A field application for lime stabilization

This study presents the improvements achieved as a result of the lime stabilization application conducted by the joint effort of the Turkish Association of Lime Industrialists and the General Directorate of Rural Services on the 200 m long section of the Ankara Province Yukar? Yurtçu Village road where green and brown clays are dominant. The study also numerically demonstrates the impacts of these improvements on the road section based on the results of various laboratory and field tests. The lime stabilization in field conditions was performed with 5% lime for both clays and was applied as a 30 cm thick single layer. In the soaked California bearing-ratio (CBR) tests conducted in the laboratory, increases that reach up from 16 and 21 times compared to initial soaked CBR values were observed in green and brown clays, respectively, at the end of 28 days. The high increases observed in soaked CBR values would reduce the upper layer thickness of the roads. The similar improvements are also achieved in unconfined compression and plate loading tests. The comparisons performed with the plate loading tests clearly demonstrated the behavior of the surface to lime and its cure impact.     

The impact of water resources development projects on water vapor pressure trends in a semi-arid region, Turkey

The aim of this study was to investigate long-term seasonal trends and decadal change patterns of monthly mean water vapor pressure (WVP) observation series at 16 meteorological stations scattered point-wisely over the Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP) area in Turkey, where large-scale soil and water development projects have been put into practice since the 1970s. The record length of WVP observation series of each station varied between 31- and 41-years between 1962 and 2002. The monthly mean WVP observation series of each station was rearranged on seasonal basis. Sequential Mann–Kendall trend test, Sen’s slope estimator, and Spearman’s rank–order correlation tests were employed for detection of likely trends, and Kruskall–Wallis test was used to detect decadal variations in WVP series of each observation station. A possible area of representation for each meteorological station was determined by using the Thiessen polygons technique in a geographical information systems media. It was found that 15 seasonal WVP series have a positive trend covering 97% of the GAP area in the summer season; although one WVP series has a negative trend direction. However, in the spring season, 33% of the area had a positive trend, and a negative trend did not appear in any stations. WVP records in the winter season showed an increasing trend over 19% of the GAP area, whereas a decreasing trend prevailed in 9% of the area. The study results led us to conclude that the substantial increase of WVP observations in summer season could be attributed to both the shift from rain-fed agriculture to irrigated agriculture being made increasingly spacious year by year and building large water reservoirs in the GAP located in a semi-arid region. The results also indirectly suggested that the historical trends in the WVP parameters might be related to global climate change phenomenon.     

Removal of cyanide from aqueous solutions by plain and metal-impregnated granular activated carbons

In this study, the removal of free cyanide from aqueous solutions by activated carbon was investigated. Effects of metal impregnation (Cu and Ag), aeration, and concentrations of adsorbent and cyanide on the rate and extent of the removal of cyanide were studied. The results have shown that the capacity of activated carbon for the removal of cyanide can be significantly improved (up to 6.3-fold) via impregnation of activated carbon with metals such as copper and silver. Silver-impregnated activated carbon was found to be the most effective at the reduction of cyanide level in solution. This appeared to be coupled with its comparatively high metal content after impregnation process where silver (5.07%) could be more readily loaded on activated carbon than copper (0.43%). Kinetics and equilibrium data for cyanide removal by plain and metal-impregnated activated carbons were determined to be consistent with the pseudo second-order kinetics and the Langmuir adsorption isotherms, respectively. Aeration (0.27 l/min) was found to exert a profound effect on the process leading to a 5.5–49.1% enhancement in the performances of plain and metal-impregnated activated carbons. This enhancement could be attributed to the increase in the availability of active sites on activated carbon for adsorption and the catalytic oxidising activity of activated carbon in the presence of oxygen. Practical limiting capacity of plain, copper- and silver-impregnated activated carbons for the removal of cyanide were experimentally determined to be 19.7, 22.4 and 29.6 mg/g, respectively.     

Late Pleistocene–Holocene evolution of the southern Marmara shelf and sub-basins: middle strand of the North Anatolian fault,southern Marmara Sea,Turkey

Although there are many research studies on the northern and southern branches of the North Anatolian fault, cutting through the deep basins of the Sea of Marmara in the north and creating a series of pull-apart basins on the southern mainland, little data is available about the geometrical and kinematical characteristics of the middle strand of the North Anatolian fault. The first detailed geometry of the middle strand of the North Anatolian fault along the southern Marmara shelf, including the Gemlik and Band?rma Bay, will be given in this study, by a combined interpretation of different seismic data sets. The characteristic features of its segments and their importance on the paleogeographic evolution of the southern shelf sub-basins were defined. The longest one of these faults, the Armutlu-Band?rma segment, is a 75-km long dextral strike-slip fault which connects the W–E trending Gençali segment in the east and NE–SW trending Kap?da?-Edincik segment in the west. In this context, the Gemlik Bay opened as a pull-apart basin under the control of the middle strand whilst a new fault segment developed during the late Pleistocene, cutting through the eastern rim of the bay. In this region, a delta front forming the paleoshoreline of the Gemlik paleolake was cut and shifted approximately 60 ± 5 m by the new segment. The same offset on this fault was also measured on a natural scarp of acoustic basement to the west and integrated with this paleoshoreline forming the slightly descending topset–foreset reflections of the delta front. Therefore the new segment is believed to be active at least for the last 30,000 years. The annual lateral slip rate representing this period of time will be 2 mm, which is quite consistent with modern GPS measurements. Towards the west, the Band?rma Bay is a rectangular transpressional basin whilst the Erdek Bay is a passive basin under the control of NW–SE trending faults. When the water level of the paleo-Marmara lake dropped down to ?90 m, the water levels of the suspended paleolakes of Band?rma and Gemlik on the southern shelf were ?50.3 (?3.3 Global Isostatic Adjustment—GIA) and ?60.5 (?3.3 GIA) m below the present mean sea level, respectively. As of today a similar example can be seen between the Sea of Marmara and the shallow freshwater lakes of Manyas and Uluabat. Similarly, the paleolakes of Gemlik and Bandirma were affected by the water level fluctuations at different time periods, even though both lakes were isolated from the Sea of Marmara during the glacial periods.     

An application of the autoregressive extrapolation technique to enhance deconvolution results: a 2D marine data example

Interpreting a post‐stack seismic section is difficult due to the band‐limited nature of the seismic data even post deconvolution. Deconvolution is a process that is universally applied to extend the bandwidth of seismic data. However, deconvolution falls short of this task as low and high frequencies of the deconvolved data are either still missing or contaminated by noise. In this paper we use the autoregressive extrapolation technique to recover these missing frequencies, using the high signal‐to‐noise ratio (S/N) portions of the spectrum of deconvolved data. I introduce here an algorithm to extend the bandwidth of deconvolved data. This is achieved via an autoregressive extrapolation technique, which has been widely used to replace missing or corrupted samples of data in signal processing. This method is performed in the spectral domain. The spectral band to be extrapolated using autoregressive prediction filters is first selected from the part of the spectrum that has a high signal‐to‐noise ratio (S/N) and is then extended. As there can be more than one zone of good S/N in the spectrum, the results of prediction filter design and extrapolation from three different bands are averaged. When the spectrum of deconvolved data is extended in this way, the results show higher vertical resolution to a degree that the final seismic data closely resemble what is considered to be a reflectivity sequence of the layered medium. This helps to obtain acoustic impedance with inversion by stable integration. The results show that autoregressive spectral extrapolation highly increases vertical resolution and improves horizon tracking to determine continuities and faults. This increase in coherence ultimately yields a more interpretable seismic section.     

Estimation of shear wave velocity profiles by the inversion of spatial autocorrelation coefficients

The subsurface shear-wave velocity (Vs) is considered to be a key parameter for site characterization and assessment of earthquake hazard because of its great influence on local ground-motion amplification. Array microtremor measurements are widely used for the estimation of shear-wave velocities. Compared to other methods such as frequency-wavenumber (f-k) methods, the spatial autocorrelation (SPAC) method requires fewer sensors and thus is relatively easier to implement and gives robust estimations of shear-wave velocity profiles for depths down to a few hundred meters. The quantity derived from observed data is the SPAC coefficient, which is a function of correlation distance, frequency and phase velocity. Generally, estimation of Vs profiles is a two stage process: Estimation of the dispersion data from the SPAC coefficients and inversion of the dispersion data for shear-wave velocity structure. In this study, instead of inverting dispersion curves, a more practical approach is used; that is, observed SPAC coefficients are directly inverted for the S-wave velocities. A synthetic case and a field data application are presented to test the potential of the inversion algorithm. We obtain an iterative damped least-squares solution with differential smoothing. The differential smoothing approach constrains the change in shear-wave velocities of the adjacent layers and thus stabilizes the inversion.     

A Comparative Study of Ozonation,Homogeneous Catalytic Ozonation,and Photocatalytic Ozonation for C.I. Reactive Red 194 Azo Dye Degradation

In this study, the decolorization, dearomatization, and mineralization efficiencies of different advanced oxidation processes (AOPs; namely O₃, O₃/Fe(II), O₃/Fe(II)/UVA, and O₃/TiO₂/UVA) were investigated for the azo dye C.I. Reactive Red 194 (RR194). The effects of pH (3–11), amount of TiO₂ (0.05–1 g/L), and concentration of Fe(II) (0.1–1.6 mM) were investigated for the applied methods. The decolorization and mineralization efficiencies of the photocatalytic ozonation system (O₃/TiO₂/UVA) were increased by decreasing the pH of the dye solution in contrast to the ozonation system (O₃). Decolorization of RR194 was increased in the photocatalytic ozonation system with an increasing amount of catalyst however, a decreasing was occurred for the homogeneous catalytic system (O₃/Fe(II)) when increasing the concentration of catalyst. The decolorization efficiency of the homogeneous catalytic system (O₃/Fe(II)) was enhanced when combined with UVA light. In our study, the most efficient method for dearomatization and mineralization was the O₃/TiO₂/UVA among the applied AOPs.     

On‐line Solid Phase Extraction of Copper in Water Samples with Flow Injection Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

An on‐line solid phase extraction method for the preconcentration and determination of Cu(II) by flame atomic absorption spectrometry has been described. The procedure is based on the retention of Cu(II) ions at pH 6.0 on a minicolumn packed with Amberlite XAD‐1180 resin impregnated with chrome azurol S. After preconcentration, Cu(II) ions adsorbed on the impregnated resin were eluted by 1 mol L^?1 HNO₃ solution. Several parameters, such as pH, type of eluent, flow rates of sample and eluent solutions, amount of resin were evaluated. At optimized conditions, for 3.5 min of preconcentration time, the system achieved a detection limit of 1.0 µg L^?1, and a relative standard deviation of 1.2% at 0.2 µg mL^?1 copper. An enrichment factor of 56‐fold was obtained with respect to the copper determination. The proposed method was successfully validated by the analysis of standard reference material (TMDA 54.4 lake water) and recovery studies. The method was applied to the preconcentration of Cu(II) in natural water samples.     

On the <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis> Receiver Functions Used for Inverting the One-Dimensional Upper Mantle Shear-Wave Velocities

The teleseismic P receiver functions are customarily inverted to attain the seismic velocities beneath a seismic station. Surface wave dispersion data are often added to reduce the effect of the non-uniqueness. The combination of P receiver function and surface wave works well in resolving the structures in the crust and uppermost mantle, but is less effective in characterizing greater (lithosphere and asthenosphere) depths due to the interference from crustal multiples. A solution to this problem is jointly to model teleseismic S receiver functions with surface wave and P receiver functions. This study adopts a fast, one-dimensional (1-D) inversion scheme. To avoid the effect of multidimensional structures away from the seismic station, we eliminate multiples that reverberate between the surface and interfaces below a restriction depth (RD), as well as S-to-P conversions below an inversion depth (ID). P-to-S conversions off the interfaces above the half-space and S-to-P conversions above the ID and multiples above the RD are properly modelled. This approach favours ray paths travelling close to stations and is, therefore, more suitable for 1-D inversions. We perform numerical experiments with and without noise and highlight the advantages of a joint receiver function and surface wave analysis.     

Investigation of water quality on Gökçekaya dam lake using multivariate statistical analysis,in Eskişehir,Turkey

Gökçekaya Dam is one of the dams located on the Sakarya River (Eski?ehir) in Turkey and is approximately 38 years old. No study regarding to the water quality of the dam lake has been hitherto made. This study aimed at determining the seasonal variations with physical, chemical, and biological parameters of the water quality of the dam lake. Depth-wise water samples were taken from five selected stations, in seasonal periods during 2005–2008, and anlayzed. The quality of water was classified in accordance with the results and taking into consideration many parameters. At the same time, number and type diversities of dissolved heavy metals and algae population were analyzed. Using principal component analysis (PCA) and classification analysis (CA) methods, differences between these parameters and samples from stations have been determined . The analysis showed that Gökçekaya dam lake, formerly an oligotrophic lake, has become a mesotrophic lake. And according to the results thereof the Lake has mezotrophic characteristics due to the sudden changes (including household waste water inflow and opening the Sar?yar dam lake shutters) in certain periods and in some stations. Hierarchical clustering analysis, revealed no significant difference between the measured parameters. And according to the Water Pollution Control Regulations in Turkey (WPCR) Gökçekaya dam lake is in the first class quality in terms of anions, cations, heavy metals, temperature, and pH values. However, the is of first class quality presence of nitrite reduces the water quality in the lake and causes this lake to be classified in the fourth class quality.