Browsing by Author "Smith, Meris"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    The chemical response of deep, leached and weathered soils of the Mpumalanga Highveld, South Africa, to irrigation with saline mine water
    (2000) Campbell, Ross; Abanda, Peter Azah; Smith, Meris
    Coal mining in the Highveld region of Mpumalanga Province, South Africa generates between 14 and 30 million litres of waste water per day. Much of the water is saline (TDS> 2500 mg/I) and has high concentrations of dissolved SO₄²⁻, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺. Crop irrigation has been proposed as a useful way to dispose of saline mine water and enhance agricultural productivity in this low rainfall (˂800 mm/year) region. In order to avoid undesirable salinization of the regional groundwater, it is necessary that soils immobilize, at least partially, the dissolved salt load of irrigation water.
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    A geochemical investigation of the Darling and Ysterfontein saline pans, Western Cape, South Africa
    (2000) Smith, Meris; Compton, John
    Saline pans are an important component of the hydrologic cycle in arid areas, and are common in South Africa. Natural saline pans on the coastal lowlands of the Western Cape Province, South Africa, were studied to determine the origin and evolution of salts within the pans. Samples of surface, stream and spring water as well as pan sediments were collected from two large coastal pans near Ysterfontein, and eight smaller pans 10-20 km from the sea, on the inland side of the granitic Darling hills.
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    Geochemical study of soil salinity in a toposequence near Riebeeck West, South Africa
    (2005) Folefoc, Asongbecap Daniel; Smith, Meris; Fey, Martin V
    A geochemical investigation of salt distribution in soils of the semi-arid of Western Cape, South Africa, was carried out following a pilot study which revealed widespread soil salinity in the Berg River catchment. The present study looks at the distribution of the salts along a toposequence in a subcatchment of the Berg River underlain by Malmesbury Group shale. The objectives were: to investigate salt distribution in relation to landscape topography; to identify potentially harmful trace elements associated with the salinity; and to determine the processes responsible for salt distribution. Ten soil profiles were dug to a depth of 200 cm at points along a slope of angle 10.20 along and 367 m long. The profiles at the crest of the toposequence are underlain by silcrete and alluvium while Malmesbury shale parent material underlies the rest of the profiles. Contour drains disrupt the natural shape of the slope. The soil texture is loamy sand to clay loam at the crest and loamy to sandy-clay loam in the midslope. Mineralogy at the crest is quartz dominated and kaolinite occurs in the mid and lower slope.
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    An investigation into the lithological source of iron in the Kammanassie Mountain aquifer
    (2003) Mitchell, Ruth; Smith, Meris
    The precipitation of iron from aquifer water in boreholes is a problem in the Klein Karoo region of South Africa. The precipitation causes boreholes to clog and limits full use of well fields in the area. The iron is naturally occurring and this project sets out to identify the lithological source of the iron and in what form the iron is presented. The Table Mountain Group (TMG) aquifer is a fractured rock aquifer situated in the TMG and rock samples were taken from the various lithologies in the area.
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