Comparison of momentum roughness lengths of the WRF-SWAN online coupling and WRF model in simulation of tropical cyclone Gonu

Ocean Dynamics - The surface enthalpy fluxes (latent and sensible heat fluxes) provide the necessary energy to intensify tropical cyclones (TCs). The surface momentum fluxes modify the intensity of...     

Biodegradation by Co‐inoculated Bacteria and Fungi Alleviates Adverse Effects of Red‐S3B on Growth and Nitrogen Uptake of Wheat

Textile wastewater contains huge quantities of nitrogen (N)‐containing azo‐dyes. Irrigation of crops with such wastewater adds toxic dyes into our healthy soils. One of the ways to prevent their entry to soils could be these waters after the dyes' biodegradation. Therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the impact of textile dyes on wheat growth, dye degradation efficiency of bacteria‐fungi consortium, and alleviation of dye toxicity in wheat by treatment with microbial consortium. Among dyes, Red‐S3B (3.19% N) was found to be the most toxic to germination and growth of seven‐day‐old wheat seedlings. Shewanella sp. NIAB‐BM15 and Aspergillus terreus NIAB‐FM10 were found to be efficient degraders of Red‐S3B. Their consortium completely decolorized 500 mg L^?1 Red‐S3B within 4 h. Irrigation with Red‐S3B‐contaminated water after treatment with developed consortium increased root length, shoot length, root biomass, and shoot biomass of 30‐day‐old wheat seedlings by 47, 18, 6, and 25%, respectively, than untreated water. Moreover, irrigation after microbial treatment of dye‐contaminated water resulted in 20 and 51% increase in shoot N content and N uptake, respectively, than untreated water. Thus, co‐inoculation of bacteria and fungi could be a useful bioremediation strategy for the treatment of azo‐dye‐polluted water.     

Comparison of LLNF,ANN, and COA-ANN Techniques in Modeling the Uniaxial Compressive Strength and Static Young’s Modulus of Limestone of the Dalan Formation

Natural Resources Research - The uniaxial compressive strength and static Young’s modulus are among the key design parameters typically used in geotechnical engineering projects. In this...     

Radar interferometry time series analysis of Mashhad subsidence

A large agricultural area located in 20 km north of the city of Mashhad in the north-east of Iran is subject to land subsidence. The subsidence rate was achieved in a couple of sparse points by precise leveling between 1995 and 2005, and continuous GPS measurements obtained from 2005 to 2006. In order to study the temporal behavior of the deformation in high spatial resolution, the small baseline subset (SBAS) algorithm was used to generate the interferometric SAR time series analysis. Time series analysis was performed using 19 interferograms calculated from 12 ENVISAT ASAR data spanning between 2003 and 2006. The time series results exhibited that the area is subsiding continuously without a significant seasonal effect. Mean LOS deformation velocity map obtained from time series analysis demonstrated a considerable subsidence rate up to 24 (cm/yr). In order to evaluate the time series analysis results, continuous GPS measurements as a geodetic approach were applied. The comparisons showed a great agreement between interferometry results and geodetic technique. Moreover, the information of various piezometric wells distributed in the area corresponding to 1995 to 2005 showed a significant decline in water table up to 20 meters. The correlation between the piezometric information and the surface deformation at well’s locations showed that the subsidence occurrence in Mashhad is due to the excess groundwater withdrawal.     

Geochemistry and zircon U-Pb geochronology of Miocene plutons in the Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc,east Tafresh,Central Iran

ABSTRACT

The Tafresh plutons that include Ahmadabab diorite, Vasfonjerd monzonite, Mehrezamin diorite and Chahak diorite, located to the east of Tafresh city, north-central Iran, are part of Urumieh-Dokhtar magmatic arc. U-Pb dating of zircon grains provides emplacement ages of 22.3 ± 1 Ma for the Ahmadabad diorite, and tightly clustered ages of 22.2 ± 0.2 Ma, 21.3 ± 0.2 Ma, and 21.7 ± 0.4 Ma for Vasfonjerd monzodiorite, Mehrezamin diorite-monzonite, and Chahak diorite-monzonite plutons, respectively. These rocks are metaluminous to weakly peraluminous, calc-alkaline, and characterized by enrichment in light rare earth elements, Nb-Ta negative anomalies, and high LILE/HFSE ratios. Tafresh plutonic rocks originated from a parental magma source and experienced different degrees of partial melting. Geochemical signatures of Tafresh plutonic rocks, such as a wide range of Y/Nb (2.7–8.4) and low Zr/Nb (19.5–35.) ratios, Nb/Ta (11.46–18.15), argue for mantle–crust interaction during generation of Tafresh magmas. Relatively low Nb/La ratios further indicate that the lithospheric mantle played a significant role in melt generation. HREE signatures (i.e. decrease Dy/Yb with increasing SiO₂) preclude substantial involvement of garnet either in the residue, both during partial melting and fractionation of the magma. The plutons are a product of final stages of subduction-related magmatism prior to the collision between the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates.     

Competitive heavy metals adsorption on natural bed sediments of Jajrood River,Iran

The presence of heavy metal concentrations was examined in natural sediments from four sites along the Jajrood river in northeast of Tehran, the capital of Iran. Besides determination of elemental concentrations (Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, Ni and Cr), X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction tests were carried out to determine other chemical components in these adsorbents. Also the ability of sediments to adsorb these heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions was investigated. Results show that the extent of adsorption increases with increase in adsorbent concentration. The amount of adsorbed Pb, Cu and Zn in sediments was much greater than that of the other metals, and Cr was adsorbed much less than others. The adsorbabilities of sediments to heavy metals increased in the order of Pb > Cu > Zn > Cd > Ni > Cr. Based on the adsorption data, equilibrium isotherms were determined at selected areas to characterize the adsorption process. The adsorption data followed Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms in most cases. Correlation and cluster analysis was performed on heavy metals adsorption and sediment components at each site to evaluate main adsorbing compounds in sediments for each metal. Results demonstrated that heavy metals sorption is mostly related to load of organic matter in the Jajrood river sediments.     

Petrochemical Characteristics and Timing of Middle Eocene Granitic Magmatism in Kooh-Shah, Lut Block, Eastern Iran

The Kooh-Shah region located in a Tertiary volcanic-plutonic belt of the Lut Block in eastern Iran comprises several subvolcanic intermediate to acidic intrusive rocks, diorite to syenite in composition, which have intruded into volcanic rocks. The Kooh-Shah granitoid rocks are characterized by enrichment in large ion-lithophile elements (LILE: e.g. Sr, Ba, Rb) and depletion in high field-strength elements (HFSE: e.g. Nb, Ta, Ti). The chondrite-normalized REE patterns are characterized by moderate LREE enrichment (La/Yb)N=6.01-10.01, medium-heavy REE enrichment, and absence of Eu anomalies. The Kooh-Shah intrusive rocks are metaluminous, shoshonitic with calc-alkaline affinity and high values of magnetic susceptibility, and classified as the magnetite-series of oxidant I-type granitoids. The age of Kooh-Shah granitoid rocks based on zircon U-Pb age dating is 39.7±0.7 Ma (=Middle Eocene) and the ranges of their initial 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd ratios are from 0.704812 to 0.704920 and 0.512579 to 0.512644, respectively, when recalculated to an age of 39 Ma. The initial ?Nd isotope values for the Kooh-Shah intrusive rocks range from -0.18 to 1.09. This geochemical data indicates that the Kooh-Shah granitoid rocks formed from depleted mantle in an island arc setting. The geochemical signature of the studied granitoid rocks represents a characteristic guide for future exploration of copper-gold porphyry-type deposits in the Lut block.     

Investigating the influence of soil conditions and surcharge mass on seismic responses of ground surface

Journal of Seismology - Earthquake is always known as a natural phenomenon with complex and unpredictable characteristics. One of the parameters which affects the ground motion properties is soil....     

Investigating the Promotion Possibility of No-Hunting Areas to the Protected Areas- a Case Study

Protected areas are established to conserve unique features and biodiversity of the nature. Accordingly, wherever has one of the natural, ecological and/or cultural values it should be considered a protected area. Kave-Deh No-hunting Area is located on extremely east of Tehran Province in an area of 94,961 ha. Due to rich and diverse land cover, distinctive wildlife species, and unique monuments the area was selected as a case study to examine the possibility of its promotion to the protected area using Spatial Multi Criteria Evaluation (SMCE) Method. For this purpose, the relevant criteria were identified by Delphi method. After finalization of the most important criteria by Delphi panelists, the map layers were prepared at the scale of 1:100000, in the environment of GIS Software. Afterwards, the map layers were divided into factors and constraints of which factors were standardized by S-shaped membership functions of fuzzy logic. The dimensionless factor maps were weighted using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Method in the environment of Expert Choice Software. Subsequently, a mathematical equation was extracted to conduct the land suitability analysis. The Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) Method was applied to overlay the map layers and obtain the final ‘nature conservation’ land use map. The final land suitability map showed that 34,687 ha of whole study area (equal to 37 %) have the potentiality for promotion to the protected area.     

Zonation of coastal sediments based on the effective properties on the accumulation of heavy metals using the IDW and kriging method (case study: SW Iran)

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of some physicochemical properties of sediments on the accumulation of heavy metals in portions of the Musa creek coasts (Jafari and Petrochemical creeks). Effective properties such as pH, EC, texture, G_S, γ_d, n, CaCO₃ and OM were determined. All variables showed a normal distribution and general trends of NW–SE and NE–SW. After detrending the variables, ordinary kriging was used for modelling. The C₀/σ₂, C₀/σ_2, and search radius criteria were used to select the best semivariogram. All the variables displayed a spatial structure with different intensities. The IDW method was also used for estimation. The cross-validation showed that the results of both IDW and kriging methods are almost similar. Distribution of the sand particle, G_S, n and OM decreases with distance from the waterways, whilst clay–silt deposits. In the center of the studied area, CaCO₃ has the highest value and EC has the lowest value.