Evaluation of landscape changes and ecological degradation by GIS in arid regions: a case study of the terminal oasis of the Shiyang River,northwest China

The development and utilization of water and land resources in the Shiyang River basin are the highest among the inland rivers in northwestern China. Using GIS and the landscape structure analysis program FRAGSTATS, landscape metrics of a study area in the lake-district in Minqin Oasis in the lower reaches of Shiyang River basin were calculated and analyzed based on TM images from 1987 to 2001 at class level and landscape level, respectively. Transformation matrix of the landscape mosaics was also examined. The driving forces of landscape changes were analyzed, including the dynamics of runoff and groundwater resources and their exploitation, and influences of policies and market economy. The results showed that: (1) Patch number of farmland and desert decreased, but their mean patch area increased, indicating that reclamation and desertification was very serious in the study area. Contagion index for oasis increased and edge density and landscape diversity were reduced. (2) Farmland and desert areas have enlarged by 1,520.46 and 4,941.27 hm², respectively. This increase was at the cost of woodland and grassland, which shrank by 1,520.46 and 4,941.27 hm², respectively. (3) The net utilization of surface water decreased by 50% in the last 10 years, and dropped to 22.3 × 10⁶ m³ in the later 1990s. Exploitation of groundwater increased remarkably, up to 80 × 10⁶ m³ per year in the last 5 years. (4) The capability of the economic structure to withstand pressures of the market economy has depressed distinctly because of the simplified planting pattern, which is dominated by salinity-enduring cash crops, such as cotton. Based on the above analysis, strategies of ecological reconstruction in the lake-district were suggested.     

Drought analysis in Jordan under current and future climates

Droughts have adverse socioeconomic, agricultural, and environmental impacts that can be reduced by assessing and forecasting drought behavior. The paper presents detailed analyses of both meteorological and vegetative droughts over the period from 1970 to 2005. Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) have been used to quantify drought according to severity, magnitude and spatial distribution at the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Results suggest that the country faced during the past 35 years frequent non-uniform drought periods in an irregular repetitive manner. Drought severity, magnitudes and life span increased with time from normal to extreme levels especially at last decade reaching magnitudes of more than 4. Generated NDVI maps spatial analyses estimate crop-area percentage damage due to severe and extremely severe drought events occurred during October, December, and February of 2000 to be about 10%, 45%, and 30%, respectively. In response to drought spatial extent, the paper suggest the presence of two drought types, local drought acting on one or more geographical climatic parts and national drought, of less common but more severe, that extend over the whole country. Droughts in Jordan act intensively during January, February and March and tend to shift position with time by alternative migrations from southern desert parts to northern desert parts and from the eastern desert parts to highlands and Jordan Rift Valley (JRV) at the west. The paper also investigates the potential use of Global Climate Model’s (GCM) to forecast future drought events from 2010 till 2040. Tukey HSD test indicates that ECHAM5OM GCM is capable to predicted rainfall variation at the country and suggests future droughts to become more intensive at the northern and southern desserts with 15% rainfall reduction factor, followed by 10% reduction at the JRV, and 5% at the highlands.     

DC resistivity and seismic refraction survey across the SE margin of Lake Ngami,NW Botswana

Seismic refraction survey and DC resistivity measurements were made across the margin of the Lake Ngami. The structure and stratigraphy at the lake were determined. High resolution aeromagnetic data showed a prominent anomaly coinciding with the Kunyere Fault. Estimated depths to magnetic sources are increasing towards the lake. Two velocity layers were mapped. The top layer (500 m/s) is thin outside the lake and thicker inside the lake. The underlying layer (3125 m/s) has undeterminable thickness. Resistivity sounding results inside the lake showed that the low velocity layer has four sub-units: dry hard clays; diatomaceous earth; soft clays interlayered with silts; and wet whitish clays interlayered with silts. Normal faults were mapped along the profile with a total displacement up to 50 m. The results of the study indicate that the formation of the Lake Ngami basin was structurally controlled and probably initiated by the tectonics of the Okavango Rift Zone.     

Ion Pressure in Different Regions of the Dayside Auroral Precipitation

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The ion pressure in the regions of ionospheric projections of the plasma mantle, polar cusp, low-latitude boundary layer, and the region of structured precipitation of...     

LA‐ICP‐MS Analysis of Small Samples: Carbonate Reference Materials and Larval Fish Otoliths

This article proposes a methodology to analyse the composition of very small carbonate samples such as larval fish otoliths. The chemical composition of otoliths, which are carbonate structures in the inner ear, is often used to explore population dynamics in fishes. Recent advances in laser ablation‐inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry have suggested its potential application to this field. In this study, analyses were performed using a 193 nm ArF Resonetics LA system, coupled to an Agilent 7700X‐ICP‐MS, with the following ablation parameters: a beam diameter of 5 μm, energy of 3 mJ, 2.7 J cm^?2, laser repetition rate of 10 Hz and translation speed of 2.5 μm s^?1. NIST SRM 610 glass was used as the primary calibration material. Performing this protocol, characterisation of a USGS GP‐4 reference material was achieved with suitable precision and accuracy, but the USGS MACS‐3 reference material appeared more heterogeneous under the ablation conditions tested. Calibration was performed using two different beam diameters (5 and 11 μm). Capelin (Mallotus villosus) otoliths measuring between 10 and 20 μm in diameter were tested. Even though a smaller beam diameter and lower energy were used compared with those normally employed to analyse larger otoliths, the method was successful.     

A geologic study of the Juan del Grijalva landslide,the most important mass movement during the last century in Mexico

On November 4th 2007, along the Grijalva River in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, has occurred one of the largest landslides ever known. This landslide, known as Juan del Grijalva, destroyed the town of the same name, killing 20 people, and moved 55 million cubic meters of rock and debris down slope to completely block the Grijalva River. In order to understand the characteristics and factors that triggered the Juan del Grijalva landslide, geologic studies were conducted at the site. The results indicate that the landslide was composed of a lithologic sequence of thin-bedded shales and thin to medium-thick-bedded sandstones. This was faulted into several blocks dipping in the same sense as the mass movement. The main triggering factor was the increment of the pore pressure into the lithologic unit due to water saturation after 5 days of heavy rain before the incident. According to records from the last century, the Juan del Grijalva mass movement represents one of the largest mass movements recorded all over the world. The risk conditions of the area after the landslide lead to the rapid construction of an artificial channel to drain the accumulating mass of water upstream and therefore prevent a future catastrophic inundation down stream.     

A geospatial framework to estimate depth of scour under buildings due to storm surge in coastal areas

Hurricanes and tropical storms represent one of the major hazards in coastal communities. Storm surge generated by strong winds and low pressure from these systems have the potential to bring extensive flooding in coastal areas. In many cases, the damage caused by the storm surge may exceed the damage from the wind resulting in the total collapse of buildings. Therefore, in coastal areas, one of the sources for major structural damage could be due to scour, where the soil below the building that serves as the foundation is swept away by the movement of the water. The existing methodologies to forecast hurricane flood damage do not differentiate between the different damage mechanisms (e.g., inundation vs. scour). Currently, there are no tools available that predominantly focus on forecasting scour-related damage for buildings. Such a tool could provide significant advantages for planning and/or preparing emergency responses. Therefore, the focus of this study was to develop a methodology to predict possible scour depth due to hurricane storm surges using an automated ArcGIS tool that incorporates the expected hurricane conditions (flow depth, velocity, and flood duration), site-specific building information, and the associated soil types for the foundation. A case study from Monmouth County (NJ), where the scour damages from 2012 Hurricane Sandy were recorded after the storm, was used to evaluate the accuracy of the developed forecasting tool and to relate the scour depth to potential scour damage. The results indicate that the developed tool provides relatively consistent results with the field observations.     

The analysis of the trigger action exerted by electromagnetic fields on a geological medium: Quantitative estimates of the interaction

By analyzing the threshold levels of the triggering action, we quantitatively substantiate the changes in the energy of the triggering impact for the cases of the initiation of the lowand high-energy earthquakes depending on the seismic activity of the medium. The analysis is based on the data on the seismicity caused by the high-power electric pulses and geomagnetic field of the magnetic storms with sudden commencement. The analysis of the threshold levels of the triggering action indicates that the energy level required for triggering grows with the increase in the energy class of the earthquake. This is inconsistent with the facts of initiation of strong earthquakes by physical fields in the absence of evident high-energy sources of triggering. The probable explanation suggests that if the source of a strong earthquake is adjoined by local potential sources, the rupturing of one of the local potential sources caused by an energetically weak pulsed impact of the physical fields by the triggering scenario leads to the initiation of a strong earthquake.     

Extending the double-difference location technique to mining applications part I: Numerical study

The location of the seismic event hypocenter is the very first task undertaken when studying any seismological problem. The accuracy of the solution can significantly influence consecutive stages of analysis, so there is a continuous demand for new, more efficient and accurate location algorithms. It is important to recognize that there is no single universal location algorithm which will perform equally well in any situation. The type of seismicity, the geometry of the recording seismic network, the size of the controlled area, tectonic complexity, are the most important factors influencing the performance of location algorithms. In this paper we propose a new location algorithm called the extended double difference (EDD) which combines the insensitivity of the double-difference (DD) algorithm to the velocity structure with the special demands imposed by mining: continuous change of network geometry and a very local recording capability of the network for dominating small induced events. The proposed method provides significantly better estimation of hypocenter depths and origin times compared to the classical and double-difference approaches, the price being greater sensitivity to the velocity structure than the DD approach. The efficiency of both algorithms for the epicentral coordinates is similar.