Factors affecting sediment trapping in vegetated filter strips: simulation study using VFSMOD

Soil and water conservation practices have been promoted for a long time, in order to sustain agricultural activities and prevent environmental pollution. Vegetated filter strips (VFS) have been used to reduce sediment pollution into water bodies at or near the pollutant source. However, factors effecting VFS performance under natural conditions have not been well understood owing to the physical, time and financial limitations of field experiments. The use of well‐validated simulation models to understand the performance of VFS and factors affecting sediment deposition is highly justified. The objective of this research is to investigate sediment trapping in VFS and to study various factors affecting VFS performance using the simulation model VFSMOD, which was developed by researchers at University of North Carolina. Recently, VFSMOD has been validated successfully by using 21 filters with varying length, slope and vegetated cover. A wide range of five parameters was selected for the simulations, namely filter length, filter slope, manning roughness coefficient, soil type and characteristics of incoming sediment from adjacent fields. Computer simulations revealed that the length of filter is the most significant factor affecting sediment trapping in VFS. The relative increase in trapping efficiencies was not linearly related to an increase in filter length. Inflow sediment class also has a major influence on sediment trapping in VFS. The trapping efficiency of clay sediments in a 15 m length VFS was 47% compared with 92% for silt from incoming sediment. Manning roughness coefficient had a moderate effect on sediment trapping and was more significant in short filters. Land slope and soil type of VFS had a minor influence on the performance of VFS. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extent and nature of hydrocarbon occurrence in the groundwater of Kuwait

A study, aimed at characterizing the nature of anthropogenic and biogenic hydrocarbon contamination in the groundwater of Kuwait, was carried out using fluorescence spectroscopy and other analytical techniques. The results of these analyses have demonstrated that the groundwater in certain areas of northern Kuwait has been significantly impacted by contamination originating from the oil-contaminated surface soils. The study revealed that a water-soluble fraction (WSF) of the crude oil surface contamination appeared to be slowly leaching into the freshwater lenses located in the area. The study also showed that hydrocarbon pollutants were practically absent in the brackish water areas of central and southern Kuwait, except for a few isolated sites. However, nonpetroleum hydrocarbons, with ultraviolet-visible absorption characteristics and fluorescence characteristics typically associated with humic substances, were observed at a few sites in the brackish water fields.     

Field Evaluation of Arid Soils Wetting Pattern in Subsurface Drip Irrigation Scheme

A field study evaluating wetted radius (Wr), downward depth (Dd), and upward movement (Um) under different emitter discharges and lateral depths was conducted. Four emitter discharges (2, 4, 8, and 16 L/h) and four lateral depths (0, 10, 20, and 30 cm) were tested in a clay loam soil. Relationships were found between the emitter discharge and lateral depth versus Wr, Dd, and Um. Wetting area at the surface occurs under different emitter discharges and lateral depths except at 30 cm lateral depth. At lateral depth of 0 and 10 cm, Wr and emitter discharge were positively correlated. The Dd was not affected by emitter discharge except for laterals installed at 20 cm depth. At 30 cm lateral depth, the correlations between each of Wr, Um, and Dd with emitter discharge were poor. The ratios of Wr/Dd and Um/Dd, with respect to emitter position, were less than unity over different emitter discharges and lateral depths. These results shed some light on the design of subsurface drip irrigation scheme so that the spacing between emitters should be determined based on the lateral depths and discharge of emitters. Evaporation losses were negligible for the 30‐cm‐lateral depth since the upward moisture movement has not reached the soil surface area at all discharge rates tested in the study.     

Modelling of Soil Degradation in Semi-arid Area Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques,Southern Jordan As Case Study

Doklady Earth Sciences - This research dealt with the topic of modeling the soil lost in a semi-arid desert area in the Ma’an watershed and its surroundings in Ma’an Governorate using...     

Effect of environmental factors on photodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the water-soluble fraction of Kuwait crude oil in seawater

Photodegradation of PAHs in the water-soluble fraction of Kuwait crude oil in seawater was investigated under various environmental factors (temperature, light intensity, oxygen levels and presence of a sensitizer) in laboratory conditions. All factors investigated had significant effect on the degradation rates of PAHs. At 15 °C almost all PAHs optimally degraded at an oxygen level of 4 ppm. For lower molecular weight PAHs a light intensity of 500 W/m² in the presence of the sensitizer worked well. Higher molecular weight PAHs degraded at faster rates at a light intensity 750 W/m². At 30 °C, most of the PAHs degraded optimally at an oxygen level of 0 ppm and light intensity of 500 or 750 W/m² in presence of the sensitizer. At 40 °C, most of PAHs degraded optimally at low oxygen concentrations (0 and 4 ppm) and a light intensity of 500 W/m² in the presence of the sensitizer. Linear regression indicated that for most of the compounds, light intensity had the greatest effect on degradation rates.     

Validation of a vegetated filter strip model (VFSMOD)

Vegetated filter strips (VFS) are designed to reduce sediment load and other pollutants into water bodies. However, adaptation of VFS in the field has been limited owing to lack of data about their efficiency and performance under natural field conditions. A number of models are available that simulate sediment transport and trapping in VFS, but there is a general lack of confidence in VFS models owing to limited validation studies and model limitations that prevent correct application of these models under field conditions. The objective of this study is to test and validate a process‐based model (VFSMOD) that simulates sediment trapping in VFS. This model links three submodels: modified Green–Ampt's infiltration, Quadratic overland flow submodel based on kinematic wave approximation and University of Kentucky sediment filtration model. A total of 20 VFS, 2, 5, 10 and 15 m long and with various vegetation covers, were tested under simulated sediment and runoff conditions. The results of these field experiments were used to validate the VFS model. The model requires 25 input parameters distributed over five input files. All input parameters were either measured or calculated using experimental data. The observed sediment trapping efficiencies varied from 65% in the 2‐m long VFS to 92% in the 10‐m long filters. No increase in sediment removal efficiency was observed at higher VFS length. Application of the VFS model to experimental data was satisfactory under the condition that actual flow widths are used in the model instead of the total filter width. Predicted and observed sediment trapping efficiencies and infiltration volume fitted very well, with a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0·9 and 0·95, respectively. Regression analyses revealed that the slope and intercept of the regression lines between predicted versus observed infiltration volume and trapping efficiency were not significantly different than the line of perfect agreement with a slope of 1·0 and intercept of 0·0. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigation of runoff reduction and sediment removal by vegetated filter strips

The impact of vegetated filter strips (VFS) on sediment removal from runoff has been studied extensively in recent years. Vegetation is believed to increase water infiltration and decrease water turbulence thus enhancing sediment deposition within filter media. In the study reported here, field experiments have been conducted to examine the efficiency of vegetated filter strips for sediment removal from cropland runoff. Twenty filters with varying length, slope and vegetated cover were used under simulated runoff conditions with an average sediment concentration of 2700 mg/L. The filters were 2, 5, 10 and 15 m long with a slope of 2·3 and 5% and three types of vegetation. Three other strips with bare soil were used as a control. The experimental results showed that the average sediment trapping efficiency of all filters was 84% and ranging from 68% in a 2‐m filter to as high as 98% in a 15‐m long filter compared with only 25% for the control. The length of filter has been found to be the predominant factor affecting sediment deposition in VFS up to 10 m. Increasing filter length to 15 m did not improve sediment trapping efficiency under the present experimental conditions. The rate of incoming flow and vegetation cover percentage has a secondary effect on sediment deposition in VFS. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monitoring shoreline change on Djerba Island using GIS and multi-temporal satellite data

In the absence of a generic approach to study shoreline changes, this research focus on the development of a generic methodology to detect, measure, analyze, and predict shoreline changes to manage coastal environment. The unique strength of this approach is that it incorporates image processing techniques, remotely sensed derived data into a GIS to analyze measure, and predict and visualize shoreline changes. It is independent from the study region or the remote sensing data. This methodology uses Speeded Up Robust Feature to detect the study regions from satellite images automatically. Also, it proposes a model of shoreline using the Canny edge detector on Normalized Difference Water Index image. To measure the changes, Digital Shoreline Analysis System extension of ArcGIS was used and the End Point Rate (EPR) and Linear Regression Rate (LRR) approaches were used on the modeled shoreline. The EPR is calculated by dividing the distance of shoreline movement by the time elapsed between the oldest and the most recent shoreline. A LRR statistic can be determined by fitting a least-squares regression line to all shoreline points for a particular transect. Three regions of the island of Djerba in Tunisia were selected for this study; Rass Errmall, El Kastil, and Aghir. Accretions as well as erosion processes were observed in the study areas between 1984 and 2009. The average of the erosion was around ?6.95 m/year in Aghir. The average of erosion is around ?4.09 m/year and accretion trend is around +11.7 m/year in Rass Errmall. El Kastil was under a remarkable accretion with 21.14 m/year during the same period.