A Study on the Surface Wettability of Clastic Rocks with Potential Application for CO2 Storage Sites

Natural Resources Research - There have been many studies carried out in the past decades attempting to develop strategies for a safe injection of CO2 into storage sites without leakage and...     

Retrieval of wheat leaf area index using price approach based on inversion of canopy reflectance model

This paper reports estimation of the Leaf Area Index (LAI) of wheat crop from IRS-LISS-III data using Price (1993) approach. Empirical approach for LAI estimation with different NDVI estimation procedures viz. radiance, apparent reflectance and dark object subtraction (DOS) based atmospheric correction were also evaluated. Validation of LAI retrieval and NDVI normalizations were carried out using field level measurements of crop LAI and spectral property using canopy analyzer and spectro-radiometer, respectively over selected fields in Bhopal District, Madhya Pradesh. It was observed that empirical relations are sensitive to the NDVI estimation approach and DOS method performed better as compared to other two approaches. It was also observed that LAI estimation from Price algorithm is sensitive to the crop attenuation coefficients. Crop specific attenuation coefficients reported in literature for Indian cultivars gave higher accuracy. The root mean square (RMS) error of 0.77 for LAI estimation was achieved using above described approach.     

Geochemical clues to elucidate the tectonic environment of the Chamoli Volcanics, Lesser Himalayas, Uttar Pradesh, India

Geochemical data on the Chamoli Volcanics of the Garhwal Group suggest their strong affinity with oceanic tholeiites. However, the field relations and other geological information do not support this conclusion and indicate an epicontinental rather than eugeosynclinal environment of eruption. The lack of correlation of chemical data with geological setting precludes the possibility that these basalts are true ocean floor basalts. It is inferred that the Chamoli Volcanics with an oceanic tholeiite affinity were probably erupted as a result of initial rifting in the Proto-Tethys, which at that time was an intercontinental sea. The rifting was started during the depositional regimes of this intercontinental sea in which shallow water sediments were being deposited. Ocean type tholeiitic magma, guided by the rift zone, disrupted the cycle of sedimentation and gave rise to the development of the quartzite-lava sequence of the Chamoli Formation.     

Current water uses,related risks,and management options for Seoul megacity,Korea

Megacities worldwide face various challenging tasks associated with expanding populations and land exploitations; these include securing water supplies, appropriate operating of wastewater treatment/disposal, and the mitigation of natural hazards triggered by anthropogenic activities. Seoul megacity, Korea, where over ten million people populate, is not an exception to the issues. In this study, we examine water resources, their uses, and issues associated with them, specifically climate change, urban flooding, underground water seepage, and land subsidence in Seoul. The changing climate of this city manifests itself in a sharp escalation in air temperature. Increased torrential rainfall causes repeated human casualties from urban floodings, which are exacerbated by expanding impervious surface. The increasingly large interannual variability in precipitation makes it more difficult to take proper actions to secure water supplies. Despite a large annual budget being devoted to producing tap water from the Han River, only about 5% of the population drinks the tap water. Underground transport routes (subway lines) and high storied buildings with deep foundations produce high volumes of underground water seepage, and most of the valuable water resources are dumped without being reused. Underground water seepage also triggers a decline in groundwater levels and elevates the possibility of land subsidence. Recent increases in land subsidence and road sinks in the city are mostly related to old sewer lines and heavy underground work. In this study, we discuss options toward supporting sustainable urban water management in Seoul.     

Noether gauge symmetry approach in quintom cosmology

In literature usual point like symmetries of the Lagrangian have been introduced to study the symmetries and the structure of the fields. This kind of Noether symmetry is a subclass of a more general family of symmetries, called Noether gauge symmetries (NGS). Motivated by this mathematical tool, in this paper, we study the generalized Noether symmetry of quintom model of dark energy, which is a two component fluid model with quintessence and phantom scalar fields. Our model is a generalization of the Noether symmetries of a single and multiple components which have been investigated in detail before. We found the general form of the quintom potential in which the whole dynamical system has a point like symmetry. We investigated different possible solutions of the system for diverse family of gauge function. Specially, we discovered two family of potentials, one corresponds to a free quintessence (phantom) and the second is in the form of quadratic interaction between two components. These two families of potential functions are proposed from the symmetry point of view, but in the quintom models they are used as phenomenological models without clear mathematical justification. From integrability point of view, we found two forms of the scale factor: one is power law and second is de-Sitter. Some cosmological implications of the solutions have been investigated.     

Prevailing trends of climatic extremes across Indus-Delta of Sindh-Pakistan

This study examines the variability and change in the patterns of climatic extremes experienced in Indus-Delta of Sindh province of Pakistan, comprising regions of Karachi, Badin, Mohenjodaro, and Rohri. The homogenized daily minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation data for a 36-year period were used to calculate 13 and 11 indices of temperature and precipitation extremes with the help of RClimDex, a program written in the statistical software package R. A non-parametric Mann–Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimates were used to determine the statistical significance and magnitude of the calculated trend. Temperatures of summer days and tropical nights increased in the region with overall significant warming trends for monthly maximum temperature as well as for warm days and nights reflecting dry conditions in the study area. The warm extremes and nighttime temperature indices showed greater trends than cold extremes and daytime indices depicting an overall warming trends in the Delta. Historic decrease in the acreage of major crops and over 33% decrease in agriculture credit for Sindh are the indicators of adverse impacts of warmer and drier weather on Sindh agriculture. Trends reported for Karachi and Badin are expected to decrease rice cultivation, hatching of fisheries, and mangroves forest surrounding these cities. Increase in the prevailing temperature trends will lead to increasingly hotter and drier summers resulting to constraints on cotton, wheat, and rice yield in Rohri and Mohenjodaro areas due to increased crop water requirements that may be met with additional groundwater pumping; nonetheless, the depleted groundwater resources would have a direct impact on the region’s economy.     

Prediction of pore-water pressure response to rainfall using support vector regression

Nonlinear complex behavior of pore-water pressure responses to rainfall was modelled using support vector regression (SVR). Pore-water pressure can rise to disturbing levels that may result in slope failure during or after rainfall. Traditionally, monitoring slope pore-water pressure responses to rainfall is tedious and expensive, in that the slope must be instrumented with necessary monitors. Data on rainfall and corresponding responses of pore-water pressure were collected from such a monitoring program at a slope site in Malaysia and used to develop SVR models to predict pore-water pressure fluctuations. Three models, based on their different input configurations, were developed. SVR optimum meta-parameters were obtained using k-fold cross validation and a grid search. Model type 3 was adjudged the best among the models and was used to predict three other points on the slope. For each point, lag intervals of 30 min, 1 h and 2 h were used to make the predictions. The SVR model predictions were compared with predictions made by an artificial neural network model; overall, the SVR model showed slightly better results. Uncertainty quantification analysis was also performed for further model assessment. The uncertainty components were found to be low and tolerable, with d-factor of 0.14 and 74 % of observed data falling within the 95 % confidence bound. The study demonstrated that the SVR model is effective in providing an accurate and quick means of obtaining pore-water pressure response, which may be vital in systems where response information is urgently needed.     

Pesticide Health Risk Mapping and Sensitivity Analysis of Parameters in Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment

The extensive use of pesticides for increasing the agricultural production is affecting the quality of groundwater. The objectives of this article are to (i) develop pesticide relative leaching ranks for well sites, (ii) develop maps for human health risks due to pesticide applications, and (iii) identify the most significant parameters in pesticide simulations for groundwater vulnerability assessment. The methods include (i) development of acifluorfen relative leaching ranks for 25 well sites using ArcPRZM‐3, (ii) development of health risk maps using model simulated maximum dissolved bentazon concentrations on the basis of USA drinking water quality guidelines, (iii) sensitivity analysis for 14 ArcPRZM‐3 input parameters using the Plackett–Burman method. ArcPRZM‐3 is a user‐friendly system for spatial modeling of pesticide leaching from surface to groundwater. Thirteen acifluorfen relative leaching potential ranks were developed in which the pesticide leaching decrease from 1 to 13. The model predicted ranks for well 34 and well 9 were 2nd and 3rd, respectively, and acifluorfen was detected in both wells during the physical monitoring. The percentages of high health risks in the agricultural areas were 48.38 and 72.72% for Randolph and Independence Counties, respectively. The most significant parameters were thickness of horizon compartment, runoff curve number of antecedent moisture condition II for cropping, soil bulk density, and total application of pesticide. The irrigation, soil permeability, and numerical dispersion could impact the pesticide leaching in soils toward groundwater. The ArcPRZM‐3 system could be efficiently applied for spatial modeling and mapping of pesticide concentrations for groundwater vulnerability assessment on a large scale.