Problems of the solution: intervention into small-scale irrigation for drought proofing in the Mekele Plateau of northern Ethiopia

The Mekele Plateau, located in the semi-arid northern highland region of Ethiopia, is a drought-prone, highly degraded area. It has long been neglected by policymakers and thus recurring famine, widespread poverty, armed conflicts and mass outmigration have contributed to the near collapse of the farming systems and the livelihoods of the population. Traditional stream diversion irrigation has been practised in this area for several centuries. The systems of water management in particular may be considered inappropriate owing to the need for thriftiness in water use imposed by the local environment. The systems of headworks and canals are crude and wasteful on water. Recent interventions to improve the small-scale irrigation systems of the area have not been successful. Most interventions have preferred to introduce rainwater harvesting systems using micro-dams rather than trying to upgrade the traditional diversion schemes. Evaluation of irrigation structures in the field, interviews with key informants in government, analysis of documents and discussions with irrigators indicate that both the Ministry of Agriculture and SAERT-Commission's rainwater harvesting programmes have generally failed. The case of the most recent intervention by SAERT has failed because of myopic project planning, inadequate engineering studies, unsound designs, too short a time for implementation, and lack of full farmer involvement at different levels of project planning and implementation.     

Modeling of bore hydrographs to determine the impact of climate and land-use change in a temperate subhumid region of southeastern Australia

To determine the relative impact of climate and human intervention on groundwater elevations in western Victoria, southeast Australia, bore hydrograph fluctuations in three aquifers were modelled using a transfer function noise model (PIRFICT) and an auto-regressive model (HARTT), which give generally comparable results. Most of the groundwater-level fluctuations (>90%) are explained by climatic variation, particularly rainfall. The overall non-climate-related trend in groundwater level is downward and small but statistically significant (??.04 to ??.066 m/yr), and is probably due to the widespread replacement of grazing land by wheat and canola cultivation, as these crops use more water than pasture. A large non-climate-related trend (??.30 m/yr) for bores in an irrigation area is mainly related to groundwater extraction. The response time of the system is rapid (only 4.85 years on average), much faster than previously estimated. Rates of groundwater flow are much slower; groundwater ages are up to ~35,000 years. Response times effectively represent the time for the system to move to a new state of hydrologic equilibrium; this prediction of the time scale of the impacts of land-use change on groundwater resources will allow the development of better strategies for groundwater management.     

Modeling the integrated roles of insurance and retrofit in managing natural disaster risk: a multi-stakeholder perspective

This paper introduces a new modeling framework to understand and improve regional natural disaster risk management in the USA, including the interactions among key stakeholders and between the two important risk management mechanisms of insurance and retrofit. The framework includes a stochastic programming optimization to represent insurer decisions, which interacts with a utility-based model of individual homeowners’ decisions to insure and/or retrofit. Reinsurer and government roles are represented as inputs, and the decision models are integrated with a detailed regional catastrophe loss estimation model. This modeling framework is applied to a full-scale, realistic case study for hurricane risk to residential buildings in Eastern North Carolina. Several alternative system configurations are considered that affect the incentives for adoption of alternative risk management methods. They include providing a government subsidy for insured homeowners to encourage retrofit, providing both a government subsidy and insurance rebate to reduce retrofit costs, and mandating insurance purchase with a cap on insurance premiums. For each configuration, outcomes are presented from the perspectives of all key stakeholders—primary insurer, homeowners (insured and uninsured, in high- and low-risk areas), reinsurers, and the government. Results suggest that it is possible to design policies in which all stakeholders can be better off simultaneously. Retrofit incentives for insured homeowners can be effective in linking and strengthening the benefits of retrofit and insurance. Mandatory insurance coupled with capped profit loading factors and possibly retrofit rebates from the insurer to the homeowner can also reduce overall system risk.     

Evolution of the middle crust beneath the western Pannonian Basin: a xenolith study

Felsic to mafic granulite xenoliths from late Neogene basalt pyroclastics in four localities of the western Pannonian Basin (Beistein, Kapfenstein, Szigliget and Káptalantóti (Sabar-hegy) were studied to find out their metamorphic and fluid history. The characteristic mineral assemblage of the granulites consists of Pl + Opx + Qtz ± Cpx ± Bt ± Grt ± Kfs. Based on abundant magmatic relic microstructural domains occurring in these rocks, the potential precursors might have been predominantly felsic igneous or high to ultrahigh temperature rocks. Ternary feldspar thermometry provides a rough estimate of temperatures of about 920–1070 °C. The first fluid invasion event, which is linked with this early high to ultrahigh temperature stage is characterised by primary pure CO₂ inclusions in apatite and zircon. The densest primary CO₂ inclusions indicate 0.52–0.64 GPa pressure at the estimated temperature range of crystallization. According to mineral equilibria and geothermobarometry, the high to ultrahigh temperature rock cooled and crystallized to granulite of predominantly felsic composition at about 750–870 °C and 0.50–0.75 GPa in the middle crust, between 20 and 29 km depths. The second fluid invasion event is recorded by primary CO₂-rich fluid inclusions hosted in the granulitic mineral assemblage (plagioclase, quartz and orthopyroxene). In addition to CO₂, Raman spectroscopy revealed the presence of minor N₂, H₂S, CO and H₂O in these inclusions. Partial melting of biotite-bearing assemblages could be connected to the next fluid invasion shown by secondary CO₂-rich fluids recorded along with healed fractures in plagioclase, clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene. This event could have happened at depths similar to the previous ones. The final step in the granulite evolution was the sampling in the middle crust and transportation to the surface in form of xenoliths by mafic melt. This event generated temperature increase and pressure decrease and thus, limited melting of the xenoliths. The youngest fluid inclusion generation, observed mostly in healed fractures of felsic minerals, could be associated with this event.     

Timing and rate of granulite facies metamorphism and cooling from multi-mineral chronology on migmatitic gneisses,Sierras de La Huerta and Valle Fértil,NW Argentina

Migmatitic paragneisses of the Valle Fértil–La Huerta Ranges at the Western margin of the Sierras Pampeanas are composed of garnet–cordierite–plagioclase–biotite–quartz-bearing units that experienced peak metamorphic conditions of ca. 800 °C at 6–7 kbar. Based on petrological studies, pseudosection modeling and petrographic observations, an anticlockwise P–T path with a small pressure increment is proposed. Rare earth element LA-ICP-MS patterns acquired from rutile bearing garnets suggest a single stage of garnet growth at high-T at pressures above the ilmenite–rutile transition. U–Pb dating of zircon rims from the migmatites indicates two distinct metamorphic U–Pb ages of 525 ± 9 Ma and 478 ± 9 Ma. The older age is suggested to record an amphibolite facies event of the Pampean orogeny. The younger metamorphic age is contemporary with igneous zircons from metatonalites and pegmatites that yield 478 ± 4 Ma. We suggest that the prograde high-T metamorphic Famatinian event is associated with the emplacement of large magmatic bodies in which large-scale magmatic activity gave rise to an increased geothermal gradient of about 35 °C/km. Sm–Nd garnet ages of 447 ± 3 Ma indicate a time span of around 30 Ma for which temperatures above the garnet closure temperature prevailed. Using U–Pb, Sm–Nd and Rb–Sr isotope systems, a cooling rate of 3 to 6 °C/Myr is inferred.     

Hydraulic In situ Testing for Mining and Engineering Design: Packer Test Procedure,Preparation, Analysis and Interpretation

Hydraulic in situ measurement of rock mass permeability by packer (Lugeon) testing is an inherent and integral element of many engineering, hydrogeological and mining investigation. This paper describes and discusses geotechnical testing in the design process from a consulting practitioner’s perspective. This study focuses on the Packer testing planning, procedure, results & interpretation. Packer test system is an optimum method for obtaining values of hydraulic conductivity in wells that are difficult to analyse using conventional slug test systems. Packer tests are carried out to assess the variability of a borehole as it intersects various hydrogeological units. It gives vertical distribution of hydraulic properties and water quality in the aquifer and usually cheaper than a nest of wells and gives more continuous record and this knowledge can often be essential for a proper design. The role, objectives, types and interpretation of testing, limitations and recommended good practices as part of the geotechnical design process are outlined through the examination of test data from a case record.     

Gabbro Akarem, Eastern Desert, Egypt: Cu–Ni–PGE mineralization in a concentrically zoned mafic–ultramafic complex

The Gabbro Akarem (Late Precambrian) intrusion is concentrically zoned with a dunite core surrounded by lherzolite–clinopyroxenite enveloped by olivine–plagioclase hornblendite and plagioclase hornblendite. Cu–Ni–PGE mineralization is closely associated with peridotite, especially in the inner, olivine-rich core (dunite pipes) where net-textured and massive sulfides (pyrrhotite, pentlandite, chalcopyrite) are found in association with Al–Mg-rich spinel and Cr-magnetite. Primary magmatic textures are well preserved; however, deformation and mobilization due to shearing are locally observed. Platinum-group minerals (PGM) documented from the deposit are: merenskyite (PdTe₂) and michenerite (PdTeBi), as well as palladian bismuthian melonite (Ni,Pd) (Te,Bi)₂. These minerals occur in intimate association with hessite (Ag₂Te) and electrum (Au_0.65Ag_0.31Bi_0.04) in two distinct textural positions: (1) as inclusions in pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and rarely chalcopyrite and (2) at sulfide–silicate grain boundaries and on microfractures in base-metal sulfides (BMS) and olivine associated with serpentine and secondary magnetite. Textural features suggest that PGM were exsolved from monosulfide solid solution over a wide range of temperatures. Late-stage, low-temperature hydrothermal solutions led to redistribution of PGE. Mineralized samples show Ni/Cu ratios ranging from 0.2 to 2 with an average of 1.0. The (Pt + Pd + Rh)/(Os + Ir + Ru) ratio is generally >6 in most samples, and Os, Ru, and Ir are below the detection limit (2 ppb). The PGE contents show positive correlation with S only at low sulfur contents. The PGE patterns of Gabbro Akarem are similar to those of Alaskan-type deposits. Compared with stratiform deposits, Gabbro Akarem is depleted in PGE. The consistently low PGE contents of the mineralization and their uniform distribution in the ultramafic rocks despite the high sulfur content of the rock is attributed to rapid crystallization of sulfides in a highly dynamic environment. Received: 3 November 1999 / Accepted: 29 July 2000