Delineation of saline groundwater and sea water intrusion zones using transient electromagnetic (TEM) method, Wadi Thuwal area, Saudi Arabia

In the coastal western part of Saudi Arabia at Thuwal area located close from the Red Sea, the shallow groundwater specific electrical conductivities measured at the drill holes range from 6 to 13 mS/cm. In order to study the origin of this salinity, a good knowledge is required of the aquifer geometry with depth. Ninety nine transient electromagnetic (TEM) soundings were carried out over an area of about 100 km². From the TEM profiles, a conductive substratum with a resistivity of 1–13 Ωm was identified at most of the sites at depth ranging from 50 to 150 m. This substratum is related to Oligocene–Miocene sediments (Shumaysi Formation) which are mainly red clay-rich formation containing brines at coastal zones. Clayey sediments are more likely present in the southeastern part and along the faults that run NE–SW across the study area and parallel to the Quaternary volcanic which runs NW–SE. The study demonstrated the effectiveness of the TEM sounding method to map conductive zones.     

Specification and prediction of nickel mobilization using artificial intelligence methods

Groundwater and soil pollution from pyrite oxidation, acid mine drainage generation, and release and transport of toxic metals are common environmental problems associated with the mining industry. Nickel is one toxic metal considered to be a key pollutant in some mining setting; to date, its formation mechanism has not yet been fully evaluated. The goals of this study are 1) to describe the process of nickel mobilization in waste dumps by introducing a novel conceptual model, and 2) to predict nickel concentration using two algorithms, namely the support vector machine (SVM) and the general regression neural network (GRNN). The results obtained from this study have shown that considerable amount of nickel concentration can be arrived into the water flow system during the oxidation of pyrite and subsequent Acid Drainage (AMD) generation. It was concluded that pyrite, water, and oxygen are the most important factors for nickel pollution generation while pH condition, SO₄, HCO₃, TDS, EC, Mg, Fe, Zn, and Cu are measured quantities playing significant role in nickel mobilization. SVM and GRNN have predicted nickel concentration with a high degree of accuracy. Hence, SVM and GRNN can be considered as appropriate tools for environmental risk assessment.     

The Lanthanide Tetrad Effect in Argillic Alteration: An Example from the Jizvan District,Northern Iran

Intrusion of quartz‐monzodioritic igneous bodies of Oligocene age into Eocene lithic crystal tuffs and trachy‐basalts resulted in the occurrence of a widespread argillic alteration zone in the Jizvan district (northern Iran). Mineralogically, the argillic alteration zone includes minerals such as kaolinite, quartz, smectite, pyrophyllite, muscovite‐illite, alunite, rutile, calcite, feldspar, chlorite, hematite and goethite. Therefore, the non‐CHARAC behaviour for trace elements in the argillic samples is reflected in the non‐chondritic Y/Ho and Zr/Hf ratios and the irregular REE patterns, which appear related to the tetrad effect phenomenon. The chondrite‐normalized REE distribution patterns indicate both concave (W‐shaped) and convex (M‐shaped) tetrad effects in the argillic samples. Based on the field evidence and the results from geochemical studies, it can be concluded that the samples from the argillic alteration zone having high fourth tetrad effect values (>0.30) were developed in the fault and breccia zones. The results indicate that factors such as preferential scavenging by Mn‐oxides, crystallization of clay minerals, fluid‐rock interaction, overprint of hypogene mineral assemblage by supergene ones, and the structural control, have all played an important role in the occurrence of tetrad effects in samples of the argillic zone in the Jizvan district.     

Analyzing spatiotemporal land use/cover dynamic using remote sensing imagery and GIS techniques case: Kan basin of Iran

Land use/land cover (LU/LC) that are significant elements for the interconnection of human activities and environment monitoring can be useful to find out the deviations of saving a maintainable environment. Remote sensing is a very useful tool for the affair of land use or land cover monitoring, which can be helpful to decide the allocation of land use and land cover. Supervised classification-maximum likelihood algorithm in GIS was applied in this study to detect land use/land cover changes observed in Kan basin using multispectral satellite data obtained from Landsat 5 (TM) and 8 (OLI) for the years 2000 and 2016, respectively. The main aim of this study was to gain a quantitative understanding of land use and land cover changes in Kan basin of Tehran over the period 2000–2016. For this purpose, firstly supervised classification technique was applied to Landsat images acquired in 2000 and 2016. The Kan basin was classified into five major LU/LC classes including: Built up areas, garden, pasture, water and bare-land. Change detection analysis was performed to compare the quantities of land cover class conversions between time intervals. The results revealed both increase and decrease of the different LU/LC classes from 2000 to 2016. The results indicate that during the study period, built-up land, and pastures have increased by 0.2% (76.4 km²) and 0.3% (86.03 km²) while water, garden and bare land have decreased by 0, 0.01% (3.62 km²) and 0.4% (117.168 km²), respectively. Information obtained from change detection of LU/LC can aid in providing optimal solutions for the selection, planning, implementation and monitoring of development schemes to meet the increasing demands of human needs in land management.     

The Laal-Kan fluorite deposit,Zanjan Province,NW Iran: constraints on REE geochemistry and fluid inclusions

The Laal-Kan fluorite deposit (west of Zanjan city, NW Iran) mainly occurred as some open-space filling and vein/veinlet in the schist of the Paleozoic age. Mineralogically, calcite, fluorite types (white, smoky, and violet), and quartz are the principal constituents accompanied by a number of minor accessory minerals such as hemimorphite, hematite, barite, and clays. Based on chemical analyses, fluorites of various colors were found to have low rare earth element (REE) concentrations (4.16–25.67 ppm). The chondrite-normalized REE patterns indicated that early fluorites were enriched in LREE, relative to HREE, whereas late fluorites were enriched in HREE relative to LREE. This study, therefore, indicated that fugacity of oxygen likely played a significant role in the occurrence of positive Ce and negative anomaly in the late fluorite. Furthermore, the Gd behavior of the fluorite samples could be attributed to the Gd-F complex in ore-forming fluids. On the other hand, low pH hydrothermal fluids under alkaline conditions were probably the main mechanism responsible for the deposition of the early fluorites in this district. Fluorite-hosted fluid inclusion analyses also indicated that fluorite-forming fluids consisted of NaCl, MgCl₂, CaCl₂, and LiCl with a narrow T_H (118–151 °C) and high salinities (18.96–23.47 wt.% NaCl equiv.). Further, the diagram of Tb/La-Tb/Ca ratios revealed that fluorites were predominantly deposited in the hydrothermal environment and the late stage fluorites could be considered as the product of the secondary mineralization of the early fluorites due to the interaction of the fluid with the early fluorites.     

Environmental texture and geochemistry of the sediments of a subtropical mangrove ecosystem and surrounding areas,Red Sea Coast,Egypt

The textural and geochemical aspects of the sediments of subtropical mangrove ecosystem and surrounding areas have been studied and discussed. Forty sediment samples were collected from different areas of mangrove environment and surrounding areas along the Egyptian Red Sea coast. The sediments of each study areas are characterized by the abundance of sand with minor amounts of mud and gravel. The mean size of the sediments ranged from medium grained to fine grained at the study areas. Cluster analysis showed that the distribution of gravel, sand, and mud fractions is related to bottom facies and type of sediment source. Generally, sand fraction is the main category among the three constituents. Carbonate content recorded minor values in the study areas. The CaCo₃ content of the sediments ranged from 4.7 % at Hamata area to 64.9 % at Erier area. Terrigenous and biogenic components are the factor controlling of the carbonate content of studies sediments. The organic carbon content ranged from 1.10 at Hamata area to 3.1 % at Sharm el-Qibli and Erier areas, which is controlled by particle size of the sediments. Phosphorus content in the different studied localities is related to the sources of phosphorus to the area. Our observations provide evidence that there are no significant differences in environmental texture and geochemistry of the sediments of subtropical mangrove ecosystem and surrounding areas of the Egyptian Red Sea coast.     

Signatures of Emerging Subsurface Structures in Acoustic Power Maps of the Sun

We show that under certain conditions, subsurface structures in the solar interior can alter the average acoustic power observed at the photosphere above them. By using numerical simulations of wave propagation, we show that this effect is large enough for it to be potentially used for detecting emerging active regions before they appear on the surface. In our simulations, simplified subsurface structures are modeled as regions with enhanced or reduced acoustic wave speed. We investigate the dependence of the acoustic power above a subsurface region on the sign, depth, and strength of the wave-speed perturbation. Observations from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Michelson Doppler Imager (SOHO/MDI) prior and during the emergence of NOAA active region 10488 are used to test the use of acoustic power as a potential precursor of the emergence of magnetic flux.     

Aeromagnetic data analysis to enhance the demonstration of the subsurface mineralized zone occurrences, As-Safra prospect area, Saudi Arabia

The aeromagnetic survey was conducted by the French organization, BRGM in 1966, where As-Safra prospect area at the east of Al-Madinah city was included. The aeromagnetic data were then interpreted for potential occurrences of mineralization zones along with their extensions. Spectral analysis, using Filon Fourier transform, was implemented to extract the residual anomalies that can be attributed to mineralization zones. In this study, analytic signal, normalized standard deviation (NSTD), and 3D Euler deconvolution filters were used to enhance the demonstration of subsurface mineralized zones occurrences. Analytic signal and NSTD filters showed that the studied area is dominated by three main trends controlling the occurrences of mineralized zones, NNW-SSE, N-S, and E-W to ENE-WSW. On the other hand, 3D Euler deconvolution filter showed that the dominant structures are mostly the magnetic contacts, and their depths vary between 118 and 355?m.     

Tsunami Mapping Related to Local Earthquakes on the French–Italian Riviera (Western Mediterranean)

The Ligurian coast, located at the French–Italian border, is densely populated as well as a touristic area. It is also a location where earthquakes and underwater landslides are recurrent. The nature of the local tsunamigenesis is therefore a legitimate question, because no tsunami warning system can resolve tsunami arrival times of a few minutes, which is the case for the area. As far as the seismicity of the area is concerned, the frequent recurrent earthquakes are generally of moderate magnitude: most of them are lower than M _w 5. However, the relatively large M _w 6.9 earthquake (Larroque et al., in Geophys J Int, 2012. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05498.x) that occurred on the February 23, 1887, offshore of Imperia (Italian Riviera) is quite emblematic. This unusual event for the region merits a complete study: the quantification of its rupture mechanism is essential (1) to understand the regional active deformation, but also (2) to evaluate its tsunamigenesis potential by deriving relevant rupture scenarios obtained from our knowledge of the event; for that purpose the event is extensively described here. The first point has been the subject of quite a few studies based on the seismotectonics of the area. The last documented approach has been completed by Larroque et al. (Geophys J Int, 2012. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05498.x) who proposed a rupture scenario involving a reverse faulting along a north dipping fault and favoring a M _w 6.9 magnitude. In the present paper (1) we study the accuracy of their solutions in relation to the computational grid spacing and the dispersive/nondispersive parameterization, (2) based on an uncertainty on the recorded wave amplitude of the Genoa tide gauge they used, we propose a M _w 6.7 earthquake magnitude solution for the event (the kinematics is unchanged), co-existing with the M _w 6.9, (3) we evaluate the tsunami coastal impact of the 1887 event, and (4) we test a range of possible ruptures that local faults may undergo in order to propose a synoptic mapping of the tsunami threat in the area. The spatial distribution of the maximum wave height (MWH) is provided with a tentative identification of the processes that are responsible for it. This latter issue is imperative in order to make our mapping as generic as possible in the framework of our deterministic approach (based on realistic scenarios and not on ensemble statistics). The predictions suggest that the wave impact is mostly local, considering the relatively moderate size of the rupture planes. Although the present-day seismicity in this region is moderate, stronger earthquakes (M > 6.5) have occurred in the past. The studied scenarios show that for such events specific localities along the French–Italian Riviera may experience very significant MWH related to the shallow focal depth tested for such scenarios. We may reasonably conclude that the tsunami threat is relatively significant and uniform at the Italian side of the Riviera (from Ventimiglia to Imperia), while it is more localized (sporadic) at the French side from Antibes to Menton with, however, higher local level of inundation, e.g., Nice city center.