Methodology and software solutions for multicriteria evaluation of floodplain retention suitability

Extreme flood events often have adverse effects for people living near or within areas at risk. Reactivating morphological river floodplains for flood retention measures can substantially reduce flood wave peaks and the negative flooding consequences. This article accordingly focuses on a methodology for identifying suitable locations for such measures by spatial multicriteria evaluation (MCE). Compromise programming (CP) and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) are core methodological components. Furthermore, this methodology is based on impact analysis and draws on expert knowledge. This article also deals with software tools that support the operationalization of methodological components. Data harmonization algorithms are implemented as geoprocessing tools. Both CP and AHP are designed as software providing graphical user interfaces (GUIs). While an extension integrates CP into a geoinformation system, AHP is realized as a web application enabling participation of expert practitioners. The methodological components are operationalized through an example on the floodplains of the German river Elbe.     

A paleoclimate record with tephrochronological age control for the last glacial-interglacial cycle from Lake Ohrid, Albania and Macedonia

Lake Ohrid is probably of Pliocene age, and the oldest extant lake in Europe. In this study climatic and environmental changes during the last glacial-interglacial cycle are reconstructed using lithological, sedimentological, geochemical and physical proxy analysis of a 15-m-long sediment succession from Lake Ohrid. A chronological framework is derived from tephrochronology and radiocarbon dating, which yields a basal age of ca. 136 ka. The succession is not continuous, however, with a hiatus between ca. 97.6 and 81.7 ka. Sediment accumulation in course of the last climatic cycle is controlled by the complex interaction of a variety of climate-controlled parameters and their impact on catchment dynamics, limnology, and hydrology of the lake. Warm interglacial and cold glacial climate conditions can be clearly distinguished from organic matter, calcite, clastic detritus and lithostratigraphic data. During interglacial periods, short-term fluctuations are recorded by abrupt variations in organic matter and calcite content, indicating climatically-induced changes in lake productivity and hydrology. During glacial periods, high variability in the contents of coarse silt to fine sand sized clastic matter is probably a function of climatically-induced changes in catchment dynamics and wind activity. In some instances tephra layers provide potential stratigraphic markers for short-lived climate perturbations. Given their widespread distribution in sites across the region, tephra analysis has the potential to provide insight into variation in the impact of climate and environmental change across the Mediterranean.     

Méthodologie de l'extraction des hydrocarbures aromatiques polycycliques. Application à des sédiments de la lagune de Bizerte (Tunisie)Methodology of extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Application to sediment from the Bizerte Lagoon (Tunisia)

The marine environment is very complex, with several important chemical, biological, and sedimentological interactions. Sediments constitute a reservoir for numerous pollutants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are known by their mutagenic and/or carcinogenic effect. This study evaluates contamination levels in Bizerte Lagoon with respect to PAHs. The extraction efficiency of PAHs from sediment has been evaluated using Soxhlet or ultrasonic procedures, based on the recovery of an internal standard (9,10-dihydroanthracene). Several PAHs were found, including sixteen that are reported in the priority list of pollutants of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). PAHs analysis was carried out by GC–FID and GC–MS for 16 samples sampled in two seasons: summer and winter. Results permit an assessment of PAHs pollution in the Bizerte Lagoon. To cite this article: N. Mzoughi et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 893–901.     

Hazardous gas emissions from the flanks of the quiescent Colli Albani volcano (Rome,Italy)

Gas hazard was evaluated in the three most important cold gas emission zones on the flanks of the quiescent Colli Albani volcano. These zones are located above structural highs of the buried carbonate basement which represents the main regional aquifer and the main reservoir for gas rising from depth. All extensional faults affecting the limestone reservoir represent leaking pathways along which gas rises to the surface and locally accumulates in shallow permeable horizons forming pressurized pockets that may produce gas blowout when reached by wells. The gas, mainly composed of CO₂ (>90 vol.%), contains appreciable quantities of H₂S (0.35–6 vol.%), and both represent a potentially high local hazard. Both gases are denser than air and accumulate near ground where they may reach hazardous concentrations, and lethal accidents frequently occur to animals watering at local ponds. In order to evaluate the rate of degassing and the related hazard, CO₂ and H₂S diffuse soil flux surveys have been repeatedly carried out using an accumulation chamber. The viscous gas flux of some important discrete emissions has been evaluated and the CO₂ and H₂S air concentration measured by portable devices and by Tunable Diode Laser profiles. The minimum potential lethal concentration of the two gases (250 ppm for H₂S and 8 vol.% for CO₂) is 320 times higher for CO₂, whereas the CO₂/H₂S concentration ratio in the emitted natural gas is significantly lower (15–159). This explains why H₂S reaches hazardous, even lethal, concentrations more frequently than CO₂. A relevant hazard exists for both gases in the depressed zones (channels, excavations) particularly in the non-windy early hours of the day.     

Effect of salt solution on the optimum lime contents of bentonite and silt

Acta Geotechnica - In practice, prior to treating a soil with lime, the optimum lime content required for the cation exchange and for providing sufficient Ca2+ and high pH for pozzolanic reaction...     

A review of: “Turbulence and random processes in fluid mechanics”

Abstract

by M. T. Landahl and E. Mollo-Christensen, Cambridge University Press, vi+154 pp., ?34.50 (ISBN (0-521-26306-9) 1986.     

A transversely isotropic thermo-poroelastic model for claystone: parameter identification and application to a 3D underground structure

A transversely isotropic thermo-poroelastic constitutive law is developed and implemented in the finite element code Code_Aster (EDF, France). It is then validated using an analytic solution for an inclined borehole in a transversely isotropic medium. A strategy for identifying the parameters of the transversely isotropic thermo-poroelastic model based on an inverse method is proposed on the basis of different laboratory tests. To demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the model, it is then applied in a three-dimensional numerical model of an underground structure in a parameter sensitivity study. The results of the modelling highlight the importance of accounting for anisotropic phenomena when determining the dimensions of underground facilities. The whole approach is presented in the paper, from model development to application to 3D numerical modelling to an engineering case study.