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Phenol is a severe pollutant that harms the environment and, potentially, human health. This study aimed to investigate the biodegradability of phenol by the plant growth-promoting bacterium R. nepotum. That included studying the growth kinetics and the effects of growth conditions such as incubation temperature, pH, and the use of different substrate concentrations. As the primary substrate, six different starting concentrations of phenol were utilized. The ability of these cells to biodegrade phenol was greatly influenced by the culture conditions. After 36 and 96 hours of incubation at pH 7 and a temperature of 28 C, this organism grew the fastest and had the highest phenol biodegradation. The biodegradation rate is much higher at 700 mg/L, the highest of the six concentrations tried. In less than 96 hours of incubation, more than 90% of the phenol (700 mg/L) had been eliminated. The Haldane model has been the most accurate for determining the relationship between the initial concentration of phenol and growth rate. In contrast, the refined Gompertz model provided the most accurate depiction of phenol biodegradation over time. As predicted by the Haldane equation, the highest specific growth rate, half-saturation coefficient, and Haldane's growth kinetics inhibition coefficient are 0.7161 h1, 15.8 parts per million (ppm), and 292 parts per million (ppm), respectively. The equation of Haldane successfully fitted the experimental data by reducing the SSR (sum of squared errors) to 3.8x10 3. According to the results of the analysis by GC-MS for the bacterial culture sample, the hydroxylase enzyme was the first to convert the phenol molecule into catechol. The catechol was subsequently broken down into 2-hydroxymucconic semialdehyde by the 2,3-dioxygenase enzyme, which occurred through the meta-pathway. It is the first study showing that R. nepotum, a plant growth promoter, has high efficiency of phenol. In phenol-stressed conditions, this could help with rhizoremediation and crop yield preservation.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) from Al-Karak city is monitored and characterized. The MSW is sorted into 14 different waste categories. In addition, the MSW is separated into several size fractions, followed by sorting and characterization. The average daily production rate of waste is 61.5 ton/day. The MSW generated per capita is estimated to be 0.55 kg/capita/day. The main input MSW comprised a modest proportion of organic content 38.8 %. Other combustible fractions are present in significant proportions, allowing the waste to be utilized for energy recovery. Refuse-derived fuels (RDFs) may be made from waste fractions > 100 mm and 50 – 100 mm.

Phenol is one of the main pollutants that have a serious impact on the environment and can even be very critical to human health. The biodegradation of phenol can be considered an increasingly important pollution control process. In this study, the degradation of phenol by Pseudomonas fredriksbergsis was investigated for the first time under different growth conditions. Six different initial concentrations of phenol were used as the primary substrate. Culture conditions had an important effect on these cells' ability to biodegrade phenol. The best growth of this organism and its highest biodegradation level of phenol were noticed at pH 7, temperature 28 °C, and periods of 36 and 96 h, respectively. The highest biodegradation rate was perceived at 700 mg/L initial phenol concentration. Approximately 90% of the phenol (700 mg / L) was removed in less than 96 hours of incubation time. It was found that the Haldane model best fitted the relationship between the specific growth rate and the initial phenol concentration, whereas the phenol biodegradation profiles time could be adequately described by the modified Gompertz model. The obtained parameters from the Haldane equation are: 0.062 h−1, 11 ppm, and 121 ppm for Haldane's maximum specific growth rate, the half-saturation coefficient, and the Haldane’s growth kinetics inhibition coefficient, respectively. The Haldane equation fitted the experimental data by minimizing the sum of squared error (SSR) to 1.36x10-3.

Anaerobic co-digestion of domestic sewage sludge with food waste as a substrate for biogas production and as a mean for waste management was conducted. The food waste was incorporated into the bioreactor as a co-substrate semi-continuously via replacement mode and addition mode of operations in ratios up to 50%. The methane gas yield under the replacement mode of operation ranged from 295 to 1358 ml/gVSadded and from 192 to 462 ml/gVSadded for the replacement mode of operation and the addition mode of operation, respectively. The results indicate that the methane gas yield increases along with the percentage share of food waste in the feed. Anaerobic co-digestion under semi-continuous operation enabled handling large organic loadings compared to batch co-digestion processes.

The present study is a multi-analytical approach to the characterization of several basalt stone samples, from Umm el-Jimāl Cultural Heritage site, northern Jordan, which represents ancient trade routes between Arabian Peninsula and Syria. In particular, Micro-X-ray Fluorescence Mapping as new in the mineralogy, X-ray Diffraction Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are used for the determination of the petrological, geochemical, and mineralogical characteristics of the basalt used in this archeological site for conservation purposes. The results reveal that it belongs to the alkaline trachy-basalt to basanite-tephrite type. With predominant quartz, olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase (albite) as major elements, the vesicular texture is occupied with secondary minerals such as biotite, gypsum, and calcite.

Low-cost local plants (eucalyptus bark, moringa pods, pine cones) have been successfully used to remove heavy metals from simulated wastewater. Two types of heavy metals were chosen to study the removal capacity, nickel (Ni) and chrome (Cr), with a concentration of 400, 600, 900 ppm. The results show that moringa pods have the best removal capacity for heavy metals with percentages of 90–99% for both metals, Ni and Cr, for the eucalyptus bark the removal capacity percentages reach 50–98%, while for the pine cones revealed a lower removing capacity with percentages of 40–99%, indicating that this is the lowest removal capacity. The data has been best fitted to the Langmuir adsorption model for all plants, while the Freundlich adsorption model could not fit the obtained results at the experimental conditions. The kinetic study has revealed that the first-order kinetic model successfully describes the kinetics of Ni adsorption, while the second-order describes the kinetics of Cr adsorption. The removal of heavy metals (Ni, Cr) was obtained when moringa was used; its highest removal efficiency was reached within 20 minutes. On the other hand, other plants (eucalyptus bark, pine cone) removal efficiency was attained in more than two hours. The removal is remarkable even at a high concentration of heavy metals, especially with the moringa plant.

One of the main organic pollutants that could result from industrial products and chemical transformations is phenol. In the current study, the kinetics of Serratia odorifera, which was isolated from arable soil, was studied by growing it on broth minimal medium spiked with phenol as only carbon source and energy. The newly isolated plant growth-promoting bacterium (PGPB), S. odorifera, was used for the first time for phenol biodegradation. The growth kinetics parameters (phenol-dependent) including maximum specific growth rate (μmax), half-saturation coefficient (Ks), and the Haldane's growth kinetics inhibition coefficient (Ki), were tested via Haldane inhibition model and resulted on the 0.469 (h

Solid waste sorting facilities are constructed and operated to properly manage solid waste for both material and energy recovery. This paper investigates the possible technical and economic performance of the Al-Karak solid waste sorting plant in order to achieve financial sustainability and increase the profits that return on the plant to cover its operating costs. A standard procedure was followed to quantify and characterize the input materials of commercial solid waste by determining the recyclable materials in the sorting products. Thus, possible different equipment and material flows through the plant were proposed. An economic model was used in order to know the feasibility of the proposed options of the plant according to three economic factors, which are net present worth (NPW), return on investment (ROI), and payback period values. The results inferred that the characterization of the input materials contains a high portion of recyclable materials of paper, cardboard, plastic, and metals, which accounted for 63%. In this case, the mass of rejected waste to be landfilled was 9%. Results for the proposed options showed that the economic analysis is feasible when working loads on three and two shifts with ROI values of 4.4 and 3.5 with a payback period of the initial cost in 2 and 3 years, respectively. Working load on one shift was not feasible, which resulted in an ROI value of less than 2 and a payback period larger than 5 years. This paper recommended operating the sorting plant at a higher input feed with a working load on three shifts daily to ensure a maximum profit and to reduce the amount of commercial solid waste prior to landfilling through the concept of sorting and recycling.

Solid friable residues (i.e. Ash) from combusted oil shale are a major environmental issue because they are highly enriched with toxic elements following combustion. The synchrotron based techniques X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS) were used for determining the changes in speciation of Chromium (Cr) and Vanadium (V) in the ash and its mixtures with Red soil and Phosphogypsum as additives, through one-year period of hydration process. The X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) qualitative results indicate that all mixtures exhibits similar patterns showing that Vanadium has remain as pentavalent state, on the contrary Chromium has dramatic decreased from hexavalent to trivalent. This change in Cr speciation became clearer with increasing hydration period. Therefore, the results confirmed the advantage of the hydration process in the Cr(VI) reduction which might be due the domination of carbonate phase within all mixtures, thus hydration caused carbonate dissolution that increase the pH toward more alkaline which caused the Cr(IV) reduction into less-harmful and less mobile Cr(III). This increase in pH was not in favor of changing the V(V) into V(IV) due to its large stability field V(V). The Extend X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) analysis showed that Cr exhibiting a coordination shell of C-atoms as first nearest neighbors backscattering atoms around Cr, and at C-atoms backscattering at medium range order. This confirmed the domination of carbonate media through the best fitting of Cr–C. Which might be attributed to the more alkaline conditions developed during saturation of water (hydration), that accelerates of the reduction of Cr(VI) into Cr(III). This means simply that hydration of the ash can reduce the presence of harmful Cr(VI) in these ash tailings., XAFS, XANES, EXAFS, Oil shale ash, Additives, Hydration process, Cr(IV) reduction

Sediment samples collected from shallow depths (3–5 m) along the eastern shore of the northern part of the Dead Sea (DS) were analyzed for major and trace element contents, and mineralogical constituents. The aim was to evaluate the sources of sediments and its possible origin. The diverse mineralogy is in agreement with the wide geochemical components. Lower weathering rate of the sediments might be due to interaction with mild acidic DS water (i.e., pH 6). The main minerals are calcite, dolomite, quartz and clay, with some feldspars, halite, hematite, and gypsum. Mineralogy together with enrichment factor and correlation coefficient suggest that the Jordan valley inflow and lithological formations present near the eastern shore of DS are the main sources. Additionally, some elements originated authogenically from the DS water column such as Cl, K, Na, and SO3. The DS trace elements are low, ensuring the safety of DS mud usage in skin treatment. Geochemically; Ds sediments have comparable elemental content of the Eastern Mediterranean sediments.

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 (1979–2008). The analyzed results were also used to forecast for the period (2009–2018). 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.

A total of 115 urban soil samples collected on grid bases from Al-Karak, South Jordan, were investigated for their field and dual-frequency magnetic susceptibility (χ field, χ d) and heavy metal content using Bartington susceptibility meters and ICP-MS. The upper soils have higher magnetic susceptibility values than lower soils, and large particles contain more heavy metals and higher magnetic susceptibility than smaller particles. This might be attributed to the lack of pedogenesis due to arid climate influence. Within the upper soil all heavy metal showed positive significant correlation with upper soil low-frequency χ dlf. This was evident from the distribution maps produced by Surfer 9.0 for χ dlf and heavy metals. The results showed that higher χ dlf is associated with traffic-dominated sites more than other areas. The frequency-dependent susceptibility (χfd %) falls between 2 and 10 %, which indicate the presence of admixture of fine supermagnetic particles. Mildly correlation exists between χfd % and χ dlf, which implies that soils contain anthropogenic multi-domain grains. Selected samples have been analyzed for their mineral constituents; the results indicate the presence of magnetite as the main magnetic mineral. This confirms the anthropogenic source of pollution mainly from the vehicle-related materials. The results indicate the applicability of magnetic susceptibility for pollution detection.

The present work deals with the geologic setting and mineralogical and geochemical study of Late Precambrian magmatic rocks especially the felsic dike swarms of northeast Aqaba complex in South Jordan. The northeast Aqaba complex represents one of the most significant regions in the South Jordan basement. The basement rocks in the studied region are composed of schists, gneisses, migmatites, met gabbros, diorite, and granite. It is invaded by post-orogenic dike swarms. The post-orogenic dike swarms have been recognized as felsic dikes of dacite, rhyodacite, and rhyolite composition. They are composed of plagioclase, K-feldspar, quartz, biotite, and hornblenble with a porphyritic texture. Chemically, they are enriched in compatible elements especially in the large ion lithophile elements such as K, Rb, and Ba. The values of A/NK are more than A/CNK, indicating that dacitic dike swarms have metaluminous nature. Meanwhile, the values of A/NK are less than A/CNK in rhyodacitic and rhyolitic dike swarms of prealuminous nature. This felsic dike can be related to an intercontinental setting that was accompanied by a chemical evolution of the extensional movements and is formed by partial melting of crustal rocks, which are already known from other areas in the northeast portion of the Arabian-Nubian Shield.

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.

Calcareous vertisol soil is the dominant agricultural soil type and covers over 80% of the agricultural cultivated land in Jordan. This type of soil is characterized by its high pH and CaCO3 content, which made the heavy metals including Zn to be oxidized and adsorbed onto soil. Therefore, this type of soil is regarded as potentially Zn deficient. The effect of Zn initial concentration and average rainfall on the Zn adsorption and desorption from three types of calcareous vertisol soils has been examined. The amount of Zn adsorbed and desorbed at equilibrium increased with increasing Zn initial concentration for each of the three investigated soils. However, the percentage of adsorption and desorption decreased as the initial concentration of Zn ions increased. Moreover, results showed that rainfall has no influence on the behavior of Zn in the calcareous vertisol soils. Freundlich and Redlich-Peterson models provide the best representation of the experimental data, followed by the Langmuir model.

Decontamination and adsorption modelling of Co2+ and Pb2+ ions from a model aqueous solution have been studied in batch system using natural tripoli (NT) and bentonite (NB). The adsorption study is controlled by a number of factors such as adsorbent dosage, contact time, initial metal ion concentration, and temperature effect. The adsorption equilibrium is achieved during the first 60 min. The maximum removal 97% (approx.) is obtained at 10 g/L and 20°C. The dynamic isotherm has been successfully modelled by the Langmuir (R 2 = 0.98). The negative thermodynamic parameter ΔG indicates for the spontaneous adsorption. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model has much more reasonable for metal ions adsorption process (R 2 = 1.0 approx.).

Eight selected heavy metals and phosphorus (Fe, Zn, Pb, Cu, Cr, Cd, Ni and P) were analyzed in the dust fall samples collected from the surrounding areas adjacent to Al-Hisa phosphate mine central Jordan during summer 2008. The chemical analysis was done using the ICP-AES, after being digested with (HNO3/HCl/HF) acid mixture, beside the identification of their mineral constituents using the XRD. Moreover, the particulate matter (PM) size was investigated and divided into four fractions (PM2.5, PM2.5–10, PMC10–100 and PM>100). The PM10–PM100 were found to be the most abundant in the local atmosphere followed by PM2.5–PM10, while the respirable fraction (PM2.5) and giant fraction (PM>100) showed lower levels. The studied samples contain less PM2.5 and PM10 particulates (9.39 and 28.67), respectively, than samples located far from the mine area (blank samples) (17.32 and 51.7) for PM2.5 and PM10, respectively. The meteorological effects, mainly the prevailing wind direction beside the distance to emission sources affect the distribution of dust particle sizes. Heavy metal contents in studied samples are similar to some extent to those found in Isa Town (Bahraian), which related to similar arid and low precipitation climatic conditions. The effect of phosphate mining activities was obvious as indicated from the presence of apatite as the main mineral phase and the higher P contents. Moreover, the studied samples contain higher Zn, Ni, Cu and to lesser extent Cr than blank samples. They exhibited a significant positive correlation with P, as they are usually associated with the phosphate rocks.

Phosphoric acid production generates unavoidable calcium sulfate by product (i.e. phosphogypsum (PG)) that is usually disposed either within a nearby located gypsum stacking system. However nowadays this type of industry has been faced with two main problems; these are the formation of huge stockpiles of phosphogypsum that affects the environment due to the presence of harmful radiations that is emitted from the uranium. In addition it contains P2O5>1.0 wt% and fluorine >0.18 wt%, which makes it not suitable for the cement industry. At the same time consuming large quantity of expensive sulphuric acid that becomes a hazardous waste material too. The production ratio of PG verses marketable P2O5 as acid in the world is high as much as 5 tons of PG are produced for each ton of P2O5; in Jordan the ratio is around 5.0 – 5.3 ton of PG / ton of P2O5 produced depending on the phosphate rock composition, which means a huge amount of PG will accumulate at the Fertilizer plant in Aqaba. The major advantages of using orthophosphoric acid as leaching solvent is the decreasing ratio of the residual materials verses marketable P2O5to be589 kg /ton of P2O5 produced. These results were obtained by utilizing the wet agitation leaching technique, compared with 5.0 – 5.3 ton of disposed PG/ton of P2O5produced by Jordan Phosphate Mines Company Ltd., (JPMC). However, this alternative technique resulted in lowerP2O5 extraction, but decrease in bulk of the residue. The disadvantage is the higher dissolution of calcium phosphate and thus considerable calcium well remain in solution.

Peridotite ultramafic mantle xenoliths are occurring abundantly in the Harrat Al-Shaam basaltic province. Jabal Remah volcano is located in the Jordanian parts of the plateau and contains considerable amounts of mantle xenoliths within its pyroclastic successions. Mineralogical investigations show that the xenoliths are mostly of the spinel lherzolite type, which are characterized by a protogranular texture. Modally, the xenoliths are composed of olivine (55-65%), orthopyroxene (12-16%), clinopyroxene (10-15%) and spinel (~ 5%). The xenoliths are classified as Type I and belong to the Cr-diopside group. They are characterized by a high content of MgO (42.1-43.2%), Cr (2465-2538 ppm) and Ni (2196-2301 ppm). Three selected mantle-xenolith samples were analyzed for their magnetic characteristics. They were found to behave similarly in their ferrimagnetic phase, as indicated by their narrow hysteresis curves and because they never reach saturation even at high applied field. They exhibit ferrimagnetic hystertesis curves similar to world known mantle xenoliths, which is due to the presence of Fe in the form of oxides.

Sixty-five sediment samples and 25 water samples were collected from Al-Mujib reservoir, central Jordan, in order to investigate the heavy metal and ionic contamination assessment. Therefore, to achieve this aim, water and sediment samples were collected during winter and summer seasons (2007) from Al-Mujib reservoir and the areas surrounding it. The study shows that there are elevated levels of SO4 2−, Cl− and Na+ in reservoir water, which might originate from anthropogenic activities in the reservoir catchment area. In addition, the reservoir water has higher total hardness (TH) values together with high Ca and Mg contents. This might be attributed to pH of reservoir water and the nature of the rocks exposed in the catchment area. The average levels of heavy metals in reservoir sediments are Fe = 14,888.1, Cu = 17.8, Zn = 88.6, Ni = 38.7, Cd = 4.4, Mn = 337.9 and Pb = 6.1 mg/kg, which are lower than that observed in Wadi Al-Arab reservoir, northern Jordan. The values of enrichment factor are Cd = 35.5, Ni = 3.02, Zn = 2.54, Cu = 1.26, Mn = 1.2 and Pb = 0.57; these values indicate that heavy metals in sediments of Al-Mujeb reservoir have a different anthropogenic incrimination inputs. The study showed that the sediments are polluted with Cd, relatively contaminated with Ni and Zn and uncontaminated with respect to Mn, Pb and Cu.

Coronadite was reported from the upper-most horizons of the Middle Cambrian sediments at two locations in Wadi Dana, central Wadi Araba a nd Jordan. The unit is composed of dolomite, limestone and shale. Geochemical investigations sho w appreciable variations in Mn, Pb, Fe, K and Ba contents in the coronadite between the two studied sites. Pb was found to increase downward in both sites in spite of the lateral distance between them . Fe does not vary vertically, but its concentratio n decreases eastward. This can be attributed to the n ature and mobilization direction, duration of the process, as well as the mechanism of both Fe and Pb bearing solutions. Mineralogical analysis has revealed the presence of hollandite-coronadite, cry ptomelane-coronadite and psilomelane-coronadite in solid solutions. These petrographical and geochemic al characteristics of the coronadite-bearing samples indicated that they formed epigenetically.

The phosphate deposits are used mainly as raw materials in the fertilizer industry. However, toxic elements content in both phosphate ores and final mining products has received little attention. The present study used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine levels of toxic elements in phosphate deposits in Al-Hisa and Al-Abyad mines, Jordan. Concentrations of elements were converted into rock content based on the ICP-MS results and compared using an enrichment-factor (EF) method that normalized to the mean concentration of elements in crustal rock. The results showed that the U, V, and Hg were enriched in the Jordanian deposits compared to the average worldwide phosphate (AWP), whereas lower enrichments of Pb were found in the Jordanian deposits (JP). Other trace elements had similar levels in Jordanian deposits comparable to worldwide averages of phosphates. Concentrations of U, V, and Cd in Jordanian phosphate deposits were greater than the permissible limits for soils for growing crops established by the European Community (EC) and World Health Organization (WHO). Finally, Jordanian phosphate deposits show the highest enrichment of Hg and U, thus can be regarded as U-bearing.

This work is a complementary investigation to the earlier urban soil survey for a rapidly growing city of relatively high traffic density. Therefore, it aims to apply the environmental magnetism approach to assess the roadside pollution at a known polluted site. The used magnetic proxies are the initial magnetic susceptibility and saturation magnetization. The results prove the applicability of this method in detecting roadside pollution. The shape and magnitude of the magnetic signals was affected by the topography and prevailing wind direction that caused the magnetic peaks to be shifted accordingly. Particle size was found to affect the magnetic material content, where sand size (63–150 μm) bears the highest magnetic signals relative to smaller silt size (

The Dead Sea as a unique geological and geographical phenomenon has an effect on its adjacent areas. Therefore, 17 sampling sites at the eastern highlands facing the Dead Sea; beside three blank sites were collectedlocated during summer (2005). The aim was to investigate such influence on the chemical and mineralogical composition of dry deposition, and to measure the settling rate. The investigations showed that the depositional rate at the studied sites was much lower than other areas at central and southern Jordan. The average heavy metal contents are almost similar in all sampling sites and the blanks, and they exhibit similar enrichment series, whereas, the meaningful difference between sampling sites and blank was in cation and anion content, which caused different enrichment series between the two sites. The index of pollution (IP) confirms that mainly cations and anions have IP > 1.0 and they dominate the southern and the closest sampling sites to the Dead Sea. The XRD results reveals that the studied samples have minor phases such as halite, gypsum, and dolomite. Meanwhile, these mineral phases are not found in blank samples. All these results indicates the influence of the Dead Sea, as it is a highly saline large water mass, which accompanied with by high evaporation rates causing causes the atmosphere over the Sea to be enriched with these cations, anions, elements and minerals, which eventually are adsorbed in air particulate or carried out as dry deposition and transported by the NW–SE prevailing winds, and fall over the eastern highlands.

The bed and suspended (slime) sediment phases associated with effluent water that are produced from phosphate-ore-upgrading process at Al-Abyad mine in the southern part of Jordan were analyzed chemically and mineralogically. The results show that the effluent water is highly oxic and mildly alkaline in nature. The geochemical behavior of each phase was controlled by the effluent water physicochemical parameters, sediment particle size, mineralogical constituents of the studied phases, and the prevailing climatic nature of the area. Bed sediments have higher concentrations of many elements than slime. Accordingly, the bed sediments can be considered as a sink rather than a pool for many elements. The geochemical dissociation of major oxides and trace elements between bed and slime sediments was evident using t test, particularly between P2O5, SiO2, CaO, K2O, Mn, Sr, Y, and Co, and to lesser extent, V, U, Zn, and Cr. This might be attributed to effluent water characteristics, mineralogy, and the presence of fine-grained materials. The spatial distribution of major oxide and trace element concentrations along the stream drainage exhibited a slight increase with distance either in bed or slime sediment phases. However, they increased suddenly at the last three sampling sites, which might be due to the abundance of fine-grained materials that are mainly composed of clay minerals (montmorillonite) that would enhance the adsorption process. Moreover, the XRD results confirmed the existence of elemental geochemical dissociation as a function of mineral control.

The effluent water produced by the washing process at the Al-Hisa and Al-Abyad phosphate mines in central Jordan was investigated in summer 2002. Twenty-four effluent and 10 ground water samples were collected and analyzed. There was a significant difference in water chemistry between input (groundwater) and output (effluent water) but, although the investigated area is highly fractured, the stable isotopic results indicated little or no mixing between the effluent water and groundwater in the area. This is attributed to the precipitation of clay-sized particles along the drainage channel. The quality of the effluent from the Al-Hisa mine was better than at the Al-Abyad mine, with electrical conductivity averaging 1474 µS/cm at Al-Hisa and 3250 µS/cm at Al-Abyad. The difference in effluent quality is attributed to slight lithological differences. At both mines, chloride was the predominant ion in the effluent water, with an average concentration of 669 ppm and 1299 ppm at the Al-Hisa and Al-Abyad mines respectively. The concentrations of heavy metals in the high-pH effluent water were very low, presumably due to precipitation and absorption onto suspended fine-grained particles. The effluent water from both mines was found to be relatively low in sodium and radiation, and suitable for the irrigation of salt tolerant plants.

Bio-monitoring of air quality in Amman City was investigated by analyzing 36 cypress tree (Cupressus semervirens L.) bark samples from three sites of different anthropogenic activities at the end of summer season 2001. Cypress barks were found to be a good bio-indicator for air pollution in arid regions. Variation in Pb, Zn, Mn, Cr, Ni, Cd, and Cu contents between sites was observed due to different types of activities. Traffic emissions were found to be the main source of heavy metal pollution in the atmosphere of Amman. Lead content was found to be the highest in highly traffic density areas. The industrial part of the city was characterized by high Zn, Mn, Cr, Ni, and Co contents. No significance variations were found in pH values of the bark between the sites. This was attributed to buffering effect of carbonate in the atmosphere originated from soil of the area. Keywords: Cypress bark, Bio-indicator, Heavy metals, Vehicular emissions, Amman

The chemical and mineralogical composition of dry deposition in the western highlands of central and south Jordan at the end of the summer season 2000, reflect the composition of soils in addition to anthropogenic activities at these areas. Calcite predominated in the central region whereas calcite and quartz are the dominant minerals in south Jordan. The concentrations of Hg, Cr, Ni, Cu, Pb and Zn were higher in central Jordan, which might be attributed to higher anthropogenic activities than south. On the other hand, Fe, Mn, Ti, Ba, Sr, Y and Rb were higher in the south of Jordan reflecting the composition of soil at these sites. At Aqaba city, the only port of Jordan, where Cr, Cd, As and S were higher than other areas. This variation might be attributed to the contribution of phosphate dust in the atmosphere through handling processes.

Several basaltic samples from the Tertiary–Quaternary field of Harra El-Jabban, specifically from (Umm Al-Qutein) area, underwent geochemical, mineralogical, and magnetic investigations. Geochemically, the flow is of silica-undersaturated types, and belongs to sodic, mildly alkaline magma series. The modal analysis shows higher magnetite (Titanomagnetite) up to 11 wt%, with TiO 2 content ranging between 25 and 27 wt%, besides the olivine, clinopyroxine, and plagioclase. The magnetization was measured by using the superconducting quantum interference device Magnetometer. By doing zero-field cooling (ZFC), we can classify the magnetic anisotropy of the three samples studied, and these observations were assured again by doing magnetic isothermal curves. It seems that the critical temperature is above 400 K. A mixture of two magnetic phases (ferromagnet and ferrimagnet) was present in the samples. These were attributed to the presence of high total Fe 2 O 3 . The ferrimagnetic phase in these rocks was confirmed by the tendency of the magnetization toward zero value (compensation temperature) as we warm up the samples in ZFC and field-cooling methods.

Valley sediments samples collected from the major and minor valleys of Al-Karak catchment area (southern Jordan) were leached with hot dilute HCl and analysed for their heavy metals content. The results of leachable metal concentrations indicated the absence of anomalous values for metal occurrences. However, appreciable contamination of the sediments with Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd and Cr was observed. Using an index of pollution the extent of contamination was better delineated. The geographical distribution of the samples showed higher Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd and Cr concentrations mainly around heavily inhabited areas indicating an anthropogenic source of contamination. Lithological influence indicated from the anomalies of Fe and Mn was found to be very low.

The main objective of this project is to build capacity in the area of transboundary water governance and climate change adaptation by establishing state of the art real-time water and weather monitoring networks in Jordan with a specific focusing on Dead Sea watershed on Jordanian side. Additionally, the Earth Observation System (EOS) will be used for spatial analysis of shoreline changes and sink hole pattern. The data collected through these advanced monitoring networks will be transmitted to two command centres on a real-time basis (one in the north and another in the south of the Kingdom) where the data will be stored in centralized water and climate databases. In addition, a third command center is proposed to serve the Arab Potash Company (APC) industrial activities that taking place on Dead Sea shore and focusing on Dead Sea watershed monitoring. The data will be available for use by various agencies to monitor water and climate changes on a real-time basis as well as for the development of policy guidelines and tools such as Dead Sea level, intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves, flood forecasting, salt water intrusion, water contamination and water supply-demand assessment in order to address challenges and make informed decisions in the areas of transboundary water governance and climate change adaptation.

The current work investigates the Cambrian Manganese ore deposits from Wadi Dana at central Wadi Araba region. This investigation aims to unravel the chemistry and micro-textures of the mineral paragenetic sequence for these manganese ore deposits. Particularly the Fe–Mn intimate intergrowth micro texture and the epigenetic Mn mineralization associated with Cu minerals. The combination of the synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence (syn-XRF) micro-mapping and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) techniques were used. They provide a clear picture of the elemental distribution of Mn, Fe, Cu, and Pb and other elements presented within the ore micro textures. Besides, it determines the exact elemental speciation. The results obtained gave a better understanding of the elemental atomic structures and eventually the depositional environment. Particularly, the syn-XRF micro-mapping reveals the existing of many successive evolution stages in the Mn ores. Besides, the X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) results showed that the micro-rhythmic texture is changing from Mn+4 (Pyrolusite) into Fe+3 (Hematite). This is evidence for the role of Eh as the main controlling factor during the ore formation. Eventually, indicating tentatively the paleoceanography setting of the Mn deposits. This is related to the continuous transgression-regression on the sea level in a semi-closed sea.