The tectonic development of the Southeast Anatolian Orogenic Belt (SAOB) is closely related to the demise of the NeoTethys Ocean, which was located between the Arabian and Eurasian plates from the late Cretaceous to Late Miocene. The ocean contained several continental slivers and intra-oceanic magmatic arcs. The continental slivers represent narrow tectonic belts rifted off and drifted away from the Arabian Plate while the NeoTethyan Ocean and the back-arc basins were opened. Later they collided with one another during the branches of the oceans were eliminated. In these periods, the continental slivers were involved in the subduction zone and turned into metamorphic massifs. During the Late Cretaceous, the first collision occurred when an accretionary complex was thrust over the Arabian Plate’s leading edge. Despite the collision, the ocean survived in the North and Its northward subduction generated a new intra oceanic arc, which collided later with the northerly located continental slivers. In this period, the metamorphic massifs and the intra-oceanic arc front migrated to the South. The new magmatic arc collided with the southerly transported nappe package during the Late Eocene. The amalgamated nappe pile eventually obducted onto the Arabian Plate during the Late Miocene. The collision produced escape structures during the Neotectonic period.

Given the increasing global demand for rare earth elements (REE), prospects for REE recovery from both traditional and non-traditional sources have been a focus of intense interest. Many have noted the need for ecologically sustainable alternatives to conventional pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical methods to recover REE. Among the newer approaches that have garnered recent interest are those that rely on microbiological processes or microbiologically produced reagents to recover the rare earths. Biological approaches can often avoid many of the environmental and or safety hazards associated with the corrosive (e.g., strong acids) or toxic chemicals (e.g., organic solvents) often used in hydrometallurgy as well as costs related to the high energy, reagent and capital requirements and potential air emissions associated with pyrometallurgy. Microbial processes are considered environmentally friendly because they are “natural”, although opportunities also exist to improve on native capabilities by the application of synthetic biology. In this chapter we will focus on some important factors that have not been as widely discussed but which should be considered in planning actual deployment of biological approaches for recovery and purification of rare earths, drawing on some of our own experience for examples. In particular we will focus on geochemical and biogeochemical constraints posed by the feedstocks from which REE may be extracted, for both bioleaching and biosorption, and point out the importance of aqueous equilibrium modeling as a tool for interpreting results and supporting design of biological recovery methods. We will also discuss some important cost factors for REE recovery that are specific to biological processes.

The rainfall reduction in the 1970s, less marked in Central Africa than in West Africa, still had a major impact on the hydrological regimes of the region’s large rivers. The study of the hydropluviometric behavior of the Ubangi at Mobaye has the advantage of studying a basin excluding anthropogenic impact. Forest cover and population density have not changed since at least 1970. Statistical analysis of the breaks in the long rainfall time series from Ubangi at Mobaye (1935-2015) confirms a long period of drought from 1969 to 2006 corresponding to a reduction of -8% in rainfall. And the study of the corresponding hydrological series indicates a second downward break in 1981, few years after the rainfall increase. This period points an exceptional hydrological drought period until 2013, which is the first year with an increase of flows. The statistical study of the annual rainfall/flow series of the upstream basins over the period 1951-1995 (the Kotto at Kembé and Bria, the Mbomu at Bangassou and Zémio, the Uélé + Bili hydrographic system) highlights different hydrological behaviors related to the vegetation cover. The savanna basins show a continuous hydrological deficit marked by a runoff coefficient (CE) that fell to 5% only from the 1990s. On the other hand, the basins under forest show a runoff increase since 1990 marked by CE above 10%. Under savannah, the part of the flow infiltrating to recharge the aquifer would have decreased faster than under forest, which results in a runoff coefficient CE very significantly negatively correlated with the savanna area present in the studied watershed.

The Hellenic arc, where the African (Nubian) slab subducts beneath the Aegean and Anatolian microplates, has emerged as a type-locality for understanding subduction dynamics, including slab tear, slab fragments, drips, and transfer zones. Based on field evidence and geophysical, tectonics, and geochemical studies, it has been recognized that the subducting African slab is a primary driver for extension in the Aegean and Anatolian microplates and plays a significant role in accommodating present-day westward extrusion of the Anatolian microplate. Thus, understanding the Hellenic arc subduction zone initiation (SZI) age is critical in deciphering ancient mantle flow, how plate tectonics is maintained, and the mechanisms involved in triggering the onset of subduction. The SZI for the Hellenic arc has two disparate ages based on different lines of evidence. A Late Cenozoic (Eocene-Pliocene) SZI is proposed using the analysis of topography combined with estimates of slab age and depth, paleomagnetism, the timing of metamorphism, and volcanic activity, and timing of sedimentation within its accretionary wedge, the Mediterranean Ridge. This age follows an induced-transference SZI model, where a new subduction zone initiates following the jamming of an older subduction zone by buoyant crust due to regional compression, uplift, and underthrusting. A Late Cretaceous-Jurassic SZI age has also been proposed using reconstructions of images of subducted slabs seen using tomography and timing of obducted ophiolite fragments thought to be related to the system. In this case, the induced-transference SZI model fails, and a single subduction zone persists. As a result, continental lithospheric fragments and the ancient oceans between them become incorporated into the overall system without creating a new subduction zone. The presence of a long-lived subduction zone has implications for understanding Earth’s mantle dynamics and how plate tectonics operates. This paper describes and summarizes the evidence for both models in the Aegean-Western Anatolia region.

Western Anatolia is located at the boundary between the Aegean and Anatolian microplates. It is considered a type-location for marking a significant transition between compressional and extensional tectonics across the Alpine-Himalayan chain. The onset of lateral extrusion in Western Anatolia and the Aegean during the Eocene is only one of its transitional episodes. The region has a geological history marked by diverse tectonic events starting from the Paleoproterozoic through the Cambrian, Devonian, and Late Cretaceous, as recorded by its suture zones, metamorphic history, and intrusions of igneous assemblages. Extension in Western Anatolia initiated in a complex lithospheric tectonic collage of multiple sutured crustal fragments from ancient orogens. This history can be traced to the Aegean microplate, and today both regions are transitioning or have transitioned to a stress regime dominated by strike-slip tectonics. The control for extension in Western Anatolia is widely accepted as the rollback of the African (Nubian) slab along the Hellenic arc, and several outstanding questions remain regarding subduction dynamics. These include the timing and geometry of the Hellenic arc and its connections to other subduction systems along strike. Slab tear is proposed for many regions across the Anatolian and Aegean microplates, either trench-parallel or perpendicular, and varies in scale from regional to local. The role of magma in driving and facilitating extension in Western Anatolia and where and why switches in stress regimes occurred along the Anatolia and Aegean microplates are still under consideration. The correlation between Aegean and Anatolian tectonic events requires a better understanding of the detailed metamorphic history recorded in Western Anatolia rocks, possible now with advances in garnet-based themobarometric approaches. Slab tear and ultimate delamination impact lithospheric dynamics, including generating economic and energy deposits, facilitating lithospheric thinning, and influencing the onset of transfer zones that accommodate deformation and provide conduits for magmatism.

Finding optimum balances between conflicting interests in multipurpose reservoirs often represents an important challenge for decision makers. This study assesses the use of different computational tools to obtain optimal reservoir operations applied to the Hatillo dam in the Dominican Republic. A multiobjective optimization approach is used, in which non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGAII) and multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition (MOEA/D) optimizers are applied to models that simulate reservoir operations. Three different Machine Learning (ML) models, namely, the multilayer perceptron (MLP), the radial basis network (RBN) and the linear function (LF), are employed to learn the current operation of the system. Subsequently, a general model is proposed to simulate daily reservoir operations (2009-2019), integrating water balances, physical constraints of the dam components and the ML models, the latter defining daily controlled discharges. In the optimization process, the ML parameters are the decision variables, while the objectives evaluated are irrigation, hydropower generation and flood control. The results are compared with the actual operation of the reservoir. Three dimensional Pareto fronts are obtained, from which, the wide variety of operations can be evidenced. The flood control objective was found to have a wide room for improvement over the current operation of the reservoir, and several of the solutions found improve the current operation for the three proposed objectives. The MLP models tend to generate the best results for this case study and the NSGAII optimizer generates the best optimization results.

The study aims to assess the local response of the regional climate model version 4.6 (RegCM4.6) to the coupling of ocean-atmosphere interaction in Central Africa. The ability of the model is evaluated over six years (first January 2001, to thirty-first December 2006) by conducting two different experiments with the Grell convective scheme. The experiments are carried out monthly with a spatial resolution of 40 km. The model was forced by ERA-Interim reanalyses and validated by GPCP (Global Precipitation Climatology Project) observational data, ERA 5 and ERA-Interim reanalyses. To evaluate the influence of the slab-ocean, we carried out two different experiments: The first experiment is designed to produce the climatology and force the surface limits of RegCM with the sea surface temperature. The second experiment is designed to couple RegCM with the slab-ocean, which provides mutual interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere. Using statistical tools, we evaluated the model’s ability to simulate precipitation, surface temperature and wind. Both experiments reasonably reproduce the main characteristics of the rainfall regime, temperature and wind. A comparative analysis of the different experiments reveals that the performances of the experiments are similar in Central Africa and in the different homogeneous sub-regions as far as rainfall is concerned, but there are subtle differences. Slab-ocean improvement varies from season to season and from the sub-region to sub-region. However, we note a significant improvement in temperature and rainfall over the Indian Ocean.

Flood disasters have regularly been reported in the Congo Basin with significant damages to human lives, food production systems and infrastructure. Losses incurred by these damages are huge and represent a major challenge for economic expansion in developing nations. In the Congo River Basin, where availability of in-situ data is a significant challenge, new approaches are needed to investigate flood risks and enable effective management strategies. This study uses recently developed global flood prediction data in order to produce flood risk maps for the Congo River Basin, where flood information currently does not exist. Flood hazard maps that estimate fluvial flooding at a grid cell resolution of 3 arc-seconds (~ 90 m), gridded population density data of 1 arc-second (~ 30 m) spatial resolution, and a spatial layer of infrastructure dataset are used to addresses flood risk at the scale of the Congo Basin. The global flood data provides different return periods of exposure to flooding in the Congo Basin and identifies flood extents. The risk analysis results are presented in terms of the percentage of population and infrastructure at flood risk for six return periods (5, 10, 20, 50, 75 and 100 year). Of the 525 administrative territories, 374 are AGU Books

The latest work on the main African rivers on the Atlantic coast has made it possible to subdivide the multi-year streamflow records into several homogeneous phases. The year 1970 seems to mark both for West and Central Africa the major hydroclimatic event of the 20th century, heralding its main period of deficit flow. For the first time, this article presents a comparative study of the hydro-rainfall records of five drainage systems (those of the Congo River and its main tributaries Lualaba, Kasai, Sangha, Oubangui) based on field data, obtained on both the left and right banks of the Congo River. A reconstitution of the Cuvette Centrale regime is proposed. The 1970 hydro-rainfall disruption is common in most tributaries of the Congo River basin, with significant reductions in flows depending on various factors (geographical location, vegetation cover, surface conditions and land use, etc.). The Oubangui is the most fragile northern tributary that continues to suffer from flow deficits, with an increase in the duration and intensity of its low flows. Since 1995, flows of the Congo River at its main station in Brazzaville/Kinshasa seem to have returned to the interannual average since 1903. However, from the same year onwards, an increase in seasonal variability and a decrease in spring flood flows can also be observed for its bimodal tributaries. This article explains some of the hydrological paradoxes specific to this basin, which illustrate the complexity of its hydrological functioning. Finally, it shows that the period of excess flow in the 1960s is the major hydrological anomaly of the Congo River over a continuous 116-year history. For the whole basin, hydrological variations are attenuated compared to those of precipitation. Finally, the hydrometric regimes reconstructed by spatial altimetry and modelling are compared with those from in situ data.

Elements with variable valence state (i.e. redox-sensitive) often show contrasting mineral/melt partition coefficients as a function of oxygen fugacity (fO2) in magmatic systems. This is because trace-element incorporation into crystal lattices depends on the charge, size, and crystal-field stabilization energy of atoms, all of which differ greatly between oxidized and reduced species of the same element. This has two critical implications: (1) petrologic/ geochemical modelling of partitioning behavior of redox-sensitive trace-elements in magmatic systems requires some knowledge of their oxidation state, and (2) the oxidation state of magmatic systems may be inferred from partitioning relations of redox-sensitive trace elements preserved in mineral and melt phases of rapidly cooled magmas. The advantage of this oxybarometric approach is that mineral/melt partitioning relations are not sensitive to late stage degassing, charge-transfer on quenching, or surficial alteration. In this chapter we discuss the theoretical treatment of experimental mineral/melt partitioning data of redox-sensitive trace elements, and review aspects concerning the partitioning behavior of well-known redox-sensitive elements, including transition metals (Ti, V, Cr, Fe), rare earth elements (Ce, Eu), U, and siderophile elements (Mo, W, Re, and platinum group elements) under planetary magmatic fO2 conditions.

This chapter describes the variability of rainfall and river discharges in the Ogooué River basin (ORB) in recent decades (since 1940). Due to its location crossing the Equator, the ORB receives abundant precipitation that maintains one of the world’s best-preserved ecosystems. In contrast to neighboring forest basins that have been severely degraded because of deforestation, mining resources extraction, extensions of agricultural areas, and river transport, which is a crucial alternative to the cruel lack of road infrastructures, the ORB is experimenting with an exceptional conservation policy in the region. For example, the rural penetration rate in Gabon is about 1 inhabitant per km² and many studies report a deforestation rate close to 0%, with even full natural regeneration. However, the fluctuations of the standardized anomaly index of rainfall in the ORB show three main phases of variations: the first wet phase was characterized by abundant precipitations from 1940 to 1970, the second phase of the long-term mild drought was extended in the 1970s and 1980s and the final third phase presented a slight return of abundance in precipitation. Even though drought severity in the ORB was mainly weak, its effects in river discharges were very sensitive on seasonal and inter-annual scales. The pure equatorial regime of the ORB characterized by equal maximum floods in spring and autumn changed significantly from the difference between both maximum discharges of 13.5 % during the 1960s to 27.0 %, 38.4 %, 33.9 %, and 26.7 % for the 1970s, 1980s, 2000s and 2010s respectively. A brief comparison between the ORB and the Congo River basin showed that changes in the ORB are part of a regional process that Central Africa is undergoing with some spatial heterogeneities.

A variety of smoke model frameworks are used to simulate smoke for research and forecast applications. Here, a comprehensive summary is provided which covers the many different smoke models that are available, while simultaneously highlighting some of the strengths and weaknesses of each model, along with the uncertainties surrounding each of these frameworks. This review also provides an in-depth discussion on coupled wildfire-atmosphere models, which is a relatively newer smoke modeling tool not previously discussed in other review papers. Key processes related to smoke transport and dispersion, such as the wildfire plume rise, are also discussed in length. This review wraps up with a discussion of future smoke modeling needs and potential new research directions for smoke transport and dispersion models.

Due to the awareness of degrading groundwater quality in Florida’s freshwater 7 springs and beginning in the early 1990s, the state’s water management districts, the Florida 8 Department of Environmental Protection, and the U.S. Geological Survey began efforts to 9 coordinate monitoring of Florida’s first-and second-magnitude springs. This study investigates 10 changes in spring discharge and the concentrations of two saline indicators sodium (Na +) and 11 chloride (Cl-) from 1991 through 2020 (30 years) in the Floridan aquifer system (FAS). Data were 12 obtained from 32 major springs and three additional discharge gaging stations. Spring discharge 13 was observed to decrease, while concentrations of sodium and chloride increased. As a group, the 14 FAS springs experienced passive saline encroachment. Not only did encroachment occur along 15 Florida’s coasts, but also in the interior. Median concentrations of sodium and chloride increased 16 by an estimated range of 7 to 11% per decade. Evidence suggests the major driver is decreasing 17 rainfall and subsequent declines in recharge to the FAS, followed by sea-level rise. The sources 18 of the saline water are from salt water near Florida’s coasts and relict sea water from the deeper 19 portions of the FAS. The observed changes agree with those predicted by the Ghyben-Herzberg 20 principle for coastal, carbonate aquifers. 21

Perhaps the least ambiguous signal that the mantle is convecting comes from observations of seismic anisotropy---the variation of wave speed with direction---which must arise due to the ordering of material as deformation occurs. Therefore significant effort has been made over many years to infer the direction and nature of mantle flow from these data. Observations have focussed on the boundary layers of the mantle, where deformation is expected to be strongest and where anisotropy is usually present. While prospects for mapping flow seem good, the lack of knowledge of several key issues currently holds progress back. These include the cause of anisotropy in the lowermost mantle, the causative material's response to shear, and the single-crystal or -phase seismic properties of the causative materials. In this chapter we review recent observations of lowermost mantle anisotropy, constraints on mineral elasticity and deformation mechanisms, and challenges in linking geodynamic modelling with seismic observations.

Coal fly ash has long been considered a potential resource for recovery of valuable elements, such as rare earth elements (REE), which are retained and concentrated upon combustion of coal feedstocks. Understanding REE occurrence within fly ash is a key to developing possible recovery methods. Recent results using modern analytical approaches shed light on the distribution REE in fly ash and the approaches required for their recovery. Some of the highest REE contents occur in fly ash derived from U.S. Appalachian Basin coals, and among these, coals influenced by input volcanic ash (Fire Clay coal, Kentucky) are especially enriched. Leaching studies of bulk fly ash show that, as a proportion of the total REE present, samples from eastern U.S. coals are generally less readily extractible than fly ash derived from western U.S. coals having lower REE contents. Direct determinations by ion microprobe show that REE in a range of fly ash samples are partitioned into aluminosilicate glasses formed during melting at boiler temperatures. These glasses comprise the largest mass fraction of coal fly ash. REE-enriched domains are present locally in fly ash at the nanometer scale (as shown by TEM), and these REE coexist with the glass phase. To enable systematic study of these REE, Ce has been proposed as a proxy for the trivalent lanthanides, as supported by speciation determinations demonstrating that Ce occurs in the trivalent form in fly ash. Despite a decreasing proportion of coal use for electric power generation in the U.S. and elsewhere, annual fly ash production, combined with coal ash already in storage, make up a large resource for potential recovery of rare earths and associated critical elements. Further developments in extraction technologies are needed to overcome difficulties in REE concentration and purification to produce REE materials of saleable purity derived from coal ash.

Xenoliths of plutonic rocks sporadically torn off by erupting magmas are known to carry valuable information about volcano plumbing systems and the lithosphere in which they emplace. One of the main steps to interpret such information is to quantify the pressure and temperature conditions at which the xenolith mineral assemblages last equilibrated. This chapter discusses some aspects of geothermobarometry of mafic and ultramafic rocks using the xenolith populations of Hualalai and Mauna Kea volcanoes, Hawaii, as case studies. Multiple- reaction geobarometry, recently revisited for olivine + clinopyroxene + plagioclase  spinel assemblages, provides the most precise pressure estimates (uncertainties as low as 1.0 kbar). An example is shown that integrates these estimates with calculated seismic velocities of the xenoliths and the available data from seismic tomography. The results allow to better constrain some km-scale horizontal and vertical heterogeneities in the magmatic system beneath Hawaii. Ultramafic xenoliths at Hualalai are the residuals of magma crystallization at 16–21 km depth, below the pre-Hawaiian oceanic crust. Few available gabbronorites and diorites record instead lower pressures and likely represent conduits or small magma reservoir crystallized at 0–8 km depth. At Mauna Kea, on the other hand, a significant portion of the xenolith record is composed by olivine-gabbros, which crystallized almost over the entire crustal thickness (3– 18 km). Ultramafic xenoliths are less abundant and might represent the bottom of the same magma reservoirs that crystallized in the deeper portion of the magmatic systems (11–18 km). Some unresolved issues remain in geothermometry of mafic and ultramafic rocks representing portions of magma reservoirs that cooled and recrystallized under subsolidus conditions. This suggests that further experimental and theoretical work is needed to better constrain the thermodynamics and kinetics of peridotitic and basaltic systems at low (< 1000 ̵̊C) temperatures.

Biomass burning has shaped many of the ecosystems of the planet and for millennia humans have used it as a tool to manage the environment. When widespread fires occur, the health and daily lives of millions of people can be affected by the smoke, often at unhealthy to hazardous levels leading to a range of short-term and long-term health consequences such as respiratory issues, cardiovascular issues, and mortality. It is critical to adequately represent and include smoke and its consequences in atmospheric modeling systems to meet needs such as addressing the global climate carbon budget and informing and protecting the public during smoke episodes. Many scientific and technical challenges are associated with modeling the complex phenomenon of smoke. Variability in fire emissions estimates has an order of magnitude level of uncertainty, depending upon vegetation type, natural fuel heterogeneity, and fuel combustion processes. Quantifying fire emissions also vary from ground/vegetation-based methods to those based on remotely sensed fire radiative power data. These emission estimates are input into dispersion and air quality modeling systems, where their vertical allocation associated with plume rise, and temporal release parameterizations influence transport patterns, and, in turn affect chemical transformation and interaction with other sources. These processes lend another order of magnitude of variability to the downwind estimates of trace gases and aerosol concentrations. This chapter profiles many of the global and regional smoke prediction systems currently operational or quasi-operational in real time or near-real time. It is not an exhaustive list of systems, but rather is a profile of many of the systems in use to give examples of the creativity and complexity needed to simulate the phenomenon of smoke. This chapter, and the systems described, reflect the needs of different agencies and regions, where the various systems are tailored to the best available science to address challenges of a region. Smoke forecasting requirements range from warning and informing the public about potential smoke impacts to planning burn activities for hazard reduction or resource benefit. Different agencies also have different mandates, and the lines blur between the missions of quasi-operational organizations (e.g. research institutions) and agencies with operational mandates. The global smoke prediction systems are advanced, and many are self-organizing into a powerful ensemble, as discussed in section 2. Regional and national systems are being developed independently and are discussed in sections 3-5 for Europe (11 systems), North America (7 systems), and Australia (3 systems). Finally, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) effort (section 6) is bringing together global and regional systems and building the Vegetation Fire and Smoke Pollution Advisory and Assessment Systems (VFSP-WAS) to support countries with smoke issues and who lack resources.

Tethyan evolution is characterized by cyclical continent-transfer from Gondwana to the continents in the Northern Hemisphere, similar to a “one-way” train. Subduction has been viewed as the primary driver of transference. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the tectonic evolution of all past subduction zones that occurred along Eurasia’s southern margin. We studied the earliest known eclogite located at the Neo-Tethyan suture in the Iranian segment. A prograde-E-MORB-like eclogite reached a peak metamorphic condition of 2.2 GPa and 560°C, at 190 ± 11 Ma (1 rutile U-Pb ages), which constrains the youngest age for subduction initiation of the Neo-Tethyan slab. Combined with regional magmatic and structural data, the oldest age for Neo-Tethys subduction initiation is 210–192 Ma, which is younger than the Paleo-Tethyan closure time of 228–209 Ma. These data, used with previous numerical modeling, supports collision-induced subduction initiation. The collision-induced force, together with the Paleo-Tethyan subduction driven-mantle flow, is likely to have exploited weak inherited structures from earlier Neo-Tethyan rifting, resulting in a northward directed subduction zone along the southern margin of Central Iran Block.