Diversity and Abundance of Scleractinian Corals in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia: A Case Study of Redang and Tioman Islands

Ocean Science Journal - The species lists of scleractinian hard corals in Peninsular Malaysia have not been updated for 15 years. The present study aimed to determine the diversity and abundance...     

Whose sustainability? Top–down participation and emergent rules in marine protected area management in Indonesia

A review of a major community-based marine protected area programme (CB-MPA) in an Indonesian island archipelago is the point of departure for this article. Despite a well-designed institutional structure to facilitate local participation, local knowledge about the CB-MPA is found to be low and resource access and influence on decision-making in the programme is negligible for the majority of islanders. At the same time, most of those who know about the programme consider it as pertaining to the public authority only. These findings stand in contrast to evidence on non-formal ways of protecting and managing marine areas in the same geographical area but outside the formal MPA institutional framework. In particular, the article identifies a number of emergent rules-in-use in marine management, which operate parallel to legally established MPAs. It is argued that emergent forms of marine area protection such as non-formal self-organising island exclusion zones (IEZ) offer as yet mostly unused potentials for formal MPA development, particularly in those coastal and marine areas without traditional forms of marine and coastal management.     

Feed forward neural network and interpolation function models to predict the soil and subsurface sediments distribution in Bam,Iran

An application of the artificial neural network (ANN) approach for predicting mean grain size using electric resistivity data from Bam city is presented. A feed forward back propagation network was developed employing 45 sets of input data. The input variables in the ANN model are the electrical resistivity, water table as a Boolean value and depth; the output is the mean grain size. To demonstrate the authenticity of this approach, the network predictions are compared with those from interpolation methods and the same data. This comparison shows that the ANN approach performs better results. The predicted and observed mean grain size values were compared and show high correlation coefficients. The ANN approach maps show a high degree of correlation with well data based grain size maps and can therefore be used conservatively to better understand the influence of input parameters on sedimentological predictions.     

Spatial distribution of trace elements associated with organic carbon along the Beiyun River basin,Beijing,China

Pollution resulting from terrestrial and aquatic trace elements has become a severe problem across the world. Organic carbon(OC) content has a high affinity for metallic contaminants and it acts as a significant sink for trace elements. The decomposition of OC content directly influences the bioavailability of trace elements. The decomposition of OC content and OC distribution vary spatially, these processes affect the release of trace elements and need further research. In the current study, se...     

塔里木盆地西部白垩纪—古近纪海相地层框架及对重大地质事件的记录

塔里木盆地西部白垩纪—古近纪发生了大规模的海侵事件,形成一个喇叭状向西开口的海湾,该海湾属于东特提斯洋的一个分支。该地区白垩纪—古近纪海相地层记录了东特提斯洋演化和一系列重大地质事件,具有重要的研究价值,但对其地层的研究仍相对薄弱,对重大地质事件的研究还不够深入。本文拟通过详细的岩石地层、生物地层和其他地层方法,完善地层划分与对比框架,并在此基础上讨论Cenomanian/ Turonian界线大洋缺氧事件(OAE2)、白垩纪/古近纪界线(K/Pg)、古新世—始新世极热事件(PETM)、特提斯海进与海退等一系列重大地质事件。塔里木盆地白垩纪—古近纪海相或海陆过渡相地层自下而上为克孜勒苏群、库克拜组、乌依塔克组、依格孜牙组、吐依洛克组、阿尔塔什组、齐姆根组、盖吉塔格组、卡拉塔尔组、乌拉根组和巴什布拉克组,上述地层中含有丰富的有孔虫、介形虫、钙质超微、沟鞭藻、孢粉、双壳类、腹足类等化石,以及少量菊石、腕足类、海胆和鲨鱼牙齿等化石。综合的生物地层和年代地层研究表明,克孜勒苏群的时代为早白垩世Barremian-Albian期,库克拜组—依格孜牙组的时代为晚白垩世Cenomanian-Maastrichtian期(Cenomanian/Turonian界线可能位于库克拜组三段),吐依洛克组的时代为白垩纪—古近纪过渡期;阿尔塔什组的时代为古新世早中期,齐姆根组为古新世晚期—始新世最早期,盖吉塔格组—乌拉根组的时代为中始新世中晚期,巴什布拉克组的时代为晚始新世,但不排除最上部进入渐新世早期。塔里木盆地的海侵开始于克孜勒苏群中上部沉积期(Albian晚期—Aptian早期),但规模很有限,大规模的海侵始于晚白垩世Cenomanian早期;从晚白垩世—古新世,共经历了5次大规模的海侵—海退事件;大约41 Ma前后,海水退出盆地南部的昆仑山山前,34 Ma前后,海水退出盆地北部的天山山前。上述海侵—海退事件可能受构造和全球海平面变化的双重影响,但构造事件对海侵的启动和结束可能更具决定性的影响。阐述了塔里木盆地西部白垩纪—古近纪海相地层所记录的OAE2、K/Pg界线、PETM和特提斯海侵—海退等事件,其中笔者及团队第一次在塔里木盆地西部齐姆根组中所发现和报道的PETM事件,将有助于揭示全球近岸地区PETM的特征和生物-环境响应。在未来的研究中,需要进一步厘清塔里木盆地西部地层序列,建立更加精细的生物地层和年代地层框架,加强对PETM和特提斯海侵—海退等重大地质事件的研究。     

Effect of Saline Sludge on Anaerobic Digestion of Kitchen Waste for Methane Generation: Modeling and Fertilizer Recovery

A comparative study of methane recovery by co-digesting kitchen waste and saline sewage sludge is performed to evaluate its feasibility for waste minimization. The experiment is performed at 37 °C having a mixing speed of 100 rpm and pH of 6.49–7.5 in anaerobic mixed batch reactors. The higher salinity level of the saline sewage sludge reduces the degradation rate of kitchen waste causing an enhancement in soluble chemical oxygen demand by 133% compared with 280% when co-digesting with the non-saline sample. The inhibitory behavior is in line with the low volatile solid elimination efficiency of 31% of saline against 55% of non-saline sludge. The Gompertz modeling, based on the outcomes, fits the cumulative methane generation trends quite well, with a strong correlation coefficient (>0.994). Besides, use of the non-saline sludge results in three times more methane production than the saline sample digestion. Sludge recovery is 0.07 m³ sludge m⁻³ wastewater, and water recovery is 0.84 m³ m⁻³ wastewater. The liquid produced from the fermentation of the slurry can be used for irrigation as well as fertilization. Kitchen waste co-digestion with both sludge samples has been proven to be a practical method for exploiting the extra digestion capacity of wastewater treatment plants currently in operation, but it is more practical for non-saline sludge.     

GIS技术在城市地下水重金属浓度识别与分级中的应用（英文）

Groundwater is the most appropriate and widely used source of drinking water,which is increasingly threatened by pollution from industrial and agricultural activities.To check the severity of the problem,156 groundwater samples were collected from various depths(60-110 ft) of 52 different localities in Faisalabad city,the third largest metropolis in Pakistan,and analyzed for the metals(Zn,Cu,Cd,Ni,Pb,Mn and Fe) concentration in 2009.Quantification was done by using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer technique and the results were compared with WHO standards for drinking water quality.Results showed that the levels of Cu,Mn and Fe were below the WHO standards while the concentrations of Zn,Cd,Ni and Pb were above the recommended levels of safe drinking water.Correlation analysis among the occurrence of these heavy metals revealed a highly significant and positive correlation of Mn with Zn and Fe.A significant and positive correlation of Cd was also found with Cu and groundwater depth showing that there is strong association between Cu-Cd pair and that the Cd concentration varies with depth of groundwater in the study area.Regional patterns of heavy metals occurrence were mapped using Geographical Information System(GIS) for the identification and demarcation of risk areas.The concentration maps may be used by policymakers of the city to mitigate groundwater pollution.     

Use of receiver functions in wide-angle controlled-source crustal data sets

First-arrival waveforms remain underutilized in crustal refraction–reflection seismology by mostly reducing them to traveltime picks. However, as in earthquake seismology, the waveforms also contain important information about shallow near-receiver structures. We illustrate the use of three-component waveform analysis on the records from the ACCRETE wide-angle data set (SE Alaska and British Columbia; 1994), apply the Receiver Function (RF) methodology to the codas of P -wave arrivals, and draw two important conclusions. First, the P -wave polarization azimuths are found to be controlled by the near-receiver structures and virtually unrelated to the source–receiver backazimuths, from which they deviate by up to ∼40°. This observation might be important for studies of anisotropy and also for earthquake RF studies. Second, after correcting for the polarization azimuths, clear P / S mode conversions are reliably detected within 80–400 ms following the primary arrivals. The conversions are interpreted as originating at the base of the sedimentary cover of the fjord channel. In most cases, imaging of the basement requires only several records; however, notable exceptions are also found and interpreted as caused by multipathing, localized scattering, and onsets of crustal and Moho reflections. The ACCRETE example shows that RF methodology could be useful for constraining sediment thickness and deriving P - and S -wave receiver statics in land refraction surveys where collocated reflection profiles are not available. In addition, RFs from repeatable controlled sources could be useful for testing and calibration of RF techniques.     

Diffusion of China’s coal-fired power generation technologies: historical evolution and development trends

Natural Hazards - With increasing environmental pressure and the promotion of structural reforms on the supply side, a trend of transformation and upgrading is inevitable in coal-fired power...     

Analysis of wheat farmers’ risk perceptions and attitudes: evidence from Punjab,Pakistan

Natural Hazards - Agriculture involves multiple risks of which environmental and production threats are major ones. Farmers’ risk attitudes and risk perceptions have a significant role in...