Surficial deposits on salt diapirs (Zagros Mountains and Persian Gulf Platform, Iran): Characterization, evolution, erosion and the influence on landscape morphology

The surfaces of salt diapirs in the Zagros Mountains are mostly covered by surficial deposits, which significantly affect erosion rates, salt karst evolution, land use and the density of the vegetation cover. Eleven salt diapirs were selected for the study of surficial deposits in order to cover variability in the geology, morphology and climate in a majority of the diapirs in the Zagros Mountains and Persian Gulf Platform. The chemical and mineralogical compositions of 80 selected samples were studied mainly by X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray fluorescence. Changes in salinity along selected vertical profiles were studied together with the halite and gypsum distribution. The subaerial residuum formed from minerals and rock detritus released from the dissolved rock salt is by far the most abundant material on the diapirs. Fluvial sediments derived from this type of residuum are the second most common deposits found, while submarine residuum and marine sediments have only local importance. The mineralogical/chemical composition of surficial deposits varies amongst the three end members: evaporite minerals (gypsum/anhydrite and minor halite), carbonates (dolomite and calcite) and silicates-oxides (mainly quartz, phyllosilicates, and hematite). Based on infiltration tests on different types of surficial deposits, most of the rainwater will infiltrate, while overland flow predominates on rock salt exposures. Recharge concentration and thick accumulations of fine sediment support relatively rich vegetation cover in some places and even enable local agricultural activity. The source material, diapir relief, climatic conditions and vegetation cover were found to be the main factors affecting the development and erosion of surficial deposits. A difference was found in residuum type and landscape morphology between the relatively humid NW part of the studied area and the arid Persian Gulf coast: In the NW, the medium and thick residuum seems to be stable under current climatic conditions. Large sinkholes and blind valleys with sinking streams are common. On other diapirs, the original thick residuum is undergoing erosion and the new morphology is currently represented by salt exposures and badland-like landscapes or by fields of small sinkholes developed in the thin residuum. Models for evolution of the subaerial residuum and the diapir landscape/morphology are described in this paper. While the thick residuum with vegetation has very low erosion rates, the salt exposures and thin residuum are eroded rapidly. During wet periods (e.g. early Holocene), the diapirs rose and salt glaciers expanded as the influx of salt mass was much faster compared to erosion. After the onset of an arid climate, c. 6 ka BP, the rising of the some diapir surfaces decreased or even reversed due to acceleration of erosion thanks to vegetation degradation and changes in the residuum type and thickness.     

Time independent seismic hazard analysis in Alborz and surrounding area

The Bayesian probability estimation seems to have efficiencies that make it suitable for calculating different parameters of seismicity. Generally this method is able to combine prior information on seismicity while at the same time including statistical uncertainty associated with the estimation of the parameters used to quantify seismicity, in addition to the probabilistic uncertainties associated with the inherent randomness of earthquake occurrence. In this article a time-independent Bayesian approach, which yields the probability that a certain cut-off magnitude will be exceeded at certain time intervals is examined for the region of Alborz, Iran, in order to consider the following consequences for the city of Tehran. This area is located within the Alpine-Himalayan active mountain belt. Many active faults affect the Alborz, most of which are parallel to the range and accommodate the present day oblique convergence across it. Tehran, the capital of Iran, with millions of inhabitants is located near the foothills of the southern Central Alborz. This region has been affected several times by historical and recent earthquakes that confirm the importance of seismic hazard assessment through it. As the first step in this study an updated earthquake catalog is compiled for the Alborz. Then, by assuming a Poisson distribution for the number of earthquakes which occur at a certain time interval, the probabilistic earthquake occurrence is computed by the Bayesian approach. The highest probabilities are found for zone AA and the lowest probabilities for zones KD and CA, meanwhile the overall probability is high.     

Diagenetic evolution vis-a-vis reservoir characteristics of Dhosa sandstones,Ler dome,Kachchh, western India

The detrital mineralogy as well as diagenetic characters of the Dhosa Sandstone Member of Chari Formation exposed at the Lerdome, south of Bhuj was studied. In order to assess the potential of the Dhosa Sandstone as a reservoir, it is substantial to understand the diagenetic processes that are controlled largely by post-depositional cementation and compaction in addition to framework composition and original depositional textures. The petrologic analysis of 33 thin sections was carried out to discern primary composition and diagenetic features including primary and secondary porosity patterns. Monocrystalline quartz dominates the detrital mineralogy followed by polycrystalline quartz. Among the polycrystalline variety recrystallized metamorphic quartz surpasses stretched metamorphic quartz in terms of abundance. Feldspars comprise microcline and plagioclase where the former is dominant over the latter. Orthoclase too comprises a very small percentage. Mica, chert, rock fragments, and heavies form the remaining detrital constituent in descending order of their constituent percentage. The diagenetic precipitates are mainly carbonate (8.30%) and iron (7.80%) followed by clay (0.66%) and silica (0.88%) that are minor constituent of the total cementing material. The main paragenetic events identified are early cementation, mechanical compaction, late cementation, dissolution, and authigenesis of clays. The overall reservoir quality seems to be controlled by compaction and authigenic carbonate cementation. The minus cement porosity average 29.4%. The porosity loss due to compaction is 21.92% and by cementation is 29.71%. The loss of original porosity was due to early cementation followed by moderate mechanical compaction during shallow burial. Preservation of available miniscule primary porosity was ascribed to dissolution of carbonates and quartz overgrowth which resisted chemical compaction during deep burial. The studied sandstones may have low reservoir quality owing to existing porosity of less than 9%. More carbonate dissolution and its transformation in dolomite in sub-surface condition and macro-fracture porosity may result in enhanced secondary porosity and good diagenetic traps.     

Petrogenesis and tectonic association of rift-related basic Panjal dykes from the northern Indian plate,North-Western Pakistan: evidence of high-Ti basalts analogous to dykes from Tibet

Mineralogy and Petrology - Rift related magmatism during Permian time in the northern margin of Indian plate is represented by basic dykes in several Himalayan terranes including north western...     

Steady critical discharge rates from vertical and horizontal wells in fresh–saline aquifers with sharp interfaces

In this study, the critical (or maximum) discharge rates before saline water enters a well were determined for vertical and horizontal wells in a freshwater aquifer which is separated from a static saline aquifer by a sharp interface. Flow around the well was solved by integration of a point sink solution along the well axis, and both the critical discharge rate and critical interface rise were determined through a comparison of the heads and vertical gradients at the saline–fresh water interface. The rates were determined for vertical and horizontal wells with various lengths and depths for different aquifer salinities. Results were generalized by drawing dimensionless type curves. The results showed that the dimensionless total critical discharge rates are higher for the longer horizontal wells and longer vertical wells with a certain bottom depth, and they almost linearly decrease with well depth at rates of 0.7–0.9. For the dimensionless well length of 0.2, the dimensionless total discharge rate of a horizontal well is about 0.1 more than that of a vertical well with the same length and well-top depth. Also, the critical discharge rates per unit length of well are inversely proportional to well length and remarkably higher for shallower wells. Additionally, the critical pumping rate is proportional to the salinity difference of the aquifers. These results were confirmed by comparison to existing solutions for vertical wells with dimensionless lengths of 0.2, 0.5 and 0.6, and for critical interface rises in the range of 0.75–0.9.     

Applying an optimized proxy-based workflow for fast history matching

History matching is still one of the main challenging parts of reservoir study especially in giant brown oil fields with lots of wells. In these cases, history matching with conventional manual technique needs many runs and takes months to get a match. In this work, an innovative approach was suggested for fast history matching in a real brown field. The workflow was employed based on an optimized proxy model for history matching of a field consisting of 14 active wells with multiple responses (which are production rate and pressure data) in the south part of Iran. The main important features of the proposed algorithm were defining a proxy model which is response surface method in which 21 model parameters were incorporated based on cubic centered face method. The proxy model was then optimized by one of the most famous algorithms which is genetic algorithm. Proxy model was successfully performed using 256 samples leading into p- value of 0.531 and R ² of 0.91 dataset. As a result, the proposed workflow and algorithm showed good and acceptable results for history matching of studied real model.     

Evaluating evapotranspiration using data mining instead of physical-based model in remote sensing

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Precise calculations for determining the water requirements of plants and the extent of evapotranspiration are crucial in determining the volume of water...     

Application of integrated geoelectrical methods in Khenadarreh (Arak,Iran) graphite deposit exploration

This paper is devoted to application of SP, resistivity and mise-a-la-masse method in Khenadarreh (Arak, Iran) graphite deposit exploration. Mise-a-la-masse method is one of the main geophysical exploration methods used to investigate conductive bodies with outcrops on the surface or in exploratory pits. By integrating mise-a-la-masse results with other geoelectrical methods, such as self-potential and resistivity surveys, useful results can be acquired. Powerful survey design, data processing and interpretation methods can make geoelectrical surveying results more reliable. Here, we applied integrated geoelectrical methods to explore the Khenadarreh-bala graphite deposit in the Sarband region of the Markazi province, Iran. We present a new and simple method for processing and interpreting mise-a-la-masse data, which corrects for the effect of distance from the current electrode in the conductive body. After correction, the residual potential values corresponded with the SP results and the apparent resistivity pseudosections. The geophysical results were confirmed by drill holes in the study area.     

Investigation of hydraulic fracturing operation and fracture propagation simulation in reservoir rock

For many decades most oil wells in Iran have produced using their natural flow potential and haven’t needed to be fractured. As time goes by, the reservoir pressure depletes and the need for hydraulic fracturing as a stimulation practice arises. Nonetheless there is no record of successful hydraulic fracturing in Iran.

The Bangestan reservoir with a suitable amount of oil in place and good rock reservoirs, has been selected for the present research work. In this work, the in situ stress profile was calculated by using the available petrophysical data. This is achieved by using poroelastic theory for the stresses, and the Mohr–Coulomb criterion to predict failure. The model leads to easily computed expressions for calculating the pressure required to maintain hydraulic fracturing. Then the appropriate depth for treatment was determined. The results indicate that Ilam and Sarvak formations could be good candidates for hydraulic fracturing. Then, for two layers, a hydraulic fracture was designed and the production was predicted and the Net Present Value (NPV) resulting from the fracture of both layers was investigated.     

Petrogenesis of Volcanic Rocks in the Khabr-Marvast Tectonized Ophiolite:Evidence for Subduction Processes in the South-Western Margin of Central Iranian Microcontinent

Abstract: The Late Cretaceous Khabr–Marvast tectonized ophiolite is located in the middle part of the Nain–Baft ophiolite belt, at the south-western edge of the central Iranian microcontinent. Although all the volcanic rocks in the study area indicate subduction-related magmatism (e.g. high LILE (large ion lithophile elements) / HFSE (high field strenght elements) ratios and negative anomalies in Nb and Ta), geological and geochemical data clearly distinguish two distinct groups of volcanic rocks in the tectonized association: (1) group 1 is comprised of hyaloclastic breccias, basaltic pillow lavas, and andesite sheet flows. These rocks represent the Nain–Baft oceanic crust; and (2) group 2 is alkaline lavas from the top section of the ophiolite suite. These lavas show shoshonite affinity, but do not support the propensity of ophiolite.