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Examination of the heavy metal uptake of carrot (daucus carota) in different soil types
56-70Views:123In this paper the heavy metal uptake of carrot (Daucus carota) is studied in sample areas with different soil types. Our aim is to examine how the different soil types possessing different characteristics affect the heavy metal uptake and distribution in the plant. Correlation analyses were carried out in order to determine which of the total heavy metal concentrations and soil characteristics (pH, CaCO3-content, humus content, granulometric composition) play the most important role in the uptake of the Co, Cu, Fe, Ni, Mn, Zn and in the metal distribution in the examined plant. Soil and plant samples were collected from 5 different Hungarian areas in July, 2008. In the cases of soils with different soil characteristics, the examined plants are supposed to give varied physiological responses. During the examination we proved that the genetic type and the heavy metal content of the soil do not significantly affect the heavy metal uptake of carrot. The granulometric composition of the soil has the most considerable effect but this factor only affects the rate of the metal uptake in 50% of the examined heavy metals (Ni, Mn, Zn).
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Morphometric characteristics of a tropical river basin, central Kerala, India using geospatial techniques
1-14Views:253The Thutapuzha watershed (TW) is one among the major tributaries of Bharathapuzha – the largest west flowing river in Kerala, India. Morphometric analysis was carried out to determine the spatial variations in the drainage characteristics and to understand the prevailing geologic variation, topographic information and structural setup of TW using Survey of India topographic maps and ASTER-DEM. Geoprocessing techniques has been used for the delineation and calculation of the morphometric parameters of the watershed. The TW sprawled over 1107Km2 and the study revealed that the watershed includes a sixth order stream and lower order streams mostly dominate the basin with a drianage density of 1.36 m/Km2 exhibiting highly resistant subsoil, dense vegetation, and low relief of surface nature . The study indicate that rainfall has a significant role in the drainage development whereas the drainage pattern is controlled by structure and relief. The watershed of TW is moderate to well-drained and exhibited a geomorphic maturity in its physiographic development. The shape parameters revealed the elongated nature of TW having less prone to flood, lower erosion and sediment transport capacities and drainage network development in the watershed. This study strongly brings to light that the drainage morphometric parameters have the enormou spotentiality to unveil the hydro-morphologicalcharacteristics of the river basins. Integrating hydro-morphological characteristics with conventional watershed assessment methods would have a beneficial effect on judicious watershed management, which helped to formulate a comprehensive watershed management plan.
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Landslide Susceptibility mapping using the Analytical Hierarchy Process and GIS for Idukki District, Kerala, India
11-32Views:167This study demonstrates the application of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique for landslide susceptibility mapping of Udumbanchola and Devikulam taluk of Idukki district (Kerala, India). The landslide conditioning factors, such as lithology, geomorphology, slope angle, slope aspect, relative relief, drainage properties, land use/ land cover, and lineament characteristics,are derived using remote sensing data and GIS. The landslide susceptibility of the region is estimated using the weights derived by the AHP method. The analysis indicates the controls exerted by the structural and fluvial process and relief characteristics on the landslide activity of the region. The landslide susceptibility map of the region suggests that the high and severe susceptible zones cover about 10.68% of the area, and another 9.40% falls under the moderate susceptibility zone. The results highlight the significance of implementing various structural and non-structural measures in the moderate to severe susceptibility zones to mitigate the impacts of landslides.
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Types and characteristics of the oxbow-lakes in Lower-Tisza-valley - classification from landscape planning perspective
19-25Views:67The study area is located in Hungary on the South of the Great Plane called Alföld in Hungarian. There are ten oxbow lakes are located in the region of the Lower Tisza Valley. The quality of the area’s oxbow lakes are rather different. There are protected, highly valuable sites in terms of landscape and nature conservation, yet degraded areas utilized for economic purposes can also be found. In the course of river-control in the Lower Tisza Valley was affected by the 84-90th cutoffs, therefore oxbows have been formed in the area. Four of these oxbows are on the part that is not effected by floods, and six of them are located in the active floodplain.The attributes or usage of oxbow lakes allow for a complex system of categorisation. The assessment and classification of oxbow lakes can establish the grounds for assessment, as well as for planning the interventions of landscape restoration.
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Flood model for the Bódva catchment
12-26Views:186In term of floods the current area of Hungary has extensively been endangered. Modelling of flood processes – mainly following the hydrological events in the riverbed – has recently been developed. As far as protection dykes provide protection of the inhabited and agricultural areas, the flood models can run with acceptable preciseness. However, when dykes cannot withstand against the increasing load and a dyke burst occurs, fast and efficient protection measures shall be taken in the protected areas. The dynamic 4D Flood model presented in this paper makes possible a fast modelling of dyke burst occurring in the protected side and spreading of water mass, based on real parameters. For this reason the features of protected area shall be recognised, for example topology of creeks, features of agricultural and inhabited areas, parameters of roads, railways, rainwater drainage, buildings, natural conditions (soil parameters, meteorological characteristics, etc.). The results satisfy the comprehensive demands of the Directorate General for Disaster Prevention of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County. In case of dyke burst, the completed Flood Model can run the expected events of the next hour in a few minutes. This time is enough for the specialists to bring operative decisions to protect the inhabitants and avoid material losses.
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Land use change detection along the Pravara River basin in Maharashtra, using remote sensing and GIS techniques
71-86Views:100In the past few decades there has been an increasing pressure of population all over the world, especially in India, resulting in the utilization of every available patch of available land from woodlands to badlands. The study area represents a basin which is economically growing fast by converting the fallow lands, badlands and woodlands to agricultural land for the past few decades. IRS (Indian Remote sensing Satellites) 1 C – LISS III and IRS 1 C PAN and IRS P6 – LISS III and IRS 1 D PAN Images were merged to generate imageries with resolution matching to the landscape processes operating in the area. The images of the year 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2007 were analyzed to detect the changes in the landuse and landcover in the past ten years. The analysis reveals that there has been 20% increase in the agricultural area over the past ten years. Built up area also has increased from 1.35% to 6.36% of the area and dense vegetation also has marginally increased. The remarkable increase in the agricultural area occurs owing to the reclaim of the natural ravines and fallow lands. Presently the area looks promising, but it is necessary to understand the sedimentological and geomorphological characteristics of the area before massive invasion on any such landscapes because the benefit may be short lived.
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In-flight icing characteristics of unmanned aerial vechicles during special atmospheric condition over the Carpathian-basin
74-80Views:60The in-flight aerial icing phenomena is very important for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) because it causes some serious problems such as reduced lift and increased drag forces, significantly decreased angle of attack, increased weight, structural imbalances and improper radio communications. In order to increase flight safety of UAV’s we develop an integrated meteorological support system for the UAV pilots, mission controllers and decision makers, too. In our paper we show the in-flight structural icing estimation method as a part of this support system based on a simple 2D ice accretion model predictions. We point out the role of the ambient air temperature, cloud liquid water content, airfoil geometry and mainly the true airspeed in the icing process on the wings of UAVs. With the help of our model we made an estimation of geometry and amount of ice accretion on the wing of a short-range and a high-altitude and long-endurance UAVs during a hypothetical flight under a typical icy weather situation with St clouds over the Carpathian-basin (a cold-pool situation case study). Finally we point out that our icing estimation system can easily be adapted for supporting the missions of UAVs.
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Mapping of river waterquality using inverse distance weighted interpolation in Ogun-Osun river basin, Nigeria
48-62Views:793Sustainable management of water resources involves inventory, conservation, efficient utilization, and quality management. Although, activities relating to quantity assessment and management in terms of river discharge and water resources planning are given attention at the basin level, water quality assessment are still being done at specific locations of major concern. The use of Geographical Information System (GIS) based water quality information system and spatial analysis with Inverse Distance Weighted interpolation enabled the mapping of water quality indicators in Ogun and Ona catchment of Ogun-Osun River Basin, Nigeria. Using 27 established gauging stations as sampling locations, water quality indicators were monitored over 12 months covering full hydrological season. Maps of seasonal variations in 10 water quality indicators as impacted by land-use types were produced. This ensured that trends of specific water quality indicator and diffuse pollution characteristics across the basin were better presented with the variations shown along the river courses than the traditional line graphs. The production of water quality maps will improve monitoring, enforcement of standards and regulations towards better pollution management and control. This strategy holds great potential for real time monitoring of water quality in the basin with adequate instrumentation.
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Quantitative Morphometric Analysis of Streams in Extreme Humid Areas: A Case Study of the Um-Mawiong River Basin, Mawsynram, Meghalaya
59-75Views:134Quantitative morphometric analysis of the drainage system is essential to characterising a watershed, as all the hydrologic and geomorphic processes occur within the watershed. Consequently, this plays a crucial role in understanding the geo-hydrological attributes of a drainage basin to the terrain feature and its flow patterns, thus enabling the estimate of the incidence of infiltration and runoff and other related hydrological characteristics of a watershed, which strongly impacts natural resource conservation. The study area selected is the Um-Mawiong River basin in Mawsynram, Meghalaya. The basin shows a dendritic pattern that highlights the homogeneity in the texture of the basin. Results suggest that the stream frequency of the basin is 19.10 km², suggesting a faster surface runoff and less infiltration. In addition, it has an Elongation ratio of 0.75 indicating an elongated basin shape. The current study demonstrates that the implementations of GIS techniques are trustworthy, efficient, and capable of managing extensive databases for managing river basins. The present study tries to analyse the linear, areal and relief aspects of the basin using a GIS environment and manipulated for different calculations. The analysis reveals that the total number of stream segments and length are maximum in first-order streams and decrease as stream order increases. The drainage density exhibits a high degree of positive correlation, i.e., 0.87, with its frequency suggesting an increase in stream population concerning increasing drainage density and vice versa.
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Large scale wind climatological examinations of wind energy utilization
86-90Views:46The aim of this article is to describe the particular field of climatology which analyzes air movement characteristics regarding utilization of wind for energy generation. The article describes features of wind energy potential available in Hungary compared to wind conditions in other areas of the northern quarter sphere in order to assist the wind energy use development in Hungary. Information on wind climate gives a solid basis for financial and economic decisions of stakeholders in the field of wind energy utilization.
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Mount Pele, an ecoclimatic gradient generator
27-41Views:101Generally, mountains determine the characteristics of particular areas, because of the island phenomenon they cause. However, the geological origins of mountains are multiple and they are located in different climatic regions. Nevertheless, in all aspects they reflect the basic elements of the local biologic unit. The shapes, climates, diverse water resources, biocenoses and the generated soils are the different components that determine, through their dynamic interaction, the “Mountain” ecosystem. Tectonic subduction processes lead to the development of islands such as Martinique, whose basic structure consists of a series of mountains (among them Mount Pele). Like the topographic divisions, the local micro-climates, water courses, different soils (themselves the consequences of the presence of the mountain itself) and successive volcanic eruptions determine, over time, the organization of the diverse vegetal entities.
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Environmental educational potentials on school grounds in Budapest
23-30Views:191As nature and greenspaces in urban areas are agreed to enhance children’s appreciation towards nature and so the purposes of environmental education, it is of high importance to create spaces in and around schools that allow students to connect to nature on a daily basis. The aim of the study was to analyse functions and other components supporting environmental education appear in the open spaces of school grounds in Budapest, and to understand the main characteristics of school grounds with the highest potential in environmental education. The study points out that the presence of environmental educational functions often depends on the size, urban context and location of the school grounds, however the curriculum of the school does not necessarily influence its open spaces, while the presence of motivated and engaged teachers does. The study reveals environmental educational functions do exist in school grounds of primary schools in Budapest, however they play only secondary role behind active movement and play functions. The schools with the best potentials in environmental education are without doubt the ones situated on large plots in the suburban zone, mostly with a high proportion of green spaces in and around the school grounds.
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Environmental monitoring using linden tree leaves as natural traps of atmospheric deposition: a pilot study in Transilvania, Romania
24-35Views:120Atmospheric pollution caused by toxic elements is an emerging problem of concern. Tree leaves have been widely used as indicator of atmospheric pollutions and they are effective alternatives to the more usual biomonitoring methods. Tree leaves can be used as natural traps of atmospheric deposition. Elemental composition of dust deposited onto leaf surfaces can be used to characterize the urban environment. A pilot survey including 16 Romanian settlements was carried out in order to evaluate the characteristics and sources of air pollutants. Tree leaves (Tilia tomentosa, Tilia cordata, Tilia platyphyllos) were collected and used for the measurements. Elemental analyses were carried out by ICP-OES and ICP-MS. Principal component and discriminant analyses were used to characterizing and estimating the level of pollution. Settlements were grouped on the basis of discriminant function values. Multivariate comparison of chemical data ordered the settlements into 3 main groups, which showed a systematic geographic distribution.
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Wind damage on trees following hurricane Sandy and implications for city landscaping: Glen Ridge - Montclair towns, New Jersey
1-11Views:92Glen Ridge is a small municipality in the Northern New Jersey with a significant number of huge trees lining majority of its streets. The trees have been subject to a wide range of natural and artificial stresses, one being the strong wind associated with superstorm Sandy. On 29th October 2012, a windstorm of extreme intensity struck the Tristate region and brought havoc to the tree population including those in Glen Ridge. A survey was conducted immediately after the storm to collect quantitative information on fallen tree population. The study aimed at understanding the spatial extent of wind damage on trees with reference to location, trunk diameter and soil characteristics. A total of 51 fallen trees with a mean trunk diameter of 100.4 centimetres along streets in study area were surveyed. High damage was noted on trees in Glen Ridge (29 trees) while streets transitioning to Montclair had 22 fallen trees. Majority of the surveyed trees were found on USBOO soils (49%), which are characterised as disturbed urban soils with Boonton substratum-Boonton complexes. BowrB soils had 27.5%, Boob 13.7%, BowrC 7.8% and USDUNB 2.0% of fallen trees. A need for city wide tree inventorying and species mapping is identified as a management implication to further enhance the historical value of the city. Other measures are discussed with a view of engaging appropriate local management partnerships and coordination frameworks to play a role in protecting the remaining large trees.
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Recent river channel change detections in the section of the River Tisza above Tiszaújlak (BИЛОК)
123-130Views:172In the section above Tiszaújlak, despite the presence of embankments, the River Tisza shows active meandering tendency and it splits into branches resulting in side channels, dead channels and backwaters that follow the main channel. In our work we examined the right- and the left-side riverbank sections of the River Tisza, between Tiszaújlak (Вилок) and Tiszasásvár (Тросник), as well as between Tiszaújlak and Tiszapéterfalva (Пийтерфолво), to reveal the extent of bar depositions between 2006 and 2015, and to what extent the intensity and direction of the riverbank formation processes were influenced by the material of the bank and the plant coverage, its rate and characteristics. We tried to reveal which sections were eroded by the river and what security risks they have for the safety of the settlements along the Tisza River. On the right side of the Tisza River riverbank 51, and on the left side 62 main measuring points were recorded by GPS positioning satellite in 2009, 2010 and 2015. Our results were compared to the satellite images of Google Earth taken in 2006, too. According to our experience, in several bends of the examined sections of the river, active bar deposition can be observed; in some cases more than 100 m of bar depositions were detected.
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Morphological alteration of the Dráva as the result of human impact
58-75Views:113The Croatian-Hungarian border section of the Dráva River has been undisturbed for almost a century, and it is characterised by unique fluvial morphology (braided pattern and islands) supporting rich habitats and wildlife. However, during the last decades human impact became more and more intensive. Between 1975 and 1989 three water reservoirs were built on the Croatian section of the river, just 16 km from the beginning of the border-section, altering the hydrology and the sediment characteristics of the river. On a local scale cut-offs, revetments and groynes were built. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of these human interventions. As the result of the alteration of the hydrology the channel pattern of the Dráva has been changing from braided to meandering, though on the upstream meandering part the territory and number of islands increased due to the drop of water stages. A cut-off and a groyne influenced only the morphology of a short section. As the result of the cut-off braided pattern became more pronounced, and the groyne caused intensive channel aggradation and gave way to lateral island development.