Kazemi, A., Esmaeilbeigi, M., Sahebi, Z., & Ansari, A. (2022). Health risk assessment of total chromium in the qanat as historical drinking water supplying system. Science of The Total Environment, 807, 150795.
Abstract: This study investigated the health risk assessment of total chromium (CrT) in qanats of South Khorasan, Eastern Iran. For this, concentration of CrT in a total of 83 qanats were measured in summer 2020. Samples were initially tested in the field for temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), and total dissolved solids (TDS). In the lab, collected samples were filtered and fixed with nitric acid (HNO3) for the detection of CrT using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Hazard quotient (HQ) and carcinogenic risk assessments were considered to evaluate the risks of CrT to inhabitants. Results showed that concentration of CrT ranged from 1.79 to 1017.05 μg L-1, and a total of 25 stations illuminated CrT concentrations above the WHO standards (50 μg L-1). HQ demonstrated HQ < 1 for 90.37% of studied samples with negligible hazard, whereas 9.63% of stations illuminated HQ ≥ 1 meaning the presence of non-carcinogenic risk for water consumers. Carcinogenic risk (CR) exhibited CR > 1.00E-04 in 81.93% of qanats while 18.07% of stations had 1.00E-06 < CR < 1.00E-04 meaning no acceptable and acceptable CR for the studied qanats, respectively. Zoning map displayed that qanats in the south of South Khorasan possessed the highest HQ, but north regions showed the lowest ones. Together, CrT in qanats of South Khorasan is above the WHO limit, which results in a high risk of carcinogenicity for residents, and in turn, more efforts should be made to provide hygienic groundwater for consumers.
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Khaneiki, M. L., Al-Ghafri, A. S., Klöve, B., & Haghighi, A. T. (2022). Sustainability and virtual water: The lessons of history. Geography and Sustainability, 3(4), 358–365.
Abstract: This article aims to show that virtual water has historically been an adaptation strategy that enabled some arid regions to develop a prosperous economy without putting pressure on their scarce water resources. Virtual water is referred to as the total amount of water that is consumed to produce goods and services. As an example, in arid central Iran, the deficiency in agricultural revenues was offset by more investment in local industries that enjoyed a perennial capacity to employ more workers. The revenues of local industries weaned the population from irrigated agriculture, since most of their raw materials and also food stuff were imported from other regions, bringing a remarkable amount of virtual water. This virtual water not only sustained the region’s inhabitants, but also set the stage for a powerful polity in the face of a rapid population growth between the 13th and 15th centuries AD. The resultant surplus products entailed a vast and safe network of roads, provided by both entrepreneurs and government. Therefore, it became possible to import more feedstock such as cocoons from water-abundant regions and then export silk textiles with considerable value-added. This article concludes that a similar model of virtual water can remedy the ongoing water crisis in central Iran, where groundwater reserves are overexploited, and many rural and urban centers are teetering on the edge of socio-ecological collapse. History holds an urgent lesson on sustainability for our today’s policy that stubbornly peruses agriculture and other high-water-demand sectors in an arid region whose development has always been dependent on virtual water.
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Kharaka, Y., Harmon, R., & Darling, G. (2015). W. Mike Edmunds (1941–2015). Applied Geochemistry, 59, 225–226.
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Kharazi, P., khazaeli, E. A., & Heshmatpour, A. (2021). Delineation of suitable sites for groundwater dams in the semi-arid environment in the northeast of Iran using GIS-based decision-making method. Groundwater for Sustainable Development, 15, 100657.
Abstract: Competing commercial demands on water resources need to be balanced as the world’s population rises. Generally, groundwater is raised by subsurface dams. In this paper, the geographic information system (GIS) software and a decision-making method were applied. As the first step, the limitations that affect the establishment of the subsurface dam were identified using eliminating criteria by the Boolean logic. Regarding the second step, the most appropriate axis was determined for subsurface dam construction in each of the limits. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was applied according to the evaluation criteria in this study. The aim of using AHP was to weigh and prioritize the criteria of the groundwater dam for recognizing appropriate sites. Among various places and regarding the subsurface dam construction, AHP was conducted using a hierarchy process for finding the most suitable sites in the third stage of the decision-making method. Finally, among the ten appropriate sites, cross comparison was drawn by using Decision Expert (DEX), Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS), and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Compared together (as a process of decision-making), DEX, TOPSIS, and EDAS methods assisted in ranking the most appropriate sites in the final step of subsurface dam pre-selection. A and C axes obtained scores between 1 and 2, among 10 axes according to the numerically ranked locations. Regarding the water shortage issue and better management of the underground water at certain levels, the findings of this study could be useful for the residents of Kajbid-Balaqly Watershed in the dry season. Further, water managers can use the above-mentioned methods for their decisions regarding the proper subsurface dam establishment.
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Khoury, H. N., salameh, E. M., & Clark, I. D. (2014). Mineralogy and origin of surficial uranium deposits hosted in travertine and calcrete from central Jordan. Applied Geochemistry, 43, 49–65.
Abstract: Secondary uranium encrustations are hosted in thick travertine and calcrete deposits of Pleistocene–Recent age in central Jordan. The central Jordan varicolored marble and travertine are equivalent to the active metamorphic area in Maqarin, north Jordan. More than 100 samples were collected from the outcrops of the varicolored marble, travertine, calcrete, and the yellow uranium encrustations. The secondary yellow encrustations are mainly composed of uranyl vanadate complexes. Tyuyamunite Ca(UO2)2V25+O8·3(H2O)–strelkinite Na2(UO2)2V2O8·6(H2O) solid solution series are the major components and their composition reflects changes in the Ca/Na ratio in solution. Potentially, new vanadium free calcium uranate phases (restricted to the varicolored marble) were identified with CaO:UO3 ratios different from the known mineral vorlanite (CaU6+)O4. Carbon and oxygen isotope data from calcite in the varicolored marble are characterized by Rayleigh-type enrichment in light isotopes associated with release of 13C and 18O enriched CO2 by high temperature decarbonation during combustion of the bituminous marl. Stable isotope results from uranium hosted travertine and calcrete varieties exhibit a wide range in isotopic values, between decarbonated and normal sedimentary carbonate rocks. The depleted δ13C and δ18O values in the travertine are related to the kinetic reaction of atmospheric CO2 with hyperalkaline Ca(OH)2 water. The gradual enrichment of δ13C and δ18O values in the calcrete towards equilibrium with the surrounding environment is related to continuous evaporation during seasonal dry periods. Uranium mineralization in central Jordan resulted from the interplay of tectonic, climatic, hydrologic, and depositional events. The large distribution of surficial uranium occurrences hosted in travertine and calcrete deposits is related to the artesian ascending groundwater that formed extensive lakes along NNW–SSE trending depressions. Fresh groundwater moved upward through the highly fractured phosphate, bituminous marl and varicolored marble to form unusual highly alkaline water (hydroxide–sulfate type) enriched with sensitive redox elements among which were U and V.
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Klaus, J., & Külls, C. (2009). Integrating residence time data in mixing cell modeling-Application to the Lower Kuiseb Dune area. In EGU Geophysical Abstracts (11026).
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Klaus, J., Külls, C., & Dahan, O. (2008). Evaluating the recharge mechanism of the Lower Kuiseb Dune area using mixing cell modeling and residence time data. Journal of Hydrology, 358(3-4), 304–316.
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Klaus, J., Zehe, E., Elsner, M., Külls, C., & McDonnell, J. J. (2013). Macropore flow of old water revisited: experimental insights from a tile-drained hillslope. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 17(1), 103.
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Klimkova, S., Cernik, M., Lacinova, L., Filip, J., Jancik, D., & Zboril, R. (2011). Zero-valent iron nanoparticles in treatment of acid mine water from in situ uranium leaching. Chemosphere, 82(8), 1178–1184.
Abstract: Acid mine water from in situ chemical leaching of uranium (Straz pod Ralskem, Czech Republic) was treated in laboratory scale experiments by zero-valent iron nanoparticles (nZVI). For the first time, nZVI were applied for the treatment of the real acid water system containing the miscellaneous mixture of pollutants, where the various removal mechanisms occur simultaneously. Toxicity of the treated saline acid water is caused by major contaminants represented by aluminum and sulphates in a high concentration, as well as by microcontaminants like As, Be, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, U, V, and Zn. Laboratory batch experiments proved a significant decrease in concentrations of all the monitored pollutants due to an increase in pH and a decrease in oxidation–reduction potential related to an application of nZVI. The assumed mechanisms of contaminants removal include precipitation of cations in a lower oxidation state, precipitation caused by a simple pH increase and co-precipitation with the formed iron oxyhydroxides. The possibility to control the reaction kinetics through the nature of the surface stabilizing shell (polymer vs. FeO nanolayer) is discussed as an important practical aspect.
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Klock, H., Külls, C., & Udluft, P. (2001). Quantification of Groundwater Recharge-Estimating recharge values using hydrochemical and geological data: A case study from the semiarid Kalahari catchment of northern Namibia. IAHS Publications-Series of Proceedings and Reports-Intern Assoc Hydrological Sciences, 269, 25–32.
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