Regional distribution pattern of groundwater heavy metals resulting from agricultural activities

Contaminations of groundwater by heavy metals due to agricultural activities are growing recently. The objective of this study was to evaluate and map regional patterns of heavy metals (Cd, Zn and Cu) in groundwater on a plain with high agricultural activities. The study was conducted to investigate the concentration of heavy metals and distribution in groundwater in regions of Shush Danial and Andimeshk aquifers in the southern part of Iran. Presently, groundwater is the only appropriate and widely used source of drinking water for rural and urban communities in this region. The region covers an area of 1,100 km² between the Dez and Karkhe rivers, which lead to the Persian Gulf. For this study, the region was divided into four sub-regions A, B, C and D. Additionally, 168 groundwater samples were collected from 42 water wells during the earlier months of 2004. The flame atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS-Flame) was used to measure the concentration of heavy metals in water samples and the Surfer software was used for determination of the contour map of metal distribution. The results demonstrated that in all of the samples, Cd and Zn concentrations were below the EPA MCLG and EPA secondary standard, respectively. However, the Cu contents of 4.8 % of all samples were higher than EPA MCL. It is also indicated that the concentrations of metals were more pronounced at the southern part of the studied region than at the others. The analysis of fertilizers applied for agricultural activities at this region also indicated that a great majority of the above-mentioned heavy metals were discharged into the environment. Absence of confining layers, proximity to land surface, excess agricultural activities in the southern part and groundwater flow direction that is generally from the north to the southern parts in this area make the southern region of the Shush plain especially vulnerable to pollution by heavy metals than by other contaminants.     

The thermal state of the Venusian mantle

Assuming that the surface topography of the Ovda and Thetis plateaus, and that of the saddle region between Thetis and Atla plateaus, is due to surface subsidence of oceanic-type thermal boundary layers, we calculated the temperature at 200 km beneath the plateaus to be about 1600 C, and that beneath the saddle region to be about 1400–1500 C. The total subsidence of Ovda plateau in the last 3/4 of its existence, i.e. between 200 km and 800 km off the postulated ridge axis, suggests that the plateau is probably a young feature, less than 40 m.y. old. The spreading plate models imply a half-spreading rate of 2.3–5.3 cm/yr for the plateaus and 2–2.8 cm/yr for the saddle region.     

Numerical ANFIS-Based Formulation for Prediction of the Ultimate Axial Load Bearing Capacity of Piles Through CPT Data

This study explores the potential of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS) for prediction of the ultimate axial load bearing capacity of piles (P_u) using cone penetration test (CPT) data. In this regard, a reliable previously published database composed of 108 datasets was selected to develop ANFIS models. The collected database contains information regarding pile geometry, material, installation, full-scale static pile load test and CPT results for each sample. Reviewing the literature, several common and uncommon variables have been considered for direct or indirect estimation of P_u based on static pile load test, cone penetration test data or other in situ or laboratory testing methods. In present study, the pile shaft and tip area, the average cone tip resistance along the embedded length of the pile, the average cone tip resistance over influence zone and the average sleeve friction along the embedded length of the pile which are obtained from CPT data are considered as independent input variables where the output variable is P_u for the ANFIS model development. Besides, a notable criticism about ANFIS as a prediction tool is that it does not provide practical prediction equations. To tackle this issue, the obtained optimal ANFIS model is represented as a tractable equation which can be used via spread sheet software or hand calculations to provide precise predictions of P_u with the calculated correlation coefficient of 0.96 between predicted and experimental values for all of the data in this study. Considering several criteria, it is represented that the proposed model is able to estimate the output with a high degree of accuracy as compared to those results obtained by some direct CPT-based methods in the literature. Furthermore, in order to assess the capability of the proposed model from geotechnical engineering viewpoints, sensitivity and parametric analyses are done.     

Shape optimization of two-dimensional cavitators in supercavitating flows, using NSGA II algorithm

The reduction of energy consumption of high speed submersible bodies is an important challenge in hydrodynamic researches. In this paper, shape optimization of two-dimensional cavitators in supercavitating flows is studied. A two dimensional supercavitation potential flow passes a symmetric two dimensional cavitator, which is placed perpendicular to the flow in a channel of infinite length and immediately a cavity is formed behind the cavitator. This is because of the generation of a gas or vapor cavity between the body and the surrounding liquid due to the change in a high speed flow direction passing the cavitator. Drag force acting on this supercavitating body dictates the thrust requirements for the propulsion system, to maintain a required cavity at the operating speed. Therefore, any reduction in the drag force, by modifying the shape of the cavitator, will lead to decrease this force. This study concentrates on the optimization of two dimensional cavitators in order to decrease drag coefficient for a specified after body length and velocity in a potential flow. To achieve this goal a multi-objective optimization problem is defined to optimize cavitator shapes in supercavitating flow. The so-called NSGA II (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm) algorithm is used as an optimization method. Design parameters and constraints are obtained according to supercavitating flow characteristics and cavitator modeling and objective functions are generated using Linear Regression Method. The obtained results are compared with other classic optimization methods, like the weighted sum method, for validation.     

Evaluation of Tailings from a Porphyry Copper Mine based on Joint Simulation of Contaminants

Natural Resources Research - Tailings from porphyry copper mines contain environmentally harmful amounts of elements such as copper, molybdenum, lead and cobalt. Geostatistical simulation of...     

New developments with design and construction of a thermal/vacuum qualified photogrammetric system

In the frame of the development of a photogrammetric system to be used in thermal/vacuum chambers at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) of European Space Agency (ESA) and other sites across Europe, the design of a network using micro-cameras was specified by ESA-ESTEC. A thermal/vacuum qualified photogrammetric system, which is able to work and acquire images in vacuum and at cryo-temperatures, was constructed by ESA-ESTEC Test Centre Division. The current system uses four space qualified one-mega pixel cameras and is able to measure large space structures in vacuum and at temperatures down to ?170 ^°C with a global accuracy better than 1 part per 100,000 in object space. Several tests aiming at the qualification of the sensors and system in terms of operation and accuracy have been carried out. Special measures have been developed and special attention has been taken into account specifically for the first application of the photogrammetric system. It is to verify the ESA’s Herschel Telescope Flight Model alignment positioning.     

Stress differences in the moon as an evidence for a cold moon

Assuming that the lateral variations of density in the lunar crust, the crustal density anomalies, are responsible for the lateral undulations of the lunar gravitational potential, we compute these anomalies for four different lunar models, which include an entirely solid Moon and three different solid lunar models with partially molten layers located within 600 km depth. The stress differences created by the density anomalies are determined for these models. It is found that, since the formation of the mascons, the entirely solid lunar model should have supported stress differences of the order of 70 bars while in the case of the other models, the solid layer overlying the partially molten one should have supported stress differences of more than 100 bars. The high stress differences associated with the partially molten models lead us to conclude that these models are not proper ones, and thus the Moon has always been solid since the formation of the mascons. Lunar Science Institute Contribution No. 97. The research in this paper was done while the author was a Visiting Scientist at the Lunar Science Institute, which is operated by the Universities Space Research Association under Contract No. NSR 09-051-001 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.     

Parkfield,California, Earthquake of June 1966: Interpretation of the strong motion records

A detailed seismological interpretation of the strong motion records was attempted for the 1966 Parkfield earthquake, California. Velocity and displacement traces integrated from the corresponding recorded accelerograms were found most valuable in studying the earthquake mechanism and wave forms. A double-couple right-lateral strike — slip mechanism (along the San Andreas fault) is consistent with the recorded direct S-waves originating from the hypocentre. High energy arrivals observed on the velocity traces are interpreted as S-waves (‘stopping phases’) that originated at the termination of the rupture towards the south-east of the San Andreas fault. A double-couple left-lateral strike–slip mechanism is suggested as the cause of this rupture termination. From particle velocity diagrams of the stopping phases in the horizontal plane, the rupture length was found to be between 20 and 28 km. Corresponding rupture velocities are estimated to be 2·5 ± 0·1 and 3·1 ± 0·5 km/s. The inference from the strong motion records is that Love waves were more excited at the south-western than the north-eastern side of the fault, whereas the Rayleigh waves were more energetic at the north-eastern than the south-western side of the fault.     

PROMETHEE II and fuzzy AHP: an enhanced GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping

This paper describes the application of a well-known multi-criteria decision-making technique, called preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE II), in combination with fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP), as a weighting technique to explore landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM). To this end, eight landslide-related geodata layers of the Minoo Dasht located in the Gorgan province of Iran, involving slope, aspect, distance to river, drainage density, distance to fault, mean annual rainfall, distance to road and lithology have been integrated using the PROMETHEE II enhanced by FAHP technique. Afterward, the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves for the proposed LSM were drawn using an inventory of landslides containing 83 recent and historic landslide points, and the area under curve = 0.752 value was calculated accordingly. Additionally, to further verify the practicality of such susceptibility map, it was also evaluated against the landslide inventory using simple overlay. The outcome was that about 11 % of the occurred landslide points fall into the very high susceptibility class of the LSM, but approximately 52 % of them indeed fall into the high and very high susceptibility zones together. Also, it resulted that no recorded landslide occurred in the zone of very low susceptibility. According to the results of the ROC curves analysis and simple overlay evaluation, the produced map has exhibited good performance.     

Land assessment for flood spreading site selection using geospatial information system

Irregular patterns of precipitations from temporal as well as spatial perspectives not only cause destructions but also waste surface water resources. Hence, controlling surface water and leading the flood to underground stores improve the efficiency of water usage. Selecting appropriate sites for optimal use of water floods is one of the most important factors in recharging underground water tables in dry lands where the agricultural and rangelands are vulnerable. Traditional methods of site selections are, however, time consuming and error prone. This paper attempts to; analyze existing schemes of site selection; introduces an appropriate method of locating flood-spreading sites using Geospatial Information System; implements the strategy in a case study; and scientifically assesses its results. The study area of this research is Samal sub-basin covering 31571.7 ha of Ahrom basin in Boushehr province. In the present research, factors pertain to earth sciences (quaternary units, slope and landuse) and hydrology (runoff infiltration rate and aquifers’ depth) are considered. Information layers are weighted, classified and integrated through several models such as boolean logics, index overlay and fuzzy logics. The results are then checked against the existing sites to estimate their accuracy. The results of this research demonstrated that fuzzy logic operators including gamma=0.1, gamma=0.2 and products of fuzzy logics yield the best when compared to control fields and therefore, the models are introduced as the most suitable site selection strategies for flood spreading.