فهرست مطالب

Environmental Resources Research - Volume:4 Issue: 2, Winter - Spring 2016

Journal of Environmental Resources Research
Volume:4 Issue: 2, Winter - Spring 2016

  • 142 صفحه،
  • تاریخ انتشار: 1395/12/28
  • تعداد عناوین: 9
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  • Morteza Akbari, Majid Ownegh, Hamidreza Asgari, Amir Sadoddin, Hasan Khosravi Pages 111-130
    Early warning systems are key components of strategies to reduce risk. This research, by adopting a systematic approach in the management of the risk of desertification and by including previously developed models and systems, offers an integrated efficient structure in terms of early warning for the risk of desertification as a pilot system for semi-arid areas of west Golestan Province in IRAN. During recent years, desertification has taken place in the province in different ways. This system is an expert domain which according to security levels and access to data could be utilized in management layers and applications, including: organizations, experts, users and senior executives. In the architecture of the system, data processing, decision-making control panels, and early warning systems are also adaptable to the national scale. The entries in the system, includes: vector, raster, etc. Processing sector is comprised of management and process sections. In the system’s output: a variety of tools for the assessment of desertification risk severity, alarming based on various scenarios and reporting, is available. The output data structure is often Vector and Image Service which are evaluated and verified in the system. Lack of a long-term network monitoring, data transmission, lack of interaction between stakeholders and decision makers and lack of communication infrastructure are considered obstacles facing development of integrated early warning systems for desertification in the study area. This system as a unique and fundamental tool in the context of desertification assessment could provide unprecedented assistance to the managers and authors.
    Keywords: Early warning system, monitoring, risk management, Golestan, Iran
  • Mehdi Nezhad Naderi, Ehsanallah Hadipour Pages 131-140
    Dry areas near the sea can obtain fresh water through solar distillation of saline sea water resources. However, these solar distillation sites produce wastewater as a result of desalination of sea water with high salt concentration. Waste must be disposed of with the least effect on the receiving environment (sea, in most cases). Initial dilution and its characteristics play important roles in designing effluent disposal into the sea. Application of a mixing model is a common approach for estimating the initial dilution. The present study, using empirical equations, has applied jet system for waste disposal of Kish Port solar desalination site. Initial dilution is related to water depth, diameter, flow rate, the distance between the opening outlets and velocity of water. The results showed the critical and the best initial dilution with regard to different environmental conditions. Effluent disposal systems were compared including jet system of solar distillation in Kish Port and the disposal system of Khamir Port. The minimum velocity and density occurred in the vertical channels zone which shows a well-dilution system that prevents deposition of wastewater into the sea floor. The performance of the T-shaped diffuser for waste disposal is cheaper than the jet system, and it occupies the length of duct from beach to sea.
    Keywords: Desalination unit, Saltwater, Mixing zone, Initial dilution, T form Diffuser, Jet system for waste disposal
  • Behrouz Rasouli, Bahram Amiri Pages 141-152
    This study was done to investigate the nutritive value of Festocaovina, Agrostisgiganta and Avena sativa using sheep rumen and feces liquor as sources of micro-organism through gas production method. Rumen and feces liquor were collected from three fistulated sheep. Rangeland species sampling was randomly conducted from different areas of Guilan province. All the collected samples were initially split and milled. To determine their chemical composition and digestibility, they were tested through Gas Production Process. The chemical composition in terms of ash, ether extract (EE), crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) were determined and gas production metabolizable energy (ME), organic matter digestibility (OMD), short chain fatty acids (SCFA), net energy for lactating (NEL), and digestibility dry matter intake (DDM) were predicted. CP ranged from 9.89% (F. ovina), 11.2% (A. sativa) to 11.84% (A. giganta) and ADF ranged from 28.37% (F. ovina), 42.07% (A. giganta) to 42.8% (A. sativa). The results showed that the amount of gas produced in species and different sources of micro-organism is significantly different (p2≥ 0.986) and a curvilinear regression equation (y = 19.33 ln(x) - 6.074)) was fitted to the data. The results also demonstrated that feces fluid can be used as a source of micro-organism for in-vitro gas production digestion of forage.
    Keywords: Digestibility, Rangeland species, Gas production
  • Hamidreza Kamyab, Abdolrassoul Salman Mahiny, Mohammad Shahraini Pages 153-166
    In this paper, Landscape Allocation using Genetic Algorithm (LAGA), a spatial multi-objective land use optimization software is introduced. The software helps in searching for optimal land use when multiple objectives such as suitability, area, cohesion and edge density indices are simultaneously involved. LAGA is a flexible and easy to use genetic algorithm-based software for optimizing the spatial configurations of land use. LAGA uses a steady-state genetic algorithm with one-point crossover and flip-mutation as genetic operators. A major novelty is that spatial changes are performed according to patch topology that allows to simultaneously integrate changes of different landscape elements that improves the speed and performance. Another feature of this software is that exclusion areas (i.e.: cities, roads and water bodies) can also be locked or un-locked in the optimization process. The program reads and writes maps in Arc ASCII raster format, which is supported by many GIS (e.g. ArcGIS/ArcView, GRASS, and IDRISI). LAGA has been applied in a case study to find optimum land use in the Gorgan Township. The results suggest that LAGA can be a useful tool to land use planning.
    Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Land use Allocation Optimization, Landscape Metrics, LAGA Software
  • Mina Macki Aleagha Pages 167-175
    In the process of vermicomposting, the earthworms Eisenia fetida have been exposed to various metals with different concentrations to study the effects on worms’ bioaccumulation. The study was carried within 14 days of exposure. Five different chemical compounds in various concentrations were added as mixture solutions to the experimental containers. Metals concentrations were measured in earthworms by atomic absorption. Ordinary least square technique was used to show metal bioaccumulation in the samples. The model determines the interaction of metals greatly. Moisture in soil has negative effect but pH has great positive effect on the rate of bioaccumulation. In the experiments, worm bioaccumulation is significant for Zinc, Nickel and for most toxic metals, Cadmium and Chromium too. Results lead to a linear dependence of the bioaccumulation on the amount of heavy metals regard to interaction of them, the rate of body burden of the worms which was affected by pH and moisture content.
    Keywords: heavy metals, Eisenia fetida, bioaccumulation, Ordinary least square technique
  • Ali M. Rajabi, Keyvan Mokhtari Pages 176-194
    This study was conducted to evaluate the quality of the groundwaters and the impact of geological units on these waters in Hastijan area. For this purpose, 11 samples of water resources have been collected with their appropriate dispersal. Physico-chemical parameters of Mn, Ni, Cd, Cu, Zn, As Fe, Cr, and ions K, Na,Ca2, Mg2, Cl-, So42-, Hco3- as well as indicators TH, TDS, EC, PH were determined. In order to assess the water quality, the Piper diagram, Gibbs diagram, sodium absorption ratio (SAR), chloro alkaline index (CAI), the saturation index (SI), heavy metal pollution index (HPI) and the metal index (MI) were used. Investigating surrounding rocks of the area showed the existence of limestone, dolomite, sandstone, marl, shale with layers of gypsum have declined the quality of water and have specially increased the salinity and concentration of Na and Cl- in groundwater resources of the study area.
    The calculation of saturation index indicated that these waters are super-saturated toward the dolomite and calcite minerals and under-saturated toward sulfate minerals. The iron concentration in about half of the samples was higher than the standard limits of 0.2ppm caused by iron-bearing sandstones of Zaigun and Lalun formations located just upstream of springs.
    Keywords: groundwater quality, Geological units, drinking water, Hastijan area, Delijan
  • Mojtaba Amiri, Reza Naghdi, Davud Moghadasi Pages 195-212
    The assessment of the quantitative and qualitative changes, the result of the impacts imposed by natural factors, and human interventions during specific sampling periods has a substantial influence on nature, management method and tending operation of every region’s forests. The present research was carried out in Golestan province forests (Iran) over an 11- year period and the obtained statistical data was analyzed based on systematic random sampling method with fixed sample plots (0.1 ha). The results of this research showed that based on the number of sample plots, the change area % of Golestan province forests increased from 1018 sample plots in the beginning of the studied period (1996) to 1114, recorded at the end of the mentioned period (2007). The inventory performed in 2007 showed that considering the percentage of canopy, the area percentage of Golestan province forests, as well, increased in 0-30% and >80% canopy classes compared to 1996, whereas in 30-50% and 50-80% classes, there was a considerable reduction in the percentage of canopy in the given forests. Comparing the productive and non-productive forests indicated that compared to 1996, the area of protection and conservation forests increased in 2007. The results also revealed that the number and volume per hectare of Golestan province forests were dramatically reduced 53.6N.ha and 1104.9m3ha-1, for 1996 and 2007 respectively. The research results, also, indicated that the highest abundance of regeneration, observed in Golestan forest species, is pertaining to seedling and sapling vegetation stages.
    Keywords: forest structure, quantitative, qualitative changes, fixed sample plot, Golestan province, Iran
  • Homa Hosseini, Hassan Rezaei, Ali Shahbazi, Alinaghi Maghsoodlu Pages 213-229
    Nickel is one of the toxin heavy metals in surface waters. Developing new approaches aimed at removing heavy metals from aqueous solutions that are simultaneously economical and environmentally friendly is of great importance. The purpose of this study will be using Nano-lignocellulose adsorbent as a natural material to remove nickel heavy metal. In this study, several important environmental parameters were studied such as: pH, adsorbent concentration, duration of exposure, concentration and temperature on the uptake, as well as adsorption and Kinetic isotherms. The maximum adsorption efficiency (99.5%) occurred at pH=6. Optimum contact time was measured 30 minutes, which reflects the short duration of the analysis. Results of researches in the field of adsorption isotherm shown that, the best fit of the experimental data corresponds to the Langmuir isotherm model. Kinetic studies revealed that the process of elimination well matches with pseudo-second-order kinetic model. So, the Nano-lignocellulose has high ability to remove nickel from aqueous solutions and as a new adsorbent could be used in different industrial effluents.
    Keywords: heavy metals, nickel, Nano, lignocellulose, aqueous solutions, adsorption
  • Amir Sadoddin, Vahed Berdi Sheikh, Majid Ownegh, Ali Najafi Nejad, Hamid Reza Sadeghi Pages 231-238