Sediment balances in the Blue Nile River Basin

Rapid population growth in the upper Blue Nile basin has led to fast land-use changes from natural forest to agricultural land.This resulted in speeding up the soil erosion process in the highlands and increasing sedimentation further downstream in reservoirs and irrigation canals.At present,several dams are planned across the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is currently under construction near the border with Sudan.This will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa.The objective of this paper is to quantify the river flows and sediment loads along the Blue Nile River network.The Soil and Water Assessment Tool was used to estimate the water flows from un-gauged sub-basins.To assess model performance,the estimated sediment loads were compared to the measured ones at selected locations.For the gauged sub-basins,water flows and sediment loads were derived from the available flow and sediment data.To fill in knowledge gaps,this study included a field survey in which new data on suspended solids and flow discharge were collected along the Blue Nile and on a number of tributaries.The comparison between the results of this study and previous estimates of the sediment load of the Blue Nile River at El Deim,near the Ethiopian Sudanese border,show that the sediment budgets have the right order of magnitude,although some uncertainties remain.This gives confidence in the results of this study providing the first sediment balance of the entire Blue Nile catchment at the sub-basin scale.     

Harold Edwin Hurst: the Nile and Egypt,past and future

ABSTRACT

H.E. Hurst spent some 60 years studying the Nile for the Egyptian government, and laid the foundation for a monumental set of hydrological records and investigations. His studies of the size of over-year reservoirs needed to maintain a given yield from Nile flows showed that this was greater than that based on random series. This finding, known as the Hurst phenomenon, was confirmed by other natural series and led to important advances in practical and theoretical statistics. His work led to the design of the Aswan High Dam and to continued research in Egypt.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Guest editor E. Eris     

Diversion and morphology of submarine channels in response to regional slopes and localized salt tectonics,Levant Basin

In the Levant Basin, submarine channels are abundant around the Nile deep-sea fan (NDSF), an area which is also affected by salt tectonics related to the Messinian salt giant. Here we focus on the relationship between submarine channels and obstacles formed by salt tectonics. Initially, we use methods developed for terrestrial morphological analysis and quantify channel sinuosity, width and slope in search for consistent relationships between morphometric parameters and channel response to obstacles. However, this traditional analysis did not yield robust conclusions. Then, we apply two new morphometric parameters suggested here to express the distortion of channels by obstacles: incident angle (α), defined as the acute angle between the regionally influenced channel direction and the strike of the tectonic obstacle and diversion angle (Ω), defined as the angle between the direction of the regional bathymetric slope and the average direction of the channel. These parameters illustrate the influence of the regional-scale basin geometry and the superimposed tectonic-influenced seabed patterns, on channel development. We found hyperbolic relationships between incident angle (α) and diversion angle (Ω) in which channels flowing approximately parallel (α ≈ 0°) to tectonic folds are (obviously) not diverted; channels nearly orthogonal (α ≈ 90°) to obstacles, crosscut them right through and, again, not diverted much. In contrast, channels with a general direction diagonal to the obstacles (α ≈ 40°), are diverted by ten degrees (Ω ≈ 10°). This diversion accumulates along large distances and significantly influences the regional development of channels around the NDSF. Noteworthy, this phenomenon of channel diversion, indirectly deteriorate normal slope-sinuosity relationships known from terrestrial studies. In light of these findings, we suggest that these new parameters can be applied to other basins, where submarine channels interact with seabed obstacles.     

Environmental impacts of Baltim and Ras El Bar shore-parallel breakwater systems on the Nile delta littoral zone,Egypt

This study evaluates the impacts resulting from the construction of two large-scale detached breakwater systems on the Nile delta coast of Egypt at Baltim and Ras El Bar beaches (~18.3 km shoreline length). The two protective systems were installed in a water depth of between 3 and 4 m and consist of 17 units in total (each ~250 m long). A comprehensive monitoring program spanning the years 1990 to 2002 was implemented and included beach-nearshore profiles, grain size distribution of seabed sand and information related to the background coastal processes. Evaluation of these systems concentrates on the physical impacts on coastal morphodynamics, mitigation and their design implications. The beach and nearshore sedimentation (erosion/accretion patterns) and grain texture of seabed sediment in the study areas have been substantially disrupted due to the interruption of longshore transport by the shore-parallel detached breakwaters. Rate of shoreline and seabed changes as well as alongshore sediment volume have been substantially affected, resulting in accretion in the breakwater landward sides (tombolo or salient) followed by downdrift erosion. The preconstruction beach erosion at Baltim (–5 m/year) and at Ras El Bar (–6 m/year) has been replaced, respectively, by the formation of sand tombolo (35 m/year) and salient (9 m/year). On the other hand, beach erosion has been substantially increased in the downdrift sides of these protective systems, being –20 m/year at Baltim and –9 m/year at Ras El Bar. Further seaward, the two protective systems at Baltim and Ras El Bar have accumulated seabed sand at maximum rates of 30 and 20 cm/year and associated with downdrift erosion of –45 and –20 cm/year, respectively. Strong gyres and eddies formed in the breakwater gabs have drastically affected swimmers and subsequently caused a significant number of drownings each summer, averaging 35 and 67 victims/year at Baltim and Ras El Bar beaches, respectively. This study provides baseline information needed to help implement mitigation measures for these breakwater systems.     

Effects of dietary levels of carbohydrate,lipid, phosphorus and zinc on the growth,feed conversion and protein efficiency ratio of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

A 54-day feeding experiment was conducted on juvenile Nile tilapia using isonitrogenous, isocaloric semipurified diets. The carbohydrate content in the diet was 9%, 32% and 50%; the corresponding lipid content was 22.2%, 12%, and 4%. The diets were supplemented with 0.85% or 1.5% phosphorus and 40 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg zinc. The experiment was carried out in flow-through aquaria using dechlorinated tap water at 23–26°C. The experiment showed that the increase of the carbohydrate content in the diets resulted in a 43–249% increase in weight gain, a 27–59% decrease in feed conversion ratio, and a 65–121% increase in protein efficiency ratio. In fish fed diets containing 36–50% carbohydrate, an increase in supplemented phosphorus to 1.5% greatly increased the weight gain. On the contrary, a high content of supplemented zinc (100 mg/kg) inhibited growth and increased feed conversion ratio.     

Dairy of forthcoming events

Abstract

Due to its great importance, the availability of long flow records, contemporary as well as older, and the additional historical information of its behaviour, the Nile is an ideal test case for identifying and understanding hydrological behaviours, and for model development. Such behaviours include the long-term persistence, which historically has motivated the discovery of the Hurst phenomenon and has put into question classical statistical results and typical stochastic models. Based on the empirical evidence from the exploration of the Nile flows and on the theoretical insights provided by the principle of maximum entropy, a concept newly employed in hydrological stochastic modelling, an advanced yet simple stochastic methodology is developed. The approach is focused on the prediction of the Nile flow a month ahead, but the methodology is general and can be applied to any type of stochastic prediction. The stochastic methodology is also compared with deterministic approaches, specifically an analogue (local nonlinear chaotic) model and a connectionist (artificial neural network) model based on the same flow record. All models have good performance with the stochastic model outperforming in prediction skills and the analogue model in simplicity. In addition, the stochastic model has other elements of superiority such as the ability to provide long-term simulations and to improve understanding of natural behaviours.     

Assessment of Coastal Inundation due to Sea-Level Rise along the Mediterranean Coast of Egypt

If the rising sea level due to climate change proceeds in the future with the rate observed in the past four decades, it could inundate some coastal lowlands. The aim of this paper is to assess future risk of sea-level rise (SLR) on the Nile delta of Egypt located along the Mediterranean Sea. Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are verified, against ground control points, and used to identify areas susceptible to inundation due to future SLR. Analysis of DEMs maps and cross-shore profiles has identified locations that are vulnerable to SLR including coastal wetlands, agriculture areas, and urban neighborhoods. The results have revealed that about 7% of the Nile delta area is at risk of inundation due to future SLR. This information could be used by coastal zone managers in planning and protection of coastal areas.     

不同饲料蛋白水平下L-肉碱对新吉富品系尼罗罗非鱼生长和饲料利用的影响

研究了三个蛋白水平(22%、25%、28%)和五个L-肉碱水平(0、200、400、600、800mg/kg)下尼罗罗非鱼生长和饲料利用率。结果表明,随着饲料中蛋白水平的提高,罗非鱼幼鱼的终体重、增重率(WGR)和特定生长率(SGR)呈上升趋势,而饲料系数(FCR)和蛋白质效率(PER)均随饲料蛋白水平的升高而显著下降(P<0.05);同等蛋白水平下,终体重、WGR和SGR均在L-肉碱添加量为200mg/kg时最高,不添加L-肉碱组最小;在添加400mg/kgL-肉碱时FCR最小,而PER最大,与不添加L-肉碱组比较,差异均显著(P<0.05)。说明饲料中蛋白含量和L-肉碱添加量能显著影响罗非鱼幼鱼的生长和饲料利用,而外源性L-肉碱可明显促进罗非鱼生长,提高饲料转化效率。     

Holocene landscape reconstruction in the surroundings of the Temple of Pepi I at ancient Bubastis,southeastern Nile Delta (Egypt)

In ancient Egypt, lakes, canals, and other water bodies were an essential part of the sacred landscape in which temples were embedded. In recent years, geoarchaeological research at the site of the Temple of Bastet at Bubastis in the southeastern Nile Delta has proven the existence of two water canals surrounding the temple. It has now been investigated whether these canals were connected to the Temple of Pepi I (2300–2250 B.C.E.), located approximately 100 m to the west of the Temple of Bastet. To explore the Holocene landscape genesis of the Temple of Pepi I, 15 drillings and six geoelectrical profile lines were performed in the surroundings of the temple in spring 2022. The results show loamy to clayey sediments in deeper sections of all drillings with a maximum thickness of 1.70 m, indicating a marshy or swampy depositional environment. Based on the recovered sediment sequences and archaeological remains in the vicinity of the Temple of Pepi I, the marshy or swampy area existed before the Fourth Dynasty. During the Old Kingdom (ca. 2850–2180 B.C.E.), the former marshland either dried up through natural processes or was intentionally drained and filled with sediments for subsequent use for occupation. Regarding the original research question, there is as yet no evidence for a direct connection to the canals of the Temple of Bastet.