Assessment of Metal Pollution in Water and Surface Sediments of the Seyhan River,Turkey, Using Different Indexes

The aim of this study was to assess the level of heavy metals (Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) contamination and enrichment in the surface sediments of the Seyhan River, which is the receiving water body of both treated and untreated municipal and industrial effluents as well as agricultural drainage waters generated within Adana, Turkey. Sediment and water samples were taken from six previously determined stations covering the downstream of the Seyhan dam during both wet and dry seasons and the samples were then analyzed for the heavy metals of concern. When both dry and wet seasons were considered, metal concentrations varied significantly within a broad range with Al, 7210–33 967 mg kg^?1 dw; Cr, 46–122 mg kg^?1 dw; Cu, 6–57 mg kg^?1 dw; Fe, 10 294–26 556 mg kg^?1 dw; Mn, 144–638 mg kg^?1 dw; Ni, 82–215 mg kg^?1 dw; Pb, 11–75 mg kg^?1 dw; Zn, 34–146 mg kg^?1 dw in the sediments while Cd was at non‐detectable levels for all stations. For both seasons combined, the enrichment factor (EF) and the geo‐accumulation index (I_geo) for the sediments in terms of the specified metals ranged from 0.56 to 10.36 and ?2.92 to 1.56, respectively, throughout the lower Seyhan River. The sediment quality guidelines (SQG) of US‐EPA suggested the sediments of the Seyhan River demonstrated “unpolluted to moderate pollution” of Cu, Pb, and Zn, “moderate to very strong pollution” of Cr and Ni. The water quality data, on the other hand, indicated very low levels of these metals suggesting that the metal content in the surface sediments were most probably originating from fine sediments transported along the river route instead of water/wastewater discharges with high metal content.     

The effects of climate change on historical and future extreme rainfall in Antalya,Turkey

Abstract

There is increasing concern that flood risk will be exacerbated in Antalya, Turkey as a result of global-warming-induced, more frequent and intensive, heavy rainfalls. In this paper, first, trends in extreme rainfall indices in the Antalya region were analysed using daily rainfall data. All stations in the study area showed statistically significant increasing trends for at least one extreme rainfall index. Extreme rainfall datasets for current (1970–1989) and future periods (2080–2099) were then constructed for frequency analysis using the peaks-over-threshold method. Frequency analysis of extreme rainfall data was performed using generalized Pareto distribution for current and future periods in order to estimate rainfall intensities for various return periods. Rainfall intensities for the future period were found to increase by up to 23% more than the current period. This study contributed to better understanding of climate change effects on extreme rainfalls in Antalya, Turkey.     

‘Filament’ marker beds in the Karababa-A Member (Turonian) of the Arabian platform,SE Turkey: Palaeo-environmental significance,stratigraphy and correlation potential

A ‘filament’ event bed/level corresponds to the occurrence of thin elongate calcitic, shells, or plates of pelagic, bivalve or crinoidal, origin, within pelagic, laminated and organic-matter rich limestones. These organic-rich limestones had been generally deposited under hypoxic/anoxic conditions in an outer-ramp environment. These thin elongate, bivalve shells, or crinoidal plates, are found broken in small pieces, disintegrated, or simply preserved parallel to bedding as almost complete specimens. Such ‘filament’ beds were spotted in SE Turkey in deposits, namely the Karababa-A Member, around the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary (C/TB) and above. On a global scale, these filament event beds illustrate sea-level rise related to eustacy and/or climatic change. The abundance of filaments close to the C/TB is a biological marker of high organic productivity resulting from a climatic change to warmer conditions. The prevailing higher sea-level conditions were then favourable to the accumulation and preservation of organic-rich facies, characteristic of the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2). Using both biostratigraphic and carbon isotopic data, those deposits were dated from the latest Cenomanian-Turonian age. ‘Filament’ event beds were recorded in the same order, except for some small differences. A good number of these bio-events are global. Consequently, on a global scale, they are susceptible to constrain the C/TB, especially the base of the Turonian stage, with a significant degree of confidence.     

Determining the optimum image fusion method for better interpretation of the surface of the Earth

Image fusion is the production of high-resolution images by combining the spatial details of a high-resolution image with the spectral features of a low-resolution one. Reports of various quality metrics to evaluate the spectral and spatial qualities of fused images have been published. However, metrics may lead to misinterpretation due to inherent limitations in their mathematical algorithms. Hence, the use of additional assessment techniques in quality evaluation is reasonable. The purpose of the study was to compare the performances of several advanced fusion algorithms in order to help users in their choice of an appropriate fusion algorithm. Four different datasets were fused using advanced fusion algorithms, namely UNB PanSharp, Hyperspherical Color Space, High-Pass Filtering, Ehlers, Subtractive, Wavelet Single Band, Gram-Schmidt, Flexible Pixel-Based, and Criteria-Based. The spectral and spatial qualities of the fused images were evaluated using various quantitative procedures to ensure comprehensive and reliable comparison. The results showed that the Flexible Pixel-Based and High-Pass Filtering algorithms were very successful with regard to spatial quality, whereas the Flexible Pixel-Based and Criteria-Based algorithms were very successful with regard to spectral quality. The authors conclude that the Flexible Pixel-Based algorithm can be used for applications that require high spectral and spatial quality.     

Space-Time Geometry of Quark and Strange Quark Matter

We study quarkand strangequarkmatter in the contextof generalrelativity.For this purpose,we solve Einstein's field equations for quark and strange quark matter in spherical symmetric space-times. We analyze strange quark matter for the different equations of state (EOS) in the spherical symmetric space-times,thus we are able to obtain the space-time geometries of quark and strange quark matter. Also,we discuss the features of the obtained solutions. The obtained solutions are consistent with the results of Brookhaven Laboratory,i.e. the quark-gluon plasma has a vanishing shear (i.e. quark-gluon plasma is perfect).     

Optimal design of rain gauge network in the Middle Yarra River catchment,Australia

Rainfall data are a fundamental input for effective planning, designing and operating of water resources projects. A well‐designed rain gauge network is capable of providing accurate estimates of necessary areal average and/or point rainfall estimates at any desired ungauged location in a catchment. Increasing network density with additional rain gauge stations has been the main underlying criterion in the past to reduce error and uncertainty in rainfall estimates. However, installing and operation of additional stations in a network involves large cost and manpower. Hence, the objective of this study is to design an optimal rain gauge network in the Middle Yarra River catchment in Victoria, Australia. The optimal positioning of additional stations as well as optimally relocating of existing redundant stations using the kriging‐based geostatistical approach was undertaken in this study. Reduction of kriging error was considered as an indicator for optimal spatial positioning of the stations. Daily rainfall records of 1997 (an El Niño year) and 2010 (a La Niña year) were used for the analysis. Ordinary kriging was applied for rainfall data interpolation to estimate the kriging error for the network. The results indicate that significant reduction in the kriging error can be achieved by the optimal spatial positioning of the additional as well as redundant stations. Thus, the obtained optimal rain gauge network is expected to be appropriate for providing high quality rainfall estimates over the catchment. The concept proposed in this study for optimal rain gauge network design through combined use of additional and redundant stations together is equally applicable to any other catchment. © 2014 The Authors. Hydrological Processes published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Did satellite imagery supersede aerial imagery? A perspective from 3D geopositioning accuracy

In this study, the geometric accuracy comparison of aerial photos and WorldView-2 satellite stereo image data is evaluated with the different number and the distribution of the ground control points (GCPs) on the basis of large scale map production. Also, the current situation of rivalry between airborne and satelliteborne imagery was mentioned. The geometric accuracy of Microsoft UltraCam X 45 cm ground sampling distance (GSD) aerial imagery and WorldView-2 data both with and without GCPs are also separately analyzed. The aerial photos without any GCP by only using global navigation satellite system (GNSS) and inertial measurement unit (IMU) data with tie points give an accuracy of ±1.17 m in planimetry and ±0.71 m in vertical that means nearly two times better accuracy than the rational polynomial coefficient (RPC) of stereo WorldView-2. Using one GCP affects the accuracies of aerial photos and WorldView-2 in different ways. While this situation distorts the aerial photo block, it corrects the shift effect of RPC in WorldView-2 and increases the accuracy. By using four or more GCPs, ½?pixel (～0.23 m) accuracy in aerial photos and 1 pixel (～0.50 m) accuracy in WorldView-2 can be achieved in horizontal. In vertical, aerial photos have 1 pixel (～0.55 m) and WorldView-2 has 1.5 pixels (～0.85 m) accuracy. These results show that Worldview-2 imagery can be used in the production of class I 1:5000 scale maps according to the ASPRS Accuracy Standards for Digital Geospatial Data in terms of geometric accuracy. It is concluded that the rivalry between aerial and satellite imagery will continue for some time in the future.     

Zoobenthos of Lake Uluabat,a Ramsar Site in Turkey,and Their Relationship with Environmental Variables

The numerical and proportional distributions of zoobenthos in lake Uluabat, which is located in the Northwestern part of Turkey and having international importance according to the Ramsar Convention, were determined from August 2004 to July 2005 at monthly intervals (except for December 2004, January and February 2005) at 12 different stations. Thirty‐three taxonomic groups were recorded. It was found that the zoobenthos consisted of 35.6 % Oligochaeta, 27.7 % Nematoda, 12.3 % Chironomidae larvae, 10.7 % Gastropoda, 3.6 % Ostracoda, and 10.1 % Varia by numbers (Bivalvia, Ceratopogonidae, Hirudinea, Odonata, Ephemeroptera, Asilidae, Hydraacarina, Hemiptera, Argulidae, and Gammaridae). The average number of invertebrates was 160 individuals for 33 taxa at the 12 different stations. Also some environmental parameters of the lakewater were analyzed (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, NO₂–N, NO₃–N, NH₃–N, PO₄^–3, fecal coliform, and total coliform). The relationships between the dynamics of the Oligochaeta and the physicochemical variables were supported by the Pearson correlation index and the canonical correspondence analysis (CANOCO). It was found that the relation between the average number of P. hammoniensis and P. albicola (p < 0.05, r = 0.590 and 0.593, respectively) and L. hoffmeisteri (p < 0.01, r = 0.777) was directly proportional while the relation between the average number of some taxa Trichodrillus sp., Rhyacodrilus coccineus, Nais communis, N. variabilis, and N. barbata and NO₃–N (p < 0.05, r = –0.685) was inversely proportional.     

Monitoring of heat transmission from buildings into geological environment and evaluation of soil deformation consequences in foundation engineering

In engineering geology a number of factors affecting foundation conditions are taken into consideration during engineering-geological investigations. This article deals with the factor of heat sourced from a structure (brick kiln) as a restrictive factor in foundation engineering in clay soils and introduces a documentation of soil deformation observations as an impact of the heat transmission into the geological environment. It was carried out in Southern Moravia in the Czech Republic, where the dominant foundation soils are Neogeneous clays where differential settlements of a tunnel kiln structure occurred as a result of ignoring the boundary conditions of temperature changes in the soil environment. The brick kilns caused heterogeneous spatial changes in the subsoil temperatures. This consequently resulted in differential settlements due to temperature changes originating from the kilns. The differential settlements reached as much as 150 mm. The major objective of the article is to highlight the importance of the heat transmission from buildings into the geological environment as a factor which should be considered in engineering geology and its application in planning. A new procedure for reducing or elimination of ground movements sourced from underlying clayey soils depending on the heat changes was also suggested in this context.