Regional geopotential model improvement for the Iranian geoid determination

Spherical harmonic expansions of the geopotential are frequently used for modelling the earth’s gravity field. Degree and order of recently available models go up to 360, corresponding to a resolution of about50 km. Thus, the high degree potential coefficients can be verified nowadays even by locally distributed sets of terrestrial gravity anomalies. These verifications are important when combining the short wavelength model impact, e.g. for regional geoid determinations by means of collocation solutions. A method based on integral formulae is presented, enabling the improvement of geopotential models with respect to non-global distributed gravity anomalies. To illustrate the foregoing, geoid computations are carried out for the area of Iran, introducing theGPM2 geopotential model in combination with available regional gravity data. The accuracy of the geoid determination is estimated from a comparison with Doppler and levelling data to ±1.4m.     

L'Association Shoshonitique du Damavand (Iran)

Résumé La suite magmatique du Damavand — un volcan isolé dans l'Elbroz, au Nord de l'Iran-a les caractéristiques d'une association magmatique avec absarokite-shoshonitebanakite. Toutefois, la relative rareté des termes intermédiaires permet de poser le problème de l'unicité de la série.L'origine de ces laves potassiques est discutée en fonction d'une paléosubduction océanique, partie du Zagros à l'Aquitanien ou, alternativement, en fonction d'une structure naissante de la Caspienne.

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Zusammenfassung Die magmatische Serie von Damavand, aus einem isolierten Vulkan in der nordiranischen Elbroz-Provinz, weist alle Eigenschaften einier Absarokit-Shoshonit-magmatischen Assoziation auf.Die Herkunft dieser Kalilaven wird in bezug auf einer ozeanischen Palaeosubduktion, die im Zagros während des Aquitains anfing, diskutiert. Die Alternative eines Zusammenhangs mit der kaspischen Struktur wird in Betracht gezogen.The Damavand magmatic series — from an isolated volcano in the Elbroz province, north of Iran — holds all characters of an absarokite-shoshonite-banakite magmatic association. However, the intermediate terms are too seldom to solve the problem of the series unity.The origin of these potassic lavas is discussed as related to either an oceanic paleosubduction which started from the Zagros at Aquitanian, or, possibly, related to the evolving Caspian structure.

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Upper-mantle structure of the Baltic Shield below the Swedish National Seismological Network (SNSN) resolved by teleseismic tomography

Upper-mantle structure under the Baltic Shield is studied using non-linear high resolution teleseismic P -phase tomography. Observed relative arrival-time residuals from 52 teleseismic earthquakes recorded by the Swedish National Seismological Network (SNSN) are inverted to delineate the structure of the upper mantle. The network consists of 47 (currently working) three-component broad-band stations located in an area about 450 km wide and 1450 km long. In order to reduce complications due to possible significant three-dimensionality of Earth structure, events chosen for this study lay close to in-line with the long-axis of the array  (±30°)  . Results indicate P -wave velocity perturbations of ±3 per cent down to at least 470 km below the network. The size of the array allows inversion for structures even at greater depths, and lateral variations of velocity at depths of up to 680 km appear to be resolved. Below the central part of the array (60°–64° N), where ray coverage is best, the data reveals a large region of relatively low velocity at depths of over about 300 km. At depths less than about 250–300 km, the models include a number of features, including an apparent slab-like structure dipping gently towards the north.     

Hydro-mechanical evaluation of stabilized mine tailings

. In this study, mine tailings waste was stabilized using a combination of lime, fly ash type "C", and aluminum. Treated samples were subjected to mineral identification for evaluating the formation of ettringite and gypsum. Also, unconfined compression, hydraulic conductivity, and cyclic freeze and thaw tests were performed to evaluate the hydro-mechanical properties of the stabilized samples. Experimental results have shown that the application of lime and fly ash type "C" to high sulfate content tailings has improved its plasticity, workability, and volume stability. Moreover, upon addition of aluminum to lime and fly ash in a sulfate-rich environment, ettringite and calcium sulfo-aluminate hydrate are formed in these samples. Application of 5% lime, 10% fly ash type "C", in combination with 110 ppm aluminum, resulted in the formation of a solid monolith capable of producing more than 1,000 kPa of unconfined compressive strength, and reduced tailings permeability to 1.96᎒^–6 cm s^–1, which is less than the recommended permeability of 10^–5 cm s^–1 by most environmental protection agencies for reusability of solidified/stabilized samples. The permeability of the treated tailings samples remained below the recommended permeability, even after exposing the treated samples to 12 freeze and thaw cycles. Therefore, based on the experimental results, it is concluded that treatment of high sulfate-content tailings with lime and fly ash, combined with the availability of aluminum for reactions, is a successful method of solidifying highly reactive mine tailings.     

Transient analysis of wave propagation in non‐homogeneous elastic unbounded domains by using the scaled boundary finite‐element method

The scaled boundary finite‐element method has been developed for the dynamic analysis of unbounded domains. In this method only the boundary is discretized resulting in a reduction of the spatial dimension by one. Like the finite‐element method no fundamental solution is required. This paper extends the scaled boundary finite‐element method to simulate the transient response of non‐homogeneous unbounded domains with the elasticity modulus and mass density varying as power functions of spatial coordinates. To reduce the number of degrees of freedom and the computational cost, the technique of reduced set of base functions is applied. The scaled boundary finite‐element equation for an unbounded domain is reformulated in generalized coordinates. The resulting acceleration unit‐impulse response matrix is obtained and assembled with the equation of motion of standard finite elements. Numerical examples of non‐homogeneous isotropic and transversely isotropic unbounded domains demonstrate the accuracy of the scaled boundary finite‐element method. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sedimentary facies and sequence stratigraphy of the Asmari Formation at Chaman-Bolbol, Zagros Basin, Iran

The Oligocene–Miocene Asmari Formation of the Zagros Basin is a thick sequence of shallow water carbonate. In the study area, it is subdivided into 14 microfacies that are distinguished on the basis of their depositional textures, petrographic analysis and fauna. Based on the paleoecology and lithology, four distinct depositional settings can be recognized: tidal flat, lagoon, barrier, and open marine. The Asmari Formation represents sedimentation on a carbonate ramp. In the inner ramp, the most abundant lithofacies are medium grained wackestone–packstone with imperforated foraminifera. The middle ramp is represented by packstone–grainstone to floatstone with a diverse assemblage of larger foraminifera with perforate wall, red algae, bryozoa, and echinoids. The outer ramp is dominated by argillaceous wackestone characterized by planktonic foraminifera and large and flat nummulitidae and lepidocyclinidae. Three third-order depositional sequences are recognized from deepening and shallowing trends in the depositional facies, changes in cycle stacking patterns, and sequence boundary features.     

Comparison between Shannon and Tsallis entropies for prediction of shear stress distribution in open channels

The concept of Tsallis entropy was applied to model the probability distribution functions for the shear stress magnitudes in circular channels (with filling ratios of 0.506, 0.666, 0.826), circular with flat bed (filling ratios of 0.333, 0.666), rectangular channel (1.34, 2, 3.94, 7.37 aspect ratios) and compound channel (with relative depths of 0.324, 0.46). The equation for the shear stress distribution was obtained according to the entropy maximization principle, and is able to estimate the shear stress distribution as much on the walls as the channel bed. The approach is also compared with the predictions obtained based on the Shannon entropy concept. By comparing the two prediction models, this study highlights the application of Tsallis entropy to estimate the shear stress distribution of open channels. Although the results of the two models are similar in the circular cross-section, the differences between them are more significant in circular with flat bed and rectangular channels. For a wide range of filling ratio values, experimental data are used to illustrate the accuracy and reliability of the proposed model.     

Spatial distribution and temporal variation of reference evapotranspiration in arid and semi‐arid regions of Iran

Analysis of spatial and temporal variations of reference evapotranspiration (ET_o) is important in arid and semi‐arid regions where water resources are limited. The main aim of this study was to analyse the spatial distribution and the annual, seasonal and monthly trends of the Penman–Monteith ET_o for 21 stations in the arid and semi‐arid regions of Iran. Three statistical tests the Mann‐Kendall, Sen's slope estimator and linear regression were used for the analysis. The analysis revealed that ET_o increased from January to July and deceased from July to December at almost all stations. Additionally, higher annual ET_o values were found in the southeast of the study region and lower values in the northwest of the region. Although the results showed both positive and negative trends in annual ET_o series, ET_o generally increased, significantly so in six (～30%) of the stations. Analysis of the impacts of meteorological variables on the temporal trends of ET_o indicated that the increasing trend of ET_o was most likely due to a significant increase in minimum air temperature, while decreasing trend of ET_o was mainly caused by a significant decrease in wind speed. At the sites where increasing ET_o trends were statistically significant, the rate of increase varied from (+)8·36 mm/year at Mashhad station to (+)31·68 mm/year at Iranshahr station. On average, an increasing trend of (+)4·42 mm/year was obtained for the whole study area during the last four decades. Seasonal and monthly ET_o have also tended to increase at the majority of the stations. The greatest numbers of significant trends were observed in winter on the seasonal time‐scale and in September on the monthly time‐scale. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental and 3D Numerical Simulation of Reinforced Shear Joints

The load transfer capacity and failure mechanism of a fully grouted bolt installed across a joint in shear is investigated, both experimentally and numerically, in five types of bolt. The double-shearing testing of bolts were studied in concrete blocks of 20, 40 and 100 MPa strengths, subjected to different pretension loads of 0, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 80 KN, respectively. The parameters examined include: shear resistance, shear displacement, induced strains and stresses during the bolt-bending process, and its ultimate failure across the sheared joint planes. The conclusions drawn from the study were that the strength of the concrete, bolt profile configuration and bolt pretension load played a significant influence on the shear resistance, shear displacement and failure mechanism of the reinforced medium. Experimental and numerical simulations showed that the failure occurs as a result of the induced axial and shear stresses acting between the hinge point distances in the vicinity of the shear joint plane.     

Interactive effect of nitrogen fertilizer and hydrocarbon pollution on soil biological indicators

The investigation of the impact of different forms of nitrogen fertilizer (NO₃-N and NH₄-N) on microbial parameters, enzyme activities and phytotoxicity in a petroleum-contaminated soil was evaluated by an incubation study. The tested enzymes, microbial activity and seed germination index showed different patterns in response to both petroleum and nitrogen fertilizer addition and time of incubation. The results apparently showed that the contamination of soil with petroleum has a negative effect on soil ecosystem. Nitrogen fertilizer could improve inhibition of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil. Nevertheless, nitrogen fertilizer had no significant effect on urease activity in the petroleum-contaminated soil. As compared to NO₃-N, the addition of NH₄-N to the soil resulted in a greater impact on soil performance as attested by the recovery of the soil germination capability and higher values of the respiration. The application of nitrogen fertilizer may be suggested as a good strategy for restoring soils in regions affected by the same problem.