Spatial Heating Monthly Degree-Day Features and ClimatologicPatterns in Turkey

Summary  Degree-days as a measure of accumulated temperature deviations from a base temperature have many practical applications in various human related activities such as home cooling, heating, plant growth in agriculture and power generation in addition to energy requirement. Long temperature records are necessary for their reliable estimations at given stations. In this paper, degree-day measure has been applied to monthly temperature records for systematically changed base temperature values from − 25 °C to + 35 °C with 5 °C increments at 255 meteorology stations in Turkey. The results are represented in the form of spatial degree-day distribution maps, which are then related to various climatic, meteorological and topographic features of Turkey. For instance, free surface water bodies in forms of surrounding seas, lakes and rivers insert retardation in the expansion of heating degree-days over large regions. On the other hand, cold air penetration from polar regions in the northeastern Turkey originating from Siberia appears at moderate base temperature heating degree-days. Received August 20, 1998 Revised June 21, 1999     

Stochastic Modeling of the Van Lake Monthly Level Fluctuations in Turkey

Summary  Planning, design, construction and operation of lakeshore structures require information about the future likely extremes of the lake levels at a given risk percentage. Alternative future likely synthetic sequences can be numerically generated provided that the underlying generating mechanism of the lake level fluctuation phenomenon is identified. Simple linear and periodic nonlinear models are used for modeling the deterministic part in the lake level records. Linear trend is eliminated from the original lake level historic data by regression line technique. The nonlinear part needs two stages for its identification. First Fourier series is applied to model interannual periodicities in the lake level fluctuation series and then monthly standardization procedure is applied for seasonal periodic nonlinear component modeling. A second order Markov model is found suitable for the remaining stochastic parts. The application of the methodology is presented for the Lake Van monthly level data in eastern Turkey. Suitable models are identified and their parameters are estimated for trend, periodic and stochastic parts. Likely, synthetic lake levels are generated by the stochastic model and hence lake level extreme values are depicted for the next 2, 6, 12, 24, 60 and 120 months with risk calculations. Such risk calculations take into account the stochastic characteristics of the lake level fluctuations only. The deterministic parts as linear trends and periodicities are added to the stochastic extreme events for the actual simulation of the lake levels. The model presented in this paper is not for time prediction of future lake levels but rather for the simulation of possible equally likely extreme lake level value occurrences over any desired future period. Received April 22, 1998/Revised July 28, 1999     

Spatial Variation of the Precipitation Chemistry in the Thrace Region of Turkey

Pollutants affect not only the environment in which they originate since they are also transported by air currents to other locations. For this reason, air pollution is a global problem for all countries and the air and water quality need to be monitored carefully. More information on precipitation chemistry is required to determine the source of pollution as well as its effects on the ecosystems. In this study, precipitation chemistry has been analyzed for the first time by using simple bulk collectors located at four different sites in Northwest Turkey for a period of two years. About 650 sequential rainwater samples were collected and analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity, anions such as , , Cl^?, and cations such as Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, and . The selected sites were under the effect of different environmental factors. Our results showed that the highest and concentrations were measured in the Northwest of the research area. Additionally, it has been found that Ca²⁺ ions are abundant within all rainwater samples.     

Direct displacement‐based seismic assessment procedure for multi‐span reinforced concrete bridges with single‐column piers

In Italy, as in other high seismic risk countries, many bridges, nowadays deemed ‘strategic’ for civil protection interventions after an earthquake, were built without antiseismic criteria, and therefore their seismic assessment is mandatory. Accordingly, the development of a seismic assessment procedure that gives reliable results and, at the same time, is sufficiently simple to be applied on a large population of bridges in a short time is very useful. In this paper, a displacement‐based procedure for the assessment of multi‐span RC bridges, satisfying these requirements and called direct displacement‐based assessment (DDBA), is proposed. Based on the direct displacement‐based design previously developed by Priestley et al., DDBA idealizes the multi DOF bridge structure as an equivalent SDOF system and hence defines a safety factor in terms of displacement. DDBA was applied to hypothetical bridge configurations. The same structures were analyzed also using standard force‐based approach. The reliability of the two methods was checked performing IDA with response spectrum compatible accelerograms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geophysical Images of the North Anatolian Fault Zone in the Erzincan Basin, Eastern Turkey, and their Tectonic Implications

The collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates in eastern Turkey causes the Anatolian block to move westward. The North Anatolian Fault (NAF) is a major strike-slip fault that forms the northern boundary of the Anatolian block, and the Erzincan Basin is the largest sedimentary basin on the NAF. In the last century, two large earthquakes have ruptured the NAF within the Erzincan Basin and caused major damage (M _s = 8.0 in 1939 and M _s = 6.8 in 1992). The seismic hazard in Erzincan from future earthquakes on the NAF is significant because the unconsolidated sedimentary basin can amplify the ground motion during an earthquake. The amount of amplification depends on the thickness and geometry of the basin. Geophysical constraints can be used to image basin depth and predict the amount of seismic amplification. In this study, the basin geometry and fault zone structure were investigated using broadband magnetotelluric (MT) data collected on two profiles crossing the Erzincan Basin. A total of 24 broadband MT stations were acquired with 1–2 km spacing in 2005. Inversion of the MT data with 1D, 2D and 3D algorithms showed that the maximum thickness of the unconsolidated sediments is ~3 km in the Erzincan Basin. The MT resistivity models show that the northern flanks of the basin have a steeper dip than the southern flanks, and the basin deepens towards the east where it has a depth of 3.5 km. The MT models also show that the structure of the NAF may vary from east to west along the Erzincan Basin.     

Producing forest fire susceptibility map via multi-criteria decision analysis and frequency ratio methods

Natural Hazards - Located in the Mediterranean basin, one of the world’s leading places in terms of forest fires, Turkey is one of the countries where forest fires are experienced very often...     

Mineralogy,diagenesis and hydrochemical evolution in a probertite–glauberite–halite saline lake (Miocene,Emet Basin,Turkey)

The Emet basin is one of the Neogene basins in western Turkey containing significant amounts of borate minerals, mainly colemanite. The petrologic study of core samples from two exploratory wells in the Do?anlar sector, under optic and electron microscopy, reveals a complex mineral association in which probertite, glauberite, and halite constitute the major primary phases (without mineral precursors) precipitated in a saline lake placed in a volcano-sedimentary context. Other sulfates (anhydrite, gypsum, thenardite, celestite and kalistrontite), borates (colemanite, ulexite, hydroboracite, tunellite, kaliborite and aristarainite), and sulfides (arsenopyrite, realgar and orpiment) are attributed to early diagenesis. So far, the Do?anlar deposit is the most important deposit of probertite known up to now.Chemical changes in the groundwater inflow led to the precipitation of Ca-bearing borates (colemanite) in the tuff-flat environment surrounding the lake, while Na–Ca sulfates and borates (glauberite and probertite) precipitated in the center of the lake. Fluid inclusion compositions in halite indicate that the advanced brines correspond to the Na-K-Cl-SO₄ type. During restricted stages of the saline lake, the residual brines seeped through the tuff-flat sediments, leading to transformations of previous precipitates that resulted in the formation of K-bearing minerals.The abundance of coccoid-like biogenic dolomite, colloidal arsenopyrite and the isotopic composition of sulfates are indicative of bacterial sulfate reduction. In contrast, arsenic sulfides are attributed to acidophilic micro-organisms in oxidizing conditions. Fluctuations of redox conditions in both free and interstitial brines control the biological influence in some diagenetic transformations.     

Delineation of shallow resistivity structure in the city of Burdur,SW Turkey by vertical electrical sounding measurements

The city of Burdur, which is built on an alluvium aquifer, is located in one of the most seismically active zones in southwestern Turkey. The soil properties in the study site are characterized by unconsolidated and water-saturated sediments including silty, clayey and sandy units, and shallow groundwater level is the other characteristic of the site. Thus, the city is under soil liquefaction risk during a large earthquake. A resistivity survey including 189 vertical electrical sounding (VES) measurements was carried out in 2000 as part of a multi-disciplinary project aiming to investigate settlement properties in Burdur city and its vicinity. In the present study, the VES data acquired by using a Schlumberger array were re-processed with 1D and 2D inversion techniques to determine liquefaction potential in the study site. The results of some 1D interpretations were compared to the data from several wells drilled during the project. Also, the groundwater level map that was previously obtained by hydrological studies was extended toward north by using the resistivity data. 2D least-squares inversions were performed along nine VES profiles. This provided very useful information on vertical and horizontal extends of geologic units and water content in the subsurface. The study area is characterized by low resistivity distribution (<150 Ωm) originating from high fluid content in the subsurface. Lower resistivity (3–30 Ωm) is associated with the Quaternary and the Tertiary lacustrine sediments while relatively high resistivity (40–150 Ωm) is related to the Quaternary alluvial cone deposits. This study has also shown that the resistivity measurements are useful in the estimation of liquefaction risk in a site by providing information on the groundwater level and the fluid content in the subsurface. Based on this, we obtained a liquefaction hazard map for the study area. The liquefaction potential was classified by considering the resistivity distributions from 2D inversion of the VES profiles, the types of the sediments and the extended groundwater level map. According to this map, the study area was characterized by high liquefaction hazard risk.     

冰碛物ESR测年与天山乌鲁木齐河源末次冰期系列

采用ESR方法，对天山乌鲁木齐河源末次冰期的冰碛石英砂进行了测年，下望峰组冰碛层的年代与前人推测的年代不同，是50～70ka BP末次冰期早阶段形成的，分布下限可达海拔2300m左右的红五月桥附近，与AMS的测年结果相比，末次冰期晚阶段底碛的ESR年代与AMS的年代相当，而冰上融出碛ESR年代与AMS的年代相差较大，认为冰下的压碎和磨蚀作用可能导致冰碛中石英砂的ESR信号归零，从而使底碛的ESR测年成为可能。