Environmental literacy in interpreting endangered sustainability: Case studies from Thailand and the Sudan

This paper examines how people explain reasons and impacts of environmental change in the low-rain savanna of the central Sudan and mountainous forest lands of northern Thailand. The explanations are analyzed by using the concept of environmental literacy, which refers to the people’s ability to grasp the environment and its interactions. The paper aims to study people’s conceptions of the environment, which compose one factor in directing their behavior. For the study, rural inhabitants in the State of North Kordofan, the Sudan, and the Chiang Mai Province in Thailand were interviewed.It was noted that an individual’s capability to understand the environment is alone insufficient to address environmental problems because the efficient alleviation of the problems requires collective actions at all levels, and because of factors beyond an individual’s control. However, the results supported the assumption that the local people have knowledge of their environment that may help in developing sustainable environmental management practices. The main advantages of using the environmental literacy concept are argued to be its dynamic and synthetic essence, its link to sustainable behavior, and wide applicability in various contexts within heterogeneous communities.     

A simple model of leakage induced by deep pumping and its application to pollution beneath a city in Thailand

Many cities in developing countries are dependent upon groundwater for water supply. Frequently this groundwater is pumped from semi-confined aquifers in alluvial deposits. These deeper aquifers are often considered to be protected from polluted shallow water by intervening less-permeable layers. However, where groundwater is pumped from a semi-confined aquifer immediately beneath a city, significant induced leakage of contaminated shallow water can occur. This may lead to a serious deterioration of water quality in deeper aquifers in the longer-term. A simple model has been developed which provides insight into the hydraulic controls on water quality in such semi-confined aquifers. The model provides a tool for the initial assessment and prediction of the impact of urbanization on groundwater quality. Also, the model characterizes the key hydrogeological behaviour through a single parameter, here termed the ‘city leakage factor’, which can be used to assess the vulnerability to contamination by leakage. A case study of a city in Thailand illustrates the use of this model.

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Résumé Beaucoup de villes des pays en développement dépendent de l’eau souterraine pour leur alimentation en eau. Cette eau souterraine est souvent pompée dans des aquifères alluviaux semi-captifs. Ces aquifères plus profonds sont souvent considérés comme protégés des eaux peu profondes et polluées, grace à des couches intercalaires moins perméables. Cependant, dans le cas où l’eau souterraine est pompée à partir d’un aquifère semi-captif situé directement sous une ville, une drainance importante des eaux peu profondes et polluées peut être induite. Ceci peut entra?ner, à long terme, une détérioration significative de la qualité de l’eau dans les aquifères plus profonds. Un modèle simple a été construit fournissant un aper?u des contr?les hydrauliques agissant sur la qualité de l’eau dans des aquifères semi-captifs. Ce modèle est un outil permettant d’évaluer l’état initial et de prédire l’impact de l’urbanisation sur la qualité de l’eau souterraine. Le modèle caractérise également les comportements hydrogéologiques majeurs à travers un unique paramètre, nommé dans cette étude facteur de drainance de la ville“, et qui peut être utilisé pour évaluer la vulnérabilité de l’aquifère face à une contamination par drainance. L’étude de cas d’une ville en Tha?lande illustre l’utilisation de ce modèle.

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Resumen Muchas ciudades de paises en desarrollo dependen del agua subterránea para el abastecimiento de agua. Frecuentemente el agua subterránea se bombea de acuíferos semi-confinados en depósitos aluviales. Estos acuíferos más profundos se protegen frecuentemente de agua somera contaminada mediante la intervencción de capas menos permeables. Sin embargo, donde el agua subterránea se bombea de un acuífero semi-confinado inmediatamente debajo de una ciudad, pueden ocurrir fugas significativas inducidas de agua somera contaminada. Esto puede conducir a un serio deterioro de calidad de agua en acuíferos más profundos en el largo plazo. Se ha desarrollado un modelo simple el cual aporta idea acerca de los controles hidráulicos en la calidad del agua en tales acuíferos semi-confinados. El modelo aporta una herramienta para la evaluación inicial y predicción del impacto de urbanización en la calidad del agua subterránea. El modelo también caracteriza el comportamiento hidrogeológico clave a traves de un solo parámetro, que aquí se denomina ′factor de fuga de la ciudad′el cual puede usarse para evaluar la vulnerabilidad a la contaminación por fuga. El uso de este modelo se ilustra con un estudio de caso de una ciudad en Tailandia.

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东南亚锡矿带泰国沙蒙矿床花岗岩成因及其对锡成矿作用的指示

本文围绕泰国沙蒙矿床锡成矿相关的中粗粒黑云母花岗岩及远离矿体的细粒角闪石黑云母花岗岩开展了全岩地球化学、锆石U-Pb年代学及原位Hf同位素研究。锆石U-Pb年龄显示两类花岗岩分别形成于210.9±1.1 Ma和206.5±1.0 Ma。二者均具有富碱(全碱含量为5.81%～8.22%)、弱过铝—强过铝(A/CNK=1.01～1.14)、相对富集Rb、Th、Pb等元素、低的TFeO/MgO(0.75～3.54)和10000Ga/Al(2.21～2.66)比值等特征。中粗粒黑云母花岗岩具有原生白云母,高的K₂O/Na₂O(1.56～2.50)和Rb/Sr(2.26～2.60)比值,且其锆石具有较高的P含量,属于典型的S型花岗岩。而细粒角闪石黑云母花岗岩普遍发育角闪石,具有低的K₂O/Na₂O(0.45～1.11)和Rb/Sr(0.54～1.18)比值,且其锆石具有较低的P含量,应属于典型的I型花岗岩。两种花岗岩具有截然不同的Hf同位素组成,其中中粗粒黑云母花岗岩具有明显低的ε_Hf(...     

Geochemical characteristics of the oceanic island-type volcanic rocks in the Chiang Mai zone,northern Thailand

The oceanic island volcanic rocks in the Chiang Mai zone, northern Thailand, are usually covered by Lower Carboniferous and Upper Permian shallow-water carbonate rocks, with the Hawaii rocks and potash trachybasalt being the main rock types. The alkaline series is dominant with sub-alkaline series occurring in few cases. The geochemical characteristics are described as follows: the major chemical compositions are characterized by high TiO₂, high P₂O₅ and medium K₂O; the rare-earth elements are characterized by right-inclined strong LREE-enrichment patterns; the trace element patterns are of the upward-bulging K-Ti enrichment type; multi-component plots falling within the fields of oceanic island basalts and alkali basalts, belonging to the oceanic island-type volcanic rocks, which are similar to the equivalents in Deqin and Gengma (the Changning-Menglian zone) of Yunnan Province, China.     

泰国半岛侏罗纪叶肢介再研究

产于泰国半岛班关坤村附近的叶肢介化石原鉴定为 Pseudograpta cf.yuzhongensis Chen,P.jialingensisDuan,P.siamensis Duan,P.sp.,Paleoleptestheria chinensis Chen和 Palaeolmnadia?sp.等 5个属种或未定种 ,认为其时代为中侏罗世晚期。现经重新研究 ,发现这些叶肢介化石生长带上的网孔状装饰网壁相对较粗 ,网孔较深 ,孔径比 Euestheria ziliujingensis叶肢介群的分子要稍大一些 ,但远比 Pseudograpta或 N estoria叶肢介群的要小 ,基本上可以归入 Paleoleptestheria?chinensis叶肢介群 ,其生物地理区系属于古地中海水系 ,与中国西南湖群中侏罗世晚期的叶肢介动物群关系最为密切 ,其生存时代与北方地理区系的 Pseudograpta叶肢介动物群大致平行     

Groundwater evolution beneath Hat Yai, a rapidly developing city in Thailand

Many cities and towns in South and Southeast Asia are unsewered, and urban wastewaters are often discharged either directly to the ground or to surface-water canals and channels. This practice can result in widespread contamination of the shallow groundwater. In Hat Yai, southern Thailand, seepage of urban wastewaters has produced substantial deterioration in the quality of the shallow groundwater directly beneath the city. For this reason, the majority of the potable water supply is obtained from groundwater in deeper semi-confined aquifers 30–50 m below the surface. However, downward leakage of shallow groundwater from beneath the city is a significant component of recharge to the deeper aquifer, which has long-term implications for water quality. Results from cored boreholes and shallow nested piezometers are presented. The combination of high organic content of the urban recharge and the shallow depth to the water table has produced strongly reducing conditions in the upper layer and the mobilisation of arsenic. A simple analytical model shows that time scales for downward leakage, from the surface through the upper aquitard to the semi-confined aquifer, are of the order of several decades. Electronic Publication     

Correlation of Triassic stratigraphy between the Simao and Lampang-Phrae Basins: implications for the tectonopaleogeography of Southeast Asia

Based on our extensive fieldwork in southwestern Yunnan and northern Thailand, followed by detailed stratigraphic and paleontological studies, we propose that the Triassic Simao Basin in Yunnan can be correlated with the Triassic Lampang–Phrae Basin in Thailand. Strata equivalent to those in the southern Lancangjiang sub-basin have not been identified in northern Thailand. We consider that during the Triassic the Simao and the Lampang–Phrae Basins belonged to the same tectonopaleogeographic unit. The orogenic belt to the east of this unit includes the Nan–Uttaradit and Ailaoshan sutures. The ‘Shan–Thai Block’ in northern Thailand, can be divided from east to west into the Sukhothai, the Inthanon, and the Shan terranes. According to tectonopaleogeographic correlation, our results support the idea that the Sukhothai Terrane, including the Lampang–Phrae Basin, belongs to the Cathaysian domain and not to Gondwana domain, and that the geosuture corresponding to the Changning–Menglian Suture in Yunnan must lie to the west of the Sukhothai Terrane in Thailand.     

The characteristics,formation and exploration progress of the potash deposits on the Khorat Plateau,Thailand and Laos,Southeast Asia

The giant potash deposit on the Khorat Plateau is one of the most promising targets for exploitation of potassium salts. So far, many researches and geologic survey have been conducted on the giant potash deposits. Hence, it is necessary to make an overall review on the potash deposits. The potash deposit on the Khorat Plateau was formed during the Middle to Late Cretaceous, during which seawater was enriched in Ca²⁺ and depleted in SO₄^2- compared with those of modem seawater. In addition to seawater, continental water and hydrothermal fluids could have affected the evaporite basins. The seawater was probably derived from Tethys ocean, and the brine should have evaporated to some extent before entering into the basin systems based on the evidence of absence of carbonates and unproportionate sulphate compared with chloride salts. The paleo-climate during Middle to Late Cretaceous was characterized as high temperature and extremely arid environment, which is favourable for deposition of potassium-magnesium saline minerals. The major saline minerals are of anhydrite, halite, camallite, sylvite and, tachyhydrite, with trace amounts of borates. The resources of the potash deposit on the Khorat Plateau could be approximately as much as 400×10⁹ t of camallite and 7×10⁹ t of sylvite. The evaporite sequences have been deformed and altered by postdepositinal processes, including tectonic movements and chemical alteration. Salt domes were formed in the postdepositional processes. Based on the analyses of geophysical surveys and drilling projects, high-quality sylvinite ores are commonly found at the flanks of those salt domes due to incongruent dissolution of camallite. The future potential prospecting areas for the high-quality sylvinite ores would be on the edges of the Khorat Plateau.     

A comparative study on four major cities in Northeastern Thailand using urban land density function

Urban land density is an important factor to understand how cities expand. An “Inverse S-shape Rule” was implemented for the first time to analyze urban land density in Northeastern Thailand using the four cities Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Nakhon Phanom, and Nong Khai as study sites. Land density function was tested using different data classification techniques from previous studies. Each city was investigated over two different time periods between 2002 and 2015. Declining pattern characteristics of metropolitan area density outward from city centers can be quantified by fitting the parameters to urban land density functions. An inverse S-shape function was identified as the best data fit. The four selected cities showed conventional density variation for decline in urban land area from city centers to outlying areas. Overall trend indicated that cities became more compact over time since the density differences between the urban core and urban fringe were greater with increasing infilling growth within the urban boundary. All four cities increased in size over time; however, the increasing amount of built-up land in the surrounding rural areas did not follow the same trend in each case. Some functional parameters required careful interpretation because of the linear shape of the city as in the case of Nakhon Phanom. Using highly detailed urban data resulted in lower densities of urban areas compared to the conventional pixel-based classification, and this affected the overall shape of the inverse S-shape function. The fitted parameters and their changing trends indicated that the urban land density function was useful for understanding urban form and urban sprawl in Thailand. Results can be used to develop a specific framework for other cities with similar attributes in the future.     

Impact assessment of reservoir operation in the context of climate change adaptation in the Chao Phraya River basin

Climate change adaptation has become the current focus of research due to the remarkable potential of climate change to alter the spatial and temporal distribution of global water availability. Although reservoir operation is a potential adaptation option, earlier studies explicitly demonstrated only its historical quantitative effects. Therefore, this article evaluated the possibility of reservoir operation from an adaptation viewpoint for regulating the future flow using the H08 global hydrological model with the Chao Phraya River basin as a case study. This basin is the largest river system in Thailand and has often been affected by extreme weather challenges in the past. Future climate scenarios were constructed from the bias-corrected outputs of three general circulation models from 2080 to 2099 under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. The important conclusions that can be drawn from this study are as follows: (i) the operation of existing and hypothetical (i.e., construction under planning) reservoirs cannot reduce the future high flows below the channel carrying capacity, although it can increase low flows in the basin. This indicates that changes in the magnitude of future high flow due to climate change are likely to be larger than those achieved by reservoir operation and there is a need for other adaptation options. (ii) A combination of reservoir operation and afforestation was considered as an adaptation strategy, but the magnitude of the discharge reduction in the wet season was still smaller than the increase caused by warming. This further signifies the necessity of combining other structural, as well as non-structural, measures. Overall, this adaptation approach for assessing the effect of reservoir operation in reducing the climate change impacts using H08 model can be applied not only in the study area but also in other places where climate change signals are robust.