Using inverse modeling and hierarchical cluster analysis for hydrochemical characterization of springs and Talkhab River in Tang-Bijar oilfield,Iran

Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and inverse modeling (PH REdox EQuilibrium (in C language) (PHREEQC)) were simultaneously useful approaches in interpreting surface water hydrochemistry within Talkhab River in the Tang-Bijar oilfield, Iran, where large uncertainties exist in the understanding of the water quality system. Q-mode HCA applied to the data revealed three major surface water associations distinguished on the basis of the major causes of variation in the hydrochemistry. The three water groups were classified as upstream waters (group 1: Ca–SO₄), intermediate waters (group 2: Ca–SO₄–Cl), and downstream waters (group 3: Na–Cl). Geochemical reaction models were constructed using PHREEQC to establish the reactions associated with the different mineral phases through inverse modeling. The hydrochemical compositions of the water groups and the mass balance calculations indicate that the dominant processes and reactions responsible for the hydrochemical evolution in the system are (1) dissolution of evaporites, (2) precipitation of carbonate minerals, (3) silicate weathering reactions, (4) limited mixing with saline water, and (5) ion exchange.     

A framework toward developing a groundwater conceptual model

Developing an accurate conceptual model is the most important step in the process of a groundwater numerical modeling. Disorganized and limited available data and information, especially in the developing countries, make the preparation of the conceptual model difficult and sometimes cumbersome. In this research, an integrative and comprehensive method is proposed to develop groundwater conceptual model for an unconfined aquifer. The proposed method consists of six steps. A preliminary step (step 0) is aimed at collecting all the available data and information. The output of the first step as “controlling observations” is conceptual model version 00. This step should be rigorously checked due to its critical role in the controlling of final conceptual model. Step 2 determines the aquifer geometry. The output of this step is conceptual model version 01. Step 3 is responsible to determine hydrodynamic properties and its output develops conceptual model version 02. Step 4 evaluates the surface and subsurface interactions and lateral in/out groundwater flows. The output of this step is conceptual model version 03. Step 5 is to integrate the results from other steps and to deliver the final conceptual model version. The accuracy level of the conceptual model and the annual groundwater balance is also determined at this step. The presented groundwater conceptual model procedure was implemented for the Neishaboor plain, Iran. Results showed its usefulness and practicality in developing the conceptual model for the study area.     

Validating gap-filling of Landsat ETM+ satellite images in the Golestan Province,Iran

The Landsat series of satellites provides a valuable data source for land surface mapping and monitoring. Unfortunately, the scan line corrector (SLC) of the Landsat7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) sensor failed on May 13, 2003. This problem resulted in about 22 % of the pixels per scene not being scanned and has seriously limited the scientific applications of ETM+ data. A number of methods have been developed to fill the gaps in the incorrect images. Most of these methods have problems in heterogeneous landscapes. We applied and validated a simple and effective gap-fill algorithm developed by the US Geological Survey to a study area in the Golestan Province in the north of Iran. This algorithm operates under the assumption that the same-class neighboring pixels around the unscanned pixels have similar spectral characteristics, and that these neighboring and unscanned pixels share patterns of spectral differences between dates. For validation, unsupervised land use classification was performed on both gap-filled SLC-off data and the original “sound” data set. Classification results and accuracies were very comparable.     

Study and Simulation of Severe Dust Storms in the West and Southwest of Iran

In recent decades, the number of dust events has increased significantly in the west and southwest of Iran. In this research, a survey on the dust events during the period 1990–2013 is carried out using historical dust data collected from seven synoptic stations scattered across the west and southwest of Iran. Using statistical analysis of the observational data, two of the most severe dust storm events that occurred in the region on July 4–7, 2009 and June 17–20, 2012 were selected and analyzed synoptically. NCEP/NCAR reanalysis dataset was used to obtain the required fields including sea level pressure, surface wind field, geopotential height at 500 hPa, and wind and vertical motion at the 850 hPa level. Moreover, weather research and forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem) with two aerosol schemes, GOCART and MADE/SORGAM, were used to simulate the amount of particulate matter (PM10) and its transportation over the studied region. The initial and lateral boundary conditions of the model simulations are provided by Global Forecast System (GFS) data with the horizontal resolution of 0.5°. The calculations demonstrated that the MADE/SORGAM scheme predicted the values and trends of PM₁₀ better than GOCART. Dust plums are formed over Iraq and Syria and then transported to the west and southwest of Iran. Comparing the MODIS satellite images for July 4, 2009 and June 18, 2012 with the corresponding model output showed the good performance of WRF-Chem in simulating the spatial distribution of dust.     

Denoising and improving the quality of seismic data using combination of DBM filter and FX deconvolution

Seismic data denoising, random noise attenuation (RNA) and spike-like noise suppression, is a main consideration for improving the quality of records. RNA could increase signal to noise ratio (S/N) to avoid misinterpretation of seismic data. In this research, a novel method is created by using the combination of frequency-offset deconvolution (FXD) and decision-based median (DBM) filter for RNA from seismic data. The method is applied in two main phases; FXD is focused to remove the Gaussian noise and DBM filter is focused to attenuate the impulsive noise and spikes. To implement and verify the method, three types of data are used: two synthetic models (a model with linear events and a model with hyperbolic events) and an observed seismic section. The ability of the proposed method (FXD-DBM) in comparison of applying each in seismic RNA application is proven. The noise level is reduced obviously, and hence, the S/N of all examined seismic records is increased considerably after denoising by the combination of FX deconvolution and DBM filter. About the real seismic section, suppressing random noise and spikes show up improving the seismic reflector continuity and hence enhancing the interpretability of data. Moreover, some masked events by random noise are clarified in different parts of data after denoising using the planned method.     

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction using biological markers for the Upper Triassic-Middle Jurassic sedimentary succession in Tabas Basin, central Iran

The Upper Triassic-Middle Jurassic sedimentary succession in the Tabas Basin, with a thickness of about 1600 m, provides a case showing geochemical property changes through the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. The studied section (Kamarmacheh Kuh) is composed of the marine Nayband Formation (Norian-Rhaetian) overlain by siliciclastic sediments of Ab-e-Haji Formation (Lower Jurassic-Aalenian). Detailed geochemical analyses were conducted on selected samples from both formations and the results were used to infer paleo-depositional conditions. Most of the studied samples contain <1 wt% TOC composed mostly of oxidized organic matter with insignificant generative potential. Extract analysis of four representative samples indicate that the rocks also contain minor amounts of preserved algal organic matter along with a secondary contribution of higher plant organic matter from the adjacent watershed. Biomarker analyses show subtle variations in the relative contribution of land plant material that are consistent with the widespread occurrence of coal seams in the upper parts of the Nayband and basal parts of the Ab-e-Haji formations. Although the samples from the Kamarmacheh Kuh Section have low source potential, the extractable hydrocarbons indicate that conditions existed that were conducive to organic matter preservation and that regions of the Tabas Basin with higher primary productivity or lower sedimentation rates may have greater potential.     

Structural softening,mesh dependence,and regularisation in non-associated plastic flow

A severe dependence of numerical simulations on the mesh density is usually attributed to the presence of strain softening in the constitutive relation. However, other material instabilities, like non-associated plastic flow, can also cause mesh sensitivity. Indeed, loss of ellipticity in quasi-static analyses is the fundamental cause of the observed mesh dependence. It has been known since long that non-associated plastic flow can cause loss of ellipticity, but the consequence for mesh sensitivity, and subsequently, for the difficulty of the equilibrium-finding iterative procedure to converge have remained largely unnoticed. We first demonstrate at the hand of a biaxial test structural softening and a marked mesh dependence for an ideally plastic material equipped with a non-associated flow rule. The phenomena are then analysed in depth using an infinitely long shear layer. Finally, it is shown that the mesh effect disappears when the standard continuum model is replaced by a Cosserat continuum, a well-known regularisation method for strain-softening constitutive relations.     

Geochemical evaluation and thermal modeling of the Eocene–Oligocene Pabdeh and Middle Cretaceous Gurpi Formations in the northern part of the Dezful Embayment

Rock–Eval pyrolysis analysis, burial history, and 1D thermal maturity modeling have allowed the evaluation of the source rock potential, thermal maturation state, and impacts of the Pabdeh and Gurpi Formations in Cretaceous–Miocene petroleum system in the Naft Safid (NS) and Zeloi (ZE) oilfields, North Dezful Embayment. The total organic carbon (TOC) content of the Pabdeh and Gurpi Formations ranges from 0.2 to 4.7 wt% and 0.3 to 5.3 wt%, respectively. S2 values of the Pabdeh Formation in the ZE and NS oilfields vary from 0.41 to 13.77 and 0.29 to 14.5 mg HC (Hydrocarbon)/g rock, with an average value of 4.48 and 4.14 mg HC/g rock, respectively. These values for the Gurpi Formation in the ZE and NS oilfields range from 0.31 to 16.96 and 0.26 to 1.44 mg HC/g rock, with an average value of 8.54 and 2.43 mg HC/g rock, respectively. The S2 versus TOC diagram reveals a fair to good hydrocarbon generation potential of the Pabdeh Formation and poor to fair potential of the Gurpi Formation. The high values of S2 (S2 > S1) for samples of the both formations in the ZE and NS oilfields show that the samples are not contaminated with petroleum generated from underlying source rocks. The samples of the Pabdeh Formation in the ZE oilfield are characterized by a relatively narrow range of activation energy values with principal activation energy of 46 kcal/mol and frequency factor of 5.27 × 10⁺¹¹ s^?1. It seems that the high sulfur content of the Pabdeh organic matter probably caused the frequency factor and principal activation energy to be lower than usual. Hydrogen index (HI) values of the Pabdeh and Gurpi Formations in the ZE oilfield vary from 71 to 786 and 97 to 398 mg HC/g TOC, with an average value of 310 and 277 mg HC/g TOC, respectively. These values in the NS oilfield range from 66 to 546 and 51 to 525 mg HC/g TOC, with an average value of 256 and 227 mg HC/g TOC, respectively. Plot of HI vs. T _max value indicates that the majority of the Pabdeh and Gurpi samples contain predominantly type II kerogen and their organofacies are directly related to the more homogeneous precursor materials. Based on thermal maturity modeling results, kinetic parameters, and Rock–Eval analysis, both formations in the ZE and NS oilfields are thermally mature and immature or early mature stage, respectively.     

Seismic resilience index for RC moment frames of school buildings using neuro-fuzzy approach

Natural Hazards - Ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) is a concept of reducing the risk to natural hazards by avoiding the developments and settlements in disaster-prone areas by...