PM10 in the atmosphere and incidence of respiratory illness in Chiangmai during the smoggy pollution     

Viroj Wiwanitkit 《Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment (SERRA)》2008,22(3):437-440

Adverse health effects of atmospheric exposure to particles have been described in numerous epidemiological studies. In early of March 2007, there was a big environmental crisis in the northern area of Thailand. Smoggy pollution due to the fires covered many provinces in this area. Here, the author analyzes the correlation on incidence of respiratory illness and PM10 level in Chiangmai, a province in northern Thailand where the pollution occurred. The finding of emerging of the respiratory illness is similar to those previous reports on other smoggy pollutions due to fires. However, there is not a direct statistical significant relationship. It is proved that PM10 might be a risk for respiratory illness attack.  相似文献   

High blood lead level among the Mahayana Buddhist monk: a note for environmental implication     

Viroj Wiwanitkit  Jamsai Suwansaksri  Suphan Soogarun 《Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment (SERRA)》2008,22(6):805-807

Lead has no biological function and is one of the most toxic metals. Of several heavy metals, monitoring of lead is an important focus in occupational medicine. In exposure and risk evaluation, monitoring lead biologically has several advantages over technical exposure assessment. In this article, the authors report a very high blood lead level among the Mahayana Buddhist monks. This is a forgotten high-risk population. The environmental implication in the monitoring and controlling of this population is raised.  相似文献   

Variations of characteristics of consecutive rainfall days over northern Thailand     

P.?KlongvessaEmail author  M.?Lu  S.?Chotpantarat 《Theoretical and Applied Climatology》2018,133(3-4):737-749

The Chao Phraya basin, Thailand, is frequently inundated by flooding during the southwest monsoon period. Most floods coincide with consecutive rainfall days. This study investigated consecutive rainfall days during the southwest monsoon period at 11 stations over northern Thailand, the upstream area of this basin. The Markov chain probability model was used to study the consecutiveness of days with at least 0.1, 10.1, and 35.1 mm of rainfall. The consecutive length of rainfall days from the model showed good agreement with the observed value. A chi-square test of independence was applied to assess the significance of the consecutiveness, and it was found that days with at least 10.1 mm of rainfall tend to be consecutive over the entire area. Moreover, days with at least 35.1 mm of rainfall were found to be consecutive over the joint area where the mountainous region meets the plain area. However, the consecutiveness of days with less than 10.1 mm of rainfall was not obvious. The rainfall amount on days with at least 10.1 mm of rainfall was also calculated and it showed lower values over the mountainous region than over the plain. Hence, this study established the characteristics of consecutive rainfall days over the plain, mountainous region, and joint area.  相似文献   

Truncated flame structures within a deposit of the Indian Ocean Tsunami: evidence of syn‐sedimentary deformation     

DAN MATSUMOTO  HAJIME NARUSE  SHIGEHIRO FUJINO  APICHART SURPHAWAJRUKSAKUL  THANAWAT JARUPONGSAKUL  NORIHIKO SAKAKURA  MASAFUMI MURAYAMA 《Sedimentology》2008,55(6):1559-1570

This study reveals the three‐dimensional morphology and syn‐sedimentary formation processes of a deformation structure termed ‘truncated flame structures’ which is found in a terrestrial tsunami deposit in southern Thailand that formed during the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The structure was found at the boundary between a lower fine‐grained layer and an upper coarse‐grained layer that are related to two runup events. In order to confirm the morphology of the structure, the authors excavated two trenches and an opencast pit. When viewed in a cross‐section oriented parallel to the direction of the runup current, the deformed boundary has an irregularly bulging profile, similar to that observed in flame structures. The protruding structures are inclined towards the downstream direction of the runup current, and are truncated horizontally along their upper surface by parallel laminations in the overlying layer. When viewed in a cross‐section oriented perpendicular to the current direction, it appears that parts of the upper layer descend into the lower layer as lobate masses. In places, these masses are completely detached from the main part of the upper layer, forming circular or elliptical shapes. The contact between the lower layer and the main part of the upper layer is a planar truncation surface. Opencast excavation of the contact surface revealed that the deformed structures have flat, sinuous horseshoe crests that open in a downstream direction. It is possible for the runup current to generate shear stress such that it deforms the boundary into a truncated flame structure. Moreover, the observations made in this study indicate the syn‐sedimentary development of the structure: deformation and truncation occurred simultaneously in association with the runup current that formed the upper layer. Truncated flame structures can be used as a criterion in identifying the syn‐sedimentary deformation of substrate: the structures are indicative of unidirectional flow with sufficiently high shear velocity to deform unconsolidated substrate. As in the present case, the truncated flame structures may be characteristic of tsunami events that involve strong unidirectional currents on land due to the extraordinarily long wave period of tsunamis, rather than other events such as storm surges or flooding.  相似文献   

Quantifying deformation in North Borneo with GPS     

Mohamad?Asrul?MustafarEmail authorView author&#;s OrcID profile  Wim?J.?F.?Simons  Felix?Tongkul  Chalermchon?Satirapod  Kamaludin?Mohd?Omar  Pieter?N.?A.?M.?Visser 《Journal of Geodesy》2017,91(10):1241-1259

The existence of intra-plate deformation of the Sundaland platelet along its eastern edge in North Borneo, South-East Asia, makes it an interesting area that still is relatively understudied. In addition, the motion of the coastal area of North-West Borneo is directed toward a frontal fold-and-thrust belt and has been fueling a long debate on the possible geophysical sources behind it. At present this fold-and-thrust belt is not generating significant seismic activity and may also not be entirely active due to a decreasing shelfal extension from south to north. Two sets of Global Positioning System (GPS) data have been used in this study; the first covering a time period from 1999 until 2004 (ending just before the Giant Sumatra–Andaman earthquake) to determine the continuous Sundaland tectonic plate motion, and the second from 2009 until 2011 to investigate the current deformations of North Borneo. Both absolute and relative positioning methods were carried out to investigate horizontal and vertical displacements. Analysis of the GPS results indicates a clear trend of extension along coastal regions of Sarawak and Brunei in North Borneo. On the contrary strain rate tensors in Sabah reveal that only insignificant and inconsistent extension and compression occurs throughout North-West Borneo. Moreover, station velocities and rotation rate tensors on the northern part of North Borneo suggest a clockwise (micro-block) rotation. The first analysis of vertical displacements recorded by GPS in North-West Borneo points to low subsidence rates along the western coastal regions of Sabah and inconsistent trends between the Crocker and Trusmadi mountain ranges. These results have not been able to either confirm or reject the hypothesis that gravity sliding is the main driving force behind the local motions in North Borneo. The ongoing Sundaland–Philippine Sea plate convergence may also still play an active role in the present-day deformation (crustal shortening) in North Borneo and the possible clockwise rotation of the northern part of North Borneo as a micro-block. However, more observations need to be collected to determine if the northern part of North Borneo indeed is (slowly) moving independently.  相似文献   

The closure of Palaeo-Tethys in Eastern Myanmar and Northern Thailand: New insights from zircon U–Pb and Hf isotope data     

《Gondwana Research》2016

Two of the major granite belts of Southeast Asia are the Main Range and Eastern Province. Together, these are interpreted to represent the magmatic expression of the closure of Palaeo-Tethys during Late Palaeozoic to Early Mesozoic times. Recent geochronological and geochemical work has better delineated these belts within Peninsular Malaysia, thereby providing important constraints on the timing of Palaeo-Tethys suturing. However, the northern extension of this Palaeo-Tethyan suture is less well understood. Here we present new ion microprobe U–Pb zircon age data from northern Thailand and eastern Myanmar. Measured ages of 219 and 220 Ma from the Kyaing Tong granite imply northern extension of the Main Range Province into eastern Myanmar. The Tachileik granite in far eastern Myanmar yields an age of 266 Ma, consistent with published Eastern Province ages, and this therefore constrains the northern extension of the Palaeo-Tethys suture in eastern Myanmar. We further discuss how this suture may extend northwards into Yunnan. A Late Cretaceous age (70 Ma) measured in Thailand represents later magmatic activity, and is similar to published magmatic ages from central Myanmar. This younger magmatism is interpreted to be related to the subduction of Neo-Tethys prior to India–Asia collision. Further, we present new laser ablation zircon Hf isotope data from eastern Myanmar which suggest that Palaeoproterozoic crust underlies both the Main Range and Eastern Province granites. Our εHf model age of ca. 1750 Ma from Sibumasu, the basement underlying eastern Myanmar, lies within the range of other model ages reported thus far for the Baoshan Block north in Yunnan, interpreted by some to be the northern extension of Sibumasu.  相似文献   

Shallow-water simulations by a well-balanced WAF finite volume method: a case study to the great flood in 2011, Thailand     

Thida Pongsanguansin  Montri Maleewong  Khamron Mekchay 《Computational Geosciences》2016,20(6):1269-1285

A well-balanced finite volume method for solving two-dimensional shallow water equations with weighted average flux (WAF) is developed in this work to simulate flooding. Friction source terms are estimated with a semi-implicit scheme resulting in an efficient numerical method for simulating shallow water flows over irregular domains, for both wet and dry beds. A wet/dry cell tracking technique is also presented for reducing computational time. The accuracy of these methods are investigated by application to well-studied cases. For practical purposes, the developed scheme is applied to simulate the flooding of the Chao Phraya river from Chai Nat to Sing Buri provinces in Thailand during October 13–17, 2011. The numerical simulations yield results that agree with the existing data obtained from the satellite images.  相似文献   

Paleomagnetism of the earliest Cretaceous to early late Cretaceous sandstones, Khorat Group, Northeast Thailand: Implications for tectonic plate movement of the Indochina block   总被引：5，自引：2，他引：3  

Punya Charusiri  Suvapak Imsamut  Zhonghai Zhuang  Tainpan Ampaiwan  Xiaoxhong Xu 《Gondwana Research》2006,9(3):310-325

A total of 400 samples (33 sites) were collected from the earliest Cretaceous to early Late Cretaceous sandstones of the Khorat Group in the Indochina block for paleomagnetic study to unravel the tectonic evolution of the region. The sites were adopted from 3 traverses located in the northern edge of the Khorat Plateau, northeastern Thailand. Results indicate that almost all the sandstones exhibit similar magnetic values with an average declination (D) = 31.7°, inclination (I) = 30.3°, λ = 59.7°,  = 190.9°, K = 54.4, and A₉₅ = 3.7 at reference point 17°30′N and 103°30′E. The calculated paleolatitude points are inferred to deviate from the present latitude point by 1.2 ± 2.3°. Only the lowermost part of the Cretaceous sandstones can pass a positive fold test at 95% confidence level. The relationship between the virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) of Cretaceous rocks of the Indochina plate in Thailand and those of the South China plate advocate that there is a major displacement of Indochina along the northwest-trending Red River and associated faults by about 950 ± 150 km with a 16.0–17.0° clockwise rotation relative to the South China plate during earliest Cretaceous times. Paleomagnetic results of the early Late Cretaceous Indochina plate point to a 20–25° clockwise rotation relative to the present occurring since very Late Cretaceous (65 Myrs)–Early Neogene times which may be due to the collision between India and Asia.  相似文献   

Assessing the acidic potential of waste rock in the Akara gold mine,Thailand   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

C. Changul  Chakkaphan Sutthirat  G. Padmanahban  C. Tongcumpou 《Environmental Earth Sciences》2010,60(5):1065-1071

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is the environmental issue that generates the greatest public concern regarding the mining industry. Thus, characterization of mine waste rock according to acid generation potential is necessary for mining operations to ensure proper waste rock storage and to avoid future adverse environmental effects. Therefore, this study was conducted to estimate the potential of AMD generation in the largest operating gold mine in Thailand by using acid base accounting and net acid generation tests. Representative samples of six types of waste rock classified by mining geologists for mineral processing and waste dumping were collected for this study: volcanic clastic, porphyritic andesite, andesite, silicified tuff, silicified lapilli tuff, and sheared tuff. Under various conditions, experimental results indicate that only silicified lapilli tuff and shear tuff are potentially acid-forming materials. The results indicate that AMD generation may possibly occur a long time after mine closure due to the lag time of the dissolution of acid-neutralizing sources. Acidic generation from some waste rocks may occur in the future based on environmental conditions, particularly the oxidation of sulphide minerals by the combination of oxygen and water. Therefore, a proper design for waste rock dumping and storage is necessary to reduce the risk of AMD generation in future. It is advisable to install a surface management system to control the overland flow direction away from the waste dump area and tailing storage facility and to install a second water storage pond next to the main storage pond to store the spilled water during storms and the rainy season. A water quality monitoring plan that focuses on disturbed areas such as water storage ponds and mine pits should be put in place.  相似文献   

Performance of four sea surface temperature assimilation schemes in the South China Sea     

Yeqiang Shu  Jiang Zhu  Dongxiao Wang  Changxiang Yan  Xianjun Xiao 《Continental Shelf Research》2009,29(11-12):1489-1501

Four existing sea surface temperature (SST) assimilation schemes are evaluated in terms of their performances in assimilating the advanced very high resolution radiometer pathfinder best SST data in the South China Sea using the Princeton Ocean Model. Schemes 1 and 2 project SST directly to subsurface according to model-based correlations between SST and subsurface temperature. The difference between these two schemes is related to the order of vertical projection and horizontal optimal interpolation (OI). In Scheme 1, the spatially non-uniform SST observations are first projected to subsurface levels, followed by horizontal OI at each level. While in Scheme 2, the remotely sensed SSTs are first optimally interpolated to all grid points at the surface, followed by projecting gridded SSTs to subsurface levels. Scheme 3 assumes that the mixed layer is well mixed and has a uniform temperature vertically. In Scheme 4, SST is propagated to subsurface levels using a linear relationship of temperature between any two neighboring depths (Scheme 4a) or between surface and subsurface (Scheme 4b), which is derived by empirical orthogonal function (EOF) technique. To verify the results of the four schemes, the authors use the hydrographic data from two cruises during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment in April and June 1998. It was shown that all four schemes could improve the SST field by reducing about 50% of the root mean square errors (RMSEs). All but Scheme 3 can improve model thermocline structure that is too diffused otherwise, though the RMSEs increase in the thermocline, especially for Scheme 2 when the model has opposite bias between upper layers and lower layers. Scheme 3 fails in the subsurface depth by increasing the thermocline depth, especially when there is a cold model bias. Projecting SST downward by EOF technique can deepen the depth of assimilation especially in Scheme 4a. Both Schemes 4a and b can correct the bias in the mixed layer and do not change the vertical thermal structure.  相似文献