Formation of the Upper Pleistocene terraces of Lake Van (Turkey)

Sedimentological and geomorphological studies of terraces around Lake Van (1647 m) provided a preliminary framework for lake‐level variations. The elevations of terraces and past lake level were measured with a differential global positioning system. A chronology is developed using ²³⁴U/²³⁰Th dating of travertines, ³⁹Ar/⁴⁰Ar dating of pyroclastites and ¹⁴C dating of organic matter. Facies and stratigraphic correlations identify four transgressions (C1′, C1″, C2′ and C2″), each followed by a regression which ended with low lake levels that caused river incision and terrace formation. Evidence of the oldest transgression (C1′) is found in the uppermost reaches of valleys up to 1755 m, an altitude higher than the present lake threshold (1736 m). This C1′ transgression may be related to pyroclastic flows which dammed an outlet located in the western part of the lake basin and which is dated to before 105 ka. After 100 ka, a second transgression (C1″) reached 1730/1735 m, possibly related to a younger ignimbrite flow, in association with high water inflow (warm and/or wetter conditions). The two younger transgressions reached 1700–1705 m. The first one (C2′) is dated to 26–24.5 cal. ka BP and the second one (C2″) to 21–20 cal. ka BP. Available data suggest that the long‐term lake‐level changes responded mainly to climate oscillations. Additional events such as river captures caused by volcanic falls filling valleys, tectonism, erosion and karstic diversion may have impacted these long‐term lake‐level changes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finger prints of the formation of geothermal springs on the granitoids: Beypazarı–Ankara, Turkey

The Beypazarı granitoid in central Anatolia was emplaced during the Late Cretaceous and it is partly covered with Early Miocene–Quaternary sedimentary and volcanic units. Compression and tension regimes of the Beypazarı granitoid emplacing along the Sakarya River were evaluated considering the kinematical characteristics of discontinuities on granitoids, petrographic/geochemical works, formation of geothermal spring and irregularities in topographic structure. It was determined that the Beypazarı granitoid was witnessed with NE–SW compressional stress and NW–SE extensional stress which resulted in the formation of the Kapullu normal fault with N55–72°E, 78°SE crossing the Kapullu spring site. There are also several other probable normal faults around this fault in the Sakarya River basin. The results of the geochemical studies reveal that SiO₂, Na₂O, Al₂O_3, CaO and K₂O as a major oxide and As, Rb, Sr, Th and U as trace elements are decreased away from the Kapullu bath spring. On the other hand, the ratio of Fe₂O₃ and MgO as major oxide and Y as a trace element with the lost on ignition (LOI) are increased away from the Kapullu fault. Regard as the regional plate tectonism, there is a consistency between the direction of compression in the Beypazarı granitoid and that developed by the southwesterly movement of the Anatolian plate.     

Instability of radial oscillations of Wolf-Rayet star models

By taking some evolutionary models of an initially 60M -star, their radial vibrational stabilities have been investigated. These models, evolving with mass loss, are in the advanced stages of their evolution, and burn He in their cores. Calculations have been performed for the first and second harmonics as well as for the fundamental mode; and some of these models were found to be vibrationally unstable in the fundamental mode.     

Effect of Different Leachate/Acetate Ratios in a Submerged Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (SAnMBR)

Leachate treatment using a membrane bioreactor is an effective method. This study presents a configuration including an anaerobic bioreactor and a membrane module, called submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor (SAnMBR), for treating influent with leachate/acetate rations (L/A), that were kept to be 10, 25, 50, 75, and 100% at a constant SRT (100 days). COD removal decreased from 85 to 75% when the L/A ratio increased from 10 to 100. To prevent membrane fouling, a SAnMBR was operated in the case of circulation of mixed liquor under continuous and intermittent suction. The average fluxes were 2.60 and 0.40 L/m² h at the periods of intermittent and continuous suction, respectively. The methane production varied between 0.25 and 0.32 L CH₄/g COD_removed.     

Experimental measurements of seismic velocities on core samples and their dependence on mineralogy and stress; Witwatersrand Basin (South Africa)

Physical property measurements were integrated with mineralogical analyses to better understand the nature of the seismic reflectivity of the deepest (>3.5 km depth) gold ore body (Carbon Leader Reef). The CLR lies at depths between 3.5 km and 4.5 km below the surface. Over 50 drill-core samples were selected for geochemical analyses, density and seismic velocity measurements. Ultrasonic measurements were conducted at ambient and elevated stresses, using transducers operating at 0.5 MHz. The study reveals that P-wave velocities generally increase with increasing bulk density. The CLR conglomerate, the gold-bearing reef, has slightly higher P-wave velocity (～5070–5468 m/s) and density values (～2.78 g/cm³) amongst the quartzitic units, possibly due to its massive pyrite content. The quartzite hangingwall and footwall rocks to the CLR exhibit similar P-wave velocity (～5028–5480 and ～4777–5211 m/s, respectively) and density values (～2.68 and 2.66 g/cm³, respectively). The reflection coefficients calculated at the interface between the CLR conglomerate and its hangingwall and footwall units range between ～0.02 and 0.05 which is below the required minimum reflection coefficient value of 0.06 to produce a strong reflection between two lithological boundaries. This suggests that seismic reflection methods might not be able to directly image the CLR, as observed from its poor reflectivity in the 3D seismic data. Samples were also subjected to stresses of up to 65 MPa to simulate in situ-like conditions and to investigate the dependence of seismic velocities on applied stresses. P-wave velocities increase with progressive loading, but at different rates in shale and quartzite rocks as a result of the presence of micro-defects.     

Analytical fragility assessment using unscaled ground motion records

It is desirable that nonlinear dynamic analyses for structural fragility assessment are performed using unscaled ground motions. The widespread use of a simple dynamic analysis procedure known as Cloud Analysis, which uses unscaled records and linear regression, has been impeded by its alleged inaccuracies. This paper investigates fragility assessment based on Cloud Analysis by adopting, as the performance variable, a scalar demand to capacity ratio that is equal to unity at the onset of limit state. It is shown that the Cloud Analysis, performed based on a careful choice of records, leads to reasonable and efficient fragility estimates. There are 2 main rules to keep in mind for record selection: to make sure that a good portion of the records leads to a demand to capacity ratio greater than unity and that the dispersion in records' seismic intensity is considerable. An inevitable consequence of implementing these rules is that one often needs to deal with the so‐called collapse cases. To formally consider the collapse cases, a 5‐parameter fragility model is proposed that mixes the simple regression in the logarithmic scale with logistic regression. The joint distribution of fragility parameters can be obtained by adopting a Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation scheme leading directly to the fragility and its confidence intervals. The resulting fragility curves compare reasonably with those obtained from the Incremental Dynamic Analysis and Multiple Stripe Analysis with (variable) conditional spectrum–compatible suites of records at different intensity levels for 3 older reinforced concrete frames with shear‐, shear‐flexure‐, and flexure‐dominant behavior.     

Stability evaluation of the Gümü?hane-Ak?akale cave by numerical analysis method

The Ak?akale Cave is located in the vicinity of the Arsa neighborhood within the boundaries of the Ak?akale village, Gümü?hane, Turkey. The cave is rich in cave formations(stalactite, stalagmite, cave pearl, cave flower, wall travertines). Thus, the appropriateness of opening the cave to visitors to boost tourism is of importance for the local and national economy. This study analyzes the stability of the Ak?akale Cave using a numerical analysis method. According to the results of the total displacement analysis, there are displacements in the entrance, ceiling, and sidewalls of the cave ranging from 1 mm to 48 mm. It seems that the entrance, ceiling, and sidewalls of the cave face a high risk of local or sudden collapse. According to the deformation analysis of the length section of the cave examined, local collapses may occur especially in the first 75 m from the entrance of the cave. We believe that this situation would not carry a risk for the Arsa neighborhood for now. In conclusion, the results of the stability analysis and in-situ observations showed clear evidence of former and ongoing cave-ins(collapses) and the Ak?akale Cave faces a high risk of local or sudden collapse. Thus, although the Ak?akale Cave is one of the most prominent karst caves in Turkey, it seems to be not appropriate to open the cave to tourist visits.     

Factors controlling the morphological evolution of the Çanakkale Strait (Dardanelles, Turkey)

Seismic profiling, bathymetric and physical oceanographic data collected from the Çanakkale Strait revealed that the morphological evolution of the strait has been controlled by tectonic activity, and sediment erosion and deposition. Sediments in the strait have been sourced mostly by rivers draining the Biga Peninsula during lowstand periods. In highstand periods, by contrast, deposits in the strait were reworked by currents. The seafloor morphology of the Çanakkale Strait is also controlled by a sequence of factors ranging from tectonics to current erosion and deposition. Channel deposits overlying the basement are being eroded at the narrower, meandering central section of the strait (the Nara Passage) due to high current velocities. The eroded sediments are deposited in the relatively linear and wider, northern and southern sectors of the strait exposed to low current velocities. As a result, the high-energy areas are more deeply incised due to the erosion, whereas deposition elevates the seafloor in the areas exposed to lower current energy. Three strike-slip faults, which possibly relate to the activity of the North Anatolian Fault Zone, are responsible for the irregular shape of the strait and this, in turn, controls the current velocity along the strait. The high-energy conditions probably commenced with the latest invasion of Mediterranean waters some 12 ka b.p., and have continued as a two-layered current system to the present day.     

Computational and Empirical Investigation of Propeller Tip Vortex Cavitation Noise

In this study, non-cavitating and cavitating flow around the benchmark DTMB 4119 model propeller are solved using both viscous and potential based solvers. Cavitating and non-cavitating propeller radiated noises are then predicted by using a hybrid method in which RANS(Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes) and FWH(Ffowcs Williams Hawkings) equations are solved together in open water conditions. Sheet cavitation on the propeller blades is modelled by using a VOF(Volume of Fiuld) method equipped with Schnerr-Sauer cavitation model.Nevertheless, tip vortex cavitation noise is estimated by using two different semi-empirical techniques, namely Tip Vortex Index(TVI, based on potential flow theory) and Tip Vortex Contribution(TVC). As the reference distance between noise source and receiver is not defined in open water case for TVI technique, one of the outputs of this study is to propose a reference distance for TVI technique by coupling two semi-empirical techniques and ITTC distance normalization. At the defined distance, the starting point of the tip vortex cavitation is determined for different advance ratios and cavitation numbers using potential flow solver. Also, it is examined that whether the hybrid method and potential flow solver give the same noise results at the inception point of tip vortex cavitation.Results show that TVI method based on potential flow theory is reliable and can practically be used to replace the hybrid method(RANS with FWH approach) when tip vortex cavitation starts.     

Simultaneous parameter identification of a heterogeneous aquifer system using artificial neural networks

An artificial neural network (ANN) model is proposed for the simultaneous determination of transmissivity and storativity distributions of a heterogeneous aquifer system. ANNs may be useful tools for parameter identification problems due to their ability to solve complex nonlinear problems. As an extension of previous study—Karahan H, Ayvaz MT (2006) Forecasting aquifer parameters using artificial neural networks, J Porous Media 9(5):429–444—the performance of the proposed ANN model is tested on a two-dimensional hypothetical aquifer system for transient flow conditions. In the proposed ANN model, Cartesian coordinates of observation wells, associated piezometric heads and observation time are used as inputs while corresponding transmissivity and storativity values are used as outputs. The training, validation and testing processes of the ANN model are performed under two scenarios. In scenario 1, all the sampled data are used through the simulation time. However, in the scenario 2, there are data gaps due to irregular observations. By using the determined synaptic network weights, transmissivity and storativity distributions are predicted. In addition, the performance of the proposed ANN is tested for different noise data conditions. Results showed that the developed ANN model may be used in simultaneous aquifer parameter estimation problems.