Editor(s)
Dr. Kwong Fai Andrew Lo
Professor, College of Science, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan.


ISBN 978-81-19039-45-6 (Print)
ISBN 978-81-19039-41-8 (eBook)
DOI: 10.9734/bpi/npgees/v3


This book covers key areas of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences. The contributions by the authors include potato cultivation, fungicides, physiological indicators, agrophysical, agrochemical, thermodynamic equilibrium process, systemic thermodynamics of soil water, hydrostructural pedology discipline, gibbs free energy, carnot cycle, second law of thermodynamics, climate change, global warming, sea level rise, maintain the mediterranean level, pedostructure, structural representative elementary volume concept, soil shrinkage curve, thermodynamic internal energy, pressure plate apparatus, tensiometric measurement, soil moisture characteristic curve, soil water retention curve, and hydrostructural parameters. This book contains various materials suitable for students, researchers and academicians in the field of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences.

 

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Chapters


The purpose of the research is to study the qualitative indicators of potato tubers of the Gala variety at different plant densities and the use of fungicides in the Middle Urals.  Potato is an important agricultural crop in the world, Russia and in Mali. The potato would be introduced in Mali since the 19th century by the French colonizer. Potato cultivation is mainly done in Mali during the cool dry season and its yield potential is high (20 to 30 t/ha). The investigation of quality indicators for potato tubers is an essential component of the advancement of varietal cultivation technology. The study was conducted in 2018 and 2019 on the experimental field of the Ural State Agrarian University's educational and experimental farm. Gala, a medium-early high-yielding potato variety, is the subject of the study. Gravimetric, extraction, ebuliostatic, ionometric, and photometric methods were used in biochemical and agrochemical studies. The electrical conductivity of tubers was measured using a conduct metre in mSm, the concentration of cell juice was measured using a refract metre in %, nitrates in tubers were measured using a nitrate tester in mg/kg, and the acidity (pH) of tubers was measured using a pH metre. The study's findings demonstrated that as the feeding area was increased from 1400 to 2800 cm2, the concentration of potato tubers' cell juice decreased from 7.0 to 2.65%. Electrical conductivity is decreased by the application of the fungicides Shirlan and Infinito. Potato tubers' specific weight rises from 0.92 to 1.16 gram with an increase in the feeding area. The nitrate content decreased with an increase in the feeding area and the use of fungicides from 340 to 326 mg/kg. During the growing period, the content of carbon dioxide (CO2) of the potato plant in the control variant was 775, and with the use of shirlan it was 1043, which is an increase of 1.5 times. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that for the first time in the conditions of the Middle Urals, an evaluation of tubers was conducted according to physiological, agrophysical and agrochemical indicators with new devices during the periods of storage of tubers (April) and vegetation of potato plants, based on the feeding area and the use of fungicides.

In classical thermodynamics, entropy (S) and temperature  (T) are two associated thermodynamic variables whose dimensional equations are unknown but whose product (TS)  is, like heat (Q), an energy (ML2T-2). This poses an unsurpassable barrier in form of an "thermodynamic 2nd law" when one wants to deepen the soil and water thermodynamic interaction and take into account the hierarchically organized structure in aggregates of the solid phase. This problem has recently evolved with what has been called “systemic soil water thermodynamics” where all thermodynamic variables had to be “systemic” to fit into the “physical and systemic modeling” paradigm of Hydrostructural Pedology. With their dimensional identity, all the thermodynamic variables, being systemic, appear at the different organizational levels of a soil horizon, including those, molecular and atomic, of the fluid phases of the pedostructure. With this new point of view, the Carnot cycle explicitly confirms the correspondence between the traditional thermodynamic terminology and the systemic variables and equations of the new thermodynamics model. However, a completely different interpretation of the Carnot cycle and the Clausius inequality is highlighted here, one that has nothing to do with the question of reversibility/irreversibility but rather with the fundamental physical process at the basis of the thermodynamic equilibrium and its evolving with time. The Clausius inequality is explained and new fields of research are emerging in perspective.

Protection of Sea Level Rise in the Mediterranean: An Unconventional Solution (Proposed Idea)

Ali A. Abu Sedira , Ahmed E. Rakha

Novel Perspectives of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Vol. 3, 25 January 2023, Page 40-45
https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/npgees/v3/18094D

The Mediterranean basin is one of the most prominent hotspots of climate and environmental changes. The most common and dangerous impact of climate change is the Sea level rising. Several countries are suffering from this risk disaster especially the countries of the Mediterranean basin. The need for an unconventional and sustainable solution has become necessary and urgent. The current idea is proposing to maintain the level of the Mediterranean by controlling the flowing waters, whether from the Atlantic Ocean or the Indian Ocean, by constructing two mega dams at the western and eastern outlet. The western dam is erected on Gibraltar, and the eastern dam is erected at the Gulf of Suez Many environmental, economic, and social objectives could be achieved. The solution will need a strategic environmental impact assessment study, besides other geological, hydrogeological, and engineering complementary activities. These activities should be preceded by construction.

Thermodynamic Formulation of the Pedostructure Water Retention and Shrinkage Curves: An Approach to Soil Medium Organization

Erik Braudeau, Amjad T. Assi, Hassan Boukcim, Rabi H. Mohtar

Novel Perspectives of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Vol. 3, 25 January 2023, Page 46-79
https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/npgees/v3/17672D

The two characteristic soil moisture curves: the soil water retention curve and the shrinkage curve, necessary for the physical modeling of the hydrological and agronomic properties of the soil are, still today, entirely empirical. They have been established so far without referring to the hydrostructural and thermodynamic properties of the pedostructure, nor to the internal and hierarchical organization of the soil pedon and its horizons which are described in Hydrostructural Pedology. On the contrary, this article presents the development of these equations according to the systemic and thermodynamic paradigm of this new scientific discipline of earth sciences.  We show how the aqueous phase of the pedostructure is divided into two types of water positioned differently in the pedostructure: one in the plasma porosity of the primary aggregates and the other outside the primary aggregates in the inter-aggregate porosity. The thermodynamic equilibrium established between these two types of water has been put into equations to represent the pedostructural water retention curve h(W) resulting from this equilibrium: the suction pressure of the pedostructure as a function of the water content. Using information from simultaneous measurements of both curves, the new equations were put to the test and the theory was verified.  The implications of these findings for physical modelling in agro-environmental sciences are discussed.

Assessment of Soil Water Thermodynamic to Unify Water Retention Curve by Pressure Plates and Tensiometer

Erik Braudeau , Gaghik Hovhannissian , Amjad T. Assi, Rabi H. Mohtar

Novel Perspectives of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Vol. 3, 25 January 2023, Page 80-104
https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/npgees/v3/17673D

In soil science, there are two well-known standard methods for measuring the soil moisture characteristic curve: the pressure plate method providing the pF curve and the tensiometer providing the soil suction pressure curve. These two empirical curves are generally used for characterizing and modeling the soil water properties. The two approaches are based on two very different measurement concepts, and physical compatibility of the measured variables has never been demonstrated. The recently thermodynamic formulation of the pedostructure water retention curve h(W) allows us studying this compatibility, both theoretically and experimentally. This constitutes the object of the present article. We found that the pressure plate method provides correct measurement points of the water retention curve of the pedostructure h(W) but on the condition that h is not calculated as usual, as equal to the air pressure applied to the sample. Instead, according to the thermodynamic theory developed here, h must be calculated as the logarithm of the air pressure applied to the pedostructure sample to correspond to the suction pressure directly measured by the tensiometer. We then demonstrate how the hydrostructural parameters of the theoretical curve equation can be estimated from any measured curve, regardless of measurement technique. An application example using published pF curves is given.

Expanded Perlite-based Light Panels Used as Adsorbents and Insulators against Rapid Evaporation in Subsaharan Countries

Mohamed Tahiri , Fatiha Benzha , Aziz El Makssoudi

Novel Perspectives of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Vol. 3, 25 January 2023, Page 105-122
https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/npgees/v3/4662A

This chapter focuses on producing light panels using readily available natural resources (expanded perlite, sawdust and wood waste, and vegetable coal) combined with a non-toxic natural resin (resin of the pine). The manufacturing technique enables the production of panels with a variety of colours and modest thicknesses that add visual appeal to waste water treatment facilities while limiting the release of nauseating aromas caused by the anaerobic metabolism of organic materials found in liquid effluents.  Water resources must be regarded as the vital stocks and used with much precaution to ensure fundamental needs to maintain equilibrium in life. Panels are also an effective way to prevent the rapid evaporation of rainwater stored in lakes and dams. The following are the unique characteristics of these panels: Lower density than water, large capacity of adsorption for organic gas matter, composite material acts as a filter in which organic gases are photo oxidised with dioxide titanium involved in the composite material, and these composite materials are basin insulators against solar heating and thus fast evaporation.  

Impact of Land Cover Variability Indices on Land Surface Temperature Using Multi-Temporal Landsat Data in Greater Accra, Ghana

Aarthi Aishwarya Devendran , Fabrice Banon

Novel Perspectives of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Vol. 3, 25 January 2023, Page 123-145
https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/npgees/v3/4119C

Due to the increased anthropogenic activities, vegetated and green spaces are decreasing and are getting replaced by impervious surfaces, especially in cities. This leads to the increase in the surface temperature of urban areas when compared to the rural regions leading to the formation of urban heat island.  Due to the higher rate of population increase and a lack of infrastructural facilities and regulations to mitigate the negative consequences of urbanisation, it is critical in developing countries to obtain timely and accurate information on the urban trend and its development. The current study examines the urban development of Greater Accra, Ghana using Landsat 7 dataset acquired during 2002, 2013, and 2020. Further, the influence of urban growth on the land surface temperature (LST) and land cover variability (LCV) indices including NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), NDBI (Normalized Difference Built-Up Index), and NDWI (Normalized Difference Water Index) is identified during the study periods. According to the findings, the built-up area in the study region quadrupled between 2002 and 2020. According to Shannon's entropy analysis, the region's urban development is heterogeneous or dispersive. Furthermore, the regression analysis reveals a strong positive relationship between LST and NDBI (0.755), as well as a negative relationship between LST and NDVI (0.4417) and LST and NDWI (0.4417). (0.76). The study's findings could be used to develop sustainable urban socioeconomic and environmental planning policies in the study region.