Geological and Geochemical Investigation of Three Ophiolite‐Hosted Manganese Prospects,Southeast of Birjand,South Khorasan,East of Iran

The studied ophiolite‐hosted manganese prospects are located in southeast of Birjand, South Khorasan, in the east of Iran. The manganese ores within the ophiolitic sequence in this region occur as small discrete patches, associated with radiolarian chert and shale. Manganese ores in the host rocks are recognizable as three distinct syngenetic, diagenetic, and epigenetic features. The syngenetic manganese ores occurred as bands associated with light‐red radiolarian chert. The diagenetic Mn ores occurred as lenses accompanied by dark‐red to brown radiolarian chert. The epigenetic Mn ores occurred as veins/veinlets within the green radiolarian shale. The major manganese ore minerals are pyrolusite, braunite, bixbyite, ramsdellite, and romanechite showing replacement, colloidal, and brecciated textures. The high mean values of Mn/Fe (15.32) and Si/Al (15.65), and the low mean concentration values of trace elements, such as Cu (85.9 ppm), Ni (249.9 ppm), and Zn (149 ppm), as well as the high concentration values of Si, Fe, Mn, Ba, Zn, Sr, and As in the studied manganese ores furnished sufficient evidence to postulate that the sea‐floor Mn‐rich hydrothermal exhalatives were chiefly responsible for the ore formation, and the hydrogenous processes had negligible role in generation of the ores. The further geological and geochemical evidence also revealed that the ores deposited on the upper parts of the ophiolitic sequence by submarine exhalatives. The intense hydrothermal activities caused leaching of elements such as Mn, Fe, Si, Ba, As and Sr from the basaltic lavas (spilites). After debouching of the sea‐floor exhalatives, these elements entered the sedimentary basin. The redox conditions were responsible for separation of Fe from Mn.     

The Interrelationship of Micro-Meso and Macroscopic Structures on the Western Limb of the Hazara Kashmir Syntaxis, Pakistan

Detailed micro-meso to macroscopic structural analyses reveal two deformation phases in the western limb of the Hazara-Kashmir Syntaxis(HKS). Bulk top to NW shearing transformed initially symmetrical NNE-SSW trending meso to macroscopic folds from asymmetric to overturned ones without changing their trend. Sigmoidal en-echelon tension gashes developed during this deformation,that were oblique to bedding parallel worm burrows and bedding planes themselves. Strain analyses of deformed elliptical ooids using the R_f/φ method constrain the internal strain patterns of the NNE-SSW structures. The principal stretching axis(S_3) defined by deformed elliptical ooids is oriented N27°E at right angles to WNW-ESE shortening. The deformed elliptical ooids in sub-vertical bedding vertical planes contain ooids that plunge ~70° SE due to NW-directed tectonic transport. Finite strain ratios are1.45(R_(xy)) parallel to bedding plane and 1.46(R_(yz)) for the vertical plane. From these 2D strain values, we derive an oblate strain ellipsoidal in 3D using the Flinn and Hsu/Nadai techniques. Strains calculated from deformed elliptical ooids average-18.10% parallel to bedding and-18.47% in the vertical plane.However, a balanced cross-section through the study area indicates a minimum of~-28% shortening.Consequently, regional shortening was only partially accommodated by internal deformation.     

Changing Land Use a Threat to Surface Water Quality: a Vulnerability Assessment Approach in Zanjanroud Watershed,Central Iran

Maintaining the quality of surface water resources as one of the most vital water supplies has always been at the center of global concerns. A set of manifest and latent factors have yet been identified by researchers worldwide that are subject to affect the quality of surface water. Among which, the effect of land use change, due to a spatial and temporal complexity, is often not easily verifiable. The present study attempts to offer an index-based model to quantify vulnerability of surface water resources in a semi arid basin in central Iran against land use changes. For this, water quality data including Na, K, Mg, Ca, Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), total anions (Sum. A), SO₄, Cl, HCO₃, EC, TDS, and pH were collected from hydrometric stations over a period of 26 years (1987?2013). In order to detect land use changes, the land use maps of the years 1987, 1998, 2002, 2009, and 2013 were prepared from TM satellite images using supervised classification method. At next step, changing patterns of different land uses were traced by Shanon’s Diversity Index (SHDI) as a metric of patch diversity indicating diversity and heterogeneity of a landscape over time. Relationship between the SHDI values and water quality indicators revealed the impact of land use changes on quality of surface water resources. Statistical analysis confirmed a significant relationship between nine water quality factors and water discharge in the basin during the study period. From 1998 to 2009, the greatest changes were visible in the total anions, Ca, SO₄, and HCO₃. These parameters along with salinity were increasing in almost all sub-basins. According to the results, conversion of poor rangelands to rain fed agriculture fields is the most apparent land use change occurred in the study area over the study period. In 1987, SHDI as an indicator of the diversity and changes in the basin, showed a significant relationship with good rangelands (R² =–0.835). This indicates that fragmentation of the entire watershed area was initiated in 1987, which reached its peak in 2013. Generally speaking, urbanization, poor rangeland, and irrigated agriculture were recognized as three influential land uses adversely affect the water quality in the study area.     

A preventative approach to mitigating CW interference in GPS receivers

In the global positioning system (GPS), code division multiple access (CDMA) signals are used. Because of the known spectral characteristics of the CDMA signal, continuous wave (CW) interference has a predictable effect on the different pseudo random noise (PRN) spreading codes (unique to each satellite) depending on the Doppler frequency of the signal. The Doppler frequency for each signal is also predictable once the receiver position is known. As different satellite signals have different Doppler frequencies, the effect on the signal quality is also different. In this paper first the effect is studied analytically. The concept of an “exclusion zone” is defined and analyzed for each satellite. This exclusion zone, where that satellite should not be used due to interference degradation, is shown to be predictable for each satellite as a function of time. Using this prediction, the CW interference effect on the positioning quality of the receiver can be mitigated by ignoring the affected satellites within exclusion zones when performing position evaluation. The threshold beyond which a satellite should be excluded is then derived by studying the mutual effects of the geometry and the signal quality of that satellite on the positioning quality. Receiver autonomous integrity monitoring (RAIM) uses redundancy in measurements to perform an internal consistency check to see if all of the measurements are satisfactory. In this paper this technique is also used to mitigate the effect of CW interference on the positioning accuracy. Finally it is shown that the prediction of the exclusion zone for each satellite outperforms the RAIM algorithm in mitigation the effect of the interference when 5 satellites are visible. An erratum to this article can be found at     

A GIS-based earthquake damage assessment and settlement methodology

Earthquakes have a greater effect on society than most people think. These effects range from structural damages to economic impacts and fatalities. An earthquake only lasts for a few seconds and the aftershocks may continue for days, but the damage does continue for years. Residential site safety and earthquake damage assessment studies play a crucial role in developing reliable rehabilitation and development programs, improving preparedness and mitigating losses in urbanized areas. The extremely densely populated metropolis of Tehran, which totals of 7,768,561 for 22 districts (according to the 2006 population census), coupled with the fragility of houses and infrastructure, highlight the necessity of a reliable earthquake damage assessment based on essential datasets, such as building resistance attributes, building population, soil structures, streets network and hazardous facilities. This paper presents a GIS-based model for earthquake loss estimation for a district in Tehran, Iran. Damages to buildings were calculated only for the ground shaking effect of one of the region's most active faults, the Mosha Fault in a likely earthquake scenario. Earthquake intensity for each building location was estimated based on attenuation relation and the ratio of damage was obtained from customized fragility curves. Human casualties and street blockages caused by collapsed buildings were taken into account in this study, as well. Finally, accessibility verification found locations without clear passages for temporary settlements by buildings via open streets. The model was validated using the 2003 Bam earthquake damages. The proposed model enables the decision-makers to make more reliable decisions based on various spatial datasets before and after an earthquake occurs. The results of the earthquake application showed total losses as follows: structural damages reaching 64% of the building stock, a death rate of 33% of all the residents, a severe injury rate reaching 27% of the population and street closures upwards of 22% due to building collapse.     

A hybridized numerical and regression method for estimating the minimum rock pillar width of twin circular tunnels

Twin tunnels can be used for many applications. Interaction between two tunnels is an important problem in tunnel engineering that should be studied specially. Numerical investigations are well adapted to field data and numerical methods can be used in design of rock pillar of twin circular tunnels. So far, no relationship has been provided to estimate the minimum stable rock pillar width. In this paper, the interaction between twin circular tunnels has been studied using 2D finite element analysis. To do this, a great number of twin tunnels were modeled in Phase2 software with different conditions of rock mass (RMR value) and depth of tunnel. Models were analyzed and minimum stable rock pillar width was determined. This process was repeated for three different ratios of K (ratio of horizontal stress to vertical stress, 0.5, 1, and 1.5). Finally, according to the linear and nonlinear regression methods, the best merit function was fitted to result of numerical analysis. Then, new approximate formula was proposed to estimate the minimum rock pillar width according to RMR value and depth of twin circular tunnels with different K values. The formulae are very accurate (coefficient of correlation equals to minimum 0.96) that can be used for estimating the minimum rock pillar width of twin circular tunnels.     

Effects of road-deicing salt (NaCl) and saline water on water quality in the Urmia area,northwest of Iran

Increased application of road salt for winter maintenance has resulted in increased concentration of deicer constituents in the environment. The runoffs from the deicing operation have a deteriorating effect on water quality. The existence of salt super saturated Urmia lake and easy access to it, causes Urmia municipality to over use the super saturated water of this lake and salt (NaCl) during winter for snow melting, freezing prevention and traffic load facilitation. The aim of this study was investigation of surface and groundwater contaminations in consequence of salt (NaCl) and saline water usage in Urmia city and its surroundings. Studying the chloride ion concentration as a tracer in runoff result snowmelts during winter shows that its amount is differential with respect to time and place sampling. Results indicate that runoff result of snowmelts effected groundwater, soil and plant growth. The contamination of groundwater in study area by road salt and saline water is a slow process and directly related to the amount of road salt and saline water applied.     

Integrated geophysical methods for determining geometry of the Kahrizak Fault,Tehran, Iran

Historical studies and geologic investigations show that the Kahrizak fault located at the southern foot of the central Alborz Mountains poses a high seismic risk for the Tehran region. However, little is known about the geometry and mechanism of movement along this seismogenic fault. This paper uses three different geophysical methods namely, seismic refraction, electrical resistivity and magnetic techniques to investigate geometry and sense of motion across the Kahrizak fault in southern Tehran. Although the geoelectric measurements do not show clear anomaly across the fault deep down into the ground, it reveals an obvious anomaly in shallow depths. However, looking at the seismic refraction and magnetic profiles across the Kahrizak scarp, we identified a high angle fault dipping south. This result in conjunction with the local relief across the fault scarp would suggest that the southern block is downthrown with respect to the northern block across a normal fault. Such knowledge can contribute to better evaluate the seismic hazard potential of one of the main seismogenic faults in the Tehran area.