Early Miocene adakite-like volcanism in the Balkuyumcu region, central Anatolia, Turkey: Petrology and geochemistry

The Balkuyumcu region, located in the southwestern part of Ankara in the Izmir-Ankara suture zone (central Anatolia, Turkey), consists of basic andesitic, andesitic, dacitic and rhyolitic rocks extruded during the Early Miocene (20–22 Ma) as a result of post-collisional volcanism. Balkuyumcu volcanic rocks can be divided into two groups on the basis of their mineralogy and composition: The basic andesitic (BA) and andesitic, dacitic and rhyolitic (ADR) groups. The ADR and BA group of rocks have adakite-like and calc-alkaline characteristics, respectively. The ADR group has higher SiO₂ content, Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios and low MgO, Mg#, Y and Yb contents than the BA group. Both groups have nearly the same Sr, Nd isotopic compositions and display similar normalized multi-element patterns with enrichments in LILE and LREE, depletions in Nb, Ti, Zr, P and a lack of Eu anomalies. Major, trace element and Sr, Nd isotopic data indicate that both groups of rocks were derived from the same source but affected by different magmatic processes during ascent. The adakite-like rocks may have been produced by partial melting of thickened lower continental crust. Fractional crystallization also played a major role in their formation. However, the BA group rocks were derived from partial melting of lower continental crust that was probably delaminated. These rocks appear to have had limited interaction with mantle peridodite during ascent to the surface.     

Thermal conductivity of reinforced soils: A literature review

This paper aims a review of the literature related to soil reinforcements to achieve lower soil thermal conductivity （2）. The use of various natural and synthetic fibers, polymers, geosynthetics, agricultural waste/materials, and nanoclays is discussed and existing prediction models that have been thought to affect low thermal conductivity are presented.     

Comparative Assessment of Sludge Pre‐Treatment Techniques to Enhance Sludge Dewaterability and Biogas Production

Effectiveness of ultrasonication, microwave technologies, and enzyme addition prior to anaerobic digestion is investigated using sludge samples taken from the secondary settling tank of a domestic wastewater treatment plant to improve methane production, enhance dewaterability characteristics of the sludge, and to reduce excess sludge. Microwave pre‐treatment (1500 W, 10 min at 175 °C) results in better extra digester performance (compared to the control reactor) in terms of methane production (25 m³ ton^?1 suspended solids (SS)) than ultrasound (no improvement) and enzyme pre‐treatment (11 m³ ton^?1 SS). While methane production is not improved as a result of ultrasonication pre‐treatment (15 000 kJ kg^?1 SS), a noticeable increase (19%) is observed in the case of microwave pre‐treatment. Higher compactibility values are obtained after ultrasonication and microwave application compared to the control (i.e., from 7.1 to 8.7 and 9.2%, respectively) before anaerobic digestion. Although ultrasonication and microwave application decrease the dewaterability of the raw sludge (capillary suction time (CST) from 827 to 1364 and 2290 s, respectively), similar dewaterability results are obtained at the end of the anaerobic digestion process for all pre‐treated sludge samples. An economic assessment of this study shows that pre‐treatment with microwave results in more than 10‐fold less net cost compared to the enzyme application.     

Numerical analysis of reinforced soil walls with granular and cohesive backfills under cyclic loads

Novel approaches to the dynamic analysis of the reinforced soil walls have been reported in the literature. Use of marginal soils reduces the cost of geosynthetic reinforced soil walls if proper drainage measures are taken. Therefore the affect of using cohesive marginal soils as backfill in geosynthetic reinforced retaining structures were investigated in this research. The dynamic response of reinforced soil walls was investigated in a similar focus, using finite element analysis. The results obtained from walls with cohesive backfill were compared to the results obtained from walls with granular backfill. The height of the wall was chosen as 6 m in the two-dimensional plane strain finite element model and the base acceleration was chosen to be a harmonic motion. The effects of various parameters like the backfill type, facing type, reinforcement stiffness, and peak ground acceleration on the cyclic response of reinforced soil retaining walls were investigated. After analyzing the wall response for end of construction and dynamic excitation phases, it was determined that the deformations and reinforcement tensile loads increased during the cyclic load application and that the amount of additional deformation that occurred during cyclic load application was strongly related to backfill soil type, facing type, reinforcement type and peak ground acceleration. It was determined that a cohesive backfill and geotextile reinforcement was a good combination to reduce the deformations of geosynthetic reinforced walls during cyclic loading for medium height walls.     

On the Use of Crushed Recycled Glass Instead of Silica Sand in Dual‐Media Filters

Crushed recycled glass was evaluated as an alternative to silica sand in dual‐media filters. Pilot scale inline filtration experiments were carried out using raw waters from three different water sources with turbidities between 6.0 and 14.0 NTU. Two physically identical filter columns were operated in parallel in the experiments. One filter consisted of 62.5 cm silica sand and 41.5 cm anthracite coal, whereas the other filter contained 62.5 cm crushed recycled glass plus 41.5 cm anthracite coal. The total bed depth was 104 cm for both filters. The properties of the media were as follows: Glass effective size = 0.77 mm, uniformity coefficient = 1.41. Sand effective size = 0.79 mm, uniformity coefficient = 1.33. Coal effective size = 1.45 mm, uniformity coefficient = 1.39. Experiments were repeated five times as follows: (i) Without the use of a coagulant, (ii–iii) with 5 and 10 mg/L of alum, and (iv–v) with 5 and 10 mg/L of ferric chloride. The filtration rate used was 11.5 m/h. Turbidity, particle counts, and head losses were measured and compared as functions of time. The following were observed: (i) Effluent turbidities and particle counts of the two filters were very close, i.e., essentially the same effluent quality was obtained when crushed glass was used instead of silica sand. (ii) In the majority of the tests, the filter with crushed glass generated both a smaller clean‐bed head loss and smaller clogging head losses than those of the filter containing sand. It is concluded that crushed glass may be a good alternative to silica sand in dual‐media filtration.     

A New Natural Secondary Reference Material for Garnet U-Pb Dating by TIMS and LA-ICP-MS

Gem quality andradite-rich garnet (IUC-1), obtained from the Miocene trachyte dome near Ankara city (Turkey), has been identified as a potential natural secondary reference material for U-Pb dating. In this study, U-Pb dating was performed in five different laboratories using isotope dilution TIMS and laser ablation ICP-MS to determine the homogeneity of euhedral garnet crystals. The U-Pb ID-TIMS data for IUC-1 yielded ²⁰⁷Pb/²³⁵U and ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages of 20.9 ± 0.4 and 20.6 ± 0.8 Ma respectively, and these values are consistent with U-Pb LA-ICP-MS analyses, in which different garnet crystals yielded ages of 20.8 ± 0.1, 20.7 ± 0.1, 20.7 ± 0.2 and 20.2 ± 0.1 Ma. An andradite (IUC-2) from the Serçeören wollastonite skarn (Turkey) can be used as a secondary reference material provided detailed imaging of the crystals is undertaken. ID-TIMS data yielded ²⁰⁷Pb/²³⁵U and ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages of 20.4 ± 0.4 and 20.9 ± 1.0 Ma respectively, and yielded U-Pb ages on different grains of 20.5 ± 0.1, 20.7 ± 1.0, 20.8 ± 1.7 and 20.9 ± 1.6 Ma. The assigned weighted mean age of IUC-1 (20.4 ± 0.5 Ma, 2s) is proposed as a 2023 reference value. IUC-1 garnet is expected to contribute significantly to rapidly developing garnet geochronology in the near future.     

Identification of the Phytoremediation Potential of Indian mustard Genotypes for Copper,Evaluated from a Hydroponic Experiment

The effectiveness of 10 Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) genotypes (viz. Agrani, BTO, Kranti, Pusa Bahar, Pusa Basant, Pusa Bold, Pusa Jai Kisan, Vaibhav, Vardhan, and Varuna) were evaluated for their potential to phytoremediate copper from contaminated waters under laboratory controlled conditions. The genotypes were grown for 20 days in aqueous solutions containing various concentrations of copper sulfate (0–50 µM) in a hydroponic chamber. Throughout plant development, changes in growth variables, biomass accumulation, and total Cu content were evaluated. The results suggested that Indian mustard cv. Pusa Jai Kisan possesses the best capacities of Cu sequestration and tolerance amongst all the genotypes studied. Thus, Pusa Jai Kisan has the greatest potential to become a viable candidate in the development of practical phytoremediation technologies for Cu contaminated sites.     

Decolorization of Textile Azo‐metal Complex Dyes by a Halophilic Bacterium Isolated from Çamaltı Saltern in Turkey

The decolorization of some of azo‐metal complex dyes used in textile industry was investigated in this study. The halophilic prokaryotes isolated from a solar sea‐saltern (Çamalt?) in Turkey were screened for resistance to five commercial azo and mixture of azo‐metal complex dyes. Only one bacterium was found to be resistant against two of dyes, namely Lanaset Navy R and Lanaset Brown B. The bacterium was identified as Halobacillus sp. C‐22 according to 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses. Decolorization experiments were carried out at 120 mg/L concentration of both dyes, at room temperature, and with an acidic pH of 4.5. Lanaset Brown B was decolorized at a high adsorbance ratio (96.12%) at the 78th hour. However, Lanaset Navy R was rapidly decolorized in 10 min (46.67%) and showed the highest adsorbance ratio (60.66%) at the third hour. Freundlich and Langmuir equilibrium isotherm models were used to evaluate the adsorption of dyes and Freundlich isoterm was more suitable for biosorpsiyon of both azo dyes. The functional groups on Halobacillus sp. C‐22 for decolorization were characterized by FT‐IR. This is the first study to reveal potential of Halobacillus sp. for decolorization of textile azo‐metal complex dyes.