Morphology, hydrography and sediment dynamics in a mangrove estuary : the Konkoure Estuary, Guinea

The Konkoure Estuary in the Republic of Guinea is a poorly understood atypical mangrove system. Sediment dynamics in tropical estuaries are controlled by a combination of processes including river discharge, morphology, salinity, erosion and deposition processes, the settling of mud, physico-chemical processes and mangrove swamps. Here we present a consistent set of data aimed at characterising the estuary and thus, increasing our understanding of tropical systems, as well as studying the impact of human intervention in the region. Water elevations, current measurements, salinity, suspended sediment concentrations, bathymetry and sediment cover are presented following a 3 year survey of the Konkoure Estuary. Here we provide conclusive evidence that the Lower Konkoure is a shallow, funnel shaped, mesotidal, mangrove-fringed, tide dominated estuary, well mixed during low river discharge. The estuary becomes stratified during high river flows and spring tides whereas a salt wedge appears during neap tides. The Konkoure Estuary has been described as hypersynchronous, and has three terminal outlets, two of which are landward-directed, attesting to a tidal pumping effect, while the third one is seaward-directed, and is controlled by the mangrove. The suspended matter is transported by the tidal effect within the middle estuary and is therefore trapped in the Turbidity Maximum zone (TMZ). The location of the TMZ is river-controlled and is correlated with residual currents but not with salinity front. A dam, constructed 130 km upstream, impacts on the hydrodynamics, and reduces the salinity intrusion by about 25%. It causes an increased low river discharge whereas its efficiency over high river flows is unclear. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V

Characterization of noise emitted by a power tiller through geostatistics

ABSTRACT Noise is one of the harmful and stressful physical agents present in the workplace. Research performed with geostatistics to adjust the semivariogram of tractor noise were performed using the Gaussian and spherical model. In this way, the aim was to map the spatial variability of the noise emitted by a power tiller through the sine wave model, besides testing other fitting methods, in order to identify health zones for the workers. The experiment was performed with an agricultural power tiller (10.3 kW) placed in a working regime (1500 rpm), coupled to a brushcutter, and a digital sound level meter to collect noises in points distributed along a regular grid sampling of 2.0 × 2.0 m around the tractor. The spatial dependence of noise was analyzed through semivariogram fitting by different methods and by the wave model to obtain the spatial distribution map interpolated by kriging. It was possible to characterize the structure and the magnitude of the spatial dependence of the noise levels emitted by the tractor, as well as to map the spatial distribution. A maximum noise level of 96.5 dB was observed close to the tractor engine, a value above the limit of 85.0 dB for 8 h of daily exposure (NR-15). Thus, the use of ear protectors is recommended for both the tractor driver and the professionals who support agricultural operation within a radius of 6 m from the emitting source under the conditions studied