Diagenetic model of carbonate rocks of Guri Member of Mishan Formation (Lower to Middle Miocene) SE Zagros basin,Iran

In order to understand the post-depositional history of carbonate rocks of Guri Member (Lower to Middle Miocene), three stratigraphic sections were selected in north Bandar-Abbas in southeast of Iran. Sampling was carried out, analyzed for selective parameters such as oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) and interpreted in the present study. We recognized several diagenetic processes including micritization, cementation, neomorphism, compaction, dissolution, silicification, dolomitization, fracturing and vein filling. Some of the diagenetic processes occurred at different conditions, so in order to achieve precise interpretation, samples from different carbonate components such as, micrite, fracture cement, solution pore cement, intergranular cement, and some biotic allochems were analyzed. In this study micrite samples were subdivided into two groups including micro-spary and micrite. They were recognized under Cathodoluminescence microscope. In addition, micrite samples were classified into five groups based on their depositional environments: supratidal, lagoon, coral bar, open sea, and open basin. There were minor changes in stable isotope ratios based on the sedimentary environments, stratigraphy successions, and micro-spary or micrite properties. In this study, similar calcite cements in petrography studies were differentiated by stable isotope data. Those calcite cements have formed in different diagenetic environments such as meteoric and burial cements. Paragenetic sequence of carbonate rocks were interpreted by integration of petrographic and isotopic studies. We have reconstructed diagenetic models of Guri Member into four stages including marine, meteoric, burial, and uplifting.     

Brittleness Effect on Rock Fatigue Damage Evolution

The damage evolution mechanism of rocks is one of the most important aspects in studying of rock fatigue behavior. Fatigue damage evolution of three rock types (onyx marble, sandstone and soft limestone) with different brittleness were considered in the present study. Intensive experimental tests were conducted on the chosen rock samples and acoustic emission (AE) sensors were used in some of them to monitor the fracturing process. Experimental tests indicated that brittleness strongly influences damage evolution of rocks in the course of static and dynamic loading. AE monitoring revealed that micro-crack density induced by the applied loads during different stages of the failure processes increases as rock brittleness increases. Also, results of fatigue tests on the three rock types indicated that the rock with the most induced micro-cracks during loading cycles has the least fatigue life. Furthermore, the condition of failure surfaces of the studied rocks samples, subjected to dynamic and static loading, were evaluated and it was concluded that the roughness of failure surfaces is influenced by loading types and rock brittleness. Dynamic failure surfaces were rougher than static ones and low brittle rock demonstrate a smoother failure surface compared to high brittle rock.     

An alternative method for non-negative estimation of variance components

A typical problem of estimation principles of variance and covariance components is that they do not produce positive variances in general. This caveat is due, in particular, to a variety of reasons: (1) a badly chosen set of initial variance components, namely initial value problem (IVP), (2) low redundancy in functional model, (3) an improper stochastic model, and (4) data’s possibility of containing outliers. Accordingly, a lot of effort has been made in order to design non-negative estimates of variance components. However, the desires on non-negative and unbiased estimation can seldom be met simultaneously. Likewise, in order to search for a practical non-negative estimator, one has to give up the condition on unbiasedness, which implies that the estimator will be biased. On the other hand, unlike the variance components, the covariance components can be negative, so the methods for obtaining non-negative estimates of variance components are not applicable. This study presents an alternative method to non-negative estimation of variance components such that non-negativity of the variance components is automatically supported. The idea is based upon the use of the functions whose range is the set of all positive real numbers, namely positive-valued functions (PVFs), for unknown variance components in stochastic model instead of using variance components themselves. Using the PVF could eliminate the effect of IVP on the estimation process. This concept is reparameterized on the restricted maximum likelihood with no effect on the unbiasedness of the scheme. The numerical results show the successful estimation of non-negativity estimation of variance components (as positive values) as well as covariance components (as negative or positive values).     

Microtopography,water storage and flow patterns in a fine‐textured soil under agricultural use

Agricultural use of soils implies tillage and often compaction and therefore influences processes on soil surface and affects infiltration of water into the subsoil. Although many studies on soil surface processes or flow patterns in soils exist, works relating both are rare in literature. We did two tracer experiments with Brilliant Blue FCF on a tilled and compacted plot and a non‐tilled one to investigate water storage on the soil surface during simulated rainfall and changes of soil microtopography, to analyse the associated flow patterns in the soil and to relate both to tillage and compaction. Our results show that storage was larger on the tilled and compacted plot than on the non‐tilled one. After tillage, transport processes above the plough pan were partly disconnected from those underneath because macropores were disrupted and buried by the tillage operation. However, preferential flow along cracks occurred on both plots and the macropores buried below the tillage pan still functioned as preferential flow paths. Therefore, we conclude that the studied soil is susceptible to deep vertical solute propagation at dry conditions when cracks are open, irrespective of tillage and compaction. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigation of SVM and Level Set Interactive Methods for Road Extraction from Google Earth Images

Currently, methods of extracting spatial information from satellite images are mainly based on visual interpretations and drawing the consequences by human factor, which is both costly and time consuming. A large volume of data collected by satellite sensors, and significant improvement in spatial and spectral resolution of these images require the development of new methods for optimal use of these data in order to produce rapid economic and updating road maps. In this study, a new automatic method is proposed for road extraction by integrating the SVM and Level Set methods. The estimated probability of classification by SVM is used as input in Level Set Method. The average of completeness, correctness, and quality was 84.19, 88.69 and 76.06% respectively indicate high performance of proposed method for road extraction from Google Earth images.