Geochemistry of subsurface Late Quaternary ironstones in Rajshahi and Bogra Districts,Bangladesh: implications for genetic and depositional conditions

The present study deals with the geochemistry of Late Quaternary ironstones in the subsurface in Rajshahi and Bogra districts, Bangladesh with the lithological study of the boreholes sediments. Major lithofacies of the studied boreholes are clay, silty clay, sandy clay, fine to coarse grained sand, gravels and sands with(fragmentary) ironstones. The ironstones contain major oxides, Fe_2 O_3*(*total Fe)(avg. 66.6 wt%), SiO_2(avg. 15.3 wt%), Al_2 O_3(avg. 4.0 wt%), MnO(avg. 7.7 wt%), and CaO(avg. 3.4 wt%). These geochemical data imply that the higher percentage of Fe_2 O_3* along with Al_2 O_3 and MnO indicate the ironstone as goethite and siderite, which is also validated by XRD data. A comparatively higher percentage of SiO_2 indicates the presence of relative amounts of clastic quartz and manganese-rich silicate or clay in these rocks. These ironstones also have significant amounts of MnO(avg. 7.7 wt%) suggesting their depositional environments under oxygenated condition. Chemical data of these ironstones suggest that the source rock suffered deep chemical weathering and iron was mostly carried in association with the clay fraction and organic matter. Iron concretion was mostly formed by bacterial build up in swamps and marshes, and was subsequently embedded in clayey mud.Within the coastal environments, the water table fluctuates and goethite and siderite with mud and quartz became dry and compacted to form ironstone.     

Recent Sea Level and Sea Surface Temperature Trends Along the Bangladesh Coast in Relation to the Frequency of Intense Cyclones

Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, is a victim of frequent natural calamities like tropical cyclones, tornadoes, floods, storm surges and droughts. Now the sea level rise (SLR) has also been included in these natural calamities. The SLR is likely to have greater impact on that part of Bangladesh having low topography and a wide flood plain. Since 21% of the population lives in the low coastal belt, any increase in sea level will be a problem of ominous proportion for Bangladesh. Since the cyclogenesis enhances over the Bay of Bengal during May and November, the sea level and sea surface temperature (SST) trends of these two months have been analyzed and calculated. The results of the selected stations one in the eastern coast and another in the western coast of Bangladesh show that Bangladesh coastal sea level is rising in the same way as the global sea level, but the magnitude is quite different. The difference in the behavior of sea level rise along the Bangladesh coast and the global trend may be due to the tectonic activity such as subsidence of the land. The mean tide level at Hiron Point (in Sunderbans) has shown an increasing trend of about 2.5 mm/year in May and 8.5 mm/year in November. Similarly near Cox?s Bazar (in the eastern coast of Bangladesh) it has registered a positive trend of about 4.3 mm/year in May and 10.9 mm/year in November. Thus the increment in the sea level along the Bangladesh coast during cyclone months is much more pronounced. In coastal waters near Hiron Point the SST has registered an increasing trend of about 1°C in May and 0.5°C in November during the 14-year period from 1985?1998. Near Cox?s Bazar, SST has shown a rising trend of about 0.8°C in May and about 0.4°C in November during the same 14-year period. The magnitude of SST trend is slightly more along the west coast. Any change in the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones will have far reaching implications in the South Asian region. The rise in SST in the cyclone months seems to be correlated with the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones. During these months, an increasing trend in the frequency and intensity of severe cyclones has been observed.     

Carbon-oxygen plasma; Parameter domain for a strong screening effect

A critical study relating to the enhancement factor of nuclear reaction rates in the carbon-oxygen plasma is made. Plots are given of the various dimensionless parameters in the temperature-density plane after the recent analysis of Itohet al. (1977). The enhancement factor of thermonuclear reaction rates critically depends on 3/. The enhancement factors also have been calculated here for the carbon-oxygen plasma studied by Iben (1978).     

Computation of wave-making resistance of a catamaran in deep water using a potential-based panel method

This paper presents a potential-based boundary element method for solving a nonlinear free-surface flow problem for a Wigley catamaran moving with a uniform speed in deep water. Since the interior flow of each monohull of the catamaran is different from the exterior flow, both monohulls must be considered as lifting bodies. The pressure Kutta condition is imposed at the trailing-edge of the lifting body by determining the dipole distribution, which generates required circulation on the lifting part. The effects of wave interference and hull separation on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the catamaran hull are analyzed and the validity of the computer scheme is examined by comparing the wave resistance with the numerical results of others. The present method could be a useful design tool for screening the suitable combinations of hull parameters and hull spacing at the preliminary design stage of catamaran hull.     

Age and Growth of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sillago aeolus</Emphasis> in Okinawa Island,Japan

In a study of the age and growth of Sillago aeolus, a total of 414 fish were collected from December 2000 to March 2002, around Okinawa Island. Ages of 403 specimens were determined by otoliths. Monthly changes in the percentage of otoliths with an opaque zone in the outer margin indicated that an opaque ring formed once a year, occurring between February and May. The rings can therefore be defined as annual rings. Ages of females were estimated to be 0+ to 4+, while those of males were 0+ to 2+. The von Bertalanffy growth curves were well fitted to age-standard length data of males and females, as follows: Male: L_t = 209.6 [1 − exp{−0.70 (t + 0.58)}]. Female: L_t = 297.7 [1 − exp{−0.42 (t + 0.61)}].     

Evaluation of climate reanalysis and space-borne precipitation products over Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

This study aims to quantify the spatial distribution of errors in two climate reanalysis (ERA5 and CFSR) and two satellite (TMPA-RT and TMPA-V7) precipitation products over Bangladesh. The datasets are assessed against ground-based rain gauge observations to capture the extreme rainfall accumulations at daily temporal scale over a 5-year period (January 2010–December 2014). The bias ratio scores indicate that CFSR and TMPA-RT seriously overestimate the rainfall values over much of the study area. Whilst TMPA-V7 performs better than the other precipitation products, all datasets lose their detection skills substantially for higher quantile thresholds (i.e. above 50th and 75th percentiles). With respect to rainfall detection metrics – probability of detection (POD) and volumetric hit index (VHI) – both ERA5 and CFSR show superior performance (in the range 0.9–1.0 for all the analysis grid boxes). All rainfall datasets are equally good in terms of false alarm ratio (FAR) and volumetric FAR (VFAR), even though the lowest values are associated with ERA5 for higher quantiles. All products demonstrate a decrease in skill to capture the amount of rainfall but show satisfactory results to detect the rainfall events when using higher quantile thresholds (i.e. rainfall above the 50th and 75th percentiles) to sample the data before computing product skill.     

Holocene stratigraphy-of the Lower Ganges-Brahmaputra River delta in Bangladesh

Major part of the Holocene Ganges-Brahmaputra delta occupies the southern and southwestern part of Bangladesh with a smaller part extending beyond the international boundary in the west. Five facies assemblages are documented in the lower deltaic plain in five different depositional environments: levee or levee complex, bil or depression, abandoned meander belt, interdistributary plain and estuarine plain. The thickness of the Holocene sediments ranges from 30 m to 70 m in the deltaic plain, usually floored by the Pleistocene stiff clays, with the exception of the abandoned meander belt deposit where Holocene channel sand deposited directly on the Pleistocene sand. Radiocarbon dates indicate that low-rate sedimentation has occurred in the northern part, where 4-6 m thick sediments were deposited since the mid-Holocene, whereas 10-30 mthick sediments were deposited in the southern part during the same span of time. In addition, significant coastal subsidence (3 mm/a on average), added by sea-level rise (1.5 mm/a, conservative rate) occurs in the study area, which serves as a negative factor in degrading the coastal plain of Bangladesh in the future, while taking into consideration the weaker sedimentation in the area.     

重庆老龙洞地下河不同部位水体、表层沉积物有机氯农药含量及组成研究

为研究重庆老龙洞地下河不同部位水体、表层沉积物有机氯农药分布特征,用气相色谱-微池电子捕获检测器(GC-μECD)分析了样品中OCPs含量。结果表明:研究区水样、表层沉积物中OCPs检出率均为100 %,其浓度在时间上存在季节差异,水体中OCPs、DDTs、HCHs含量丰水期小于枯水期,而在表层沉积物中则表现为OCPs、HCHs丰水期大于枯水期,DDTs丰水期小于枯水期;在空间上则表现为水体中有机氯农药总体下游大于上游,而沉积物中则与之相反。通过对比可知,岩溶洞穴环境由于缺乏光照,空气流动缓慢,生物活动不频繁,使水体中的HCHs不易降解,沉积物中的HCHs不易重新释放而浓度高于洞外。枯水期由于洞内流速较小且变幅不大,水体中的DDTs大量沉积因而其浓度低于洞口,而丰水期洞口因受大量雨水的稀释作用DDTs反而低于洞内的含量;洞内沉积物中的DDTs则因洞内环境恒定不易重新释放和枯水期水体中的大量沉积而一直高于洞外。洞穴环境、不同污水汇入对水体中DDTs和表层沉积物中DDTs、HCHs的组成结构均有不同程度的影响,而对水体中HCHs的组成结构影响不大。此外,地下河不同部位污染源的输入对有机氯污染物的组成结构也有影响。与国内外水体及表层沉积物中HCHs、DDTs相比较,研究区水体、表层沉积物中HCHs、DDTs浓度分别处于中等和偏高水平。