Causes of rockfalls in Al-Huwayshah area, Yemen

According to topography of Yemen, most areas and villages are located at obligated crest, toe of mountain and under cliffs. Therefore Al-Huwayshah consisting of Tawilah sandstone group is characterized by steep slope reach to 90° in some areas. This area is affected by strong tectonic movements and faults that occurred during the geological epochs. This effect enhances to find out fractures and joints as well as the rocks become brittle and ready to slide depending on the position of area. And there are some fractures and joints on the surface of the areas due to tectonic movement associated with opening the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The rainfalls, fractures, joints, earthquakes, gravity, vegetations, temperatures and human activities play a big role in the processes of rockfalls and landslides in this area. All those factors are considered as the basic causes and catalyzed factors for occurrence of rockfall in the studide area. In addition, the authors carried out laboratory test for many rock samples to get the physical properties of the rocks.     

Performance Evaluation of Bottom-Standing Submerged Breakwaters in Regular Waves Using the Meshless Singular Boundary Method

In this paper, the improved version of the meshless singular boundary method(ISBM) is developed for analyzing the hydrodynamic performance of bottom-standing submerged breakwaters in regular normally incident waves. Both the single and dual prismatic breakwaters of rectangular and trapezoidal forms are examined. Only the impermeable breakwaters are considered in this study. The physical problem is cast in terms of the Laplace equation governing an irrotational flow and incompressible fluid motion with the appropriate mixed-type boundary conditions, and it is solved numerically using the ISBM. The numerical results are presented in terms of the hydrodynamic quantities of reflection and transmission coefficients. The values are first validated against the data of previous studies, computed, and discussed for a variety of structural conditions, including the height, width, and spacing of breakwater submergence. An excellent agreement is observed between the ISBM results and those of other methods. The breakwater width is found to feature marginal effects compared with the height. The present method is shown to accurately predict the resonant conditions at which the maximum reflection and transmission occur. The trapezoidal breakwaters are found to generally present a wide spectrum of reflections, suggesting that they would function better than the rectangular breakwaters. The dual breakwater systems are confirmed to perform much better than single structures.     

Expansion theory for the elliptic motion of arbitrary eccentricity and semi-major axis

In this paper of the series, elliptic expansions in terms of the sectorial variables θ _j ⁽ⁱ⁾ introduced in Paper IV (Sharaf, 1982) to regularise highly oscillating perturbation force of some orbital systems will be explored for the first four categories. For each of the elliptic expansions belonging to a category, literal analytical expressions for the coefficients of its trigonometric series representation are established. Moreover, some recurrence formulae satisfied by these coefficients are also established to facilitate their computations, numerical results are included to provide test examples for constructing computational algorithms.     

Geological and geophysical studies of the Agoudal impact structure (Central High Atlas,Morocco): New evidence for crater size and age

Since the discovery of shatter cones (SCs) near the village of Agoudal (Morocco, Central High Atlas Mountains) in 2013, the absence of one or several associated circular structures led to speculation about the age of the impact event, the number, and the size of the impact crater or craters. Additional constraints on the crater size, age, and erosion rates are obtained here from geological, structural, and geophysical mapping and from cosmogenic nuclide data. Our geological maps of the Agoudal impact site at the scales of 1:30,000 (6 km²) and 1:15,000 (2.25 km²) include all known occurrences of SCs in target rocks, breccias, and vertical to overturned strata. Considering that strata surrounding the impact site are subhorizontal, we argue that disturbed strata are related to the impact event. Three types of breccias have been observed. Two of them (br1‐2 and br2) could be produced by erosion–sedimentation–consolidation processes, with no evidence for impact breccias, while breccia (br1) might be impact related. The most probable center of the structure is estimated at 31°59′13.73?N, 5°30′55.14?W using the concentric deviation method applied to the orientation of strata over the disturbed area. Despite the absence of a morphological expression, the ground magnetic and electromagnetic surveys reveal anomalies spatially associated with disturbed strata and SC occurrences. The geophysical data, the structural observations, and the area of occurrence of SCs in target rocks are all consistent with an original size of 1.4–4.2 km in diameter. Cosmogenic nuclide data (³⁶Cl) constrain the local erosion rates between 220 ± 22 m Ma^?1 and 430 ± 43 m Ma^?1. These erosion rates may remove the topographic expression of such a crater and its ejecta in a time period of about 0.3–1.9 Ma. This age is older than the Agoudal iron meteorite age (105 ± 40 kyr). This new age constraint excludes the possibility of a genetic relationship between the Agoudal iron meteorite fall and the formation of the Agoudal impact site. A chronolgy chart including the Atlas orogeny, the alternation of sedimentation and erosion periods, and the meteoritic impacts is presented based on all obtained and combined data.     

On the D́ust content of nearby galaxies

By inspection of photographs of the Hubble Atlas of Galaxies the frequency distribution of the sizes of dark cloud complexes in the four nearby galaxies NGC 3031, 5128, 5194 and 5457 is derived and the total amount of dust in these systems is estimated. The frequency distribution of the clouds is nearly the same in all the considered galaxies and may be approximated by n(R) ∼ e^−kR, k ≈︂ 0.050 pc⁻¹. The total amount of dust yields to roughly 10⁶M⊙.     

The motion of artificial satellites in the set of Eulerian redundant parameters

In this paper, the connections between orbit dynamics and rigid body dynamics are established throughout the Eulerian redundant parameters, the perturbation equations for any conic motion of artificial satellites are derived in terms of these parameters. A general recursive and stable computational algorithm is also established for the initial-value problem of the Eulerian parameters for satellites prediction in the Earth's gravitational field with axial symmetry. Applications of the algorithm are considered for the two cases of short and long term predictions. For the short-term prediction, we consider the problem of the final state prediction of some typical ballistic missiles in the geopotential model with zonal harmonic terms up to J ₃₆, while for the long-term prediction, we consider the perturbed J ₂ motion of Explorer 28 over 100 revolutions.     

Flood hazard and risk analysis in the southwest region of Bangladesh

Flood hazard and risk assessment was conducted to identify the priority areas in the southwest region of Bangladesh for flood mitigation. Simulation of flood flow through the Gorai and Arial Khan river system and its floodplains was done by using a hydrodynamic model. After model calibration and verification, the model was used to simulate the flood flow of 100‐year return period for a duration of four months. The maximum flooding depths at different locations in the rivers and floodplains were determined. The process in determining long flooding durations at every grid point in the hydrodynamic model is laborious and time‐consuming. Therefore the flood durations were determined by using satellite images of the observed flood in 1988, which has a return period close to 100 years. Flood hazard assessment was done considering flooding depth and duration. By dividing the study area into smaller land units for hazard assessment, the hazard index and the hazard factor for each land unit for depth and duration of flooding were determined. From the hazard factors of the land units, a flood hazard map, which indicates the locations of different categories of hazard zones, was developed. It was found that 54% of the study area was in the medium hazard zone, 26% in the higher hazard zone and 20% in the lower hazard zone. Due to lack of sufficient flood damage data, flood damage vulnerability is simply considered proportional to population density. The flood risk factor of each land unit was determined as the product of the flood hazard factor and the vulnerability factor. Knowing the flood risk factors for the land units, a flood risk map was developed based on the risk factors. These maps are very useful for the inhabitants and floodplain management authorities to minimize flood damage and loss of human lives. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extent and nature of hydrocarbon occurrence in the groundwater of Kuwait

A study, aimed at characterizing the nature of anthropogenic and biogenic hydrocarbon contamination in the groundwater of Kuwait, was carried out using fluorescence spectroscopy and other analytical techniques. The results of these analyses have demonstrated that the groundwater in certain areas of northern Kuwait has been significantly impacted by contamination originating from the oil-contaminated surface soils. The study revealed that a water-soluble fraction (WSF) of the crude oil surface contamination appeared to be slowly leaching into the freshwater lenses located in the area. The study also showed that hydrocarbon pollutants were practically absent in the brackish water areas of central and southern Kuwait, except for a few isolated sites. However, nonpetroleum hydrocarbons, with ultraviolet-visible absorption characteristics and fluorescence characteristics typically associated with humic substances, were observed at a few sites in the brackish water fields.     

Removal of copper ions from aqueous solution using silica derived from rice straw: comparison with activated charcoal

The batch removal of copper(II) ions from aqueous solution under different experimental conditions using alkali-leached silica and activated charcoal was investigated in this study. The copper(II) uptake was dependent on varying time, pH, copper concentration and temperature. Copper sorption was found fast reaching equilibrium within 1 h with better performance for alkali-leached silica than charcoal. Copper sorption was low at low pH values and increased with rise in initial pH-value until 6.7. Sorption fits well the Langmuir and Freundlich equations with higher uptake by increasing temperature. According to Langmuir equation, the maximum uptake of Cu(II) ions by alkali-leached SiO₂ and charcoal was found to be 242.5 and 94.4 mmol/g at temperature 60 °C and pH 6. Thermodynamic studies confirm that the process was spontaneous and endothermic nature. Kinetic data for Cu(II) sorption was found to follow pseudo-second-order model.     

Rock slope stability and design in Arafat–Muzdalifa area,Saudi Arabia

The present contribution is a complete study extending before, during, and after the excavation of the mountain side that lying north of road 7. It includes slope stability analysis, rock cut design, and rockfall modeling for natural slope and rock cut face. Neoproterozoic granodiorite and biotite granite forming the slope body have medium to very high strengths. Mineral compositions and textures of these intact rocks control the strength values. These rocks are intensively dissected by fractures that are filled with montmorillonite and chlorite. The high plasticity and slippery nature of these filling materials represent the main problem that may face a rock cut designer because they damage the mechanical properties of these fractures. The problem begins with the selection of the rock mass classification that deals with the fracture fillings and extends during the stability analysis and the suggestion of mitigation and supporting measures. The rock masses building the natural slope are suffered by plane, wedge, and toppling failures. Therefore, two rock cut designs are suggested to avoid the hazards related to these failures and considering the construction cost as well. Rockfall modeling for the natural slope and rock cut designs was done to assess the hazards related to these falling of the blocks. The kinetic energy of falling blocks is represented on the roadway by the coverage distance and block rebound amplitude. Slope height has a positive effect on the values of these distance and amplitude, whereas the steepness of berm height has a negative effect on them. Coverage distance is a function to the location of rockfall barrier and to the width of road ditch, while the amplitude controls the barrier height.