Dark matter particles and the flat rotation curves of spiral galaxies

It is shown that a gas of massive bosonic particles (m 60 eV), e.g. Higgs particles, surrounding disk galaxies is able to generate the flat rotation curves of spiral galaxies without internal difficulties with physical principles. We have analyzed 36 galaxies and find good agreement with the empirical data.     

Comparison between VES and 2D imaging techniques for delineating subsurface plume of hydrocarbon contaminated water southeast of Karbala City,Iraq

Shallow vertical electrical sounding (VES) technique with Schlumberger electrode array (maximum distance between current electrodes was 50 m) through 25 VES points distributed on five traverses. Two 2D imaging lines with Wenner electrode array 30 m each corresponding to two VES traverses were conducted near well water contaminated with hydrocarbon materials at Karbala Governorate, Iraq. It is found that these techniques can give good results in delineating contaminated and clear zones but the 2D imaging technique was better in delineating the boundaries of the contaminated water plume and gave clear image of the subsurface distribution of the contaminated water vertically and horizontally.     

Environmental change detection in the central part of Iraq using remote sensing data and GIS

This study aims to assess the potential of several ancillary input data for the improvement of unsupervised land cover change detection in arid environments. The study area is located in Central Iraq where desertification has been observed. We develop a new scheme based on known robust indices. We employ Landsat (multispectral scanner, thematic mapper, and enhanced thematic mapper) satellite data acquired in 1976, 1990, and 2002. We use the Normalized Deferential Vegetation Index, Normalized Differential Water Index (NDWI), Salinity Index (SI), and Eolian Mapping Index. Two new equations were applied for the SI and the NDWI indices. Validation was performed using ground truth data collected in 16 days. We show that such an approach allows a robust and low-cost alternative for preliminary and large-scale assessments. This study shows that desertification has increased in the study area since 1990.     

CFD-Based Model for Estimating the River Bed Morphological Characteristics near Cylindrical Bridge Piers Due to Debris Accumulation

Water Resources - The scour and flow field patterns with accumulation of debris around bridge piers are completely different due to the reduction of flow area and the increase in depth average...     

Hydrochemical variation in the springs water between Jerusalem–Ramallah Mountains and Jericho Fault,Palestine

The spatial and temporal changes of the composition of the groundwater from the springs along the Wadi Qilt stream running from the Jerusalem–Ramallah Mountains towards the Jericho Plain is studied during the hydrological year 2006/2007. The residence time and the intensity of recharge play an important role in controlling the chemical composition of spring water which mainly depends on distance from the main recharge area. A very important factor is the oxidation of organics derived from sewage and garbage resulting in variable dissolved CO₂ and associated HCO₃ ⁻ concentration. High CO₂ yields lower pH values and thus under-saturation with respect to calcite and dolomite. Low CO₂ concentrations result in over-saturation. Only at the beginning and at the end of the rainy season calcite saturation is achieved. The degradation of dissolved organic matter is a major source for increasing water hardness. Besides dissolution of carbonates dissolved species such as nitrate, chloride, and sulfate are leached from soil and aquifer rocks together with only small amounts of Mg. Mg not only originates from carbonates but also from Mg–Cl waters are leached from aquifer rocks. Leaching of Mg–Cl brines is particularly high at the beginning of the winter season and lowest at its end. Two zones of recharge are distinguishable. Zone 1 represented by Ein Fara and Ein Qilt is fed directly through the infiltration of meteoric water and surface runoff from the mountains along the eastern mountain slopes with little groundwater residence time and high flow rate. The second zone is near the western border of Jericho at the foothills, which is mainly fed by the under-groundwater flow from the eastern slopes with low surface infiltration rate. This zone shows higher groundwater residence time and slower flow rate than zone 1. Groundwater residence time and the flow rate within the aquifer systems are controlled by the geological structure of the aquifer, the amount of active recharge to the aquifer, and the recharge mechanism. The results of this study may be useful in increasing the efficiency of freshwater exploitation in the region. Some precautions, however, should be taken in future plans of artificial recharge of the aquifers or surface-water harvesting in the Wadi. Because of evaporation and associated groundwater deterioration, the runoff water should be artificially infiltrated in zones of Wadis with high storage capacity of aquifers. Natural infiltration along the Wadis lead to evaporation losses and less quality of groundwater.     

Possibility of investigation of the microstreams and associations by the radiotomographic method

This article contains the tomographic problem's solution of the radiants distribution study by the meteor radar data. It was received the distribution of meteors velocities for the parts of celestial sphere with angular dimensions 10° × 10° and 1° × 1°. Was shown that the angular dimensions of most of radiants are equal 1° – 3° and larger part of the sporadic background looks like a totality of microstreams.     

Oil spill sorption using carbonized pith bagasse: trial for practical application

In the present work, an attempt was made to provide an efficient, easily deployable method of cleaning up oil spills and recovering of the oil. Carbonized pith bagasse, a relatively abundant and inexpensive material is currently being investigated as an adsorbent to remove contaminants “oil” from water. Fibers extracted from bagasse and carbonized at 300 °C were found to have a high performance for sorption and recovery of light, heavy oils and even the viscous ones. The physical properties of pith bagasse were investigated using scanning electronic microscope to show the inner and the outer surface and the cross section area of the pith bagasse and thermo gravimetric analyzer to investigate the degradation profile of the pith bagasse. The carbonized pith bagasse was packed into a polypropylene bag and its sorption behavior was studied. A comparison was made between the prepared pad and the commercial sorbents show that the pad containing carbonized pith bagasse has higher sorption capacity in comparison to the commercial sorbents. The pad exhibited high oil retention ability and a high selectivity for the oils over the water. The pad showed a possibility of reuse for eight times. The sorption capacity of the pads containing carbonized pith bagasse was found to increase with increasing the time of sorption till it reaches the maximum value at the time of sorption equal to 60 min.     

Sub-surface geometry of Ar Rika and Ruwah faults from gravity and magnetic surveys

Ten global positioning system (GPS)–gravity profiles were conducted to provide sub-surface geometry of two sections of the Najd Fault System (NFS) Ruwah and Ar Rika faults, six in the Afif and four in the Al Muwayh area about 500 and 650 km west of Riyadh, respectively. GPS surveys were collected in differential GPS (DGPS) mode, allowing a large area to be covered in limited time. DGPS is utilized for the advantages of accuracy, economy, and speed. Output DGPS location coordinates were used in free-air and Bouguer reductions; terrain corrections were applied using a 3-arcsecond digital elevation model; finally, isostatic and decompensative corrections were applied. Integration of the resulting decompensative isostatic residual anomalies and aeromagnetic map has mapped the NFS very accurately. Modeling the gravity field crossing the Ruwah fault zone revealed that it is associated with low gravity anomalies probably due to a complex of lower density crushed rocks and modeled the geometry of the subsurface structure of Ar Rika fault as an inclined fault with reverse movement that would imply a compression component (post-dated the shearing) parallel to the plane of the cross-section.