Evidence for reduced post-spill recovery by the halophyte Sporobolus iocladus (Nees ex Trin.) Nees in oil-contaminated sediments     

Youssef T 《Marine pollution bulletin》2002,44(4):334-339

The germination behavior of Sporobolus iocladus seeds including germination percentage, accumulated germination percentage, the average incubation period to germination and germination velocity was studied under laboratory conditions. Treatments included six salinity regimes (0, 70, 140, 210, 280 and 350 mM NaCI) and three sources of oil hydrocarbons; Light Arabian Crude, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) including diaromatic or triaromatic hydrocarbons (in crude oil equivalent concentrations, COEC). The average incubation period needed for seeds to germinate was significantly longer for seeds germinated in 350 mM NaCl (6 +/- 1.16 days) compared with the control (4 +/- 00 days). The accumulated germination percentage gradually decreased with increasing salinity (control: 90 +/- 10, while 350 mM NaCl: 63 +/- 8.8). Oil hydrocarbons significantly affected all germination parameters of S. iocladus seeds regardless of salinity levels. COEC of di- and triaromatic hydrocarbons suppressed seed germination more than crude oil. Seeds exposed to diaromatic hydrocarbons failed to germinate. Hydrocarbon's salinity interaction significantly reduced the number of germinated S. iocladus seeds. It is concluded that hydrocarbon pollutants adversely affect S. iocladus through reducing germination. It is also suggested that the toxic effect of hydrocarbons on seeds is not solely mediated through their interaction with salinity. The ecological implications of these findings are discussed in relation to other studies on the post-spill recovery of halophytes.  相似文献   

Evaluation of seismic site factors in the Mississippi Embayment. I. Estimation of dynamic properties   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Duhee Park  Youssef M.A. Hashash 《Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering》2005,25(2):133-144

Deep deposits of the Mississippi Embayment, overlying the New Madrid Seismic Zone, present unique challenges for the estimation of local site effects on propagated ground motion. Limited information is available on the dynamic properties of these deposits. This paper develops generalized depth dependent modulus degradation and damping curves specific to the embayment deposits. Depth dependent small strain damping is estimated using weak motion recordings during the Enola earthquake, 2001. Modulus degradation and damping curves are further constrained using limited laboratory test data of embayment soils at low confining pressure. At high confining pressures embayment specific data is unavailable and test data from outside the embayment is used in developing the dynamic properties. The representative modulus degradation and damping curves are used in non-linear and equivalent linear one-dimensional site response analyses. A companion paper describes a large-scale probabilistic seismic hazard analysis study in the Mississippi Embayment that integrates non-linear site effects.  相似文献   

Landslide susceptibility mapping using machine learning algorithms and comparison of their performance at Abha Basin,Asir Region,Saudi Arabia     

Ahmed Mohamed Youssef  Hamid Reza Pourghasemi 《地学前缘(英文版)》2021,12(2):639-655

The current study aimed at evaluating the capabilities of seven advanced machine learning techniques(MLTs),including,Support Vector Machine(SVM),Random Forest(RF),Multivariate Adaptive Regression Spline(MARS),Artificial Neural Network(ANN),Quadratic Discriminant Analysis(QDA),Linear Discriminant Analysis(LDA),and Naive Bayes(NB),for landslide susceptibility modeling and comparison of their performances.Coupling machine learning algorithms with spatial data types for landslide susceptibility mapping is a vitally important issue.This study was carried out using GIS and R open source software at Abha Basin,Asir Region,Saudi Arabia.First,a total of 243 landslide locations were identified at Abha Basin to prepare the landslide inventory map using different data sources.All the landslide areas were randomly separated into two groups with a ratio of 70%for training and 30%for validating purposes.Twelve landslide-variables were generated for landslide susceptibility modeling,which include altitude,lithology,distance to faults,normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI),landuse/landcover(LULC),distance to roads,slope angle,distance to streams,profile curvature,plan curvature,slope length(LS),and slope-aspect.The area under curve(AUC-ROC)approach has been applied to evaluate,validate,and compare the MLTs performance.The results indicated that AUC values for seven MLTs range from 89.0%for QDA to 95.1%for RF.Our findings showed that the RF(AUC=95.1%)and LDA(AUC=941.7%)have produced the best performances in comparison to other MLTs.The outcome of this study and the landslide susceptibility maps would be useful for environmental protection.  相似文献   

Neoproterozoic Evolution and Najd‒Related Transpressive Shear Deformations Along Nugrus Shear Zone,South Eastern Desert,Egypt (Implications from Field‒Structural Data and AMS‒Technique)     

W.?HagagEmail author  R.?Moustafa  Z.?Hamimi 《Geotectonics》2018,52(1):114-133

The tectonometamorphic evolution of Nugrus Shear Zone (NSZ) in the south Eastern Desert of Egypt was reevaluated through an integrated study including field-structural work and magnetofabric analysis using Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) technique, complemented by detailed microstructural investigation. Several lines of evidence indicate that the Neoproterozoic juvenile crust within this high strain zone suffered an impressive tectonic event of left-lateral transpressional regime, transposed the majority of the earlier formed structures into a NNW to NW-directed wrench corridor depicts the northwestern extension of the Najd Shear System (NSS) along the Eastern Desert of Egypt. The core of the southern Hafafit dome underwent a high metamorphic event (M₁) developed during the end of the main collisional orogeny in the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS). The subsequent M₂ metamorphic event was retrogressive and depicts the tectonic evolution and exhumation of the Nugrus-Hafafit area including the Hafafit gneissic domes, during the origination of the left-lateral transpressive wrench corridor of the NSS. The early tectonic fabric within the NSZ and associated highly deformed rocks was successfully detected by the integration of AMS-technique and microstructural observations. Such fabric grain was checked through a field-structural work. The outcomes of the present contribution advocate a complex tectonic evolution with successive and overlapped deformation events for the NSZ.  相似文献   

Field evidence of Quaternary seismites in the Mostaganem-Relizane (western Algeria) region: seismotectonic implication     

Nabila Guessoum  Azzeddine A. Benhamouche  Youcef Bouhadad  Hamid Bourenane  Moustafa Abbouda 《Arabian Journal of Geosciences》2018,11(20):641

Northwestern Algeria, Tell Atlas chain, belongs to the converging Africa-Eurasia plate boundary. Several active faults have been previously identified and several earthquakes occurred in the past. In the present study, seismites are observed in the Quaternary deposits. The identified seismites include injection sand dykes, pillar structures, pillow structures, load-cast structures, water escape structures, sismoslumps, thixotropic wedges, and thixotropic bowls. The following arguments support their seismic origin: (i) presence of active faults able of producing strong earthquakes, (ii) the granulometric characteristics of the deposits are favorable to liquefaction, (iii) the observed features, mainly those related to water escape structures, are comparable to those observed in modern earthquakes. Therefore, such features are evidence of the occurrence of earthquakes of M?>?5.5 magnitude in this study area, which may occur in the future.  相似文献   

Groundwater contamination assessment in Al-Quwy’yia area of central Saudi Arabia using transient electromagnetic and 2D electrical resistivity tomography     

Mohamed Metwaly  Eslam Elawadi  Sayed S. R. Moustafa  Nassir Al Arifi  Mohamed El Alfy  EKab Al Zaharani 《Environmental Earth Sciences》2014,71(2):827-835

Groundwater contamination is one of the most significant problems in arid countries. Al-Quwiy’yia region is an example of an area where the groundwater is contaminated as a result of infiltration of waste water in low-lying areas adjacent to inhabited zones. Such contamination poses significant environmental threats for the surrounding environment and groundwater. Surface observations and spatial distribution of contamination observed in the shallow aquifer indicate that the main contamination sources were from sewage as well as from waste water dumping. However, the main source of water supply for the whole area is groundwater abstracted from the relatively shallow aquifer. Therefore, the transient electromagnetic method (TEM) and 2D electrical resistivity tomography (2D ERT) have been applied close to the waste water dump site to characterize the response of pollution plumes. Both of these geoelectrical techniques are sensitive to electrical conductivity as well as to other physical properties, which are greatly influenced by the polluted groundwater. Therefore, it is possible to profile the contamination plumes, both vertically and horizontally, in the vicinity of the measured stations. The ERT profiles gave detailed information about the lateral distribution of the contaminated groundwater, whereas the TEM demonstrated the vertical extensions.  相似文献   

First microbialites associated to organic-rich facies of the Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (Northern Tunisia,Cenomanian–Turonian transition)     

Mohsen Layeb  Moez Ben Fadhel  Yosra Layeb-Tounsi  Mohamed Ben Youssef 《Arabian Journal of Geosciences》2014,7(8):3349-3363

From northern Tunisia, small-scale well-preserved microbialites, contemporaneous to the global oceanic anoxic event 2 (OAE 2) are first reported on the southern Tethyan Margin. These microbialites are encased within the pelagic organic-rich black shales of the Bahloul Formation (Cenomanian–Turonian transition). Biostratigraphic, petrographic, and geochemical investigations carried out to constrain their biogenicity and genesis character led to consider them as thrombolites and stromatolites occurring in lenticular bioherms/biostromes and columnar bodies co-relatable to the global ‘filament event’ of the authors, close to the base of the Watinoceras ammonite zone. Abundant clotted micrite, cyanobacterial filaments, and algal tissues point to the key process of microbial carbonate precipitation and to a major role played by microbes in the stabilisation and subsequent lithification, which in turn favoured the preservation of the original structure of the microbialites. These microbially induced carbonate formations are considered as favoured by chemosynthetic fauna of bivalve molluscs and lithistid sponges which were able to host symbiotic microbial communities. The latter contributed to the precipitation of authigenic calcite and non-carbonate minerals (e.g. pyrite) fuelled by microbial activity under sulphate-reducing conditions. The carbonate body onset is considered to be initiated by seafloor instability due to syndepositional fault acting that induced the appraisal of uplifted tilted blocks within oxygenated waters but near the anoxic water masses. Generated depressions allowed the development of chemosynthetic-based communities. Deep faults related to Triassic salt domes acted as conducts for hydrocarbon and salt brine expulsion to the seafloor and the microbialite growth was enhanced by an abrupt uprising sea level under warmer conditions.  相似文献   

Comparison of two inverse analysis techniques for learning deep excavation response     

Youssef M.A. Hashash  Séverine Levasseur  Abdolreza Osouli  Richard Finno  Yann Malecot 《Computers and Geotechnics》2010

Performance observation is a necessary part of the design and construction process in geotechnical engineering. For deep urban excavations, empirical and numerical methods are used to predict potential deformations and their impacts on surrounding structures. Two inverse analysis approaches are described and compared for an excavation project in downtown Chicago. The first approach is a parameter optimization approach based on genetic algorithm (GA). GA is a stochastic global search technique for optimizing an objective function with linear or non-linear constraints. The second approach, self-learning simulations (SelfSim), is an inverse analysis technique that combines finite element method, continuously evolving material models, and field measurements. The optimization based on genetic algorithm approach identifies material properties of an existing soil model, and SelfSim approach extracts the underlying soil behavior unconstrained by a specific assumption on soil constitutive behavior. The two inverse analysis approaches capture well lateral wall deflections and maximum surface settlements. The GA optimization approach tends to overpredict surface settlements at some distance from the excavation as it is constrained by a specific form of the material constitutive model (i.e. hardening soil model); while the surface settlements computed using SelfSim approach match the observed ones due to its ability to learn small strain non-linearity of soil implied in the measured settlements.  相似文献