Improved numerical solution of Dobrovol'skaya's boundary integral equations on similarity flow for uniform symmetrical entry of wedges

Dobrovol'skaya [1] presented a similarity solution for the water entry of symmetrical wedges with constant velocity. The solution involves an integral equation that becomes increasingly harder to numerically solve as the deadrise angle decreases. Zhao and Faltinsen [2] were able to present reliable results for deadrise angles down to 4°. In this paper, Zhao and Faltinsen's results are improved and reliable results for deadrise angles down to 1° are confirmed by comparing to the asymptotic solutions at small deadrise angles and the solutions by the traditional boundary element method at relatively large deadrise angles. The present similarity solution results provide a reference solution in theoretical studies of water entry problems and in developing accurate numerical solvers for simulating strongly nonlinear wave–body interactions, which flows are governed by Laplace equation or Euler equation.     

In-situ stress state in the Linxing region,eastern Ordos Basin,China: Implications for unconventional gas exploration and production

The Carboniferous and Permian sedimentary rocks (mainly the Shanxi and Taiyuan formations) in the Linxing region, eastern Ordos Basin, China, host a significant volume of unconventional gas resources (coalbed methane, shale gas and tight sandstone gas). Currently, the in-situ stress state is poorly understood but knowledge of this is extremely important for a range of applications, such as gas exploration and production, fracture stimulation and wellbore stability. The maximum horizontal stress (S_Hmax), minimum horizontal stress (S_hmin) and vertical stress (S_v) magnitudes, and the S_Hmax orientation in the Linxing region were systematically analyzed for the first time in the present study, which can provide a reference for subsequent numerical simulation and hydraulic fracturing design. Based on borehole breakouts and drilling-induced tensile fractures interpreted from borehole imaging logs, the S_Hmax orientation rotates from ∼NEE-SWW-trending in the southern part to ∼ NWW-SEE-trending in the northern part of the Linxing region. Both conventional logs and extended leak-off tests were used for stress magnitude determination. The results revealed three types of in-situ stress fields (S_v > S_Hmax > S_hmin, S_Hmax > S_v > S_hmin and S_Hmax > S_v ≈ S_hmin), and a dominant strike-slip stress regime (S_Hmax > S_v ≥ S_hmin) was found for the entire well section in the target Shanxi Formation and Taiyuan Formation in the Linxing region. In addition, differential stress increased with depth in the Linxing region, which indicates that wellbore instability might be a potentially significant problem when drilling wells that are vertical or ∼ N-S-trending.     

Climate change and groundwater resources in Cambodia

Climate change has become a major global concern and threatens the security of natural environmental resources, including groundwater, especially for Cambodia. In this study, literature reviews related to climate change and groundwater resources in Cambodia were evaluated to address the impact of climate change on the groundwater environment. In Cambodia, global climate change will likely affect available water resources by driving changes in the groundwater recharge and usage pattern. Despite a general increase in the mean annual rainfall, a reduction in rainfall is anticipated during the dry season, which could lead to shortages of fresh water during the dry season. The impact of climate change on water resource environments can significantly affect national economic development. Thus, strategic management plansfor groundwater in response to climate change should be established to ensure the security of water resources in Cambodia.     

Ecology of water mite assemblages in Panama – First data on water mites (Acari,Hydrachnidia) as bioindicators in the assessment of biological integrity of neotropical streams

The ecological integrity of freshwater ecosystems is regularly examined through assessment of their macroinvertebrate assemblages. The various methods used in such biomonitoring all have one characteristic in common – the neglect of water mites. Even though this group perfectly fulfills all necessary requisites for successful bioindicators, these invertebrates are either completely ignored or lumped together as “Acari”.This study, for the first time, uses water mites (Hydrachnidia) as bioindicators in the Neotropics to compare the anthropogenic stress in 15 streams at three different levels of contamination (pristine, rural, urban). In total, 4371 water mite specimens, belonging to 31 genera and 14 families, were collected.Diversity, abundance, and richness of water mite assemblages were significantly reduced with increasing levels of contamination. These differences were clearest in the dry season. Atractidella turned out to be, by far, the most tolerant water mite genus, having the greatest abundance at the most contaminated sites. In contrast, Pseudotorrenticola was found only in pristine waters, while Hydrodroma, Limnesia, Koenikea, Torrenticola, Monatractides and the family Aturidae showed clear preferences for pristine waters.Our data show, that water mites, identified to genus level, are well suited for water quality assessment in neotropical lowland streams, clearly distinguishing different levels of contamination/anthropogenic stress.     

Phytoplankton,macrophytes and benthic diatoms in lake classification: Consistent,congruent, redundant? Lessons learnt from WFD-compliant monitoring in Poland

The lake monitoring programme compliant with the Water Framework Directive has been implemented in Poland since 2007. Currently, the methods for three biological quality elements (BQEs): phytoplankton (the Phytoplankton Multimetric for Polish Lakes, PMPL), macrophytes (the Ecological State Macrophyte Index, ESMI) and phytobenthos (the Diatom Index for Lakes, IOJ) are officially applied and internationally intercalibrated. Based on the monitoring data from 256 lakes surveyed in 2010–2013 and assessed for all the three BQEs, we tested whether the assessment results obtained by the three biological methods were consistent and we searched for the causes of inconsistencies which we found. The lake classifications obtained from the PMPL and ESMI were highly consistent and the relationship between these metrics was relatively strong (R = 0.66, p < 0.001). Both metrics correlated equally strongly with water quality indicators. However, the PMPL and ESMI indicated systematic dissimilarities in the sensitivity to eutrophication between shallow and deep lakes. In shallow lakes, the alarming symptoms of macrophyte community deterioration (lower values of ESMI) occurred at lower nutrient and Chla concentrations and were accompanied by a better status of phytoplankton (higher values of PMPL) than in deep lakes that can be explained by a synergistic effect of inorganic suspended solids and algal growth on water transparency. As a consequence, the positions of phytoplankton and macrophytes as early warning indicators in the eutrophication gradient in shallow lakes were inverted compared to those in deep lakes. Compared to the PMPL and ESMI, the IOJ method gave the least stringent assessment results, with 22% of lakes failing to meet the environmental objectives. The relationships between IOJ and PMPL, and ESMI were relatively weak (R = 0.17, p = 0.008 and R = 0.17, p = 0.007, respectively). Moreover, the phytobenthos index IOJ correlated significantly more weakly with all the water quality indicators than either PMPL or ESMI did. The poor performance of the phytobenthos method in this study may suggest a limited indicator value of this BQE for lake assessment or inappropriate sampling design.     

Long-time emergence patterns of Limnophora species (Diptera,Muscidae) in specific karst habitats: tufa barriers

The hunter-fly genus Limnophora (Muscidae: Coenosiinae) is an important component of running water assemblages. Both adults and larvae are predators, the adults mostly feeding on blackflies (Simuliidae) and other small aquatic insects. This study was conducted at two tufa barriers in Plitvice Lakes National Park (NP) (tufa barrier Labudovac and tufa barrier Kozjak-Milanovac) and at two tufa barriers in Krka National Park (NP) (tufa barrier Roški slap and tufa barrier Skradinski buk). Adults were collected monthly from February 2007 until December 2013 at Plitvice Lakes NP and from September 2013 to October 2014 at Krka NP, using pyramid-type emergence traps. Over the 7-year study period at the Plitvice Lakes tufa barriers, a total of 193 specimens belonging to 6 species were collected, while during the 1-year study period at the Krka tufa barriers a total of 848 specimens belonging to 4 species were collected. Abundance of Limnophora specimens at the Krka NP sites was up to 30 times higher than at the Plitvice Lakes NP sites, which could be attributed to higher levels of potential food and higher water temperatures. The dominant species at the Plitvice Lakes sites were Limnophora pulchriceps and Limnophora riparia. At the Krka tufa barriers, the dominant species at site Roški slap was Limnophora croatica and at site Skradinski buk Limnophora riparia. The highest numbers of emerging specimens at all sites were present in the summer months. At the Plitvice Lakes sites most species were univoltine or bivoltine, while at the Krka sites most species were multivoltine. Water temperature was the main factor influencing the timing of emergence and the duration of the flight period. The highest abundance of Limnophora species was recorded over moss substrate. A significant positive correlation emerged between the numbers of emerging prey and the numbers of emerging specimens of Limnophora. These results give a new insight into the microhabitat preferences and prey-predator relationships of Limnophora.     

Conservation of the freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) in the river Rede,UK: Identification of instream indicators for catchment-scale issues

The freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) is declining throughout its entire range. On the river Rede, North-East England, the population has been equally declining and shows no apparent recruitment. The study presented here aimed at characterizing water quality and habitat conditions for pearl mussels to identify possible indicators of pressures on the population and inform a restoration and conservation strategy. Water quality monitoring revealed levels of turbidity and suspended sediments to be above the limit set for functional pearl mussel rivers. Substrate sampling revealed silt was present at all sites. A loss of redox potential between the water column and the substrate occurred at all sites, indicating non suitable conditions for juvenile pearl mussels. These investigations suggest that fine sediment input in the river could be one of the factors preventing the development and survival of juvenile mussels while adults face water quality largely affected by high turbidity and high phosphate load. Restoration strategy for the Rede pearl mussel population should focus mainly on limiting sediment and nutrient input in the river throughout the catchment in order to improve habitat for juvenile pearl mussels. This work highlights the need for a catchment-based approach in order to succeed in the conservation of a fragile species.     

Climate driven changes in the submerged macrophyte and phytoplankton community in a hard water lake

We studied the changes in the submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and phytoplankton community in a hard water lake during different meteorological conditions. We hypothesized that variations in climatic conditions (precipitation and temperature) can influence the physicochemical parameters of water and, in turn, affect SAV and phytoplankton development. The investigations were performed in Lake Rogóźno (the West Polesie region, Eastern Poland) over 10 years from 2003 to 2013. The physicochemical parameters, the structure of macrophytes and the phytoplankton community in the dry (2003–2006, DP) and wet periods (2007–2013, WP) were analyzed. Between the dry and wet periods, the water color and the concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) increased considerably, whereas water conductivity decreased. Other parameters (concentration of nutrients, water reaction and transparency) were comparable during both periods. When the precipitation and water level were low (DP), charophytes dominated the SAV and cyanobacteria dominated the phytoplankton community. After the precipitation and water level increased (WP), the charophyte population declined and the vascular plants and bryophytes dominated. Furthermore, flagellated algae belonging to the dinophytes and cryptophytes were the most numerous in the phytoplankton community. These changes in the SAV and phytoplankton were linked with the variations of physicochemical parameters determined by the total precipitation and mean air temperature in March.     

基于改进层次分析法的干旱扬水灌区水土环境变迁响应评估

受大量的外调水资源和人工灌溉的影响,干旱扬水灌区的水土环境变迁过程具有独特性,其对区域环境要素的响应是长期、潜在而缓慢的,该过程可通过科学的评估与分析描述其发展的趋势。评价过程是否合理,评价结果是否准确是灌区可持续发展的关键。通过应用改进的层次分析法,对干旱扬水灌区水土环境变迁响应进行了评价。结果表明:干旱扬水灌区水土环境变迁响应因子都属于"微敏感"因子;地表水对水土环境的变迁响应相对较为强烈,其次为地下水、区域气候,而土地利用最为迟缓; 18个响应因子中最为敏感的是灌区提水量及灌溉用水量,次之为地下水水位及回归水水质。该评价模型的评价结果与当前灌区水土环境变化现状相吻合,验证了改进层次分析法在干旱扬水灌区水土环境变迁响应评价中的有效性和可操作性,可为灌区的建设和管理提供科学合理的参考依据。     

Numerical modeling of water yield of mine in Yangzhuang Iron Mine,Anhui Province of China

This study develops a three-dimensional heterogeneous numerical model to simulate the water inrush process and predict the water yield for mineral exploration in Yangzhuang Iron Mine in Anhui Province. To identify the hydrogeological parameters of the aquifer in the study area, the model was calibrated and validated using the observed heads through the integrated trial-and-error and automated techniques. Also, the sensitivity analysis of the model was performed to evaluate the uncertainty associated with the calibrated model. According to the mine construction plan at different mining levels of -500 m, -600 m, and -700 m, the calibrated model was then applied to predict the water yields dependent on the different mining levels. As indicated by the prediction results, the numerical simulation model can systematically describe the groundwater system in the mining area and determine the source of water inrush in this iron mine. In conclusion, numerical analyses carried out in this study can provide guidance to decision-makers in balancing the iron ore mining and mine dewatering in the future.