Hydrogeochemical and isotopic investigation of the Kolan geothermal field, southeastern Turkey

The Kolan geothermal field is located 24 km northwest of the Karakoçan area of Elaz city in southeastern Turkey. The Keban crystallized limestone of Permo-Carboniferous age is the oldest unit in the area. This unit is overlain by the middle-upper Eocene Krkgeçit formation consisting of conglomerate, sandstone, limestone and marl alternations. The youngest unit in the area is the Upper Miocene-Lower Pliocene Karabakr formation consisting of basalt, andesite and tuffs. Thermal Springs in the Kolan field issue along two major fault zones. The temperature of the hot springs is between 38°C and 45°C. Thermal waters in the area are heated by the geothermal gradient. The waters are classified as hot or very hot and as brackish waters. On the basis of International Association of Hydrogeologists Classification (IAH), waters are grouped as Ca–Na-HCO₃–CO₂-bearing thermal and mineral waters. Chemical analyses indicate a chemical composition of Ca>(Na+K)>Mg - HCO₃>SO₄>Cl. Saturation calculations reveal that the waters are oversaturated with respect to calcite, dolomite and aragonite while undersaturated with respect to gypsum, anhydrite and halite minerals. On the basis of ¹⁸O, ²H and ³H isotope data, Kolan waters are of meteoric origin, recharged from high elevations and then circulated deeply.     

Accelerating shear velocity in gravel-bed channels

Abstract

The behaviour of the shear velocity along a gravel-bed channel is investigated experimentally in the presence of a negative pressure gradient (accelerating flow). Different methods of estimation of the shear velocity, derived from vertical profiles of the mean longitudinal point velocity, are examined and a new method is proposed. Results show that the proposed method of estimation is comparable to the St Venant and Clauser's methods. At a specific cross section, for constant bottom slope and relative roughness, shear velocity increases with discharge.     

A new method for aquifer system identification and parameter estimation

The standard practice for assessing aquifer parameters is to match groundwater drawdown data obtained during pumping tests against theoretical well function curves specific to the aquifer system being tested. The shape of the curve derived from the logarithmic time derivative of the drawdown data is also very frequently used as a diagnostic tool to identify the aquifer system in which the pumping test is being conducted. The present study investigates the incremental area method (IAM) to serve as an alternative diagnostic tool for the aquifer system identification as well as a supplement to the aquifer parameter estimation procedure. The IAM based diagnostic curves for ideal confined, leaky, bounded and unconfined aquifers have been derived as part of this study, and individual features of the plots have been identified. These features were noted to be unique to each aquifer setting, which could be used for rapid evaluation of the aquifer system. The effectiveness of the IAM methodology was investigated by analyzing field data for various aquifer settings including leaky, unconfined, bounded and heterogeneous conditions. The results showed that the proposed approach is a viable method for use as a diagnostic tool to identify the aquifer system characteristics as well as to support the estimation of the hydraulic parameters obtained from standard curve matching procedures. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling Last Glacial Maximum ice cap with the Parallel Ice Sheet Model to infer palaeoclimate in south-west Turkey

Modelling palaeoglaciers in mountainous terrain is challenging due to the need for detailed ice flow computations in relatively narrow and steep valleys, high-resolution climate estimations, knowledge of pre-ice topography, and proxy-based palaeoclimate forcing. The Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM), a numerical model that approximates glacier sliding and deformation to simulate large ice sheets such as Greenland and Antarctica, was recently adapted to alpine environments. In an attempt to reconstruct the climate conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) on Mount Dedegöl in SW Turkey, we used PISM and explored palaeoglacier dynamics at high spatial resolution (100 m) in a relatively small domain (225 km²). Palaeoice-flow fields were modelled as a function of present temperature and precipitation. Nine different palaeoclimate simulations were run to reach the steady-state glacier extents and the modelled glacial areas were compared with the field-based and chronologically well-established ice extents. Although our results provide a non-unique solution, best-fit scenarios indicate that the LGM climate on Mount Dedegöl was between 9.2 and 10.6 °C colder than today, while precipitation levels were the same as today. More humid (20% wetter) or arid (20% drier) conditions than today bring the palaeotemperature estimates to 7.7–8.8 or 11.5–13.2 °C lower than present, respectively.     

Kilometre‐scale sand injectites in the intracratonic Murzuq Basin (South‐west Libya): an igneous trigger?

Mount Telout, situated at the edge of the Murzuq Basin, is a 325 m high conical hill within a circular collapse structure that records 0·5 km³ of sand intrusion into Silurian shales. Based on a comparison with other similar circular collapse structures around the Murzuq Basin, it is argued that sand injection in the form of pipes occurred during the Devonian. The overpressures triggering the process are inferred to result from a combination of: (i) tectonic uplift at a basin scale that initially focused regional ground water flows; and (ii) igneous intrusion within the sand‐rich Cambrian–Ordovician strata. The palaeorelief buried under the regionally extensive Silurian shales may have locally focused overpressures and localized sand injection at the 1 to 10 km scale. The Mount Telout injected sandbody and related features offer exceptional, seismic‐scale outcrop analogues for sand injections that are often identified in seismic reflection data. Large‐scale sand injections might be essential in petroleum exploration of the North African Lower Palaeozoic basins as they form seal‐bypass systems.     

Minaret behavior under earthquake loading: The case of historical Istanbul

Minarets are very slender structures with an old existence. The historical ones are made of cut‐stone‐block masonry assembled in peripheral cylindrical wall with an interior helicoidal stair supported on a central core and on the wall. They are spread throughout the Islamic world and constitute an important heritage not only of religious value, but also of great cultural interest. Throughout the times, these structures as part of a mosque, have suffered significant damage during the earthquakes. Istanbul presents interesting characteristics to evaluate their dynamic behavior, as they are in great number, in an area where a large event in the next 30 years has been predicted. In this paper, we performed a series of in situ ambient vibration tests to old minarets of various sizes and compared results of frequencies with numerical modeling of the same structures. For the low‐amplitude motion, the frequency values of the first modes can be obtained from an empirical formulae function of the inertia of the cross‐section and of the height of the main ‘body.’ Damping ratios for these amplitudes are of the order of 0.5–1.0%. Dynamic linear analyses of these structures indicate that for most cases very high stresses develop for PGA above 0.5 g, an input with a reasonable chance of occurring in the next 30 years. These high stresses are expected to cause the toppling of the minarets in the form that has been observed in the recent past events. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial Variation of the Precipitation Chemistry in the Thrace Region of Turkey

Pollutants affect not only the environment in which they originate since they are also transported by air currents to other locations. For this reason, air pollution is a global problem for all countries and the air and water quality need to be monitored carefully. More information on precipitation chemistry is required to determine the source of pollution as well as its effects on the ecosystems. In this study, precipitation chemistry has been analyzed for the first time by using simple bulk collectors located at four different sites in Northwest Turkey for a period of two years. About 650 sequential rainwater samples were collected and analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity, anions such as , , Cl^?, and cations such as Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, and . The selected sites were under the effect of different environmental factors. Our results showed that the highest and concentrations were measured in the Northwest of the research area. Additionally, it has been found that Ca²⁺ ions are abundant within all rainwater samples.     

Seasonal variations in soil radon emanation: long-term continuous monitoring in light of seismicity

Soil gas radon release patterns have been monitored continuously for more than 3 years in the Eastern Mediterranean Province (EMP) (Southern Turkey), alongside regional seismic events, providing a multidisciplinary approach. In the period from January 2008 to January 2011, 14 earthquakes M _L ≥4 occurred in the study area. By monitoring the sites for more than 3 years, the site-characteristic patterns of soil radon emanation of each site have become evident. Radon emanation data show seasonal (semi-annual) variation characteristics; high soil radon values are between May and October and low soil radon values are between November and April. With available rainfall data, the soil gas radon data can be more reliably evaluated. It is shown in this paper that if radon emanation data are available over sufficiently long periods of time and baseline data (and their seasonal variations) are known with certainty for each monitoring site, then the observation of positive anomalies might provide a correlation or connection to seismic activity.     

The Pancarli nickel-copper sulfide mineralization,eastern Turkey

The Pancarli Ni-Cu mineralization is located in the metamorphic sequence of the Bitlis massif consisting of biotite gneiss, quartz-feldspar gneiss, amphibolite, and metagranitic rocks. The rocks are probably Precambrian in age and have been affected by regional amphibolite-facies metamorphism and by a later cataclasis. There is also evidence of an earlier eclogite-facies metamorphism. The Ni-Cu mineralization occurs as massive sulfide lenses aligned parallel to the penetrative foliation along various levels. The lenses are up to 3 m in length and 2 m in width. The host rock in the immediate vicinity of the orebodies is generally quartz-feldspar gneiss or more rarely quartz-feldspar gneiss and amphibolite. The mineral paragenesis of the ore consisting of pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and chalcopyrite and the low As and Co contents of the ore indicate an orhomagmatic origin of the mineraliza tion. The textures and chemistry of the spinel minerals in the Pancarli deposit together with Cu/(Cu+Ni) ratio of 0.29 of the ore suggest that the mineralization is genetically related to a basic magma. The only mafic rocks in the area are amphibolites that are characterized by a tholeiitic basaltic chemical composition. However, no imprignation and network ores are present in any of the amphibolite bodies. A model based on the segregation of a sulfide melt fraction from a basaltic magma in a magma chamber has been proposed. The subsequent and independent intrusions of the two fractions into the country rocks account for the absence of the impregnation and network ores in the amphibolites, and explain the similarities in geologic setting of the ore and amphibolites as well as their observed field relationships. Structural and textural features of the ores indicate that they have been subjected to regional metamorphism and the later cataclastic deformation that affected the country rocks. The author believes that the ores probably formed during the Pan-African orogenic development of the Bitlis massif in Late Precambrian time. In their present state, the Pancarli ores exhibit varying degrees of weathering with supergene assemblages.Formerly with the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey