Quarry Member at the lower part of Esna Formation. The occurrence of them indicates an expanded and relatively continuous record across the P/E boundary. The organic-rich clay layer (bed no. 1 of the Dababiya Quarry Member) marks the start of the PETM event. This bed is characterized by the extinction of all benthic foraminiferal fauna except for the occurrence of rare agglutinated foraminiferal species. The presence of these species indicates an oceanic anoxic event at the sea floor. High concentration of phosphatic contents including fish remains occurred in the middle part of the PETM (bed nos. 2 and 3 of the Dababiya Quarry Member) with the continuous absence of benthic foraminiferal fauna except for few specimens at the top of bed 3. Bed nos. 4 and 5 of the Dababiya Quarry Member represent the upper part of the PETM and the initial stage of sea floor recovery. Low diversity and abundance of benthic foraminiferal taxa occurred within these beds, represented by Valvulineria scrobiculata, Lenticulina midwayensis, Loxostomoides appliane, and Siphogenerinoides eleganta. This phenomenon continues upward during the post-PETM event. The Paleocene velasco-type benthic foraminifera Angulogavelinella avnimelechi and Coryphostoma midwayensis species are extinct within the advent of the PETM event. The benthic foraminiferal assemblages at the studied sections are dominated by midway-type fauna with little representative of velasco-type fauna. The velasco-type species are represented with high abundance at Serai section and with low densities at Um El Huetat section, while at Duwi section, they rarely occurred. This suggests outer neritic-upper bathyal (150–400 m) setting at Serai section and mostly middle-outer neritic (50–150 m) setting at Um El Huetat and Duwi sections.     

Developing artificial neural network models to predict allowable bearing capacity and elastic settlement of shallow foundation in Sharjah,United Arab Emirates

This research proposes the use of artificial neural network to predict the allowable bearing capacity and elastic settlement of shallow foundation on granular soils in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Data obtained from existing soil reports of 600 boreholes were used to train and validate the model. Three parameters (footing width, effective unit weight, and SPT blow count) are considered to have the most significant impact on the magnitude of allowable bearing capacity and elastic settlement of shallow foundations, and thus were used as the model inputs. Throughout the study, depth of footing was limited to 1.5 m below existing ground level and water table depth taken at the level of the footing. Performance comparison of the developed models (in terms of coefficient of determination, root mean square error, and mean absolute error) revealed that the developed artificial neural network models could be effectively used for predicting the allowable bearing capacity and elastic settlement. As such, the developed models can be used at the preliminary stage of estimating the allowable bearing capacity and settlements of shallow foundations on granular soils, instead of the conventional methods.     

Secondary dispersion of trace elements in bottom sediments of the High Dam Lake,South Egypt and North Sudan

Thirty-four chemical elements, pH, total nitrogen, and total organic carbon were determined in 49 bottom sediment samples from the whole High Dam Lake in order to improve our understanding of geochemical characteristics of these sediments and geochemical patterns of trace elements and related feeding sources. The present study revealed that the lake were clearly discriminated into three portions in accordance with the sediment geochemistry and geographic position. Likewise, the analyzed elements in the entire lake sediments were classified into six geochemical association patterns that are indicative of the contributing geogenic and anthropogenic sources. As has been noted here, mineralogy, anthropogenic inputs, pH, and organic matter had significant roles in controlling the behavior, concentration, dispersion, and geochemical patterns of the trace elements in the lake sediments. Consequently, the elevated concentration of Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ga, Mn, Mo, Ni, Sc, V, Y, and Zn posed moderate contamination level in the sediments. At the same time, the enhancement of Ag, Se, and Te levels caused contamination up to very high levels. Admittedly, the contamination levels were generated by natural and human activities that are coming from the Nile basin countries. Despite progressive deterioration of these sediments, they still have economic applications.     

Modelling intra-dependencies to assess road network resilience to natural hazards

Natural Hazards - Estimating the resilience of a road network (one of the essential critical infrastructures in times of crisis) to natural hazards is crucial in achieving the goals of disaster...     

Simulation of subcritical flow at open-channel junction

The spectrum of this survey turns on the evaluation of various existing theoretical combining models, when invoked within the internal boundary condition management at a junction. Based on the assumption that: when the Froude number is low (i.e. the flow is subcritical), the energy equation at the junction can be approximated by the stages heads equality. Actual literature and many commercial packages rather use this concept for the treatment of the junction’s internal boundary handling because it is easy to implement and it avoids the solving of nonlinear equations. In the last decade, many nonlinear combining models, based on the momentum conservation through the junction, have been reported. However, using them to operate within the internal boundary condition treatment of an open-channel confluence has not yet been investigated. Hence, this research focuses on studying the practical aspect of several combining models, once applied within the junction’s internal boundary management. Therefore, the recent nonlinear models of Gurram, Hsu and Shabayek have been briefly detailed together with the traditional concept of assuming water stages equality at the junction. Subsequently, an experimental examination was performed according to available experiments as mean to pre-evaluate (separately at the junction) the four junction models in the steady state. Moreover, according to the latter inspection the attention was constrained to study the effect of high/low subcritical Froude number at the junction. Finally, two hypothetical hydraulic problems were defined and computed in order to exhibit the performance of these junction models when used to contend the junction’s internal boundary handling. The problems involved: (a) steady and transient flows; (b) high and low (subcritical) Froude number at the junction. Supported by the experimental and numerical investigations, it can be concluded that even while the Froude number spectrum is subcritical, precautions have to be taken when dealing with the concept of energy heads equality, notably for a Froude higher than 0.35 at the junction.     

Evaluating sediment yield at King Talal Reservoir from landslides along Irbid–Amman Highway

With a capacity of 86 MCM, King Talal Reservoir is considered a major water supply in Jordan. It was built exclusively to irrigate the land in the Jordan Valley. Unexpectedly, the design capacity of the reservoir was confronted by the elevated sediment inflows during and after the construction of the Irbid–Amman Highway in 1987. Since then the annual sediment inflow measured at the mouth of the reservoir was higher than expected in a similar year. Notably, the over-wet season of 1991/2, as a result of six major landslides along the highway, registered the highest sediment inflow into the reservoir. In the present work the fractional contribution of these landslides to total sediment yield at the reservoir was evaluated. The evaluation was made by applying the well-known erosion model, AGNPS (Young et al., USDA Conservation Research Report 35, 1987). To calibrate the model, it was successively applied from 1980/1 to 1990/1 on the measured sediment data before the occurrence of landslides. With a slight tune-up of some of the King Talal watershed erosion variables, fairly good agreement was obtained in some years. However, the disagreement noticed in other years might be attributed to some conservation measures practised in the watershed. Because the serious landslides occurred in the wet season of 1991/2, the model was run for the two scenarios in this year: with and without landslides. The difference in results represents the contribution of landslides to sediment yield at the reservoir. It is concluded, based on these results, that landslides, if continued without control, will definitely jeopardize the design capacity of the reservoir.     

Paleoearthquake Features as Indicators of Potential Earthquake Activities in the Karameh Dam Site

Prehistorical earthquake induced features, such as faults, folds, fissures, and slumps have been discovered during the Karameh dam construction. The dam is located close to the plate tectonics boundary formed by the active Jordan Valley Fault. Of most importance are those known as the fold-type deformations ``décollement type of structure' which are well preserved in the laminated Lisan formations. These features show that historical moderate to strongly sized earthquake activities are likely to have been originated in the vicinity of the dam site. Such features may well provide valuable information for identification of areas of highly strong earthquake regions.     

Nickel removal from electroplating waste water using stand-alone and electrically assisted ion exchange processes

Wastewater discharged from metal-finishing processes usually contains nickel, a hazardous substance that is used extensively in the surface finishing industry. In the present study, an acidic solution containing nickel was treated using strong acid cation exchange resin. A continuous lab-scale cation exchange arrangement permitting the assessment of electric current as an enhancement mechanism was designed and utilized at different flow rates successfully. Applying the electrical potential enhanced the nickel removal by 12.7 % at flow rate 240 ml/h, and 2.5 % at flow rate 500 ml/h. Nickel recovery has been also investigated using hydrochloric acid as an eluent with and without electric current enhancement.     

Joint use of TEM and MRS methods in a complex geological setting

Transient Electromagnetic (TEM), known also as Time Domain Electromagnetic (TDEM) and Magnetic Resonance Sounding (MRS) methods were applied jointly to investigate variations in lithology and groundwater salinity in the Nahal Hever South area (Dead Sea coast of Israel). The subsurface in this area is highly heterogeneous and composed of intercalated sand and clay layers over a salt formation, which is partly karstified. Groundwater is very saline, with a chloride concentration of 100–225 g/l. TEM is known as an efficient tool for investigating electrically conductive targets like saline water, but it is sensitive to both the salinity of groundwater and the porosity of rocks. MRS, however, is sensitive primarily to groundwater volume, but it also allows delineating of lithological variations in water-saturated formations. MRS is much less sensitive to variations in groundwater salinity in comparison with TEM. We show that MRS enables us to resolve the fundamental uncertainty in TEM interpretation caused by the equivalence between groundwater resistivity and lithology. Combining TEM and MRS, we found that the sandy Dead Sea aquifer filled with Dead Sea brine is characterized by a bulk resistivity of ρ_x > 0.4 Ωm, whereas zones with silt and clay in the subsurface are characterized by a bulk resistivity of ρ_x < 0.4 Ωm. These observations are confirmed by calibration of the TEM method performed near 18 boreholes.