The role of hydrogeology in solution-subsidence development and its environmental impacts; a case-study for Sazlıca (Niğde, Turkey)

Solution-subsidence and other types of collapse failures developed in the vicinity of Sazlıca have been a major source of environmental problems such as groundwater pollution, soil erosion, and foundation failures. Extensive pumping of water from the Lake Dipsiz during irrigation seasons creates landslide developments at the shores of the lake. Five stages of landslide development were observed in the unconsolidated soils around Lake Dipsiz. Bowl-shaped solution-subsidence features with depths from 1 to 3 m and diameters between 1 and 60 m were formed due to excess pumping, and recharge and discharge features of unconfined aquifer. The pumping activities must be controlled to prevent further environmental problems. Lake Dipsiz and other subsidence developments are the groundwater exposure areas highly vulnerable to contamination. The proposed remedies for overcoming the environmental problems are the establishment of conservation areas around such natural features; ceasing the removal of top soil, controlling the urbanization, and keeping the livestock farming away from the areas susceptible to pollution. Received: 2 June 1997 · Accepted: 16 January 1998     

New approaches in assessment of tsunami deposits in Dalaman (SW Turkey)

Some earthquakes in the Eastern Mediterranean are tsunamigenic and some of their tsunamis affected the coastal area of the Gulf of Fethiye, SW Turkey. Recent trenching surveys on the low-lying coastal areas of Dalaman delta beach across the Rhodes Pass revealed three probable tsunami impacts as a result of the historical earthquakes of 1303, 1481 and 1741. Yet, there have been relatively few studies of the processes associated with tsunami sediment transport, their deposition and nature in geological record. In addition to the interpretation of sedimentary features, accurate paleoenvironmental assessments might be possible by distinctive biogeochemical researches on marine-sourced organic matters, geochemical properties, quantitative amounts of marine-sourced biomarkers and deterministic ratios. The identification of major lipid biomarkers (fatty acids and sterols) in the samples recovered from the sidewalls of the studied trench, for example, indicated biogenic contributions due to the presence of phytoplankton, zooplankton, dinoflagellates and bacteria. Quantitative estimation of biomarkers and deterministic ratios also indicated some evidences for marine-sourced organic matters, implying that biomarkers can be used to answer the open questions in tsunami and paleotsunami researches.     

Contamination of seismicity catalogs by quarry blasts: An example from İstanbul and its vicinity,northwestern Turkey

Scientists have proposed two fault systems of different ages in the Sea of Marmara: the Thrace-Eski?ehir Fault Zone of Early Miocene–Early Pliocene age and the North Anatolian Fault Zone of Late Pliocene–Recent age. Different seismicity rates and extensions of these faults onto land near ?stanbul have been suggested. One of the reasons for these differences is the contamination of seismicity catalogs by seismic events from quarries operated in ?stanbul and its vicinity, including Gaziosmanpa?a (Cebeci and Kemerburgaz), Çatalca, Ömerli, Gebze, and Hereke.In this study, we investigated waveforms of 179 seismic events (1.8 < Md < 3.0) from the KOERI, NEMC digital database. We determined differences between earthquakes and quarry blasts based on time- and frequency-domain analyses of their seismograms (amplitude peak ratio, power ratio, and spectral amplitude ratio) and used these differences as discriminants. The results of this study indicate that 15% and 85% of the investigated seismic events are earthquakes and quarry blasts, respectively.     

Sensitivity of the active fracture model parameter to fracture network orientation and injection scenarios

Active fractures refer to the portions of unsaturated, connected fractures that actively conduct water. The active fracture model parameter accounts for the reduction in the number of fractures carrying water and in the fracture–matrix interface area in field-scale simulations of flow and transport in unsaturated fractured rocks. One example includes the numerical analyses of the fault test results at the Yucca Mountain site, Nevada (USA). In such applications, the active fracture model parameter is commonly used as a calibration parameter without relating it to fracture network orientations and infiltration rates. A two-dimensional, multiphase lattice-Boltzmann model was used in this study to investigate the sensitivity of the active fracture model parameter to fracture network orientation and injection scenarios for an unsaturated, variable dipping, and geometrically simple fracture network. The active fracture model parameter differed by as much as 0.11–0.44 when the effects of fracture network orientation, injection rate, and injection mode were included in the simulations. Hence, the numerical results suggest that the sensitivity of the active fracture model parameter to fracture network orientation, injection rates, and injection modes should be explored at the field-scale to strengthen the technical basis and range of applicability of the active fracture model.     

Hydrochemical characteristics of surface and groundwater and suitability for drinking and agricultural use in the Upper Tigris River Basin,Diyarbakır–Batman,Turkey

Investigations were undertaken into the quality of surface water and groundwater bodies within the Upper Tigris Basin in Turkey to determine their suitability for potable and agricultural use. In the study area, the majority of the groundwater and surface water samples belong to the calcium–magnesium–bicarbonate type (Ca–Mg–HCO₃) or magnesium–calcium–bicarbonate type (Mg–Ca–HCO₃). Chemical analysis of all water samples shows that the mean cation concentrations (in mg/L) were in the order Ca²⁺ > Mg²⁺ > Na⁺ > K⁺ and that of anions are in the order \( \text{HCO}_{3}^{ - } \) > \( \text{SO}_{4}^{2 - } \) > Cl^? > \( \text{CO}_{3}^{ - } \) for all groundwater and surface water samples. The Mg²⁺/Ca²⁺ ratio ranges from 0.21 to 1.30 with most of the values greater than 0.5, indicating that weathering of dolomites is dominant in groundwater. The analysis reveals that all of the samples are neutral to slightly alkaline (pH 7.0–8.7). Groundwater and surface water suitability for drinking usage was evaluated according to the World Health Organization and Turkish Standards (TSE-266) and suggests that most of the samples are suitable for drinking. Various determinants such as sodium absorption ratio, percent sodium (Na %), residual sodium carbonate and soluble sodium percentage revealed that most of the samples are suitable for irrigation. According to MH values, all of the well water samples were suitable for irrigation purposes, but 80 and 81.82% of Zillek springs and surface water samples were unsuitable. As per the PI values, the water samples from the study area are classified as Class I and Class II and are considered to be suitable for irrigation.     

Effect of salt crystallization on weathering of pyroclastic rocks from Cappadocia,Turkey

Salt crystallization is the most significant factor in the degradation of the natural stones used in cultural and historical structures. Stones decay partially or fully as a result of this exposure. This study is the investigation of the degradation of historical monuments (underground cities and semi-underground settlements) carved in pyroclastic rocks in Cappadocian Region which takes part in World Cultural Heritage List. Samples of pyroclastic rocks were collected from six different quarries in Cappadocia, Turkey. To understand the contribution of salt crystallization to this weathering, dry weight loss (DWL) tests were performed on these samples. To investigate the correlations between salt crystallization and other rock properties, porosity, water absorption, ultrasonic velocity, uniaxial compressive strength, Brazilian tensile strength, and point load index were also measured. During the SC process of weathering, the results showed that porosity and water absorption increased for all the samples whereas ultrasonic velocity, uniaxial compressive strength, tensile strength, and point load index values decreased. Evaluation of the data obtained from these tests showed very high logarithmic correlations between the dry weight loss values and the mechanical properties.     

The effect of reservoir length on seismic performance of gravity dams to near- and far-fault ground motions

In this article, the effect of reservoir length on seismic performance of gravity dams to near- and far-fault ground motions is investigated. For this purpose, four finite element models of dam–reservoir–foundation interaction system are prepared by using the Lagrangian approach. In these models, the reservoir length varies from H to 4H (H: the height of dam). The Folsom gravity dam is selected as a numerical application. Two different ground motion records of 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake are used in the analyses. One of ground motions is recorded in near fault; the other is recorded in far fault. Also, the two records have the same peak ground acceleration. The study mainly consists of three parts to assess the effects of reservoir length on the seismic performance of the concrete gravity dam. In the first part, the linear time-history analyses of the four finite element models prepared for the Folsom gravity dam are performed. In the second part, the seismic performance of the dam is evaluated according to demand–capacity ratio and cumulative inelastic duration. Finally, the nonlinear time-history analyses of the finite element models of the dam are carried out by using Drucker–Prager yield criteria for dam concrete. It is seen from the analyses results that the seismic behavior of the concrete gravity dams is considerably affected from the length of the reservoir. The reservoir length of 3H is adequate for concrete gravity dams. The selection of ground motion is on of the important parts of seismic evaluation of gravity dams. Also, the frequency characteristics of the ground motion having the same peak ground acceleration affect the seismic performance of the dam. The near-fault ground motions are generally creates more stress on the dam body than far-fault ground motions. The used performance approach provides a systematic methodology for assessment of the seismic performance and necessity of nonlinear analyses for dam systems.     

Easy Path Wavelet Transform on Triangulations of the Sphere

The computation of sparse representations of data on the sphere (e.g. topographical data) is a crucial step for further processing such as multiple separation, migration, imaging and sparsity promoting data-recovery. The Easy Path Wavelet Transform (EPWT) is a new tool for sparse data representation that has recently been introduced for image compression. In this paper we consider the EPWT on spherical triangulations. It is a locally adaptive transform that works along pathways through the array of function values and exploits the local correlations of the data in a simple appropriate manner. In our approach the usual discrete one-dimensional orthogonal or biorthogonal wavelet transform can be applied. The EPWT can be used for defining a multiresolution analysis on the sphere in which the scaling spaces and the wavelet spaces depend adaptively on the data. Issues of implementation of the EPWT are also considered.     

Bacteriological indicators of anthropogenic impact prior to and during the recovery of water quality in an extremely polluted estuary, Golden Horn, Turkey

Five years of monthly data of indicator bacteria from 1998 to 2002 were evaluated to find out the changes in water quality during the rehabilitation of the Golden Horn, an estuary severely polluted from industrial and domestic discharges since the 1950s. Surface fecal coliform was above 10(6) CFU/100 ml at the inner part in 1998. Following the achievement of healthy water circulation and control of most surface discharges, fecal coliform and fecal streptococci counts decreased below 10(3) CFU/100 ml in the summer of 2002. However, the decrease was interrupted by sudden shifts in rainy periods. Runoff, enhanced by domestic inputs during rainfall, has become the main factor influencing water quality in the estuary today. Increasing values of fecal coliform were observed during periods of low salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen and high ortho-phosphate, whilst decreasing values were detected during high salinity, pH and dissolved oxygen and low ortho-phosphate periods. Striking changes were observed within five years, promising that even an anoxic water body can turn into a recreational area with appropriate treatment.