• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.425-440
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• 2020

The study area is located in the southern part of the M'aider Paleozoic basin in the Moroccan Eastern Anti-Atlas. It is an arid region, characterized by minimal vegetation cover, which can provide an ideal environment to apply remote sensing. In this study, remote sensing and field investigations were integrated for lithological and structural lineaments mapping. The Landsat 8 OLI data were processed in order to understand the role of lithology and geological structures in the distribution of mineral deposits in the study area. To achieve this purpose, the Color Composite (CC), the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Band Rationing transformation (BR) tests were performed. The results of remote sensing techniques coupled with field investigations have shown that the zones of high lineaments densities are highly correlated with the occurrences of barite mineralization. These findings depict a spatial relationship between structural lineaments and the mineralization distribution zones. Therefore, the barite and Iron oxides mineralization veins, which occur mainly in the Ras Kammouna district, seem to have a structural control. The methodological approach used in this study examining lithological mapping and lineament extractions can be used to explore mineral deposits in arid regions to a high degree of efficiency.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.249-256
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• 2015

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different levels and types of nitrogen fertilizer on seedlings and soil chemical properties in a semi-arid area, Mongolia. 2-year-old Populus sibirica and 4-year-old Ulmus pumila seedlings were planted in May 2014. Six treatments with three levels of nitrogen (low-level: urea $5g\;tree^{-1}$; medium-level: urea $15g\;tree^{-1}$, ammonium sulfate $33g\;tree^{-1}$, urea $15g\;tree^{-1}$ with potassium phosphate $10g\;tree^{-1}$; high-level: urea $30g\;tree^{-1}$) were applied and for the medium-level of nitrogen, different types of fertilizer were treated. Survival rate, root collar diameter (RCD) growth rate, leaf nitrogen concentration of seedlings, and soil chemical properties were determined in August 2014. The seedling survival rate of both species decreased as the level of nitrogen increased. This result can be explained by water stress caused by nitrogen fertilization in arid regions. The RCD growth rate of P. sibirica was significantly decreased by the treatment of high-level of nitrogen due to excessive nitrogen fertilization, and was increased by the treatment of ammonium sulfate due to sulfur which might promote nitrogen uptake. The leaf nitrogen concentration of P. sibirica did not change by the treatment of low-level of nitrogen, and was increased by the treatment of medium-level of nitrogen. There were no significant differences in the RCD growth rate and the leaf nitrogen concentration of U. pumila among the six treatments. None of soil chemical properties was affected by nitrogen fertilization. Overall, the low-level of nitrogen showed no effect on seedlings and soil chemical properties, except on survival rate of U. pumila and the high-level of nitrogen was considered excessive fertilization. Continuous monitoring of medium-level nitrogen fertilization including the ammonium sulfate, which increased early growth of seedlings, would be needed to elucidate the effect of fertilization on seedling growth and soil properties in a semi-arid region.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.333-339
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• 1991

Eighty-two ewes of Balochi breed, two to four years of age were used in a completely randomized design to study the effect of winter supplementation on their performance in Kalat area of Balochistan and randomly divided into two groups of 40 and 42 animals. Two treatments (T1 and T2) studied were : 250 gm/animal/day of a 50 : 50 mixture of cottonseed cake and barley grain fed from Oct. 20 to Dec. 18, 1988 plus grazing and 500 gm/animal/day of the same feed mixture fed from Oct. 9 to Dec. 18, 1988 in addition to grazing. Lucerne hay and wheat straw in a 50 : 50 ratio were provided to all the ewes for a period of one month from Jan. 6, 1989 @ 320 gm/animal/day to sustain them in severe winter. Same feeding levels to the same ewe groups were again fed from Mar. 1 to May 27, 1989. Three breeding rams stayed with the flock from Nov. 1 to Dec. 13, 1988. Lambing took place from Apr. 2 to May 12, 1989. Conception, lambing and mortality percentage was found different (P<.05) between T1 and T2 (12.5 vs 14.8 kg). The ewes on T2 maintained higher body weights throughout winter than the ewes on T1. The results are suggestive of improvement in conception rate with winter supplementation (flushing) and decrease in ewe mortality. Late-gestation and early-lactation supplemental feeding of ewes results in increases in weaning weights of their lambs.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.84-94
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• 2009

Moisture Index time series derived from NOAA/AVHRR data have showed to be useful for humid and arid states. The humid/arid states of the Geum river basin are classified by means of the moisture index estimated from the climatic water budget model. Validations showed that the moisture index has excellent ability to detect humid/arid conditions and to measure time of its onset, intensity and duration. In this study, a simple method to classify the moisture index is proposed by statistical distribution condition. Also, the moisture index is compared with the regional actual state to detect drought area.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.331-352
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• 2021

The relationship of both heavy metals and major elements in soil, plants, and groundwater was studied in a hyper-arid area and depends completely on the groundwater to cover its all needs. The study reviles that 27.3% of the studied groundwater was strongly acidic and has very low pH values (

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.444-453
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• 2009

A large number of fossil plants were collected from the Lower Cretaceous Youngdong Group in the Youngdong area of Chungcheongbug-do, Korea. Youngdong flora consists of 5 genera and 6 species, such as Frenelopsis cf. alata, Pseudofrenelopsis cf. parceramosa, P. cf. varians, Brachyphyllum cf. vulgare, Pagiophyllum sp., and Classostrobus sp., including the male and female cones of Pseudofrenelopsis first occurred in the study area. All of them belong to conifers of Cheirolepidiaceae. It is presumed that Youngdong flora might have flourished under the arid subtropical climate during the middle-late Early Cretaceous.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.267-276
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• 2012

Terminal lakes are widely distributed in the arid and semi-arid Gobi of Mongolia, and serves as important water resource for local people and livestock. However, such lakes are subject to great fluctuations in its size depending on climatic conditions and human water utilization. The Orog Lake is one such example that has shown remarkable fluctuation in recent years. In this study, we investigated the temporal changes of Orog Lake surface area by using 16-day MODIS 250 m NDVI products from 2000 to 2010. The results were compared with climate variability represented by monthly precipitation and temperature. Our results show that the Orog Lake gradually shrank for the period from 2000 to 2010, but with a significant range of seasonal and inter-annual variability. The lake area showed considerable seasonal variations, as it expanded in spring and fall, primarily due to snow melt and summer precipitation, respectively. Extreme drought period from 2000 to 2002 triggered the substantial reduction in lake area, leading to dry-up in year 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009. After dry-up once occurred in 2005, the lake repeated reappearance and disappearance depending on seasonal and annual precipitation. Our findings implicate that the ground water fluctuated around the lake bottom level since 2005. This suggests the highly vulnerable nature of Orog lake, which greatly depends on future precipitation change.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.319-342
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• 2024

Background: The current study is the first quantitative ethnobotanical evaluation of Fateh Pur Thakyala, an unexplored area of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The exploration and quantification of ethnobotanical knowledge among people of the study area mainly focused during field survey. The study likely focuses on documenting and preserving the indigenous knowledge and practices related to medicinal plants in the region. A total 70 informants (45 males and 25 females) selected randomly to collect data were interviewed using semi structured questionnaire. The data like demographic characteristics of informants, methods of preparation, life form, modes of application, parts used, and ethnomedicinal uses was documented. The quantitative indices including relative frequency of citation (RFC), use value (UV), informant consensus factor (ICF), fidelity level (FL), consensus value for plant part (CPP), rank order priority (ROP), percentage respondent knowledge (PRK), were applied to analyze the collected data. Furthermore, primary data were also compared with fifteen papers published from adjoining areas by Jaccard index (JI). Results: The current study reported 135 medicinally important plants species belonging to 115 genera and 54 families. The dominating family was Asteraceae (14 sp.), followed by Fabaceae (11 sp.), Rosaceae (11 sp.), Lamiaceae (8 sp.), Moraceae (5 sp.), Solanaceae, Cyperaceae, Euphorbiaceae (4 sp.) and Poaceae, Sapindaceae, Rhamnaceae, Mrytaceae, Malvaceae (3 sp.) for each. The study revealed that there were small differences in usage of medicinal plants of different families. The herbaceous life form was dominating the study area with (79 sp.) used as herbal medicines followed by shrubs (23 sp.) and trees (33 sp.). The comparative study of for novelty of species and their uses by JI revealed 13 novel plants species which were not reported earlier from this region. Conclusions: Local inhabitants still prioritize herbal medicines as an effective way to treat a wide variety of ailments. Elders and health practitioners of the study area are well aware of indigenous knowledge about medicinal plants, but young people are not much interested in herbal practices. Thus, valuable knowledge about the use of plants is on the verge of decline. The overexploitation and seasonal fires are major threats for medicinal flora in the area.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.441-456
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• 2021

The Cretaceous Duwon Formation was studied on the basis of sedimentologic analysis in order to unravel geologic conditions for the development of the streamflow-dominated alluvial fan under arid to semi-arid climatic conditions. The Duwon Formation unconformably overlies the Paleoproterozoic gneiss (basement). Based on the sedimentologic analysis, the Duwon Formation is interpreted to have been deposited in gravelly braided stream (FA-1) near the basement, laterally transitional to sandy braided stream (FA-2) and floodplain environments (FA-3) with distance (< 7 km) from the basement. Lateral changes in sedimentary facies and the well development of calcrete nodules in FA-3, together with radial paleocurrent directions measured in FA-1, are suggestive of the deposition of the Duwon Formation in streamflow-dominated alluvial fan under arid to semi-arid climatic conditions. Recent analysis of detrital zircon chronology suggests that sediments of the Duwon Formation were derived from the southwestern part of the Korean peninsula, including the western part of Yeongnam Massif and the southwestern part of Okcheon Belt. This implies the alluvial fan where the Duwon Formation accumulated had the large drainage basin. Because the large drainage basin can supply the significant amounts of water and temporarily store the sediments within the basin, watery floodwater carried sediments to the alluvial fan rather than the debris flows. Furthermore, the drainage basin largely composed of coarse-grained metamorphic and igneous rocks produced sand-grade sediments, preventing evolution of floodwater into debris flows. We suggest that combined effects of the large drainage basin and its coarse-grained metamorphic and igneous rocks provided favorable conditions for the development of streamflow-dominated alluvial fan, despite arid to semi-arid climatic conditions during sedimentation.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.99-110
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• 2024

According to the REDD+ program, it is necessary to monitor, quantify, and report forest conditions in protected land areas. The objectives of this work were to quantify the average monthly aerial net primary productivity (ANPP_MONTH) of semi-arid Chaco Forest at Copo National Park (CNP), Santiago del Estero, Argentina, during the period 2000-2023, as well as its spatial distribution and relationship, and its use efficiency (RUE) of average monthly rainfall (AMR). The ANPP_MONTH model accounted for 90% of the seasonal variability from October to May, the average seasonal ANPP_MONTH was 145 tons of dry matter per hectare (t dm/ha), being the maximum in January with 192 t dm/ha and the minimum in May with 91 t dm/ha. The surface area covered by ANPP_MONTH exhibited a consistent positive trend from October to May (t test=15.65, p<0.01). Strong and significant direct relationships were found between ANPP_MONTH and AMRs, linear models explaining 90% and 96% of the variability, respectively. The results obtained become reference values for assessing the capacity of the forest systems to stock carbon for global warming mitigation and for monitoring and controlling their response to extreme climatic adversities. The average ANPP_MONTH reduces uncertainty when defining the thresholds to monitor and quantify ANPP and forest area, thus facilitating the detection of negative changes in land use in CNP. Such results evidence the National Parks Administration's high effectiveness for the maintenance of protected area and for the high ANPP of the FCHS of CNP in the period 2000-2023.