The spatial analysis of the ancient funerary landscape of the Sahara Fazzan - a case study of the Wadi ash-Shati, Libya

Report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in Partial fulfilment of the Requirements for Masters in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing in the Faculty of Science. School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand. March 2016.This study is an initial attempt to investigate the spatial arrangement of graves which are believed that they can shed new light on the mortuary behaviours of ancient societies. The aim of this study is to utilise Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing to document and explore the funerary landscape of the Wadi ash-Shati, Libya using a comprehensive set of environmental variables that might have influenced the spatial distribution of Garamantian funerary monuments. In view of that argument, this study is motivated by these two objectives; documenting all the Garamantian funerary monuments and settlements visible in high resolution satellite imagery and investigating their spatial patterns in their topographic setting. Spatial patterns were achieved by plotting digitised graves data from remotely sensed imagery (accessed through Google Earth) and hand held Global Positioning System (GPS) data in a GIS environment in order to extract patterns and structure in the dataset. In order to better understand these patterns and structures, the following GIS approaches; slope, elevation, visibility, clustering, directional distribution analyses were utilised. The results of the GIS analyses showed that there was correlation between graves location, qsurs or settlements, wells and with the environmental variables (slope, elevation, and distance to water resources). On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that environmental variables were major factor in the placement of graves, qsurs and wells. The placement of these site locations can be related to as an expression of the socio-political, economic, cultural and ideological characteristics of the Garamantian society that created the burials and organised the Wadi ash-Shati landscape. The present study concluded that the Garamantian civilisation had established changes in the landscape that promoted the development of elaborate funerary monuments which peaked significantly during the time when aridity became immense in the study region. However additional research is necessary to provide more conclusive results and interpretations of this study, as such results from the analyses carried out should not be viewed as absolute, but as a stepping ladder for future investigation in the Wadi ash-Shati region. Keywords: GIS, Remote sensing, Funerary Landscape, Wadi ash-Shati, Libya, Spatial Analysis, Garamantian, Google Earth, Global Positioning System (GPS), Environmental VariablesLG201

Groundwater quantity and quality assessment for aquifer recharge in Ohangwena region, Namibia

The high population growth rate and changing climatic conditions for the Ohangwena region create increasing pressure on the local water balance. As groundwater demands increase and availability declines, sustainable groundwater management is required for the Ohangwena region. This thesis assessed the suitability of using runoff for aquifer recharge to augment groundwater in the Ohangwena region and minimize the lowering of water table. The Geographical Information System (GIS) and groundwater flow models were used in this study to assess the water resources in the study area. A multicriteria approach using a weighted rating was used in this study to generate a map showing areas suitable for groundwater recharge. The resultant groundwater potential recharge zones map was produced based on the overall weights of seven influential factors for groundwater recharge namely lithology, land use/land cover, lineaments, drainage, slope, geology, and soil type. The results of the assessment indicated that 85% of the Ohangwena region is characterized by high groundwater recharge zones, while 25% is characterized by very high groundwater recharge zones. The very high groundwater recharge zones are mostly found in the central part of the region, on the far upper western side and the eastern side of the region. The recorded recharge rates for the region in the range of 40 – 60 mm/year were introduced to an established model using the MODFLOW software, to assess the impact of Aquifer Recharge on the groundwater levels. The impact was assessed with both the steady-state model to approximate aquifer recharge under controlled conditions, and the transient state model for close representation of recharge in reality at four wells namely, WW201045, WW201637, WW201634, and WW20267, where it was evaluated by the hydraulic heads and water budget analysis. The steady state model results indicated a change in groundwater levels in the range of -0.10 - 0.70 m. In the same manner, the transient state model results show a gradual increase in groundwater levels in the range of 9.2 - 12.10 meters for the 350 m deep Ohangwena aquifer. The groundwater levels can be improved locally by infiltrating runoff into the KOH-II aquifer via the injection wells or infiltration basins during the rainy season (November to April) when there is plenty of runoff and flood in the region. The high soil infiltration rates in the region make runoff to be suitable for Aquifer Recharge implementation in the region. Transferring runoff to the aquifer aims at making use of the large aquifer storage space and limiting evaporation loss. The study also employed particle tracking and MT3DMS to assess the transport of contaminants associated with runoff within the aquifer. This was assessed at two wells thatserved as injection wells in the model, and four contaminants namely chloride, Electrical Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids, and E-coli were studied. The outcomes of this assessment indicated that both Chloride, Electrical conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids, and E-coli concentrations decrease from 1000 mg/l to 0.01 mg/l, 532 mS/s to 0.1, 478.56 mg/l to 0.01 mg/l, and 9.58 to 0.01 respectively as timesteps increase, and it takes 20 timesteps (94672800 seconds) for them to disperse further into the aquifer. The dispersion of Chloride, EC, TDS, and E-coli within the aquifer covers a maximum distance of 12.1, 9.6, 8.7, and 6.7 km respectively

GIS-based multi-criteria decision making for delineation of potential groundwater recharge zones for sustainable resource management in the Eastern Mediterranean: a case study

In light of population growth and climate change, groundwater is one of the most important water resources globally. Groundwater is crucial for sustaining many vital sectors in Syria, including industrial and agricultural sectors. However, groundwater exploitation has significantly escalated to meet different water needs especially in the post-war period and the earthquake disaster. Therefore, the goal was this study delineation of the groundwater potential zones (GPZs) by integrating the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method in a geographic information systems (GIS) within the AlAlqerdaha river basin in western Syria. In this study, ten criteria were used to map the spatial distribution of GPZs, including slope, geomorphology, drainage density, land use/land cover (LU/LC), lineament density, lithology, rainfall, soil, curvature and topographic wetness index (TWI). GPZs map was validated by using the location of 74 wells and the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC). The findings suggest that the study area is divided into five GPZs: very low, 21.39 km2 (10.87%); low, 52.45 km2 (26.65%); moderate, 65.64 km2 (33.35%); high, 40.45 km2 (20.55%) and very high, 16.90 km2 (8.58%). High and very high zones mainly corresponded to the western regions of the study area. The conducted spatial modeling indicated that the AHP-based GPZs map showed a remarkably acceptable correlation with wells locations (AUC = 87.7%, n = 74), demonstrating the precision of the AHP–GIS as a rating method. The results of this study provide objective and constructive outputs that can help decision-makers to optimally manage groundwater resources in the post-war phase in Syria

Environmental Policy Update 2012: Development Strategies and Environmental Policy in East Africa

The seven chapters that comprise this report explore ways to integrate sustainability goals and objectives into Ethiopia's current development strategies

Arizona mining consultants

abstract: This directory contains a listing of Arizona-registered consultants for the following mining related disciplines: assayers, geological engineers, geologists, geophysical engineers, metallurgical engineers, and mining engineers.Directory (Arizona Department of Mines and Mineral Resources) ; no. 5

SMART - IWRM : Integrated Water Resources Management in the Lower Jordan Rift Valley; Project Report Phase I (KIT Scientific Reports ; 7597)

This book provides an overview of the large scale Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) research program SMART at the Lower Jordan River Basin which aims at local implementation, knowledge & capacity building. The focus of the first phase is placed on decentralised wastewater treatment and reuse, water quality including emerging pollutants, management and modelling of groundwater systems, artificial recharge, socio-economic frameworks, a transboundary database and decision support tools

Rock Art Pilot Project Main Report

A report on the results of a pilot project to investigate the current state of research, conservation, management and presentation of prehistoric rock art in England commissioned by English Heritage from Archaeology Group, School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth Unviersity and the Institute of Archaeology, University College Londo

Fecal contamination of drinking-water in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: access to safe drinking-water is a fundamental requirement for good health and is also a human right. Global access to safe drinking-water is monitored by WHO and UNICEF using as an indicator “use of an improved source,” which does not account for water quality measurements. Our objectives were to determine whether water from “improved” sources is less likely to contain fecal contamination than “unimproved” sources and to assess the extent to which contamination varies by source type and setting.Methods and findings: studies in Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish were identified from online databases, including PubMed and Web of Science, and grey literature. Studies in low- and middle-income countries published between 1990 and August 2013 that assessed drinking-water for the presence of Escherichia coli or thermotolerant coliforms (TTC) were included provided they associated results with a particular source type. In total 319 studies were included, reporting on 96,737 water samples. The odds of contamination within a given study were considerably lower for “improved” sources than “unimproved” sources (odds ratio [OR] = 0.15 [0.10–0.21], I2 = 80.3% [72.9–85.6]). However over a quarter of samples from improved sources contained fecal contamination in 38% of 191 studies. Water sources in low-income countries (OR = 2.37 [1.52–3.71]; p<0.001) and rural areas (OR = 2.37 [1.47–3.81] p<0.001) were more likely to be contaminated. Studies rarely reported stored water quality or sanitary risks and few achieved robust random selection. Safety may be overestimated due to infrequent water sampling and deterioration in quality prior to consumption.Conclusion: access to an “improved source” provides a measure of sanitary protection but does not ensure water is free of fecal contamination nor is it consistent between source types or settings. International estimates therefore greatly overstate use of safe drinking-water and do not fully reflect disparities in access. An enhanced monitoring strategy would combine indicators of sanitary protection with measures of water qualit