Geomechanical Evaluation of Derinkuyu Antique Underground City and its Implications in Geoengineering

Derinkuyu Underground City, located in the Cappadocia Region of Turkey, is an important structure not only for its antique and archaeological characteristics, but also as a structure in terms of the long-term stability of underground rock structures excavated by mankind. The authors carried out some observational, experimental and theoretical rock mechanics studies in the region from 1996 in the context of a research project supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan for the assessment of the long-term behaviour of Derinkuyu Underground City, and these studies are still continuing. In addition to the monitoring of the environmental conditions such as temperature, moisture and air pressure, they also installed acoustic emission (AE) and electrical potential (EP) measurement systems to monitor the behaviour and response of the surrounding rock at the fifth and seventh floors of the underground city. In this article, the geology, seismicity and state of stress of the Cappadocia Region, climatic conditions in the underground city and its vicinity, short- and long-term behaviours of the surrounding rock, its index and mechanical properties, and effects of water content and freezing–thawing processes were investigated. The stability of Derinkuyu Underground City was also evaluated using theoretical and numerical methods, and the results were presented. Furthermore, its implications in modern geoengineering are also discussed.     

A new Ordovician eurypterid (Arthropoda: Chelicerata) from southeast Turkey: Evidence for a cryptic Ordovician record of Eurypterida

A new species of eurypterid, Paraeurypterus anatoliensis gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) ?ort Tepe Formation of southeast Turkey. The single specimen, preserving the carapace, mesosoma and fragments of appendages, appears morphologically intermediate between the eurypteroid families Dolichopteridae and Eurypteridae. P. anatoliensis retains the plesiomorphic conditions of crescentic eyes with enlarged palpebral lobes and a quadrate carapace with ornamentation consisting of small pustules but also displaying the derived characteristics of genal facets and a row of large acicular scales across the posterior of each tergite. Phylogenetic analysis incorporating each of the major eurypterine clades and all Eurypterina having a three-segmented genital operculum (the triploperculate condition) resolves eurypteroids to be an unnatural group, with Dolichopteridae and Eurypteridae forming part of a grade leading to diploperculate Eurypterina. P. anatoliensis is intermediate between the two eurypteroid families, as is ‘Eurypterus’ minor from the Pentland Hills of Scotland, which is shown to be a distinct genus and assigned to Pentlandopterus gen. nov. Using the phylogenetic topology to infer ghost ranges for each of the major eurypterid clades reveals that the majority of eurypterid superfamilies must have originated by the Katian, indicating a largely unsampled record of Ordovician eurypterids. The occurrence of poor dispersers such as Paraeurypterus in the Ordovician of Gondwana is puzzling, and it has been suggested that they dispersed to the continent during periods of sea level lowstand in the Sandbian and Hirnantian, however this does not explain the lack of Ordovician species in North America and Europe, given the well-sampled nature of these continents, and an alternative is proposed whereby eurypterids originated in Gondwana and radiated out to Laurentia and Baltica in the late Ordovician and early Silurian, thus explaining their sudden appearance in the European and North American rock record.     

Petrogenesis of the ü?kap?l? Granitoid and its Mafic Enclaves in Elmal? Area (Ni?de, Central Anatolia, Turkey)

The Late Cretaceous ükapili Granitoid including mafic microgranular enclaves intruded into metapelitic and metabasic rocks, and overlain unconformably by Neogene ignimbrites in the Ni de area of Turkey. It is mostly granite and minor granodiorite in composition, whereas its enclaves are dominantly gabbro with a few diorites in composition. The ükapili Granitoid is composed mainly of quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase, biotite, muscovite and minor amphibole while its enclaves contain mostly plagioclase, amphibole, minor pyroxene and biotite. The ükapili Granitoid has calcalkaline and peraluminous (A/CNK= 1.0-1.3) geochemical characteristics. It is characterized by high LILE/HFSE and LREE/HREE ratios ((La/Lu) N = 3-33), and has negative Ba, Ta, Nb and Eu anomalies, resembling those of collision granitoids. The ükapili Granitoid has relatively high 87Sr/86Sr (i) ratios (0.711189-0.716061) and low εNd (t) values (-5.13 to -7.13), confirming crustal melting. In contrast, the enclaves are tholeiitic and metaluminous, and slightly enriched in LILEs (K, Rb) and Th, and have negative Ta, Nb and Ti anomalies; propose that they were derived from a subduction-modified mantle source. Based on mineral and whole rock chemistry data, the ükapili granitoid is H-(hybrid) type, post-collision granitoid developed by mixing/mingling processes between crustal melts and mantle-derived mafic magmas.     

Wavelet regression model as an alternative to neural networks for monthly streamflow forecasting

The accuracy of the wavelet regression (WR) model in monthly streamflow forecasting is investigated in the study. The WR model is improved combining the two methods—the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) model and the linear regression (LR) model—for 1‐month‐ahead streamflow forecasting. In the first part of the study, the results of the WR model are compared with those of the single LR model. Monthly flow data from two stations, Gerdelli Station on Canakdere River and Isakoy Station on Goksudere River, in Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey are used in the study. The comparison results reveal that the WR model could increase the forecast accuracy of the LR model. In the second part of the study, the accuracy of the WR model is compared with those of the artificial neural networks (ANN) and auto‐regressive (AR) models. On the basis of the results, the WR is found to be better than the ANN and AR models in monthly streamflow forecasting. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of the origin of the Helvadere drinking springs by means of hydrochemical and isotopic techniques, Aksaray, Central Anatolia, Turkey

The main aquifer of the Helvadere springs that emerges on the strike-slip of the Hasanda?? fault set alongside the Tuzgölü (salt lake) fault zone, and trends in a NW–SE direction of Aksaray city, in the western part of Central Anatolia, is the exposed rocks of Hasanda?? which are volcanics that have distinct hydrogeological properties. The meteoric origin of the spring waters is deduced from hydrochemical and environmental isotope (¹⁸O, ²H, ³H) studies. The springs have high discharge (Q>100?l/s) and low ion concentrations because of fast circulation along the groundwater flow path in the aquifer. Furthermore, because it has Ca-Na-Mg-HCO₃ hydrochemical facies, it conforms to high standards of drinking and irrigation water.     

Jewish settlement and its economic impact on the West Bank, 1967–1987

This paper focuses on the process of Jewish settlement in the West Bank and its economic consequences in the period from 1967 to the outbreak of the Intifada late in 1987. It attempts to show that this process is the practical application of Israeli objectives which are based on expansion and occupation of neighbouring Arab lands, facilitated by the fashioning of a dual or bifurcate economy there.After the war of June 1967, Israeli occupation authorities started to draw up plans with a view to settling Jews in the West Bank. There has been an increase in the numbers of settlements and settlers, estimated at 122 and 52,000 respectively in 1987. The pattern of settlement distribution is randomly dispersed, although it is concentrated in a region located to the NW of Jerusalem. The settlement began in the Jordan valley and extended gradually westward in the highlands.Jewish settlement has affected economic development of the West Bank, where there were many constraints on Arab agriculture and industry. Inequality is evident between settlers and Palestinians in an economy that has been structurally bifurcated: although settlers represent about 3% of total population of the West Bank, their economic activity constitutes at least 35% of the GDP of the West Bank.     

Environmental effect and genetic influence: a regional cancer predisposition survey in the Zonguldak region of Northwest Turkey

The Cretaceous-Eocene volcano-sedimentary units of the Zonguldak region of the western Black Sea consist of subalkaline andesite and tuff, and sandstone dominated by smectite, kaolinite, accessory chlorite, illite, mordenite, and analcime associated with feldspar, quartz, opal-CT, amphibole, and calcite. Kaolinization, chloritization, sericitization, albitization, Fe–Ti-oxidation, and the presence of zeolite, epidote, and illite in andesitic rocks and tuffaceous materials developed as a result of the degradation of a glass shards matrix, enclosed feldspar, and clinopyroxene-type phenocrysts, due to alteration processes. The association of feldspar and glass with smectite and kaolinite, and the suborientation of feldspar-edged, subparallel kaolinite plates to fracture axes may exhibit an authigenic smectite or kaolinite. Increased alteration degree upward in which Al, Fe, and Ti are gained, and Si, Na, K, and Ca are depleted, is due to the alteration following possible diagenesis and hydrothermal activities. Micromorphologically, fibrous mordenite in the altered units and the presence of needle-type chrysotile in the residential buildings in which cancer cases lived were detected. In addition, the segregation pattern of cancer susceptibility in the region strongly suggested an environmental effect and a genetic influence on the increased cancer incidence in the region. The most likely diagnosis was Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which is one of the hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes; however, no mutations were observed in the p53 gene, which is the major cause of Li-Fraumeni syndrome. The micromorphology observed in the altered units in which cancer cases were detected may have a role in the expression of an unidentified gene, but does not explain alone the occurrence of cancer as a primary cause in the region.     

Land-based sources of pollution along the Izmit Bay and their effect on the coastal waters

The degree and the contribution of each point source to the pollution were determined in the Izmit Bay during the period 1999–2000. During 8 campaigns, samples from 11 points in the channels and water samples from 5 points in the coastal sea were collected for chemical analysis. The important pollutant parameters taken into account are inflow of total organic carbon (TOC), total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), nitrate, ortho-phosphate, ammonia and total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (t-PAHs) in the discharge channels, and TOC, TSS, nitrate, ortho-phosphate, chlorophyll-a, temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), and salinity in the coastal stations of the Bay. It should be pointed out that the industrial wastewaters entering the bay are partially treated but domestic wastes are discharged directly into the surface waters without any treatment. Of the pollution parameters measured in the channels, the highest concentrations, except TP, were observed in the Dil River and in the Eastern Channel. Concentrations of TOC, TSS, TN, TP, ammonia, nitrate and o-phosphate were found at concentrations of 231, 290, 152, 3.8, 16, 79, and 3.07 mg/L, respectively. Annual inflows of TOC were 21,301, 580, and 775 t/year and for TSS were 26,742, 585, and 1505 t/year in the western, central and eastern parts, respectively. The results show that the water quality of the bay has been deteriorated and 80% of the pollution was caused by Dil River for all parameters measured.     

Enzymological classification of salt lakes in Romania

Sediments of 56 salt lakes from Romania were studied enzymologically. The following 7 enzymatic and nonenzymatic catalytic activities have been measured: phosphatase, H₂O₂-splitting in nonautoclaved (catalase) and autoclaved samples, TTC reduction in nonautoclaved (dehydrogenase) and autoclaved samples, without or with glucose addition. A formula is proposed for the evaluation of the enzymatic potential of salt lake sediments or other habitats. A hierarchy of the studied lakes has been established on the basis of the enzymatic potential of their sediments expressed as enzymatic indicator.