Groundwater Recharge Rate and Zone Structure Estimation Using PSOLVER Algorithm

The quantification of groundwater recharge is an important but challenging task in groundwater flow modeling because recharge varies spatially and temporally. The goal of this study is to present an innovative methodology to estimate groundwater recharge rates and zone structures for regional groundwater flow models. Here, the unknown recharge field is partitioned into a number of zones using Voronoi Tessellation (VT). The identified zone structure with the recharge rates is associated through a simulation‐optimization model that couples MODFLOW‐2000 and the hybrid PSOLVER optimization algorithm. Applicability of this procedure is tested on a previously developed groundwater flow model of the Tahtal? Watershed. Successive zone structure solutions are obtained in an additive manner and penalty functions are used in the procedure to obtain realistic and plausible solutions. One of these functions constrains the optimization by forcing the sum of recharge rates for the grid cells that coincide with the Tahtal? Watershed area to be equal to the areal recharge rate determined in the previous modeling by a separate precipitation‐runoff model. As a result, a six‐zone structure is selected as the best zone structure that represents the areal recharge distribution. Comparison to results of a previous model for the same study area reveals that the proposed procedure significantly improves model performance with respect to calibration statistics. The proposed identification procedure can be thought of as an effective way to determine the recharge zone structure for groundwater flow models, in particular for situations where tangible information about groundwater recharge distribution does not exist.     

Main features of the deep structure by local earthquake tomography and active tectonics: case of Rif Mountain (morocco) and Betic Cordillera (Spain)

Within the Spain and Moroccan networks, a large volume of seismic data has been collected and used for investigating the lithosphere in the Betic–Rif Cordillera. The present study has two main goals: (1) Use the most actual seismological data from recent earthquakes in the Betic–Rif arc for investigating the lithosphere through the application of seismic local tomography techniques. (2) Define the possible structural blocks and explain the GPS velocities perturbation in this region. The resolution tests results indicate that the calculated images gave a close true structure for the studied regions from 5- to 60-km depth. The resulting tomographic image shows that the presence of two upper crust body (velocity 6.5 km/s) at 3- to 13-km depth between Iberian Betic and Moroccan Rif in the western and in the middle of Alboran Sea also shows the low velocity favoring the presence of melt in the base of these two bodies. The crustal bodies forms tectonic blocks in the Central Rif and in the Central Betic Cordillera.     

A three-scale cracking criterion for drying soils

Cracking is a most unwanted development in soil structures undergoing periodic drying and wetting. Desiccation cracks arise in an apparent absence of external forces. Hence, either an internal, self-equilibrated stress pattern resulting from kinematic incompatibilities, or a stress resulting from reaction forces at the constraints appear as a cracking cause, when reaching tensile strength. At a meso-scale, tubular drying pores are considered in the vicinity of a random imperfection, inducing a stress concentration in the presence of significant pore suction. This approach allows one to use the effective stress analysis, which otherwise, away from the stress concentration, usually yields compressive effective stress and hence a physically incompatible criterion for a tensile crack. Recent experiments on idealized configurations of clusters of grains provide geometrical data suggesting that an imperfection as a result of air entry deep into the granular medium penetrates over 4 to 8 internal radii of a typical pore could yield a tensile effective stress sufficient for crack propagation.     

Organic tracers in sediments from the coastal zone of Ras Abu el-Darag,Gulf of Suez

Sediment samples from the coastal zone of the Gulf of Suez contain a variety of organic compounds from anthropogenic and natural sources. A total of 12 surface samples of bottom sediments were collected with an Ekman grab sampler along an off-shore transect south of Ras Abu el-Darag. The samples were extracted with a mixture of dichloromethane and methanol (3:1 v/v) after drying and sieving through 250 μm mesh. The extracts were derivatized and analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry in order to characterize the chemical composition and sources of the organic components. Marine with minor terrestrial biota were the major natural sources of organic tracers and included n-alkanoic acids, sterols and saccharides (5.7–76.7%). Anthropogenic sources, from petroleum related activities, detergent usage for spill cleaning and littering, are indicated by the presence of n-alkanes with carbon preference index ≤1.0, hopanes, steranes, unresolved complex mixture of branched and cyclic hydrocarbons, alkyl nitriles, alkamides and plasticizers. Their total relative concentrations ranged from 23.3 to 97.3% of the total extracts. Petroleum residues from natural seepage may also be part of these hydrocarbons. The levels of anthropogenic inputs decrease from about 94% in coastal zone sediments to about 20% in sediments from the reef front.     

Laboratory Study on the Hydraulic Conductivity and Pore Pressure of Sand-Silt Mixtures

The hydraulic conductivity plays a major role on the excess pore pressure generation during monotonic and cyclic loading of granular soils with fines. This paper aims to determine how much the hydraulic conductivity and pore pressure response of the sand-silt mixtures are affected by the percentage of fines and void ratio of the soil. The results of flexible wall permeameter and undrained monotonic triaxial tests performed on samples reconstituted from Chlef River sand with 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% nonplastic silt at an effective confining stress of 100 kPa and two relative densities (D_r = 20, and 91%) are presented and discussed. It was found that the pore pressure increases linearly with the increase of the fines content and logarithmically with the increase of the intergranular void ratio. The results obtained from this study reveal that the saturated hydraulic conductivity (k) of the sand mixed with 50% low plastic fines can be, on average, four orders of magnitude smaller than that of the clean sand. The results show also that the hydraulic conductivity decreases hyperbolically with the increase of the fines content and the intergranular void ratio.     

Laboratory Investigation on the Effects of Overconsolidation and Saturation on Undrained Monotonic Shear Behavior of Granular Material

In order to study pore water response and static liquefaction characteristics of silty sand, which has previously experienced liquefaction, two series of monotonic triaxial tests were run on medium dense sand specimens (RD = 50%) at confining pressure of 100 kPa. In the first test series, the influence of the soil saturation under undrained static loading has been studied. It summarizes results of monotonic tests performed on Chlef sand at various values of the Skempton's pore pressure coefficient. Analysis of experimental results gives valuable insights on the effect of soil saturation on sand response to undrained monotonic paths. In the second series of tests, the overconsolidation influence on the resistance to the sands liquefaction has been realized on samples at various values of overconsolidation ratios (OCR). It was found that the increase of overconsolidation ratio (OCR) increases the resistance of sands to liquefaction.