Present state of geodynamic properties of Kalabsha area, nortwest of Aswan Lake, Egypt

Aswan Lake is the second largest man-made lake in the world. Its filling started 1964 and reached the maximum water level in 1978. An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 took place in 1981 along the most active fault near the lake (Kalabsha fault). This earthquake was follwed by a tremendous number of smaller events that continue till now.Seismicity and the underground water table around the lake are monitored continuously through a radio-telemetered network. A local geodetic network was established around parts of the active faults in the northwestern part of the High Dam Lake, for monitoring vertical and lateral movements. The Kalabsha local geodetic network (the first one) was established around an active part of the Kalabsha fault in 1983. Precise geodetic measurements have benn carried out twice a year since 1984.On the basis of the repeated geodetic measurements, seismicity of the area and geophysical as well as geological data, the present state of the geodynamical properties of the Kalabsha area is studied.Remarkable horizontal movements were detected; they are correlated with the seismicity of the area and are attributed to the differential loading by the lake. The Kalabsha fault is a right-lateral strike-slip motion on an E-W plane. The magnitude of the movements detected along the fault is variable for the different epochs of measurements and is correlated with both seismicity and water loading in the lake.     

Analysis of kinematic seismic response of tapered piles

In the present work, a two-phase analysis is used to assess the lateral movement of a tapered pile due to kinematic seismic loading resulted from earthquakes. First, the free-field horizontal displacement of the ground due to earthquake is estimated using available theory of wave propagation. Second, these estimated soil movements are imposed on the taper pile in a closed-form solution to compute the pile response. The governing differential equation for an arbitrary pile segment is obtained, which includes the free-field horizontal movement estimated from the first phase. The equation is solved explicitly to obtain the horizontal deflection. Parametric studies show that tapered piles tend to be more flexible than uniform piles of the same volume and length under earthquake loading, which is soundly interesting.     

A Least-squares Window Curves Method for Interpretation of Magnetic Anomalies Caused by Dipping Dikes

We have developed a least-squares method to determine simultaneously the depth and the width of a buried thick dipping dike from residualized magnetic data using filters of successive window lengths. The method involves using a relationship between the depth and the half-width of the source and a combination of windowed observations. The relationship represents a family of curves (window curves). For a fixed window length, the depth is determined for each half-width value by solving one nonlinear equation of the form f (z) = 0 using the least-squares method. The computed depths are plotted against the width values representing a continuous curve. The solution for the depth and the width of the buried dike is read at the common intersection of the window curves. The method involves using a dike model convolved with the same moving average filter as applied to the observed data. As a result, this method can be applied to residuals as well as to measured magnetic data. Procedures are also formulated to estimate the amplitude coefficient and the index parameter. The method is applied to theoretical data with and without random errors. The validity of the method is tested on airborne magnetic data from Canada and on a vertical component magnetic anomaly from Turkey. In all cases examined, the model parameters obtained are in good agreement with the actual ones and with those given in the published literature.     

Local geoid determination combining gravity disturbances and GPS/levelling: a case study in the Lake Nasser area, Aswan, Egypt

 The use of GPS for height control in an area with existing levelling data requires the determination of a local geoid and the bias between the local levelling datum and the one implicitly defined when computing the local geoid. If only scarse gravity data are available, the heights of new data may be collected rapidly by determining the ellipsoidal height by GPS and not using orthometric heights. Hence the geoid determination has to be based on gravity disturbances contingently combined with gravity anomalies. Furthermore, existing GPS/levelling data may also be used in the geoid determination if a suitable general gravity field modelling method (such as least-squares collocation, LSC) is applied. A comparison has been made in the Aswan Dam area between geoids determined using fast Fourier transform (FFT) with gravity disturbances exclusively and LSC using only the gravity disturbances and the disturbances combined with GPS/levelling data. The EGM96 spherical harmonic model was in all cases used in a remove–restore mode. A total of 198 gravity disturbances spaced approximately 3 km apart were used, as well as 35 GPS/levelling points in the vicinity and on the Aswan Dam. No data on the Nasser Lake were available. This gave difficulties when using FFT, which requires the use of gridded data. When using exclusively the gravity disturbances, the agreement between the GPS/levelling data were 0.71 ± 0.17 m for FFT and 0.63 ± 0.15 for LSC. When combining gravity disturbances and GPS/levelling, the LSC error estimate was ±0.10 m. In the latter case two bias parameters had to be introduced to account for a possible levelling datum difference between the levelling on the dam and that on the adjacent roads. Received: 14 August 2000 / Accepted: 28 February 2001     

Short-term variations of some UV-ceti type flare stars

Sinusoidal variations in bothV - andB-bands were detected in some flare stars of the UV Ceti type outside of flares. This detection has confirmed the light variation detection in Johnson'sV -band in EV Lac at quiet-state luminosity by Pettersen (1980) with a cyclic period equals about 4 _. ^d 378 and an amplitude of about 0 _. ^m 07. An interpretation of these short cyclic periods is that they are due to intensity modulations from a photospheric spot group as a result of stellar equatorial rotations. A short period of 14 days with an amplitude of 0 _. ^m 099 was detected inB-band in AD Leo. For the two flare stars, BD+55° 1823 and DO Cep in bothV- andB-bands, cyclic periods of more than 3 days and less than 17 days with amplitudes more than 0 _. ^m 090 and less than 0 _. ^m 250 have been registered. A significant contribution has been found in the flare star EV Lac in bothV- andB-bands at its quiescent-state luminosity where the detected cyclic periods are agreed with that which was detected by Pettersen (1980) in the same flare star in Johnson'sV-band, about 4 days. Furthermore, we found the same cyclic period in the colour index,B - V (about 4 days) which strengthens starspot phenomenon. This colour index period could not be detected by Pettersen (1980).     

Factors affecting seasonal patterns in epilimnion zooplankton community in one of the largest man-made lakes in Africa (Lake Nasser, Egypt)

The objective of the study was to determine which factors regulate zooplankton organisms along Lake Nasser. Temperature, pH, DO, conductivity, turbidity, nutrients, and zooplankton abundance were measured. Twenty-three species of zooplankton were recorded in Lake Nasser included in Copepoda, Cladocera and Rotifera. Copepoda represented the main bulk of the community. The lowest standing stock of zooplankton was noticed during spring due to the highest fish predation during this season associated with the lowest turbidity. Big difference in temperature in Lake Nasser along the year round is considered as a controlling factor related to range of tolerance of species. The oscillation of the lake water level and the different factors affect the standing stock of zooplankton in the lake. Thus, continuous monitoring of Lake Nasser biota should be undertaken to follow the changes in the ecosystem.     

The Temaguessine Fe-cordierite orbicular granite (Central Hoggar, Algeria): U–Pb SHRIMP age, petrology, origin and geodynamical consequences for the late Pan-African magmatism of the Tuareg shield

The Temaguessine high-level subcircular pluton is intrusive into the LATEA metacraton (Central Hoggar) Eburnian (2 Ga) basement and in the Pan-African (615 Ma) granitic batholiths along a major NW–SE oriented major shear zone. It is dated here (SHRIMP U–Pb on zircon) at 582 ± 5 Ma. Composed of amphibole–biotite granite and biotite syenogranite, it comprises abundant enclaves: mafic magmatic enclaves, country-rock xenoliths and remarkable Fe-cordierite (#Fe = 0.87) orbicules. The orbicules have a core rich in cordierite (40%) and a leucocratic quartz–feldspar rim. They are interpreted as resulting from the incongruent melting of the meta-wacke xenoliths collapsed into the magma: the breakdown of the biotite + quartz assemblage produced the cordierite and a quartz–feldspar minimum melt that is expelled, forming the leucocratic rim. The orbicule generation occurred at T < 850° and P < 0.3 GPa. The Fe-rich character of the cordierite resulted from the Fe-rich protolith (wacke with 4% Fe₂O₃ for 72% SiO₂). Strongly negative ε_Nd (−9.6 to −11.2), Nd T_DM model ages between 1.64 and 1.92 Ga, inherited zircons between 1.76 and 2.04 Ga and low to moderately high I_Sr (0.704–0.710) indicate a Rb-depleted lower continental crust source for the Temaguessine pluton; regional considerations impose however also the participation of asthenospheric material. The Temaguessine pluton, together with other high-level subcircular pluton, is considered as marking the end of the Pan-African magma generation in the LATEA metacraton, resulting from the linear delamination along mega-shear zones, allowing asthenospheric uprise and melting of the lower continental crust. This implies that the younger Taourirt granitic province (535–520 Ma) should be considered as a Cambrian intraplate anorogenic event and not as a very late Pan-African event.     

Holocene stromatolites and microbial laminites associated with lenticular gypsum in a marine-dominated environment, Ras El Shetan area, Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt

Field and petrographic investigations of Holocene evaporites in the Ras El Shetan area, Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt, indicate the presence of microbial mats either in the form of laminites or stromatolites. The morphology of microbial mats and gypsum crystal size characterize the following lithofacies: (1) slump-stromatolitic gypsarenite, (2) random gypsrudite, (3) stromatolitic gypsarenite, and (4) microbially laminated gypsrudite. These evaporite lithofacies are formed above pre-evaporitic mudstones rich in disrupted cyanobacterial filaments, burrows and cerithid gastropods. The morphology of the gypsum crystals is mainly lenticular, indicating enrichment of dissolved organic compounds in the depositional environment. The difference in size of the lenticular gypsum crystals is related to minor changes in salinity and temperature of the parent brine. Fluid inclusions in gypsum crystals indicate their formation at low temperature (<50°C) in a seawater sourced brine that evaporated to gypsum saturation or higher. The brine salinities range from 10·62 to 12·99 equivalent wt% NaCl, and the brine densities range from 1·08 to 1·11 g/cm³. The change in morphology of the microbial mats (stromatolites and laminites) is related mainly to changes in water depth, from a very shallow salina to a coastal sabkha. Lenticular gypsum nucleated displacively in the microbial mats from saline, oxygenated groundwater that seeped from the sea through a barrier.     

On the iron interpretation of the 6.4 keV emission line from SGR 1900+14

A 6.4 keV emission line was discovered in an unusual burst from the soft gamma repeater SGR 1900+14 with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The line was detected in part of a complex multipeak precursor that preceded the unusual burst of 1998 August 29, i.e. two days after the giant flare of August 27 from the source. The origin of the line was not firmly identified and two possible interpretations were equally plausible including (a) Kα fluorescence from a small iron rich material that was ejected to the magnetosphere during the August 27 flare, and (b) proton or α-particle cyclotron resonance. If the iron scenario was correct, we expect to find evidence for the line during the intervening interval between the flare and the August 29 burst, i.e. on August 28. Here we present the results of the August 28 burst observation, taken with RXTE. We detect a total of seven bursts whose individual and joint spectra do not show evidence for spectral lines. We also investigated a sample of nine bursts before and after the August 29 burst (from 1998 June to December) that do not reveal evidence for a spectral line near 6.4 keV or elsewhere. These results disfavor the iron scenario and make the proton/α-particle cyclotron resonance interpretation more plausible. The appearance of the emission line in part of a complex burst and its absence from the studied sample indicate that the line is likely due to a transient phenomenon that may depend on the burst morphology, energetics and the properties of the emission region.