Ahmed A Al-Taani
Zayed University, Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty Member
- Yarmouk University, Dep. of earth and Environmental Sc., Faculty MemberYarmouk University, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Department Memberadd
- I am a Professor of Environmental Sciences and Resources Management at Zayed University in United Arab Emirates. I am... moreI am a Professor of Environmental Sciences and Resources Management at Zayed University in United Arab Emirates. I am also a Professor at Dept of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Yarmouk University in Jordan. I've been the Vice Dean of Scientific Research and Graduate Studies, Yarmouk University. I received my MSc of Environmental Engineering from Technical University Hamburg-Harburg, Germany and my Ph.D. of Environmental Science and Health from University of Nevada, Reno, USAedit
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Prosopis species were introduced to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) region for desert greening. However, the species now pose a great threat to the native plant diversity. This study used high-resolution satellite imagery (1990–2019) to... more
Prosopis species were introduced to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) region for desert greening. However, the species now pose a great threat to the native plant diversity. This study used high-resolution satellite imagery (1990–2019) to understand the history and current distribution of Prosopis species and their impact on fresh groundwater. The results show that the Prosopis invasion in the study area reached its maximum expansion rate in 2019 and covered an area of about 16 km2 compared to 0.2 km2 in 1990. The areas near Sharjah Airport, Umm Fannan, and Al Talla, located at a lower elevation of the sand dune area, are heavily invaded. Prosopis groundwater requirement derived using evapotranspiration shows that groundwater consumption has changed drastically after 2010 and consumed about 22.22 million m3 of groundwater in 2019, which is about a 7372% increase in groundwater consumption from the year 1990 to 2019. The results can be useful for setting up a management plan for the sus...
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In this study, biochar was prepared from Sidr plant leaves and used for the treatment of ciprofloxacin (CIP)-contaminated water. CIP is important class of emerging water pollutants from pharmaceutical industries. The biochar showed 65%... more
In this study, biochar was prepared from Sidr plant leaves and used for the treatment of ciprofloxacin (CIP)-contaminated water. CIP is important class of emerging water pollutants from pharmaceutical industries. The biochar showed 65% adsorption efficiency and 43.48 mg/g adsorption capacity of CIP. Adsorption efficiency as well as adsorption capacity were improved to 91% and 62.50 mg/g, respectively, by phosphoric acid (H3PO4) modified biochar. Removal of CIP by the prepared biochar was due to different surface functional groups of CIP and biochar as revealed from the study of different characterization analyses. The presence of PO43- group in modified biochar led to maximum binding of CIP. Also, the modified biochar showed higher reusability potential and less leaching of ions when compared to the raw biochar. Removal of CIP was affected by concentrations of CIP, the amount of biochar and different pH's; the maximum removal of CIP was achieved at pH 4. The Freundlich and pseudo-first-order models best fitted the removal of CIP by modified biochar. Advanced characterization techniques were applied to investigate surface and physiological characteristics of the biochar and modified biochar. The modification showed high impact on the performance and stability of biochar. The study showed significant impacts of modification on the potential of the biochar for treatment of CIP-contaminated water.
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Dust is a significant pollution source in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that impacts population health. Therefore, the present study aims to determine the concentration of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn) in the air in the... more
Dust is a significant pollution source in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that impacts population health. Therefore, the present study aims to determine the concentration of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn) in the air in the Sharjah and Ajman emirates’ urban areas and assesses the health risk. Three indicators were used for this purpose: the average daily dose (ADD), the hazard quotient (HQ), and the health index (HI). Data were collected during the period April–August 2020. Moreover, the observation sites were clustered based on the pollutants’ concentration, given that the greater the heavy metal concentration is, the greater is the risk for the population health. The most abundant heavy metal found in the atmosphere was Zn, with a mean concentration of 160.30 mg/kg, the concentrations of other metals being in the following order: Ni > Cr > Cu > Pb > Cd. The mean concentrations of Cd, Pb, and Cr were within the range of background values, while those of Cu, Ni,...
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The Liwa area is a primary food production area in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has intensively been used for agriculture. This study investigates the pollution levels with heavy metals in agricultural soils from the Liwa area.... more
The Liwa area is a primary food production area in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has intensively been used for agriculture. This study investigates the pollution levels with heavy metals in agricultural soils from the Liwa area. Thirty-two soil samples were analyzed for Mn, Zn, Cr, Ni, Cu, Pb, Cd, Co, and As. Results revealed that heavy metal levels varied in the ranges 220.02–311.21, 42.39–66.92, 43.43–71.55, 32.86–52.12, 10.29–21.70, 2.83–8.84, 0.46–0.69, 0.03–0.37 mg/kg for Mn, Zn, Cr, Ni, Cu, Pb, Cd, Co, and As, respectively. All samples presented low As concentrations with an average of 0.01 mg/kg. The variations in bulk metal contents in the soil samples were related to multiple sources, including agrochemicals, atmospheric dust containing heavy metals, and traffic-related metals. Enrichment factor analysis indicates that Cd, Ni, Zn, and Cr were highly enriched in soils, and they could originate from non-crustal sources. Based on the geo-accumulation index (Igeo), the soi...
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The aim of this study was twofold. Firstly, we performed a land capability class determination of the agricultural soils from the Abu Dhabi Emirate, the United Arab Emirates, based on the concentrations of 17 chemical elements determined... more
The aim of this study was twofold. Firstly, we performed a land capability class determination of the agricultural soils from the Abu Dhabi Emirate, the United Arab Emirates, based on the concentrations of 17 chemical elements determined in the soil samples collected from 84 locations. Secondly, we assess the soil pollution with different metals, using several pollution indices. The results of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) shows that four principal components (PCs) are responsible for describing the total metals concentrations’ variance, the highest contribution on PC1 being that of Mn, and Cr, on PC2 that of Fe, on PC3 that of Cu, and on PC4 that of Al. After determining the optimal number of clusters, we classified the sites into three clusters, while the studied metals were grouped function on their concentrations. Then, we used five indices to assess the pollution level of the soil at the study sites and in the clusters. The geo—accumulation index (Igeo) indicates uncontami...
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Background: Electromagnetic pollution is a general health concern worldwide, as cell phone towers are ubiquitous and are located adjacent to or on the roof of schools, and hospitals. However, the health risks are still inconclusive. This... more
Background: Electromagnetic pollution is a general health concern worldwide, as cell phone towers are ubiquitous and are located adjacent to or on the roof of schools, and hospitals. However, the health risks are still inconclusive. This cross-sectional study evaluated the potential effect of electromagnetic radiation generated from various resources including cell phone towers on blood glutathione S transferase activity (e-GST) and total antioxidant activity of the Jordanian population. Methods: The power density of three districts in the city of Irbid, Jordan was mapped to generate “outside the houses” and “inside the houses” maps. The effect of categorical variables (gender, using a cell phone, presence of Wi-Fi modem, previous exposure to medical imaging) and continuous variables (distance from the base station, the elevation of the house, the duration of stay in the house, power density outside houses, power density inside houses) on e-GST and total antioxidant activity were in...
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In this study, the effectiveness of coagulation was assessed in arsenic removal from the Zarqa, Jordan and Yarmouk River. Graphite-Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (GF-AAS) technique was used to analyse the arsenic percentage.... more
In this study, the effectiveness of coagulation was assessed in arsenic removal from the Zarqa, Jordan and Yarmouk River. Graphite-Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (GF-AAS) technique was used to analyse the arsenic percentage. The Zarqa River recorded the highest arsenic value at upstream and had the lowest value at downstream. The highest percentage of arsenic content in the Zarqa River is 69.81 ppb while the Yarmouk River showed the lowest concentration (7.003 ppb) before the coagulation process. Reduction in the concentration of arsenic was achieved up to 57.001 ppb for Zara River and 5.91 ppb for Yarmouk River after the coagulation test. This indicates that the coagulation technique significantly able to remove up to 20% of arsenic content.
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This paper focuses on characterizing the current status of physiochemical properties of Mujib Dam sediments. Five types of granulometric textural facies were observed for the bottom sediments of Mujib reservoir bed; these are clayey... more
This paper focuses on characterizing the current status of physiochemical properties of Mujib Dam sediments. Five types of granulometric textural facies were observed for the bottom sediments of Mujib reservoir bed; these are clayey facies, clayey-silt facies, sand-silt-clay facies, sand facies, and granule facies. This average grain size will likely play a vital role in adsorption-desorption of the majority trace metals to the reservoir lake. Other sediment parameters including the total averages were 5.9% (total organic matter (TOM)), 7.5 (pH), 25.8% (CaCO3), and 88.0 meq/100 g (cation exchange capacity), with dominant mineralogical constituents of quartz, calcite, dolomite, and minor feldspar and with variability in clay mineral types. The vast majority of trace metals in sediment exhibited values in the range or near the upper limit of the normal worldwide soil ranges. TOM and grain size of sediment are major factors governing the trace metal concentrations. The calculated geoac...
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This study aims to characterize the pollution conditions by measuring the concentrations of selected heavy metals. It also intends to investigate the relations between soil genesis and lithology. This provides knowledge about the future... more
This study aims to characterize the pollution conditions by measuring the concentrations of selected heavy metals. It also intends to investigate the relations between soil genesis and lithology. This provides knowledge about the future of the agricultural development in the area and helps decision makers in the land use planning.
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Drought Assessment Using Advanced GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques : A Case Study of Yarmouk River Basin، للحصول على النص الكامل يرجى زيارة مكتبة الحسين بن طلال في جامعة اليرموك او زيارة موقعها الالكتروني
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Research Interests: Geography, Cartography, Environmental Science, Hydrogeology, Groundwater, and 15 moreGroundwater Contamination, Environmental Monitoring, Groundwater Pollution, Groundwater recharge, Far East, Ground Water, Hydraulic conductivity, Aquifers, AQUIFER, Aquifer Recharge, Geographic Information System, Geographic Information Systems, GIS, Environmental Parameter, and High risk
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ABSTRACT Heavy metal contamination of soil and water caused by industrialization has become a major environmental issue in Pakistan. Therefore, it is important to determine the level of contamination of soil and water close to industrial... more
ABSTRACT Heavy metal contamination of soil and water caused by industrialization has become a major environmental issue in Pakistan. Therefore, it is important to determine the level of contamination of soil and water close to industrial areas. In the current study, we have assessed the heavy metal contamination of soil and groundwater at the leather industrial area of Kasur, Pakistan. Soil and groundwater samples were collected from the study area and analyzed for Cr, Fe, Ni, Cd, Pb, Zn, Co, and Mn by atomic absorption spectrophotometric method. The data revealed that soil and groundwater in the study area are highly contaminated with all tested heavy metals. In particular, chromium concentrations varied from 1970 to 2980 mg kg−1 and 0.82 to 2.25 mg L−1 in soil and groundwater, respectively. Correlation analysis has identified that the heavy metals in the groundwater and soil of the study area having a common source/origin, believed to be the leather industry of Kasur.
Research Interests: Engineering, Civil Engineering, Environmental Science, Environmental Geology, Arsenic, and 15 moreGroundwater, Groundwater Contamination, Environmental Impact Assessment, Hazardous Waste, Environmental Pollution, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Aquatic Ecosystem, Copper, Environmental Hazards, Hazardous Materials, Chromium, Contamination, Contaminated soil, Enrichment factor, and ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT
In various embodiments, the present disclosure provides a method of fixing nitrogen. An amount of titania catalyst is provided and contacted with a feed stream that includes nitrogen. The titania catalyst is heated. The heated titania... more
In various embodiments, the present disclosure provides a method of fixing nitrogen. An amount of titania catalyst is provided and contacted with a feed stream that includes nitrogen. The titania catalyst is heated. The heated titania catalyst fixes nitrogen in the feed stream to form nitrogen products, such as nitrates. The nitrogen products are then removed from the titania catalyst. In some examples, the titania catalyst is treated with a base. In further examples, the catalytic process is carried out in the absence of light for ...
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Abstract: This is the first study to survey selenium levels in spring water of Yarmouk Basin north of Jordan. Elevated selenium levels in spring waters have been observed indicating that selenium contamination is widespread. In almost all... more
Abstract: This is the first study to survey selenium levels in spring water of Yarmouk Basin north of Jordan. Elevated selenium levels in spring waters have been observed indicating that selenium contamination is widespread. In almost all of the spring water samples, selenium concentrations exceeded the maximum allowable level based on the Jordan and World Health Organization for drinking water quality guidelines of 10 µg/L. Evaluation of seasonal patterns in the concentrations of selenium showed higher concentration in dry ...
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The Gulf of Aqaba (GoA) is of significant ecological value with unique ecosystems that host one of the most diverse coral communities in the world. However, these marine environments and biodiversity have been threatened by growing human... more
The Gulf of Aqaba (GoA) is of significant ecological value with unique ecosystems that host one of the most diverse coral communities in the world. However, these marine environments and biodiversity have been threatened by growing human activities. We investigated the levels and distributions of trace metals in surface seawater across the eastern coast of the Saudi GoA. Zn, Cu, Fe, B and Se in addition to total dissolved solids and seawater temperature exhibited decreasing trends northwards. While Mn, Cd, As and Pb showed higher average levels in the northern GoA. Metal input in waters is dependent on the adjacent geologic materials. The spatial variability of metals in water is also related to wave action, prevailing wind direction, and atmospheric dry deposition from adjacent arid lands. Also, water discharged from thermal desalination plants, mineral dust from fertilizer and cement factories are potential contributors of metals to seawater water, particularly, in the northern GoA.
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Alrashdan M, Al-Taani A. A, Al-Rousan S. 2014.
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Abstract Elevated nitrate levels have frequently been observed in soils and the associated groundwater in arid regions of the US, many of which are distant from anthropogenic sources. Although these elevated nitrate concentrations have... more
Abstract Elevated nitrate levels have frequently been observed in soils and the associated groundwater in arid regions of the US, many of which are distant from anthropogenic sources. Although these elevated nitrate concentrations have generally been linked to atmospheric precipitation, the current study indicates that at least a portion of these nitrates may have been formed through photochemical and thermal transformation reactions on soil surfaces. Photochemical nitrogen fixation to nitrate was observed on pure TiO 2 (both ...