Characteristics of snow cover in the Hindukush,Karakoram and Himalaya region using Landsat satellite data

Estimation of snow cover characteristics (snow grain size, snow contamination, snow depth and liquid water content) from satellite data are important components for many hydrological models used for the water resource management. This research aimed to use Landsat ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus) data to estimate the snow pack characteristics in northern Pakistan. The Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI), Snow Contamination Index (SCI) and Snow Grain Size Index (SGI) are applied to estimate the snow cover characteristics in northern Pakistan for the first time. Qualitative maps are generated to show the snow cover distribution, snow contamination concentration and snow grain size distribution over snow cover area. Our results show that NDSI, SCI and SGI can be effectively used to identify snow area, contaminated snow and ageing snow. Furthermore, the results of the current study indicate that in the HKH region 99.8% of the snow is least contaminated whereas 94.50% of the area has fine snow grain size. As no such attempt in the past has been made in northern Pakistan, it is envisaged that the results of this study will be helpful in planning remote sensing data for the water resource management and in characterizing the snow cover for the climate change applications in the region. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

SWAT‐simulated hydrological impact of land‐use change in the Zanjanrood basin,Northwest Iran

Understanding the impacts of land‐use changes on hydrology at the watershed scale can facilitate development of sustainable water resource strategies. This paper investigates the hydrological effects of land‐use change in Zanjanrood basin, Iran. The water balance was simulated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (AVSWAT2000). Model calibration and uncertainty analysis were performed with sequential uncertainty fitting (SUFI‐2). Simulation results from January 1998 to December 2002 were used for parameter calibration, and then the model was validated for the period of January 2003 to December 2004. The predicted monthly streamflow matched the observed values: during calibration the correlation coefficient was 0·86 and the Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient 0·79, compared with 0·80 and 0·79, respectively, during validation. The model was used to simulate the main components of the hydrological cycle, in order to study the effects of land‐use changes in 1967, 1994 and 2007. The study reveals that during 1967 a 34·5% decrease of grassland with concurrent increases of shrubland (13·9%), rain‐fed agriculture (12·1%), bare ground (5·5%) irrigated agriculture (2·2%), and urban area (0·7%) led to a 33% increase in the amount of surface runoff and a 22% decrease in the groundwater recharge. Furthermore, the area of sub‐basins that was influenced by high runoff (14–28 mm) increased. The results indicate that the hydrological response to overgrazing and the replacing of rangelands (grassland and shrubland) with rain‐fed agriculture and bare ground (badlands) is nonlinear and exhibits a threshold effect. The runoff rises dramatically when more than 60% of the rangeland is removed. For groundwater this threshold lies at an 80% decrease in rangeland. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Observations of desert flood bores

Flood bores have been measured in desert stream floods. The bores were steep and small pebbles were observed to be pushed ahead. Bore velocity changed downstream and was controlled by local channel geometry. In narrow reaches, the bore advanced at rates twice those of wide reaches. Mean bore velocity was about 50 per cent of that of mean flow at peak flood discharge. The surfaces of shallow bores were covered by air foams. This was not the case in deeper, faster examples.     

Orographic effect on potential gradient

Potential gradients were measured in the valley of the Simhachalam hills and near the top. They were found to be higher at the top than in the valley, where they increased in the forenoon. It was the reverse at the top of the hills. The valley winds were found to play an important role in the variation of potential gradient.     

Campanian-Maastrichtian phosphorites of Iraq

Mineralium Deposita - Bedded marine sedimentary phosphate rocks of Campanian-Maastrichtian age are exposed in the Western Desert of Iraq, forming part of the Tethyan phosphate province. The studied...     

Local geoid determination combining gravity disturbances and GPS/levelling: a case study in the Lake Nasser area, Aswan, Egypt

 The use of GPS for height control in an area with existing levelling data requires the determination of a local geoid and the bias between the local levelling datum and the one implicitly defined when computing the local geoid. If only scarse gravity data are available, the heights of new data may be collected rapidly by determining the ellipsoidal height by GPS and not using orthometric heights. Hence the geoid determination has to be based on gravity disturbances contingently combined with gravity anomalies. Furthermore, existing GPS/levelling data may also be used in the geoid determination if a suitable general gravity field modelling method (such as least-squares collocation, LSC) is applied. A comparison has been made in the Aswan Dam area between geoids determined using fast Fourier transform (FFT) with gravity disturbances exclusively and LSC using only the gravity disturbances and the disturbances combined with GPS/levelling data. The EGM96 spherical harmonic model was in all cases used in a remove–restore mode. A total of 198 gravity disturbances spaced approximately 3 km apart were used, as well as 35 GPS/levelling points in the vicinity and on the Aswan Dam. No data on the Nasser Lake were available. This gave difficulties when using FFT, which requires the use of gridded data. When using exclusively the gravity disturbances, the agreement between the GPS/levelling data were 0.71 ± 0.17 m for FFT and 0.63 ± 0.15 for LSC. When combining gravity disturbances and GPS/levelling, the LSC error estimate was ±0.10 m. In the latter case two bias parameters had to be introduced to account for a possible levelling datum difference between the levelling on the dam and that on the adjacent roads. Received: 14 August 2000 / Accepted: 28 February 2001     

Textural attributes, mineralogy and provenance of sand dune fields in the greater Al Ain area, United Arab Emirates

Sand dunes and interdune sediments around Al Ain city have markedly high carbonate contents which increase towards Jabal Hafit mountain and the Arabian Gulf coast. The dunes are composed predominantly of well-sorted fine sands, consisting of unstrained quartz and carbonate grains together with minor proportions of chert and feldspars. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) examination reveals that quartz grains display various mechanically- and chemically-formed surface textures. The heavy minerals are dominated by opaques and pyroxenes with minor tourmaline, garnet, rutile, epidote, monazite, zircon, hornblende and staurolite.Interdune sediments consist of fine and very fine, poorly- to extremely poorly-sorted sands together with small concentrations of gravel, silt and clay. The light sand fractions compositionally resemble those of dunes but contain, in addition, gypsum, anhydrite, halite and celestite. Percentages of pyroxenes are higher whereas those of zircon, tourmaline and rutile are lower than in dunes. X-ray diffractometry reveals that the clay fractions consist solely of palygorskite. Generally, interdune sediments are much less mature texturally and mineralogically than dune sands; the maturity of both types of sediments decreases toward the NE of the study area.Sand dunes in the various districts of the greater Al Ain area are genetically related. Also, there is a partial genetic relationship between the dunes and interdune sediments; both are mainly multicyclic. Their major parts were brought mainly by the dominant north-west (El Shamal) winds from older dune fields in other localities in U.A.E., Qatar and El-Rub El-Khali. Local contributions to the dune fields from Jabal Hafit mountain, the Oman Mountains and the calcareous coast of the Arabian Gulf were, in cases, significant. Also, authigenesis by groundwater under highly evaporitic conditions played a major role in the formation of interdune sediments through the genesis of the clay and some nonclay minerals.     

Distribution and Influence of Iron Phases the Physico—Chemical Properties of Phyllosilicates

Clay minerals from different Cretaceous stratigraphic successions of Egypt were investigated using XRD,DTA,dissolution analysis(DCB),IR,Moessbauer and X-ray Electron Spin Resonance(ESR) spectroscopes.The purity of the samples and the degree of their structural order were determined by XRD.The location of Fe in the octahedral sheet is characterized by absorption bands at-875cm^-1 assigned as Al-OH-Fe which persist after chemical dissolution of free iron.The Moessbauer spectra of these clays show two doublets with isomer shift and quadrupole splitting typical of octahedrally coordinated Fe^3 ,in addition to third doublet with hyperfine parameter typical of Fe^2 in the spectra of Abu-Had kaolinite (H) sample.Six-lines magnetic hyperfine components which are consistent with those of hematite are confirmed in the spectra of both Isel and Rish kaolinite samples.Goethite was confirmed by both IR and DTA.Multiple nature of ESR of these clays suggested structural Fe in distorted octahedral symmetry as well as non-structural Fe.Little dispersion and low swelling indices as well as incomplete activation of the investigated montmorillonite samplas by NaCO3 appear to be due to incomplete disaggregation of montmorillonite particles.This can be explained by the ability of Fe-gel to aggregate the montmorillonite into pseudo-particles and retard the rigid-gel structure.However,extraction of this ferric amorphous compound by dithonite treatment recovers the surface properties of the montmorillonite samples.On the other hand,the amount and site occupation of Fe associated with kaolinite samples show an inverse correlation with the parameters used to describe the degree of crystallinity perfection,color,brightness and vitrification range of these kaolinite samples.     

Chemical Characteristics of Stream Draining fromDudu Glacier: An Alpine Meltwater Stream inGanga Headwater, Garhwal Himalaya

I-DtjcrONAlpine environment enjoys a distinct set of physicochemical conditions asl compared to other aqueous systems. Thehydrochemical characteristics of meltwater draining from thisenvironment are different from the other aqueous ecosystemsdue to their mountainous nature and extreme cold climatic conditions. The high concentration of various chemical constitu.ents in meltwater shows the intensive chemical weathering inthe basin. The rapid physical weathering due tO grinding actionof the gl…     

Does variable channel morphology lead to dynamic salmon habitat?

Stream channel morphology forms the template upon which hydraulic aspects of aquatic habitat are created, yet spatial and temporal variability in habitat imposed by changing morphology is not well understood. This paper presents a conceptual model linking sediment supply patterns to spatial and temporal variability in channel form and aquatic habitat. To evaluate this model, change over time in three habitat variables is quantified using a 2D hydrodynamic modeling approach. A 45-year record of topographic data from Carnation Creek, a catchment in coastal British Columbia, is used for the flow modeling. Using the Nays2DH modeling platform, water depths and velocities are simulated in eight channel segments located at different positions relative to locations of historical colluvial input using seven flow levels ranging from 3% to 400% of mean annual discharge (0.02 to 3.31 m s ). Results indicate that habitat availability changes through time as a result of sediment supply-driven changes to channel morphology and wood loads, but patterns in habitat vary as a function of dominant channel segment morphology. Spatial and temporal variability in morphology also influences the relationship between habitat availability and river discharge, leading to non-stationary habitat-discharge rating curves. When habitat areas are predicted by applying these curves to daily flow series spanning annual dry seasons, over 50% of the variance in cumulative seasonal habitat area can be explained by year-to-year changes in channel morphology and wood loading, indicating that changing morphology is an important factor for driving temporal habitat variability. This variance is related to the morphological variability of a channel segment, which in turn is associated with the segment position relative to zones of colluvial input. Collectively, these results suggest that variability in habitat is impacted by channel morphology, and can be evaluated partly on the basis of a channel's sediment supply regime. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.