Environmental assessment of soil,groundwater, and surface water quality in the south of the Riyadh,Saudi Arabia

To understand the impact of the influence of treated wastewater, a study was undertaken in the downstream side of Wadi Hanifa in the southern part of Riyadh City in Saudi Arabia. Chemical elements from 17 groundwater samples, 9 surface water samples (treated wastewater), and 14 soil samples were analyzed. Water facies analyses showed that both groundwater and surface water belong to the SO₄-Cl class. However, the groundwater is characterized by high salinity (average value of 3547 mg/l), which may be result of the greater rock-water interaction and limited rainfall recharge. The NO₃ values are also high in the groundwater samples (average value of 40 mg/l) and are mainly attributed to the agricultural practices in the study area. The surface water samples (treated wastewater from the plant) shows an average salinity value of 1232 mg/l and is better suited for irrigation purposes. Heavy elements analyzed in the soil samples show high concentrations of all the elements except Mn and Ni as compared to their background concentration. Enrichment factor and index of geoaccumulation calculated from the soil samples indicate that they are severely enriched with respect to Cd and Se. The spatial distribution maps were prepared based on kriging interpolation technique to estimate the concentrations of the analyzed elements at unknown locations. The treated wastewater in the study area is better suited for agricultural and domestic activities as compared to groundwater.     

Statistical characterization of arsenic contamination in shallow tube wells of western Bangladesh

A regional assessment of the arsenic (As) contamination scenario in shallow tube wells (depth < 150 m) of western Bangladesh is presented. Comparisons are made in light of bulk geological differences (Pleistocene versus Holocene deposits/northwest versus southwest) and As measurement protocols (field kit (FK) versus atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS)). Our As database comprised the following: (1) the nationwide As survey completed in 1999 by the British Geological Survey in collaboration with the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE); and (2) a regional As survey conducted in southwest Bangladesh by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in collaboration with DPHE in 2002. First, we characterize the error structure of the semi‐quantitative FK As measurements using collocated AAS As measurements as reference from a set of 307 wells located in southwest Bangladesh. The depth distribution of As is identified using a very dense cluster of 2963 wells over a 560 km² domain. The probability of the FK method for successful detection of a well sample as unsafe (safe) was found to be 96·9% (34·1%) and 95·2% (80·3%) for the World Health Organization (WHO) and Bangladesh safe limits, respectively. Similarly, the probability of false alarms and false hopes for WHO (Bangladesh) safe limits were found to be 3·1% (4·8%) and 87·5% (19·7%), respectively. The depth at which the highest fraction of wells exceeding a given safe limit occurred could still be inferred correctly by FK measurements. A simple bias adjustment procedure on FK As data did not result in a more accurate characterization of depth distribution of As. This indicated that simple error statistics are inadequate for advancing the utility of FKs; rather, an understanding of the complex and multidimensional error structure is required. Regional anisotropy in the spatial dependence of As for the northwest was found to be stronger than the southwest. The correlation length for As concentration in the east–west direction of northwest Bangladesh (i.e. across major river floodplains) was found to be almost twice (158·80 km) that of the north–south direction (along the major axis of Pleistocene deposits) (78·21 km). For the southwest region, the ratio of east–west to north–south correlation lengths ranged from 1·40 to 1·51. For the northwest region, because it is well known to have the lowest concentrations of As countrywide, knowledge of this anisotropy appears to suggest the need for drilling twice as many remediation deep wells in the proximity of an unsafe shallow well in the north–south direction than in the east–west direction. Findings from this study are potentially useful in setting priority areas for emergency testing, distributing remediation resources equitably and formulating a regional water resources strategy for western Bangladesh. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Groundwater management scenarios for the Biyadh-Wasia aquifer systems in the eastern part of Riyadh region,Saudi Arabia

Groundwater stored in the deep seated sedimentary aquifers is the most important source of water supply. The lack of sufficient groundwater recharge and the overdependence on groundwater might lead to unavailability of this precious natural resource if proper management practices are not adopted. Finite difference modelling using the MODFLOW program was carried out in the east of Riyadh city to simulate the groundwater level conditions under different abstraction scenarios. The simulated aquifer system combines the Wasia and Biyadh aquifer (composed of sandstone) and Aruma aquifer (limestone) which lies between 24°30'00"- 25°30'00" N and longitudes 47°00'00"- 48°00'00"E. The transmissivity and storage coefficient values of Biyadh aquifer are 7.0x10^-3 to 7.0x10^-2 m²/day and 3.7x10^-4 to 9.4x10^-4 respectively. The transmissivity and storage coefficient values of Wasia aquifer ranges from 6.7x10^-3 to 8.5x10^-2 m²/day and 2x10^-4 to 2.3x10^-4 respectively. The model calibration involved altering the values of model input parameters to match field conditions within certain acceptable limits to forecast the aquifer response over a period of 35 years (2015-2050). The modelling grid consisted of 20 and 24 columns with the grids spacing of 4 km for the small grids and 6 km for large grids. The results showed that though the Wasia aquifer was productive, it showed a large decline in water levels if water abstraction continued at the present rate. If the existing trends of groundwater withdraw continues; the piezometric heads in Wasia and Biyadh aquifers will decline by the year 2050. A reduction in 25% of the existing groundwater pumping rate in the well field will minimize the rate of groundwater decline in the aquifer to a considerable extent.     

Confirming Ground Geophysical Survey for Mineralization in Al Bayda Area,Yemen

1IntroductionThe study area lies in the northern part of Al Jarra village in Di Naim-Al Bayda District (Fig. 1). The area under investigation is characterized by rugged topography and generally covered by base-ment rocks. The northern part of the study ar…     

Is correlation dimension a reliable proxy for the number of dominant influencing variables for modeling risk of arsenic contamination in groundwater?

The correlation dimension (CD) of a time series provides information on the number of dominant variables present in the evolution of the underlying system dynamics. In this study, we explore, using logistic regression (LR), possible physical connections between the CD and the mathematical modeling of risk of arsenic contamination in groundwater. Our database comprises a large-scale arsenic survey conducted in Bangladesh. Following the recommendation by Hossain and Sivakumar (Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 20(1–2):66–76, 2006), who reported CD values ranging from 8 to 11 for this database, 11 variables are considered herein as indicators of the aquifer’s geochemical regime with potential influence on the arsenic concentration in groundwater. A total of 2,048 possible combinations of influencing variables are considered as candidate LR risk models to delineate the impact of the number of variables on the prediction accuracy of the model. We find that the uncertainty associated with prediction of wells as safe and unsafe by LR risk model declines systematically as the total number of influencing variables increases from 7 to 11. The sensitivity of the mean predictive performance also increases noticeably for this range. The consistent reduction in predictive uncertainty coupled with the increased sensitivity of the mean predictive behavior within the universal sample space exemplify the ability of CD to function as a proxy for the number of dominant influencing variables. Such a rapid proxy, based on non-linear dynamic concepts, appears to have considerable merit for application in current management strategies on arsenic contamination in developing countries, where both time and resources are very limited.     

Origin of Quartz Cement in the Paleogene Sandstone Reservoir of Shahejie Formation, Bohai Bay Basin, China

The precipitation of authigenic quartz plays a significant role to reduce the reservoir characteristics and enhance the stiffness of the rock.The Es₁ sandstone of Shahejie Formation is acting as a significant hydrocarbon producing rock in the Nanpu Sag.Various methods like thin section petrography,cathodoluminescence(CL),scanning electron microscope(SEM,with EDS),and electron microprobe analysis has been used to reveal the origin of quartz cement as well as to evaluate the effect of quartz cement on reservoir quality.The studied sandstone is classified as immature to mature feldspathic litharenite and lithic arkose and consists of quartz,feldspar,rock fragments and micas.Petrographic studies and SEM analysis shows that the authigenic quartz is acting a significant cement that reduces the reservoir quality.Whereas clay minerals(kaolinite and mixed layer illite to smectite)are dominant in the Es₁ sandstone,that can reduce the reservoir quality.SEM,CL and thin section analysis reveal that there are two stages of quartz cement in the studied samples;that are pore filling authigenic cement and quartz overgrowth cement.Fluid inclusion homogenization temperatures shows that stages of quartz cement were developed with continuous process from 70℃ to 130℃.Quartz cements were generally originated from I/S reaction,feldspar dissolution,conversion of rock fragments and pressure solution.Feldspar dissolution(K-feldspar)and kaolinite to illite reaction is an insignificant silica source for the silica cement which is internally precipitated in a close system with diffusion transporting mechanism.Overall,quartz cement significantly enhance the rock strengthen and brittleness effectively as well as it reduce the overall reservoir quality.     

Development of a full 3D numerical model to investigate the hydraulic fracture propagation under the impact of orthogonal natural fractures

Although hydraulic fracturing has been massively studied and applied as a key technique to enhance the gas production from tight formations, some problems and uncertainties exist to accurately predict and analyze the fracture behavior in complex reservoirs, especially in the naturally fractured reservoirs like shale reservoirs. This paper presents a full 3D numerical model (FLAC3D) to study hydraulic fracturing behavior under the impact of preexisting orthogonal natural fractures. In this numerical model, the hydraulic fracture propagation direction is assumed perpendicular to the minimum principal stress and activated only by tensile failure, whereas the preexisting natural fractures can be activated by tensile or shear failure or a combination of them, and only tensile failure can open the natural fracture as well. The newly developed model was used to study the impact of preexisting orthogonal natural fractures on hydraulic fracturing behavior, based on a multistage hydraulic fracturing operation in a naturally fractured reservoir from the Barnett Shale formation, northwest of Texas in USA. In this multistage operation, two more representative stages, i.e., stage 1 with a relatively large horizontal stress anisotropy of 3.3 MPa and stage 4 with a comparatively small one of 1.3 MPa, were selected to conduct the simulation. Based on the numerical results, one can observe that the interaction between hydraulic and natural fracture is driven mainly by induced stress around fracture tip. Besides, the horizontal stress anisotropy plays a key role in opening the natural fracture. Thus, no significant opened fracture is activated on natural fracture in stage 1, while in stage 4 an opened fracture invades to about 90 m into the first natural fracture. Conversely, the hydraulic fracture length in stage 1 is much longer than in stage 4, as some fluid volume is stored in the opened natural fracture in stage 4. In this work, the shear failure on natural fractures is treated as the main factor for inducing the seismic events. And the simulated seismic events, i.e., shear failure on natural fractures, are very comparable with the measured seismic events.

     

Confirming Ground Geophysical Survey for Mineralization in Al Bayda Area, Yemen

The Jabal Mabal-prospect of Al Bayda area is covered by meta-volcano sedimentary rocks. The importance of the study area comes from previous studies, which proved that the area has mineralization zones at the periphery of Jabal Al-Mabal. These mineralized zones lie along northwest-southeast shear zones, which occur inside the meta-volcanic rocks. The previous studies concluded that the mineralization was mostly associated with sulphides, especially at the reduction zones. These sulphides give a good response to electrical or electromagnetic techniques. The present study uses electrically induced polarization and Genie electromagnetic surveys to explore the extension of the mineralization zones at the subsurface. The self-potential (SP) technique shows numerous of mineralized zones. Most of these zones are distributed in the southern area along the contact between the quartz and gabbro. The induced polarization (IP) method has been applied on the selected profiles to delineate the subsurface contact between calcite, gabbro and quartz in Al-Jarra Valley and to calculate the shape and depth of the mineralization zones in the subsurface along these profiles. The Genie electromagnetic survey, which has been applied on selected profiles, delineated some weak mineralization occurrences corresponding to the shear zones. The integration of the results obtained using these three techniques, in addition to the different ground geophysical methods previously used, makes it possible to determine the most appropriate zones for development of exploration at the area of investigation.     

Estimation of rock engineering properties using hardness tests

In engineering projects such as tunnels, dams, foundations, and slope stability, the strength and elastic properties of the intact rock affect both the project design and the construction operation. It is sometimes expensive and time consuming to perform direct tests to evaluate the engineering properties (such as strength, modulus of elasticity, and Poisson's ratio) of the intact rock. The purpose of this work is to investigate the relationships between the engineering properties of the intact rock and the different types of hardness (Schmidt, shore scleroscope, abrasion, and total hardness), which are relatively cheap and easy to evaluate. In this study, dolomite, dolomitic limestone, and shale rocks were used. For simplicity, linear statistical analyses were performed. The results show that there are good relationships between the engineering properties of the intact rock and its hardness. Also, the results of this study are compared well with the results obtained by other investigators conducted on different types of rocks.