No abstract

The meteorological data such as rainfall and temperatures, covering the period between 1979 and 2008, has been analyzed. The data were simulated using the geographic information systems (GIS) and computer software "MATLAB". The output results were converted into geographical maps. Three parameters were analyzed: annual mean maximum temperature, annual mean minimum temperature, and mean annual rainfall during the period . The analyzed results were also used to forecast for the period (2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018).The results show that no change has occurred in the mean annual rainfall in both northern and eastern part, while it has increased in the central region of Jordan. Although local temperatures fluctuate naturally, but over the past 50 years, the mean local temperature in Jordan has increased rapidly since 1992 by 1.5-2 • C.It is noticed from the data that the change in both maximum and minimum temperatures has clearly begun after 1991, in which this phenomenon may give an indication of changing point in climate of Jordan. As for prediction is concern, the show continuous increase in both maximum and minimum temperatures in the eastern, northern and southern regions of Jordan.The application of GIS in this study was successfully used to analyze the data and to produce 'easy to use' maps to understand the impact of global warming. This application is the first in terms of its applicability in Jordan. The authors believe that the results of this study will be of great help to the decision makers in the field of environment in Jordan.

With the increase in the awareness of the public in the environmental impact of oil shale utilization, it is of interest to reveal the mobility of potentially toxic trace elements in spent oil shale. Therefore, the Cr and As oxidation state in a representative Jordanian oil shale sample from the El-Lajjoun area were investigated upon different lab-scale furnace treatments. The anaerobic pyrolysis was performed in a retort flushed by nitrogen gas at temperatures in between 600 and 800 °C (pyrolytic oil shale, POS). The aerobic combustion was simply performed in porcelain cups heated in a muffle furnace for 4 h at temperatures in between 700 and 1000 °C (burned oil shale, BOS). The high loss-on-ignition in the BOS samples of up to 370 g kg(-1) results from both calcium carbonate and organic carbon degradation. The LOI leads to enrichment in the Cr concentrations from 480 mg kg(-1) in the original oil shale up to 675 mg kg(-1) in the ≥ 850 °C BOS samples. Arsenic concentrations were not much elevated beyond that in the average shale standard (13 mg kg(-1)). Synchrotron-based X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) analysis revealed that within the original oil shale the oxidation states of Cr and As were lower than after its aerobic combustion. Cr(VI) increased from 0% in the untreated or pyrolyzed oil shale up to 60% in the BOS ash combusted at 850 °C, while As(V) increased from 64% in the original oil shale up to 100% in the BOS ash at 700 °C. No Cr was released from original oil shale and POS products by the European compliance leaching test CEN/TC 292 EN 12457-1 (1:2 solid/water ratio, 24 h shaking), whereas leachates from BOS samples showed Cr release in the order of one mmol L(-1). The leachable Cr content is dominated by chromate as revealed by catalytic adsorptive stripping voltammetry (CAdSV) which could cause harmful contamination of surface and groundwater in the semiarid environment of Jordan.

No abstract

No abstract