Earth Science Malaysia (ESMY)

During the transition of tropical cyclone in the coast of Bangladesh, it is normally observed that there is a noticeable perturbation of weather parameters around the cyclone landfall zone. Through this research the extent of perturbation is assessed. To make the inventory 4 recent cyclones were selected that had made landfall in Bangladesh coast. They are cyclone MORA, cyclone ROANU, cyclone KOMEN and cyclone MAHASEN. Weather parameters selected to check their perturbation are wind speed, temperature, dew point temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity and precipitation. The dispersion of these parameters from their normal state was measured also in accordance of their distance from the landfall area. To perform the task a time scale of 15 days was selected for each cyclone. Middle 3 days window were considered as most affected weather, 6 days prior and after the event were considered as normal (prevailing) weather. The Synop (observed) data was downloaded from the Ogimet.com. The data was then processed and decoded by Synop decoder and then further analyzed in MS Excel. In case of atmospheric pressure perturbation the highest perturbation was found 5.8 mb low on average than prevailing pressure up to 50 km from cyclone landfall. Wind speed perturbation was highest in 50 to 100 km area. Perturbation of temperature was highest in 0 to 50 km (about 2.1 °C low on average). Perturbation of dew point temperature was found negligible and humidity perturbation was found highest 6.63% high on average up to 50 km of landfall. In case of precipitation perturbation highest was found in 0 to 50 km area of landfall (38.76 mm high on average than prevailing weather), however precipitation perturbation was irregular beyond 100 km of landfall. The most perturbed weather parameter was found atmospheric pressure and the least affected was dew point temperature.

Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, which is industrial centre and economic hub needs focus in research and development of every field of Engineering, Science and Technology. Urbanization and industrialization is resulting bad weather conditions which prolongs until a climate change. Since, Meteorology serves as interdisciplinary field of study, an analytical study of real and region-specific meteorological data is conducted which focuses on routine, extreme and engineering meteorology of metropolitan city Karachi. Results of study endorse the meteorological parameters relationship and establish the variability of those parameters for Karachi Coastal Area. The rise of temperature, decreasing trend of atmospheric pressure, increment in precipitation and fall in relative humidity depict the effects of urbanization and industrialization. The recorded extreme maximum temperature of 45.50C (on June 11, 1988) and the extreme minimum temperature of 4.5 0C(on January 1, 2007) is observed at Karachi south meteorological station. The estimated temperature rise in 32 years is 0.9 0C, which is crossing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted/estimated limit of 2oC rise per century. The maximum annual precipitation of 487.0mm appearing in 1994 and the minimum annual precipitation of 2.5mm appearing in 1987 is observed at same station which is representative meteorological station for Karachi Coast. Further Engineering meteorological parameters for heating ventilation air condition (HVAC) system design for industrial purpose are deduced as supporting data for coastal area site study for industrial as well as any follow-up engineering work in the specified region.

In Algeria, there is an urgent need for cartographic zones touched by erosion and also to target priority risk areas to improve the consistency of erosion prevention actions. Such a mapping must be able to display the areas at sensitivity to erosion and must take into account the developments to be undertaken. It is in this perspective that this study is carried out for (a) to map the sensitivity to erosion in the Mellegue catchment by relying on three factors of erosion namely topography, lithology and land use; and (b) to propose a management plan for vulnerable areas. This study is conducted using a Geographic Information System, which has allowed to characterize different areas of the study catchment and its sub-basins by producing a synthetic map of degrees of susceptibility to erosion.The results has shown that the basin has dominant areas of medium to high sensitivity to erosion, despite the existence of a considerable low sensitive area, corresponding to 47% of the basin area and observed mainly at the Meskiana sub-basin. The integration of the results into three levels of sub-basins has allowed identifying the most susceptible areas to erosion. This study provides sufficient data for a prioritization of the study basin according to their degree of erosion, making possible to the different actors, the management of the territory.

Paleoproterozoic sedimentary rocks associated with the Man Shield of West Africa are perceived to be similar, irrespective of their locality. This research seeks to establish the provenance and tectonic setting of these rocks to ascertain any such similarity perception, based on information from two localities. The study uses modal mineral estimations to reconstruct the source, paleocurrent, paleoclimate and relief of some conglomerates and sandstones from Chagupana and Tarkwa areas in Ghana. Chagupana conglomerate has igneous and metamorphic provenances, while Kawere conglomerate has metamorphic provenance. Average mineralogical composition of Chagupana sandstone is Q53-F45-R3 and classify as arkose. Tarkwa suites of Huni, Kawere and Banket sandstones are composed of Q48-F34-R18, Q51-F25-R23 and Q76-F7-R17, and classify as lithic arkose, lithic arkose-feldspathic litharenite, and sublitharenite, respectively. Detritus of all the sandstones suggest acid igneous rock source, with minor sedimentary and metamorphic imprints, with an order of maturity as Banket>Kawere>Huni>Chagupana. Detritus in the Chagupana, Huni and Kawere sandstones are from the transitional continental margin. The Chagupana is from the cold arid climate, while the Huni and Kawere are from the semi-arid/semi-humid climates. The Banket sandstone mobilises from craton interior with recycled orogenic materials in a humid environment. The angular-subangular feldspars in Chagupana sandstone indicate low relief and low-moderate recycling close to the source. Huni, Kawere and Banket sandstones derive from low-moderate reliefs with multiple recycling episodes. The Chagupana and Huni sandstones show paleo-current directions from the north and east, respectively. Similarities between the Chagupana and Tarkwa rocks can only be limited to the tectonic setting and not from source area, paleo-climate, paleo-current and relief.

The project area located in the state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. It is the northeastern part of Pakistan. Geologically the area lies in Kashmir basin. On the southern side, it lies within the extensive Potwar basin. It is an active sedimentary basin. Different Sandstone from different location were collected from the area which is easily accessible and best outcropped with standard size 6/6 inches by helping geological equipment’s. After the preparation of the samples, the current study used different type of tests like, (Point load strength Test, Sonic Pulse Velocity Test, Brazilian Test, Uniaxial Compressive Strength Test (UCS), Slake Durability Test and Petrography). Though the microscopic study of the sandstone different minerals and features were identified. The typical mineral assemblage of Mirpur area Sandstone includes Quartz, Tourmaline, Albite. Hornblende, Hematite Plagioclase, Feldspar, Muscovite, Biotite, Cementing martial, Rock fragment, Opaque and Matrix. Geotechnically finding out the ability of water absorption, resistant against weakening, bear and tear, Tensile strength, Compression strength, also find porosity and permeability of Sandstone. Project area underlying the non-marine Neogene fluvial Himalayan molasse deposit sediments.

Ambient noise was analysed from a two-dimensional (2D) seismic data acquired in the Middle Benue Trough, Nigeria for the purpose of characterizing the ambient seismic noise. Sercel 428XL recording instrument was deployed on 3 traverse lines where dynamite explosive sources and geophone detectors were used. The acquired data was processed using frequency wavenumber (FK) and wild amplitude attenuation (WAA) algorithms. The dominant amplitude of the primary reflection ranges between -20dB and -10dB, while those of the ambient seismic noise varies between -42dB and -3dB. The primary reflections have dominant frequency varying from 6Hz to 75Hz while that of ambient seismic noise varies between 4Hz and 70Hz. Analysis of the noise shows two distinct ground roll modes with velocities between 400 ms-1 and 810 ms-1 both of which are dispersive with wavelength (λ) of 61.5m and peak frequency at 6.5Hz. Analysis of passive noise records acquired showed that ambient seismic (background) noise level excluding source-generated noise average of 91.56% are below 25µV, which is the tolerance noise level limit. The combination of frequency wavenumber FK and WAA filters effectively attenuated the surface waves especially ground rolls and other high amplitude noise making the primary reflection very visible and better enhanced. The filtered amplitude values estimated from signal-to-noise (SNR) analysis using cross correlation (XC) method are much higher than the values of the unfiltered amplitudes indicating that SNR are highest when noises are attenuated from the data than when noise algorithm is not applied to the data. The attributes of these seismic noises will provide further information and solution for their suppression during seismic data acquisition and processing.

Sea beaches are always a good source of heavy minerals around the world. Cox’s Bazar has 120 km of unbroken sandy sea beach. The study includes the sea beaches of 5 upazilas (Moheshkhali, Kolatoli, Ramu, Ukhia, Teknaf) in Cox’s bazaar district for studying the concentration, identification and investigation of heavy mineral deposits along the sandy beaches. This study has concentrated on the physical properties, identification, and abundance of the heavy minerals fraction in sediments collected from the study area. Satellite imagery Landsat-8 OLI was used for remote sensing verifications. The image processing and crucial analysis carried out using Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI), Arc GIS and Erdas Imagine software. Coastal areas adjacent to Teknaf upazila has a very significant amount of heavy mineral reserves, almost 16%. The study has identified around nineteen variety of heavy minerals from the collected samples in the study area. Ilmenite, Kyanite, Garnet, Rutile, Zircon, Magnetite, Augite, Hornblende, Enstatite, Epidote, Andalusite, Hypersthene, Diopside and Cassiterite have been found the most abundant in the entire study area. The Coastline of Bangladesh was surveyed completely to map the heavy minerals which are potential resources for our national economy.

Climate change is believed to affect the hydrological pattern of a watershed. The current paper evaluates the ability of a hydrological model Soil and Water assessment Tool (SWAT) to create a scenario of precipitation on the upper watershed of River Subarnarekha, Ranchi, in the state of Jharkhand, India. Sequential uncertainty fitting (SUFI-2) algorithm has been applied for model calibration and uncertainty analysis. The sensitivity analysis was made using a built-in SWAT sensitivity analysis tool that uses the Latin Hypercube One-factor-At-a-Time. The model parameters were calibrated (2001-2005) and validated (2013-2017) with discharge data obtained from CWC hydrological observatory site, Muri (Ranchi). In this study, IPCC SRES A1B Scenario, PRECIS RCM for time slices, near century (2011–2040, or 2020s), mid century (2041–2070, or 2050s) and end century (2071–2098, or 2080s) extracted by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune (India) have been used for the study The analysis shows that the mean annual rainfall will slightly decrease by 19.4 mm (1.4%) in the 2020s, increase by 86.2 mm (6.2%) in the 2050s, and further increase by 126 mm (9.1%) in the 2080s. For the 2020s, surface runoff shows an average annual decrease by 18.4%. For the 2050s and 2080s, there is an average annual increase by 11.8% and 38.2% respectively. It may be concluded that the precipitation pattern of the climate projections has a significant impact on water balance components. This study will be useful to take timely decisions for the best possible options to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Mining activities are potentially a significant source of metals contamination in the environment. The purpose of this research is to investigate the environmental impacts of mining activities in the vicinity of Meiduk copper mine. In this study, we use the pollution indices such as contamination factor, enrichment factor and geo-accumulation index for evaluating the metal contaminants, including Pb, Ni, Se, Mo and Zn. The fieldwork consisted of 60 surface soil samples drawn at the depth of 0-30 cm. The samples were, then, analyzed for metals using ICP-MS method. Principal component analysis of compositional data (PCA) was also applied as a multivariate method to find relationships among metals. In the first component (PC1), with 51% of the total variance, strong and positive loadings related to Pb, Se, Mo and Zn were evident. The second component (PC2), with 34 % of the total variance, reflected a positive weighting factor of Ni metal. The obtained results showed that heavy metals levels and distribution were found higher at sites which were in the vicinity of mine pits and waste dumps and were probable sources of metal pollution. As an application of the method proposed in this research, project management will be capable of programming timely and suitable response to these risks by identifying risk factors and their contamination level.

Several research works have been carried out on Shoushan Basin, Western Desert including the petroleum system in the Shoushan Basin. However, there is no proper classification was done on Shoushan Basin, Western Desert, Egypt using Global Basin Classification. The objective of this study is to classify Shoushan Basin using Global Basin Classification as proposed by Kingston et al. (1983a, b). The study which was done by integrating different types of data including geochemical, well log, seismic data from literature review provided a better understanding of the evolution and the hydrocarbon potential of Western Desert. Shoushan Basin consists of two basin types which included Margin Sag (MS) Cycle Basin and Wrench Cycle Basin (LL). The combination of these cycles, stages and tectonic event results in the formula being written from the youngest to the oldest as follows: LL – 2/LD/MS – 321321321.