Lithologic mapping of a forested montane terrain from Landsat 5 TM image

Thick forest cover and poor infrastructures are the major hindrances for detailed lithologic mapping in an inaccessible montane landscape. To overcome these limitations, we utilize a Landsat 5 TM image to map lithology using vegetation and drainage pattern as an indicator of underlying rock types in a heavily forested region of the Chittagong Hill Tracts area located in southeastern Bangladesh. We use supervised and unsupervised classifiers for a vegetation-based approach while on-screen digitization is used for drainage patterns-based mapping. Field observations were used for mapping lithology and evaluating accuracy. Overall, our results agree well with the current geologic map and improve it by providing a more spatially detailed distribution of the sandstone and shale. The performances of all approaches are good at the inner and outer flanks of anticlines located in the study area while the drainage pattern mapping performs best at the mid-flank area.     

Landslide susceptibility mapping using Genetic Algorithm for the Rule Set Production (GARP) model

Investigation on landslide phenomenon is necessary for understanding and delineating the landslide prone and safer places for different land use practices. On this basis, a new model known as genetic algorithm for the rule set production was applied in order to assess its efficacy to obtain a better result and a more precise landslide susceptibility map in Klijanerestagh area of Iran. This study considered twelve landslide conditioning factors (LCF) like altitude, slope, aspect, plan curvature, profile curvature, topographic wetness index (TWI), distance from rivers, faults, and roads, land use/cover, and lithology. For modeling purpose, the Genetic Algorithm for the Rule Set Production (GARP) algorithm was applied in order to produce the landslide susceptibility map. Finally, to evaluate the efficacy of the GARP model, receiver operating characteristics curve as well as the Kappa index were employed. Based on these indices, the GARP model predicted the probability of future landslide incidences with the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC-ROC) values of 0.932, and 0.907 for training and validating datasets, respectively. In addition, Kappa values for the training and validating datasets were computed as 0.775, and 0.716, respectively. Thus, it can be concluded that the GARP algorithm can be a new but effective method for generating landslide susceptibility maps (LSMs). Furthermore, higher contribution of the lithology, distance from roads, and distance from faults was observed, while lower contribution was attributed to soil, profile curvature, and TWI factors. The introduced methodology in this paper can be suggested for other areas with similar topographical and hydrogeological characteristics for land use planning and reducing the landslide damages.     

A model for the conservation of geological remains as documents

 Geological remains are conserved mainly either together with living beings for the sake of the integrity of nature or for their economical or aesthetic value. However, they also have scientific value for the geologist to reconstruct the earth's past. For this reason we propose a model which is an application of marginal utility theory in economics and takes into account the informational utility of geological remains. Informational utility of geological remains ranges over their geological significance which is induced by the importance of the geological processes that produce them, and over their spatial extensiveness. Our model takes into account also the cost and budget of conservation and proposes to solve the differential equations of informational utility and cost simultaneously in order to obtain the optimum quantity of the remains to be conserved. Received: 9 January 1998 · Accepted: 4 February 1998     

Entropy,consistency in rainfall distribution and potential water resource availability in Australia

Understanding the variability in monthly rainfall amounts is important for the management of water resources. We use entropy, a measure of variability, to quantify the rainfall variability in Australia. We define the entropy of stable rainfall (ESR) to measure the long‐term average rainfall variability across the months of the year. The stations in northern Australia observe substantially more variability in rainfall distributions and stations in southern Australia observe less variability in rainfall distribution across the months of the year. We also define the consistency index (CI) to compare the distribution of the monthly rainfall for a given year with the long‐term average monthly rainfall distribution. Higher value of the CI indicates the rainfall in the year is consistent with the overall long‐term average rainfall distribution. Areas close to the coastline in northern, southern and eastern Australia observe more consistent rainfall distribution in individual years with the long‐term average rainfall distribution. For the studied stations, we categorize the years into different potential water resource availability on the basis of annual rainfall amount and CI. For almost all Australian rainfall stations, El Niño years have a greater risk of having below median and relatively inconsistent rainfall distribution than La Niña years. The results may be helpful for developing area‐specific water usage strategies. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship between soil erosion, slope, parent material, and distance to road (Case study: Latian Watershed, Iran)

Soil erosion is the dominating factor of damaging roads in Iran. Roads are a critical component of civilization. Developing and maintaining the economic activity that is vital for the quality of modern life would be difficult without roads. Accelerated erosion and increased sediment yields resulting from changes in land use are critical environmental problems, and one of the important changes is road construction. Construction and condition of roadways are associated with direct and indirect impacts on soil erosion. This paper presents the relationship between soil erosion and some characteristics such as distance to roadway, slope, and parent material in Latian Watershed, Tehran Province, Iran. Soil erosion map was interpreted using aerial photos and GIS technology. Buffer zones, subdivided into 12 strips, each 0.2 km wide, which were located alongside roadway. The distribution patterns of various types of erosion were also identified by GIS by overlaying road buffer strips and soil erosion map. The results show that soil erosion landform such as land slide, badland, bank erosion, channel erosion, etc. found in buffer zones along both sides of roads.     

Photometric observations and light curve analysis of ST Aquarii

The system of ST Aquarii has been observed inB andV filters at KOTTAMIA Observatory in Egypt. Two light curves have been obtained and new times of minima have been calculated.The light curves have been analysed using the theory of Fourier transform of light changes in frequencydomain, and new geometrical and physical elements have been obtained.     

The Alfvén-Carlquist double-layer theory of solar flares

We use the Vlasov equations for ions and electrons to develop a theory of a double layer in which there are both free and trapped electrons and ions. We find the equations which replace the Langmuir condition and the Bohm conditions and by numerically solving the resultant differential equation we find for particular choices of distribution functions the potential distribution in the layer. We discuss the applicability of this theory to solar flares, and show that conditions in solar flares may be such that double layers can exist for which the free particles have a power-law energy distribution. These particles will be accelerated in a double layer and may in this way account for the production of high-energy particles during the impulsive phase of solar flares.     

Time-dependent interaction of granules with magnetic flux tubes

The time-dependent interaction of the granulation velocity field with a magnetic flux tube is investigated here. It is seen that when a magnetic field line is displaced normal to itself so as to simulate thebuffeting action of granules, a flow of gas is initiated along the field. By choosing a lateral velocity field which is consistent with observations of granules, it is found that the resulting gas motion is a downward flow with a velocity compatible with the observed downflow in isolated photospheric flux tubes. It is therefore proposed that the observed photospheric downflow is a manifestation of the interaction of granules with flux tubes.     

Assessing the impacts of climate change on sustainable management of coastal aquifers

Water is a vital resource for the survival of not only human population, but also almost all ecosystems. Constituting 30 % of all freshwater, groundwater is the main source of available freshwater. Coastal aquifers, which serve as the major freshwater source for densely populated zones, are of vital importance and quite vulnerable to climate change. This paper examines the significant consequences of climate change, decreasing recharge rates, sea-level rise and increasing freshwater demand on the sustainable management of coastal aquifers, via a hypothetical case study. A 3-D numerical model is developed using SEAWAT, to simulate a circular island aquifer in the form of a freshwater lens surrounded by saltwater. Issues such as sloping land surface resulting in landward migration of the coastal boundary and transient response of the system due to pumping are considered through a set of predictive simulations. To assess the sensitivity of the model results to important parameters, a sensitivity analysis is performed. Results of this research, revealing the effects of mentioned pressures on the long-term sustainability of the freshwater resource, are evaluated on the basis of groundwater reserves and intrusion of the freshwater–saltwater interface in lateral and vertical directions. These outcomes are further used to determine the sustainable pumping rate of the system, considering both quantity and quality of the groundwater resources.