Hydrochemical evolution and variation of groundwater and its environmental impact at Sohag, Egypt

Groundwater resources of Sohag, Egypt are currently threatened by contamination from agricultural and urbanization activities. Groundwater in Sohag area has a special significance where it is the second source for fresh water used for agricultural, domestic, and industrial purposes. Due to growing population, agriculture expansion, and urbanization, groundwater quality assessment needs more attention to cope with the increasing water demand in this arid zones and limited water resources. The aim of this paper is to address the integrated role of geochemical processes, agriculture and urbanization in evolution of groundwater composition, and their impact on groundwater quality to help in management and protection of groundwater resources of study area using geochemical modeling techniques and geographical information systems. Spatial variation of groundwater hydrochemical properties, rock–water interaction, ion exchange, and assessment of groundwater quality were investigated. Results indicated that groundwater properties are varied spatially and its evolution in the study area is generally controlled by the prevailed geochemical processes represented by leaching, dissolution, and precipitation of salts and minerals, ion exchange, in addition to human activities represented by agriculture and urbanization as well as climatic and poor drainage conditions. Management alternatives should be followed in the study area to avoid degradation of groundwater quality and provide sustainable development.     

Geotechnical investigation of sewage wastewater disposal sites and use of GIS land use maps to assess environmental hazards: Sohag, upper Egypt

Land application is the only currently available technique for sewage wastewater disposal along the Nile Valley in Upper Egypt. Wastewater disposal projects have been established in the lowland desert zone extending between the cultivated floodplain and the Eocene Limestone plateau. The plan is to use the treated wastewater in irrigating woody farmlands. Some wastewater disposal sites are already operating, and several others will be established in the near future. The proposed wastewater disposal sites are located in a sensitive desert zone that is extremely narrow and situated very close to vital resources including the cultivated floodplain, reclaimed lands, residential areas, and surface water resources. In addition, the subsurface sediments of this zone (Pleistocene sand–gravel succession) constitute a significant part of the Quaternary aquifer of the valley. The objective of this study is to characterize and investigate the wastewater disposal sites and assess their probable environmental hazards. The study showed that the available lands are insufficient to accommodate the projected quantities of wastewater. At the currently operating sites, excess raw wastewater is accumulating on the ground surface forming large uncontrolled ponds. Such wastewater ponds represent a potential environmental hazard and might cause disastrous health effects, where chemical and bacteriological pollution of soil, crops and water resources may occur.     

X-Ray Spectral Study of AGN Sources Content in Some Deep Extragalactic XMM-Newton Fields

We undertake a spectral study of a sample of bright X-ray sources taken from six XMM-Newton fields at high galactic latitudes, where AGN are the most populous class. These six fields were chosen such that the observation had an exposure time more than 60 ksec, had data from the EPIC-pn detector in the full-Frame mode and lying at high galactic latitude |b|>25^∘. The analysis started by fitting the spectra of all sources with an absorbed power-law model, and then we fitted all the spectra with an absorbed power-law with a low energy black-body component model.The sources for which we added a black body gave an F-test probability of 0.01 or less (i.e. at 99% confidence level), were recognized as sources that display soft excess. We perform a comparative analysis of soft excess spectral parameters with respect to the underlying power-law one for sources that satisfy this criterion. Those sources, that do not show evidence for a soft excess, based on the F-test probability at a 99% confidence level, were also fitted with the absorbed power-law with a low energy black-body component model with the black-body temperature fixed at 0.1 and 0.2 keV. We establish upper limits on the soft excess flux for those sources at these two temperatures. Finally we have made use of Aladdin interactive sky atlas and matching with NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) to identify the X-ray sources in our sample. For those sources which are identified in the NED catalogue, we make a comparative study of the soft excess phenomenon for different types of systems.     

The Effect of pH on Electro-osmotic Flow in Argillaceous Rocks

The use of electro-osmosis in geotechnical engineering has been considered since 1930. Its application has been tested in several sectors like the fight against rising damp in porous materials, the consolidation of soils as well as the remediation of the soils contaminated by oil and heavy metals, etc. The paper presents an experimental study of the electrokinetic phenomena resulting from the application of an electric field to argillaceous sandstones. The electroosmotic tests required the development of a completely new experimental device composed of a confining cell, of a system of measurement and control of the pH of the electrolyte near the electrodes, of a system of control and measurement of the voltage and current at the edges of the sample, and of a system of measurement of inlet (anodic) and outlet (cathodic) flows. Various boundary conditions are considered with and without control of pH. In addition, a micro structural modelling of the electrokinetic phenomena makes it possible to quantify the electro osmotic conductivity with a good agreement with experiments.     

Numerical Investigation of the Inclined Pullout Behavior of Anchors Embedded in Clay

Two-dimensional plane strain finite element analysis has been used to simulate the inclined pullout behavior of strip anchors embedded in cohesive soil. Previous studies by other researchers were mainly concerned with plate anchors subjected to loads perpendicular to their longest axis and applied through the centre of mass. This paper investigates the behavior of vertical anchors subjected to pullout forces applied at various inclinations with respect to the longest anchor axis, and applied at the anchor top and through the centre of mass. The effects on the pullout behavior of embedment depth, overburden pressure, soil–anchor interface strength, anchor thickness, rate of clay strength increase, anchor inclination, load inclination and soil disturbance due to anchor installation were all studied. Anchor capacity is shown to increase with load inclination angle for anchors loaded through the centre of mass; greater effects are found for higher embedments. The results also show that anchor capacity improves at a decreasing rate with higher rates of increase of soil shear strength with depth. In addition, the capacity of vertically loaded anchors is shown to approximately double when the soil–anchor interface condition changes from fully separated to fully bonded. Similarly, disturbed clay strengths adjacent to the anchor following installation cause a significant reduction in anchor capacity. The results showed a significant effect of the point of load application for anchors inclined and normally loaded. The effects of other parameters, such as anchor thickness, were found to be less significant.     

Facies model of a fine‐grained,tide‐dominated delta: Lower Dir Abu Lifa Member (Eocene), Western Desert,Egypt

Existing facies models of tide‐dominated deltas largely omit fine‐grained, mud‐rich successions. Sedimentary facies and sequence stratigraphic analysis of the exceptionally well‐preserved Late Eocene Dir Abu Lifa Member (Western Desert, Egypt) aims to bridge this gap. The succession was deposited in a structurally controlled, shallow, macrotidal embayment and deposition was supplemented by fluvial processes but lacked wave influence. The succession contains two stacked, progradational parasequence sets bounded by regionally extensive flooding surfaces. Within this succession two main genetic elements are identified: non‐channelized tidal bars and tidal channels. Non‐channelized tidal bars comprise coarsening‐upward sandbodies, including large, downcurrent‐dipping accretion surfaces, sometimes capped by palaeosols indicating emergence. Tidal channels are preserved as single‐storey and multilateral bodies filled by: (i) laterally migrating, elongate tidal bars (inclined heterolithic strata, 5 to 25 m thick); (ii) forward‐facing lobate bars (sigmoidal heterolithic strata, up to 10 m thick); (iii) side bars displaying oblique to vertical accretion (4 to 7 m thick); or (iv) vertically‐accreting mud (1 to 4 m thick). Palaeocurrent data show that channels were swept by bidirectional tidal currents and typically were mutually evasive. Along‐strike variability defines a similar large‐scale architecture in both parasequence sets: a deeply scoured channel belt characterized by widespread inclined heterolithic strata is eroded from the parasequence‐set top, and flanked by stacked, non‐channelized tidal bars and smaller channelized bodies. The tide‐dominated delta is characterized by: (i) the regressive stratigraphic context; (ii) net‐progradational stratigraphic architecture within the succession; (iii) the absence of upward deepening trends and tidal ravinement surfaces; and (iv) architectural relations that demonstrate contemporaneous tidal distributary channel infill and tidal bar accretion at the delta front. The detailed facies analysis of this fine‐grained, tide‐dominated deltaic succession expands the range of depositional models available for the evaluation of ancient tidal successions, which are currently biased towards transgressive, valley‐confined estuarine and coarser grained deltaic depositional systems.     

Vulnerability of the groundwater in the quaternary aquifer at El Shalal-Kema area, Aswan, Egypt

El Shalal-Kema area is located east of Aswan town and Nile River. The Quaternary sediments (unconsolidated material of sands, gravels, and clays intercalation) represent the main aquifer in the studied area. Its water is under unconfined condition, and the water table is shallow (vary from 7.5 to 16.3 m). The concerned aquifer is recharged mainly from Aswan Dam Lake, from the excess irrigation water and from septic tanks, where the area is not served by sewage system. The direction of the groundwater movement is generally from south to north. The transmissivity values of the Quaternary aquifer (from three pumping tests) are relatively high (vary from 1,996 to 3,029 m²/day). The exploitation of groundwater is carried out where there is continuous withdrawal for industrial and domestic uses with a total average quantity of groundwater of 71,304 m³ per day (25.67 million m³ per year). The hydrochemical characteristics of the Quaternary aquifer is studied based on the chemical analysis of 29 groundwater and four surface water samples collected from different sites. The chemical composition of the groundwater is dominated by calcium Ca²⁺ from the cations and bicarbonate (HCO ₃ ^? ) from the anions, and the order of cation abundance is Ca²⁺ > Na⁺ > Mg²⁺ > K⁺ and HCO ₃ ^? > SO ₄ ^2? > Cl^? among the anions. The groundwater types are normal chloride water, normal sulfate water, and normal carbonate water. The hypothetical salt combination revealed the presence of different salts arranged in terms of their predominant as Ca(HCO₃)₂, Mg(HCO₃)₂, NaCl, Na₂SO₄, MgSO₄, KCL, NaHCO₃, MgCl₂, CaSO₄, and K₂SO₄. The analytical measurements to the NO₂ and NH₃ reveal that their values decrease in summer and increase in winter due to the stoppage of pumping which leads to the increase of the wastewater quantities that reach the groundwater. The chemical and microbiological analyses show that the aquifer in this area is contaminated with fecal and disease-causing bacteria. The main cause of this contamination is the outflow from the septic tanks; therefore, the construction of sewage network is a vital solution. Chlorination is important to disinfect the groundwater at the tanks before its distribution to the houses.     

Distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in recent sediments of Sundarban mangrove wetland of India and Bangladesh: a comparative approach

The present work is the first attempt to compare the data of a comprehensive study of the origin and distribution of 16 priority pollutant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments (<63 μm) from 18 sampling stations, 9 from Sundarban of Bangladesh and 9 from Indian counterpart. Σ19PAHs concentration in sediments showed wide variations from 208.3 to 12,993.1 ng g^?1 dry weight in Indian Sundarban, whereas 208.4 to 4,687.9 ng g^?1 in the case of Bangladesh. Fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene and dibenzo(a,h)anthracene were predominant species for both the countries. The PAH diagnostic ratios indicated that the PAHs in sediments from both the countries were of mixed source of hydrocarbons of both petrogenic and pyrolytic origin. According to the numerical effect-based sediment quality guidelines, the levels of PAHs in the Sundarban wetland of Bangladesh and India should not exert adverse biological effects. The TEQ values calculated for samples from the Bangladesh and Indian Sundarban varied from 13.68 to 1,014.75 and 1.31 to 2,451 ng g^?1 d.w. with an average of 221.02 and 358.63 ng g^?1, respectively. The overall contamination status of PAH was higher in India than Bangladesh.