2001 August earthquake swarm at Shadwan Island, Gulf of Suez, Egypt

The earthquake swarm that struck Shadwan Island at the entrance of the Gulf of Suez in 2001 August included 408 events. Almost all of these events (94 per cent) were microearthquakes and only 6 per cent had small measurable magnitudes  (5.0 > M _L≥ 3.0)  . Most of the earthquakes were weak and followed each other so closely in time that they could not be identified at more distant stations. The fault plane solutions of the strongest events of the swarm show almost identical focal mechanisms, predominately normal faulting with a significant sinistral strike-slip component for nodal planes trending NW–SE. A comparison with the mechanisms of the 1969 and 1972 events which took place 20 km north of the swarm epicentral region shows similarities in faulting type and orientation of nodal planes. The azimuths of T -axes determined from focal mechanisms in this study are oriented in the NNE–SSW direction. This direction is consistent with the present-day stress field derived from borehole breakouts in the southern Gulf of Suez and the last phase of stress field changes in the Late Pleistocene, as well as with recent GPS results.
The source parameters of the largest  ( M _L≥ 3.0)  events of the 2001 August Shadwan swarm have been estimated from the P -wave spectra of the Egyptian National Seismograph Network (ENSN). Averaging of the values obtained at different stations shows relatively similar source parameters, including a fault length of  0.65 ≤ L ≤ 2 km  , a seismic moment of  7.1 × 10¹²≤ Mo ≤ 3.0 × 10¹⁴ N m  and a stress drop of  0.4 ≤Δσ≤ 10  bar.     

Distribution of arsenic and other trace elements in the Holocene sediments of the Meghna River Delta, Bangladesh

Geochemical study of the Holocene sediments of the Meghna River Delta, Chandpur, Bangladesh was conducted to investigate the distribution of arsenic and related trace and major elements. The work carried out includes analyses of core sediments and provenance study by rare earth element (REE) analysis. Results showed that the cores pass downward from silty clays and clays into fine to medium sands. The uppermost 3 m of the core sediments are oxidized [average oxidation reduction potential (ORP) + 230 mV], and the ORP values gradually become negative with depths (−45 to −170 mV), indicating anoxic conditions prevail in the Meghna sediments. The REE patterns of all lithotypes in the study areas are similar and are comparable to the average upper continental crust. Arsenic and other trace elements (Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Cr) have greater concentrations in the silts and clays compared to those in the sands. Positive correlation between As and Fe was found in the sediments, indicating As may be adsorbed on Fe oxides in aquifer sediments.     

Stratigraphy of the Middle Devonian boundary: Formal definition of the susceptibility magnetostratotype in Germany with comparisons to sections in the Czech Republic, Morocco and Spain

One major difficulty in geology is high-resolution correlation among widely separated sections, especially in the Paleozoic where magnetostratigraphy polarity is not well established because rocks are often remagnetized, where critical biostratigraphic zonation may be poor or lacking, or where structural complexities make correlations very difficult. To address this problem, we have been using magnetostratigraphy susceptibility measurements. Here, we report our work from the Middle Devonian in Europe and North Africa. The Middle Devonian (Emsian–Eifelian) global boundary stratotype section and point (GSSP), located in the Eifel Hills, western Germany, was ratified by the International Subcommission on Stratigraphy in 1985, after careful evaluation of the biostratigraphy for this and many other sections. The boundary interval has been characterized using biostratigraphy, and the beginning of the Eifelian stage has been specifically defined by the first occurrence of the conodont Polygnathus costatus partitus. We have collected the Eifel Hills section for magnetic susceptibility (MS) measurement and here we establish it as the magnetostratotype for the Emsian–Eifelian stage boundary, by formally defining the magnetostratigraphy susceptibility for the section. We then collected, measured and compared the magnetostratotype to four other sections for which conodont biostratigraphy has been studied and where P. costatus partitus is present; two Emsian–Eifelian sections in Morocco and two sections in the Czech Republic (including the Emsian–Eifelian parastratotype). Finally, we have measured the MS for the El Puerto Creek section in the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain and identified the location of the Emsian–Eifelian boundary within the section based on MS comparison to the GSSP in conjunction with excellent biostratigraphic indicators, primarily brachiopods. While the conodont zonation in the El Puerto Creek section is poorly defined, we believe that the correspondence between the MS and biostratigraphy in the section allows the identification of the Emsian–Eifelian boundary. These results indicate that this method can be successfully applied to marine sequences where ambiguities in correlation exist.     

Estimation of frequency dependent coda wave attenuation structure at the vicinity of Cairo Metropolitan Area

Estimation of seismic wave attenuation in the shallow crust in terms of coda wave Q structure previously investigated in the vicinity of Cairo Metropolitan Area was improved using seismograms of local earthquakes recorded by the Egyptian National Seismic Network. The seismic wave attenuation was measured from the time decay of coda wave amplitudes on narrow bandpass filtered seismograms based on the single scattering theory. The frequency bands of interest are from 1.5 to 18 Hz. In general, the values obtained for various events recorded at El-Fayoum and Wadi Hagul stations are very similar for all frequency bands. A regional attenuation law Q _c = 85.66 f ^0.79 was obtained.     

The Effect of Direct Solar Radiation Pressure on a Spacecraft of Complex Shape

An analytical solution for the joint effects of the Earth oblateness and the direct solar radiation pressure on the motion of an Artificial Earth Satellite of complex shape is constructed. The equations of motion are derived in the previous paper (hereafter refered to as paper I). The solution is effected through two canonical transformations retaining secular and periodic terms up to orders 3 and 2 respectively. The developments stressed on the effects of the radiation pressure and its coupling with the earth's gravity. A procedure for the computation of position and velocity is outlined. The conditions of the resonance are determined and the procedure for the transformations in the case of resonance is outlined. The solution revealed as expected that radiation pressure produced secular effects at the third order resulting from the coupling between periodic terms at lower orders. These affect both the main satellite body and the antenna. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Some aspects of the diurnal and semidiurnal tidal wind field in meteor zone

The diurnal and semidiurnal tidal wind field variations in the altitudes between 80 and 100 km of the earth’s atmosphere over a mid-latitude station are studied by means of the phases of the zonal and meridional wind measurements made at Atlanta (34oN, 84oW). The rotation of diurnal tidal wind vector is seen to be clockwise at lower heights (80-86 km), swinging between clockwise and unti-clockwise at intermediate heights (88-96 km) and anti-clockwise at higher-heights (96- 100 km). The senses of rotation of diurnal and semidiurnal tidal wind vectors are compared between the stations located in the same and opposite hemispheres. The results are consistent with the tidal theory in the case of Atlanta and Adelaide (35oS, 139oE) whereas in the case of other stations considered in the present study, they showed marked variations.     

Vegetation and environment on the coastal sand dunes and playas of Khor El-Odaid area,Qatar

The environment and vegetation of Khor El-Odaid area in SE Qatar is described. The area includes three ecogeomorphological systems: 1) Sabkhas, 2) Sand dunes, and 3) Hamada plains. Khor El-Odaid lies within the torrid sub-region of the N desert belt. Temperatures are high, summer winds hot and dry and rainfall is scanty and irregular both in time and space. The vegetation was sampled quantitatively using the transect method to provide estimates of cover abundance, sociobility and frequency. Surface soils were analysed. Two halophytic and three glycophytic plant communities are recognized:Limonium axillare, Halopeplis perfoliata, Cyperus conglomeratus, Panicum turgidum andZygophyllum quatarense. Plant distribution is found to be determined by a gradient in salt and water content ranging from the sea shore to the hamada plains in the most landward margin of the study area.     

ROOF BOUNDARY EXTRACTION USING MULTIPLE IMAGES

Urban area building extraction is one of the most challenging problems in photogrammetry. Well-extracted buildings are needed for a variety of applications, such as cartography, building GIS databases for cities, and urban planning. This paper presents a new technique to extract 3D building wire-frames using a robust multi-image line-matching algorithm. Although one pair of images is adequate to find the 3D position of two visibly corresponding image features, it is not sufficient to solve the general building extraction problem due to obscured parts in the building. Four images are used in this research to extract the building wire-frames. First the images are segmented into regions. Regions are then classified into roof regions and non-roof regions based on their size, shape, and intensity values. The roof region boundary pixels are located and used to find the region perimeters. Region correspondence is solved in a pair-wise mode over all images using the epipolar constraint, region size, region shape, and region intensity values. Image lines within the corresponding regions are matched over all images simultaneously by first creating a plane for each region line. Planes are then intersected simultaneously and geometric consistency is used to determine acceptance or rejection. Results with high overlap and sidelap aerial images are presented and evaluated. The results show the completeness and accuracy that this method can provide for extracting complex urban buildings. The average coordinate accuracy is about 0·8 m using 1:4000 scale aerial photographs scanned at 30 μ m. Six buildings were examined; the line detection rate is 98%.