Sedimentology of the Baluti Formation in the Galley Derash,Amadiya, North Iraq: insight on carbonate turbidite facies and their depositional environmental

The Baluti Formation is exposed succession of the Rhaetian age (Upper Triassic). These strata are interpreted herein for the first time to redeposit in a deep marine setting (distally steepened carbonate ramp/medial to distal slope) on the northwestern margin of the Neo-Tethys. The Galley Derash section is apparently continuous with no evidence for either subaerial exposure or submarine erosion. The absence of erosional scours in the study area confirms emplacement of these strata below both fair-weather and storm wave base. Event beds, particularly those resulting from sediment gravity flows, dominate the Rhaetian interval. The Upper Rhaetian strata are primarily assigned to the Galley Derash Valley. It records an upward transition from moderate-scale, olistolith-bearing debris flow deposits (debrite) to medium-/thin-bedded turbidites remobilized as sediment slumps/slides. The succession is dominated by medium- to thin-bedded calcareous turbidites and hemipelagic suspension deposits. Very low fossil assemblages, particularly stromatolite fragments, and planktonic bivalves occur within some intervals in the section. Rapid and relatively continuous sedimentation is attested to by the thickness of the section, the abundance of calcareous turbidites, and the thin nature of the intercalated hemipelagic beds. Low content of badly preserved fossils and evidence of continuous and rapid sedimentation refer to alteration by tectonic disturbances or diagenesis. This makes the Baluti Beds as a supplementary section for the Rhaetian successions in Iraq.     

Effects of salinity on egg and fecal pellet production,development and survival,adult sex ratio and total life span in the calanoid copepod, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Acartia tonsa</Emphasis>: a laboratory study

The effects of salinity on the copepod, Acartia tonsa in terms of daily egg production rate (EPR), hatching success, fecal pellet production rate (FPR), naupliar development time and survival, sex ratio, and total life span were determined in laboratory conditions through three experiments. In experiment 1, EPR, hatching success, and FPR of individual females were monitored at salinities of 13, 20, 35 and 45 during short-periods (seven consecutive days). Results show EPR was affected by salinity with the highest outputs recorded at 20 and 35, respectively, which were considerably higher than those at 13 and 45. Mean FPR was also higher in 35 and 20. In experiment 2, the same parameters were evaluated over total life span of females (long-term study). The best EPR and FPR were observed in 35, which was statistically higher than at 13 and 20. In experiment 3, survival rates of early nauplii until adult stage were lowest at a salinity of 13. The development time increased with increasing of salinity. Female percentage clearly decreased with increasing salinity. Higher female percentages (56.7% and 52.2%, respectively) were significantly observed at two salinities of 13 and 20 compared to that at 35 (25%). Total longevity of females was not affected by salinity increment. Based on our results, for mass culture we recommend that a salinity of 35 be adopted due to higher reproductive performances, better feeding, and faster development of A. tonsa.     

Geochemistry of Ground and Groundwater Pertinent to Chemical Attacks Mitigation on Concrete Foundations; A Case Study of the City of Rasht,Northern Iran

Presence of aggressive chemicals in ground and groundwater can deteriorate concrete foundations or its reinforcements. Concrete codes require preventive measures to assure durability of concrete foundations which is based on geochemistry information of the site. Construction in the city of Rasht, in the Iranian Caspian coast, is fast growing often without sufficient geochemistry data for residential buildings. The later may pose risk of chemical attacks on concrete foundations. To resolve this shortcoming, this study aimed at investigating geochemistry of ground and groundwater from the upper 10 m which can serve as a preliminary guideline for shallow foundation constructions in the city. The database for this study included previous geochemical investigations from 50 boreholes in the city as well as boring eleven test pits at various locations along with soil and groundwater geochemistry tests. The geochemistry experiments included measurement of sulfate, chloride, organic matter, as well as pH in soil and groundwater. Geochemistry of ground and groundwater in the city mostly fell within permissible limits set by a local concrete code. Based on current study, service environment for shallow concrete foundations in the city was categorized in a moderate class; hence, durability requirements from the same local concrete code were emphasized.     

A near-fault probabilistic seismic hazard assessment for Yasouj,located in the Kazerun fault system,southwest Iran

Natural Hazards - The Kazerun fault system (KFS) is located in the central part of the Zagros, the most seismically active orogenic belt in the Iranian plateau. The city of Yasouj is located in the...     

APG:A novel python-based ArcGIS toolbox to generate absence-datasets for geospatial studies

One important step in binary modeling of environmental problems is the generation of absence-datasets that are traditionally generated by random sampling and can undermine the quality of outputs.To solve this problem,this study develops the Absence Point Generation(APG)toolbox which is a Python-based ArcGIS toolbox for automated construction of absence-datasets for geospatial studies.The APG employs a frequency ratio analysis of four commonly used and important driving factors such as altitude,slope degree,topographic wetness index,and distance from rivers,and considers the presence locations buffer and density layers to define the low potential or susceptibility zones where absence-datasets are gener-ated.To test the APG toolbox,we applied two benchmark algorithms of random forest(RF)and boosted regression trees(BRT)in a case study to investigate groundwater potential using three absence datasets i.e.,the APG,random,and selection of absence samples(SAS)toolbox.The BRT-APG and RF-APG had the area under receiver operating curve(AUC)values of 0.947 and 0.942,while BRT and RF had weaker per-formances with the SAS and Random datasets.This effect resulted in AUC improvements for BRT and RF by 7.2,and 9.7％from the Random dataset,and AUC improvements for BRT and RF by 6.1,and 5.4％from the SAS dataset,respectively.The APG also impacted the importance of the input factors and the pattern of the groundwater potential maps,which proves the importance of absence points in environmental bin-ary issues.The proposed APG toolbox could be easily applied in other environmental hazards such as landslides,floods,and gully erosion,and land subsidence.     

Pore-water pressure development in a frozen saline clay under isotropic loading and undrained shearing

Acta Geotechnica - A systematical testing program on frozen Onsøy clay under isotropic loading and undrained shearing at different temperatures...     

Statistical analysis of surface urban heat island intensity variations: A case study of Babol city,Iran

The urban heat island is considered as one of the most important climate change phenomena in urban areas, which can result in remarkable negative effects on flora, concentration of pollutants, air quality, energy and water consumption, human health, ecological and economic impacts, and even on global warming. The variation analysis of the surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII) is important for understanding the effect of urbanization and urban planning. The objective of this study was to present a new strategy based on the Shannon’s entropy and Pearson chi-square statistic to investigate the spatial and temporal variations of the SUHII. In this study, Landsat TM, ETM+, OLI and TIRS images, MODIS products, meteorological data, topographic and population maps of the Babol city, Iran, from 1985 to 2017, and air temperature data recorded by ground recorder devices in 2017 were used. First, Single-Channel algorithm was used to estimate land surface temperature (LST), and the maximum likelihood classifier was employed to classify Landsat images. Then, based on LST maps, surface urban heat island ratio index was employed to calculate the SUHII. Further, several statistical methods, such as the degree-of-freedom, degree-of-sprawl and degree-of-goodness, were used to analyse the SUHII variation along different geographic directions and in various time periods. Finally, correlation between various parameters such as air temperature, SUHII, population variation and degree-of-goodness index values were investigated. The results indicated that the SUHII value increased by 24% in Babol over different time periods. The correlation coefficient yielded 0.82 between the values of the difference between the mean air temperature of the urban and suburbs and the SUHII values for the geographic directions. Furthermore, the correlation coefficient between the population variation and the degree-of-goodness index values reached 0.8. The results suggested that the SUHII variation of Babol city had a high degree-of-freedom, high degree-of-sprawl and negative degree-of-goodness.     

Impact of Reservoir Permeability,Permeability Anisotropy and Designed Injection Rate on CO2 Gas Behavior in the Shallow Saline Aquifer at the CaMI Field Research Station,Brooks, Alberta

Natural Resources Research - Carbon capture and storage is part of Canada’s climate change action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Containment and Monitoring Institute Field...     

Formulation of the Caspian Sea’s legal regime using a joint zone approach

The legal regime of the Caspian Sea has been determined under Treaties 1921 and 1940 by and between Iran and former Soviet Union. In fact, we are neither to explain it nor to determine. As understood from the provisions therein, the exploitation and use of the Caspian Sea by both countries are based on the Condominium. However, there is a 10-nautical mile strip as exclusive fishing areas which have been allocated to the states under the 1940 treaty. It means that Soviet Union and Iran may benefit the marine livings resources out of that strip on an equal manner. This right also includes the seabed and underlying bed. So, the legal regime of this sea may be based on a 10-nautical mile exclusive region for all five states and the remaining part as common and joint area under an agreement until an explaining and supervising organization is established to exploit and supervise over living and non-livings resources.