Seismic stratigraphy of the Mianwali and Bannu depressions,north-western Indus foreland basin

International Journal of Earth Sciences - Regional seismic reflection profiles, deep exploratory wells, and outcrop data have been used to study the structure and stratigraphic architecture of the...     

Identifying effects of local and nonlocal factors of soil water storage using cyclical correlation analysis

There are various factors governing the spatial and temporal variability of soil water storage including soil properties, topography and vegetation. Some factors act locally, whereas others act nonlocally, which means that a factor measured at one location has effect on soil water storage at another location. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of local and nonlocal controls of soil water storage in a hummocky landscape using cyclical correlation analysis. Soil water storage, soil properties and terrain indices were measured along a 128‐point transect of 576 m long from the semiarid, hummocky, prairie pothole region of North America. There are large coefficients of determination (r²) between soil water storage and sand content (r² = 0.32–0.53), organic carbon content (r² = 0.22–0.56), depth to carbonate layer (r² = 0.13–0.63), wetness index (r² = 0.25–0.45) and other variables at the measurement scale at different times, indicating strong local effects from these variables. The correlation coefficients were also calculated by physically shifting the spatial series of soil water storage with respect to that of controlling factors. The shifting improves the correlation between the spatial series, and the length of shifting indicated the difference in the response of soil water to its controlling factors. For example, the value of r² increased more than eightfold (r² = 0.47–0.64) after shifting the spatial series of soil water storage by 54 m, almost equal to the average length of existing slope, compared with the very weak correlation (r² = 0.02–0.08) at the measurement scale. This indicated the nonlocal effect from the relative elevation. The identification of nonlocal effects from factors improves the prediction of soil water storage. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A study of aerosol properties over Lahore (Pakistan) by using AERONET data

It is well established that aerosols affect the climate in a variety of ways. In order to understand these effects, we require an insight into the properties of aerosols. In this paper we present a study of aerosol properties such as aerosol optical depth (AOD), single scattering albedo (SSA) and aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) over mega city of Lahore (Pakistan). The data from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) have been used for the period December 2009 to October 2011. The seasonal average values of AOD, asymmetry parameter (ASY) and volume size distribution in coarse mode were observed to be highest in summer. On the other hand, the average values of Angstrom exponent (AE) and imaginary part of refractive index (RI) were found to be maximum in winter. The average value of real part of RI was found to be higher in spring than in all other seasons. The SSA exhibited an increasing trend with wavelength in the range 440 nm–1020 nm in spring, summer and fall indicating the dominance of coarse particles (usually dust). However, a decreasing trend was found in winter in the range 675 nm–1020 nm pointing towards the dominance of biomass and urban/industrial aerosols. As far as aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) is concerned, we have found that during the spring season ARF was lowest at the surface of Earth and highest at top of the atmosphere (TOA). This indicates that the atmosphere was warmer in spring than in all the remaining seasons.     

Merger histories in warm dark matter structure formation scenarios

Observations on galactic scales seem to be in contradiction with recent high-resolution N -body simulations. This so-called cold dark matter (CDM) crisis has been addressed in several ways, ranging from a change in fundamental physics by introducing self-interacting cold dark matter particles to a tuning of complex astrophysical processes such as global and/or local feedback. All these efforts attempt to soften density profiles and reduce the abundance of satellites in simulated galaxy haloes. In this paper, we explore a different approach that consists of filtering the dark matter power spectrum on small scales, thereby altering the formation history of low-mass objects. The physical motivation for damping these fluctuations lies in the possibility that the dark matter particles have a different nature, i.e. are warm (WDM) rather than cold. We show that this leads to some interesting new results in terms of the merger history and large-scale distribution of low-mass haloes, compared with the standard CDM scenario. However, WDM does not appear to be the ultimate solution, in the sense that it is not able to fully solve the CDM crisis, even though one of the main drawbacks, namely the abundance of satellites, can be remedied. Indeed, the cuspiness of the halo profiles still persists, at all redshifts, and for all haloes and sub-haloes that we investigated. Despite the persistence of the cuspiness problem of DM haloes, WDM seems to be still worth taking seriously, as it alleviates the problems of over-abundant sub-structures in galactic haloes and possibly the lack of angular momentum of simulated disc galaxies. WDM also lessens the need to invoke strong feedback to solve these problems, and may provide a natural explanation of the clustering properties and ages of dwarfs.     

应用核磁共振技术分析干盐湖地区地下卤水空间分布特征——以昆特依干盐湖为例

昆特依干盐湖位于柴达木盆地西北部,为特大型综合盐类矿床.大盐滩是昆特依干盐湖内最大的盐滩,地下赋存有一定量的卤水矿床,但该矿床的水文地质条件差,主要卤水矿层含水性弱,开采难度大.核磁共振找水方法作为当今世界上唯一的直接找水地球物理新方法,具有高分辨力、高效率、信息量丰富和解的唯一性等优点,本文运用该方法对昆特依干盐滩地区地下卤水空间分布特征进行研究,通过对核磁共振数据进行处理与反演,结合已有的地质与钻井资料,对测点进行综合地质-地球物理解释,获得以下认识:1)大盐滩0~130 m深度范围内,共存在3个卤水含水层,主要呈扁平状或漏斗状、近似层状展布,W1为晶间潜卤水层,渗透系数较大,颗粒较粗,单位体积含水量为0.4%~2.7%,W2和W3为晶间承压卤水层,渗透系数较小,颗粒较粗,单位体积含水量分别为0.2%~1.1%和0.1%~0.8%;2)大盐滩地区存在两个卤水富集区,分别为研究区西南部沉积盆地中心的Ⅰ号富卤区和盆地东北部的Ⅱ号富卤区;3)根据区域内卤水富集分布以及构造情况,划定大盐滩向斜沉积中心、大盐滩北侧F1~F8及遥F6断裂发育区和冷湖构造带为区域内主要的找矿找水远景区;4)GMR核磁共振系统在干盐滩地区理论探测深度为130 m,该系统不仅可以有效地探测自由水,而且可以依据束缚水的分布解译地下各类含水盐类矿物和含水黏土矿物的存在与分布.     

Application of Fourier series in managing the seasonality of convective and monsoon rainfall

ABSTRACT

This study assesses the performance of Fourier series in representing seasonal variations of the tropical rainfall process in Malaysia. Fourier series are incorporated into a spatial-temporal stochastic model in an attempt to make the model parsimonious and, at the same time, capture the annual variation of rainfall distribution. In view of Malaysia’s main rainfall regime, the model is individually fitted for two regions with distinctive rainfall profiles: one being an urban area receiving rainfall from convective activities whilst the other receives rainfall from monsoonal activities. Since both regions are susceptible to floods, the study focuses on the rainfall process at fine resolution. Fourier series equations are developed to represent the model’s parameters to describe their annual periodicity. The number of significant harmonics for each parameter is determined by inspecting the cumulative fraction of total variance explained by the significant harmonics. Results reveal that the number of significant harmonics assigned for the parameters is slightly higher in the region with monsoonal rains. The overall simulation results show that the proposed model is capable of generating tropical rainfall series from convective and monsoonal activities.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis Associate editor K. Hamed     

Provisional Elemental Values for IAEA‐Sewage Sludge by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) organised a proficiency test (PT), IAEA‐CU‐2010‐02, for the determination of elements in sewage sludge. The PT sample was analysed by semi‐absolute standardless k₀‐instrumental neutron activation analysis (k₀‐INAA). Results for seven elements (As, Co, Cr, Fe, Hg, Se, Zn) were submitted to the IAEA by our laboratory. All of our results were scored ‘acceptable’ by the ‘result evaluation criteria’ adopted by the IAEA. The same analytical methodology produced quantitative results for twenty‐six additional elements. In total, thirty‐six elements were determined with uncertainty varying from 4 to 11%. This paper presents the provisional mass fractions of twenty‐six additional elements (Ag, Al, Br, Ca, Ce, Cl, Dy, Eu, Ga, Hf, I, K, La, Mg, Mn, Na, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Th, V, U, W) not reported by the IAEA. The analytical methodology was discussed with important sources of spectral, nuclear and fission‐product interferences. It was shown that the important components of uncertainties were the k₀ factor, Q₀ factor, detector efficiency, mass and counting statistics. The methodology was validated by analysing the IAEA‐S7 reference material.     

A comprehensive study on the surface chemistry of particulate matter collected from Jeddah,Saudi Arabia

In this work, the X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) technique is utilized to analyze the surface chemical composition of particulate matter (PM) which was collected from various locations at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The main elements found on the surface of PM are carbon (C), oxygen (O) and silicon (Si) with combined percentage of 89.4–94.9 while traces of nitrogen (N), calcium (Ca), aluminum (Al), sodium (Na), chlorine (Cl), manganese (Mg), and sulfur (S) were also present. The analyzed XPS chemical state of C, O and Si was further used to determine their bonding with other elements occurring over the surface of PM. Carbon was found in the form of carbides (18.86%), fluorides (2.39%) and carbonates (78.75%); oxygen was observed as oxides (21.05%) and hydroxides (73.42%) of other metals; and silicon was detected as silicones (12.16%), nitrides (82.53%) and silicates (5.25%). The particle size of a PM is also of great concern for health issues, and thus has been investigated by the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). The Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) was employed for cross verification of detected elements by XPS.     

Numerical simulation of groundwater flow in the Peshawar intermontane basin, northwest Himalayas

The hypothesis that abnormal fluid pressure is generated in basins under tectonic compression is tested. The study site, between the Main Karakoram Thrust (MKT), Main Mantle Thrust (MMT), Main Central Thrust (MCT), Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and Salt Range Thrust (SRT) in northwest Pakistan, is experiencing a tectonic compression of 90 MPa. The Peshawar basin is a broad, oval depression comprising a thick sequence of lacustrine, deltaic and fluvial sediments overlain by loess and alluvial deposits dated at 2.8–0.6 Ma. It is surrounded by the Precambrian and Tertiary intrusive and metamorphic rocks on the north and sedimentary rocks of Paleogene and Neogene to the south. The basin was divided into four hydrostratigraphic units for numerical simulations using the three-dimensional finite-element model FEMWATER within groundwater modeling system (GMS) ver. 5.1. Simulated pressure head data have been compared with the field measurements of hydraulic heads. Transient simulations indicate that topography alone is not sufficient to induce the pressure heads observed in the field, generating consistently positive residuals 0.98–2.90 m over the topography-driven flow. The residuals disappeared after inclusion of the elastic properties of the four hydrostratigraphic units in the model, suggesting the effect of tectonic compression.