Characterization of locally available soil as a liner material for solid waste landfills in Sri Lanka

This study aimed to develop a low-cost and effective clay liner material for solid waste landfills in Sri Lanka. A locally available clayey soil and its admixtures with 5 and 10% bentonite were examined for this purpose. Laboratory experiments to determine soil plasticity and swell index were carried out on the tested samples. Hydraulic conductivity (k) tests were carried out in the laboratory using water and an aqueous solution of CaCl₂ on unconsolidated samples prepared by either dry or slurry packing and pre-consolidated samples with five different consolidation pressures (p) from 10 to 200 kPa. Measured liquid limits for tested admixtures increased with increasing bentonite contents and correlated well with measured values of the swell index. The difference in permeant solutions had little effect on measured k values for both unconsolidated and pre-consolidated samples. The hydraulic conductivities were highly affected by changing p, i.e., the k values decreased on two orders of magnitude as p increased from 10 to 200 kPa. The Kozeny–Carman equation, a theoretical permeability model that expresses the k-porosity relationship, was applied to measured data including reported values. Results showed the Kozeny–Carman equation captured well the porosity-dependent k values for tested soils and their admixtures with bentonite under a wide range of void ratios, suggesting that the Kozeny–Carman equation is a useful tool to estimate the magnitude of k values for differently compacted soil and its bentonite admixtures.     

Reservoir Potential Assessment of the Tortonian–Calabrian Sediments from Offshore Makran(Southwest Pakistan) through a Multidisciplinary Approach

The Tortonian–Calabrian strata of Offshore Makran(Pakistan) is investigated for the purpose of reservoir assessment. The stratigraphy and petrophysics indicate that the Neogene sediments have tight reservoir potential with porosities in the range of 3%–9% and 40%–50% water saturation. The mineralogical cross plots indicate a mixed lithology with an abundance of dolomite and calcite, together with minor quartz content and shale. The seismic interpretation demonstrates medium–high amplitude reflec...     

Religious Belief across ‘Post-secular’ Sydney: the multiple trends in (de)secularisation

Cities were once thought to be crucibles of secularisation, where the retreat from religion and its expression would be most pronounced. This decline in faith was linked to the heightened levels of heterogeneity and cosmopolitanism within cities. However, there is recent evidence of both the continuation and of the recession of the secularisation process in contemporary Western societies, with the mix and pace of these trends being quite unique to different countries. Significantly, this combination of processes has been argued to be part of a ‘post-secularist’ paradigm. Drawing on census data, this paper examines the spatial patterns of religious affiliation and non-belief in the Australian city of Sydney. Sydney has divergent geographies of faith and non-faith indicating the spatial multiplicities of religious belief. The decrease in Christianity in some areas of the city has been matched by an increase in non-Christian faiths, while in other areas there has been little change. Some parts of the city—especially those areas with a strong mix of affluence, diversity and cosmopolitanism—betray the strongest levels of secularisation and the retreat of faith. At least five geographies of faith and non-belief are recognisable within Sydney. While post-secularisation has been recognised as internationally uneven, this research demonstrates that it is also uneven across a world city like Sydney. The Sydney variations in (de)secularisation reflect city-based effects, including the historic and contemporary patterns of immigrant settlement, established and emerging religious communities, the segmented geographies of class and affluence, and the development of zones of cosmopolitanism. The findings point to the need for further research on the micro-geographies of religious belief and non-belief and community relations, and the on links between religious communities and civil society.     

Application of gravity and magnetic methods for the crustal study and delineating associated ores in the western limb of Hazara Kashmir Syntaxis,Northwest Himalayas,Pakistan

The present geophysical study deals with the ores and crustal demonstration of southeastern Hazara and its adjoining areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, on the basis of terrestrial gravity and magnetic data. Tectonically, the study area lies in the Lesser Himalayas as well as to an extent in the sub-Himalaya, more specifically in the western limb of Hazara Kashmir Syntaxis. In this study, 567 gravity and 508 magnetic stations have been measured with CG-5 gravimeter and proton precession magnetometer, respectively. The collected data have been processed by applying standard corrections and then different types of maps were prepared. The ores in the area have been delineated by the qualitative interpretation of residual Bouguer anomaly and reduction to pole total magnetic intensity maps, whereas regional structures are demarcated by the Bouguer anomaly and regional Bouguer anomaly maps. The positive contour closures on the residual Bouguer anomaly map indicate the iron ore and phosphate, whereas negative contour closures are the effects of low-density material which consists of gypsum and soapstone. The pole-reduced total intensity map also shows the negative and positive contour closures almost in the same localities and confirms the residual Bouguer anomaly map. The geological model computed on the basis of Bouguer anomaly demarcated a series of faults between different rock units in the study area. The Kashmir Boundary Thrust cuts the western limb of Hazara Kashmir Syntaxis near the apex in the north of Muzaffarabad and marks the boundary between Murree Formation and carbonates of Abbottabad Formation. The gravity model also suggests that the thickness of the crust increases towards the northeast.     

Seismic activity prediction using computational intelligence techniques in northern Pakistan

Earthquake prediction study is carried out for the region of northern Pakistan. The prediction methodology includes interdisciplinary interaction of seismology and computational intelligence. Eight seismic parameters are computed based upon the past earthquakes. Predictive ability of these eight seismic parameters is evaluated in terms of information gain, which leads to the selection of six parameters to be used in prediction. Multiple computationally intelligent models have been developed for earthquake prediction using selected seismic parameters. These models include feed-forward neural network, recurrent neural network, random forest, multi layer perceptron, radial basis neural network, and support vector machine. The performance of every prediction model is evaluated and McNemar’s statistical test is applied to observe the statistical significance of computational methodologies. Feed-forward neural network shows statistically significant predictions along with accuracy of 75% and positive predictive value of 78% in context of northern Pakistan.     

Hydrocarbon source rock potential evaluation of the Late Paleocene Patala Formation,Salt Range,Pakistan: Organic geochemical and palynofacies approach

Organic geochemical and palynofacies analyses were carried out on shale intervals of the Late Paleocene Patala Formation at Nammal Gorge Section, western Salt Range, Pakistan. The total organic carbon content and Rock-Eval pyrolysis results indicated that the formation is dominated by type II and type III kerogens. Rock-Eval \({T}_{\mathrm{max}}\) vs. hydrogen index (HI) and thermal alteration index indicated that the analysed shale intervals present in the formation are thermally mature. \(S_{1}\) and \(S_{2}\) yields showed poor source rock potential for the formation. Three palynofacies assemblages including palynofacies-1, palynofacies-2 and palynofacies-3 were identified, which are prone to dry gas, wet gas and oil generation, respectively. The palynofacies assessment revealed the presence of oil/gas and gas prone type II and type III kerogens in the formation and their deposition on proximal shelf with suboxic to anoxic conditions. The kerogen macerals are dominated by vitrinite and amorphinite with minor inertinite and liptinite. The kerogen macerals are of both marine and terrestrial origin, deposited on a shallow shelf. Overall, the dark black carbonaceous shales present within the formation act as a source rock for hydrocarbons with poor-to-moderate source rock quality, while the grey shales act as a poor source rock for hydrocarbon generation.     

Microfacies analysis and diagenetic fabric of the Lockhart Limestone exposed near Taxila,Margalla Hill Range,Punjab, Pakistan

The microfacies analysis and diagenetic fabric of the Lockhart Limestone are studied in an outcrop section exposed in the Margalla Hill ranges. The Lockhart Limestone is predominantly composed of medium to thick bedded, nodular and occasionally brecciated, highly fossiliferous limestone with thin interbeds of marl and shale. On the basis of detailed petrographic investigations, four microfacies have been identified including bioclastic packstone, wackestone (siliciclastic bioclastic rich sub-microfacies), wackestone-packstone, and mud-wackestone. Based on the microfacies analysis, the Lockhart Limestone is interpreted to have been deposited in the fore-shoal mid-ramp, mid-ramp, and outer ramp depositional environments. The Paleocene age has been assigned to the Lockhart Limestone based on age diagnostic foraminifera, i.e., Miscellanea, Lockhartia, and Ranikothalia. The diagenetic fabric of the Lockhart Limestone is characterized by several diagenetic features such as micritization, neomorphism (aragonite to calcite transformation and development of microspar), compaction, pressure dissolution (microstylolites), and cementation (calcite-filled microfractures). Such diagenetic features are developed in marine, meteoric, and burial diagenetic settings. The Paleocene Lockhart Limestone of Pakistan shows analogous features to that of the Paleocene Zongpu Formation (Member-3) of the Gamba-Tingri Basin of southern Tibet based on the outcrop features, microscopic fabric, and depositional environment.