High resolution facies architecture and digital outcrop modeling of the Sandakan formation sandstone reservoir,Borneo:Implications for reservoir characterization and flow simulation

Advances in photogrammetry have eased the acquisition of high-resolution digital information from outcrops, enabling faster, non-destructive data capturing and improved reservoir modeling. Geocellular models for flow dynamics with in the virtual outcrop in siliciclastic deposits at different sets of sandstone facies architecture remain, however, a challenge. Digital maps of bedding, lithological contrast, spatial-temporal variations of bedding and permeability characteristics make it more easy to understand flow tortuosity in a particular architecture. An ability to precisely model these properties can improve reservoir characterization and flow modeling at different scales. Here we demonstrate the construction of realistic 2 D sandstone facies based models for a pragmatic simulation of flow dynamics using a combination of digital point clouds dataset acquired from LiDAR and field investigation of the Sandakan Formation, Sabah, Borneo.Additionally, we present methods for enhancing the accuracy of outcrop digital datasets for producing high resolution flow simulation. A well-exposed outcrop from the Sandakan Formation, Sabah, northwest Borneo having a lateral extent of 750 m was chosen in order to implement our research approach. Sandstone facies and its connectivity are well constrained by outcrop observations, data from air-permeability measurements, bilinear interpolation of permeability, grid construction and water vector analysis for flow dynamics.These proportions were then enumerated in terms of static digital outcrop model(DOM) and facies model based on sandstone facies bedding characteristics. Flow simulation of water vector analysis through each of the four sandstone facies types show persistent spatial correlation of permeability that align with either cross-bedded orientation or straight with more dispersion high quality sandstone(porosity 21.25%-41.2%and permeability 1265.20-5986.25 mD) and moderate quality sandstone(porosity 10.44%-28.75% and permeability 21.44-1023.33 mD). Whereas, in more heterolithic sandstone(wavy-to flaser-bedded and bioturbated sandstone), lateral variations in permeability show spatially non-correlated patterns over centimeters to tens of meters with mostly of low quality sandstone(porosity 3.4%-12.31% and permeability < 1 mD to 3.21 mD). These variations reflect the lateral juxtaposition in flow dynamics. It has also been resulted that the vertical connectivity and heterogeneities in terms of flow are mostly pragmatic due to the interconnected sandstone rather than the quality of sandstone.     

Impact of climate change on runoff in Lake Urmia basin,Iran

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Investigation of the impact of climate change on water resources is very necessary in dry and arid regions. In the first part of this paper, the climate model...     

Socio-hydrological framework for investigating farmers’ activities affecting the shrinkage of Urmia Lake; hybrid data mining and agent-based modelling

ABSTRACT

Developing a general framework to capture the complexities associated with the non-linear and adaptive nature of farmers facing water resources scarcity is a challenging problem. This paper integrates agent-based modelling (ABM) and a data mining method to develop a hybrid socio-hydrological framework to provide future insights for policy-makers. The data associated with the farmers’ main characteristics were collected through field surveys and interviews. Afterwards, the association rule was employed to discover the main patterns representing the farmers’ agricultural decisions. The discovered patterns were then used as the behavioural rules in ABM to simulate the agricultural activities. The proposed framework has been was applied to explore the interactions between agricultural activities and the main river feeding the Urmia-Lake, Iran. The outcomes indicate that farmers’ acquisitive traits and belongings have significant impacts on their socio-hydrological interactions. The reported values of the efficiency criteria may support the satisfactory performance of the proposed framework.     

Impact of rock-water interactions and recharge on water resources quality of the Agadir-Essaouira basin,southwestern Morocco

The Agadir-Essaouira area in the occidental High Atlas Mountains of Morocco is characterized by a semi-arid climate. The scarcity and quality of water resources, exacerbated by long drought periods, constitute a major problem for a sustainable development of this region. Groundwater resources of carbonate units within Jurassic and Cretaceous aquifers are requested for drinking and irrigation purposes. In this study, we collected 84 samples from wells, boreholes, springs, and rivers. Hydrochemical and isotopic data were used to examine the mineralization and origin of water, which control groundwater quality. The chemical composition of water seems to be controlled by water-rock interactions, such as dissolution of carbonates (calcite and dolomite), weathering of gypsum, as well as ion exchange processes, which explain the observed variability. Stable isotopes results show that groundwater from the mainly marly Cretaceous aquifer are submitted to an evaporation effect, while samples from the chiefly calcareous Jurassic aquifer indicate a meteoric origin, due to a rapid infiltration of recharge runoff through the karstic outcrops. The low values of δ¹⁸O and δ²H suggest a local recharge from areas with elevations ranging from 400 to 1200 m for the Cretaceous aquifer and from 800 to 1500 m for the Jurassic units.     

Wave data assimilation using a hybrid approach in the Persian Gulf

The main goal of this study is to develop an efficient approach for the assimilation of the hindcasted wave parameters in the Persian Gulf. Hence, the third generation SWAN model was employed for wave modeling forced by the 6-h ECMWF wind data with a resolution of 0.5°. In situ wave measurements at two stations were utilized to evaluate the assimilation approaches. It was found that since the model errors are not the same for wave height and period, adaptation of model parameter does not result in simultaneous and comprehensive improvement of them. Therefore, an approach based on the error prediction and updating of output variables was employed to modify wave height and period. In this approach, artificial neural networks (ANNs) were used to estimate the deviations between the simulated and measured wave parameters. The results showed that updating of output variables leads to significant improvement in a wide range of the predicted wave characteristics. It was revealed that the best input parameters for error prediction networks are mean wind speed, mean wind direction, wind duration, and the wave parameters. In addition, combination of the ANN estimated error with numerically modeled wave parameters leads to further improvement in the predicted wave parameters in contrast to direct estimation of the parameters by ANN.     

Building frequency fluctuations from continuous monitoring of ambient vibrations and their relationship to temperature variations

Building frequencies (fundamental and higher modes) are a critical parameter especially in the field of structural health monitoring mainly based on the stability of the structural dynamic parameters of individual building (frequencies, damping and modes shape). One of the most used methods to find out these parameters is based on the use on ambient vibration analysis. In this work, we study the fluctuations over a month period of the fundamental frequencies (transverse and longitudinal) of a 3.5-story RC-building made of 2 identical units connected by a structural joint. Time independent building frequencies is a strong assumption; as illustrated by our experiment showing that over an observation period of a month, building frequencies fluctuate of about 3.5 %. A clear correlation is found between the building frequency fluctuations and temperature variations, with a phase-shift interpreted as the characteristic time of heat diffusion within the walls. This allows: (1) determining the thermal diffusivity of the structure, (2) inferring its relative stiffness variations, and (3) showing that its Young modulus varies linearly with temperature.     

Geomorphic response to an active transpressive regime: a case study along the Chaman strike‐slip fault,western Pakistan

The Chaman left‐lateral strike‐slip fault bounds the rigid Indian plate boundary at the western end of the Himalayan‐Tibetan orogen and is marked by contrasting topographic relief. Deformed landforms along the fault provide an excellent record for understanding this actively evolving intra‐continental strike‐slip fault. The geomorphic response of an active transpessional stretch of the Chaman fault was studied using digital elevation model (DEM) data integrated with Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Visible and Near Infrared/Short Wave Infrared (VNIR/SWIR) and images from GeoEye‐1. Geologic and geomorphic mapping helped in reconstructing the Late Quaternary landscape history of this transpessional strand of the Chaman strike‐slip fault and the associated Spinatizha thrust fault in western Pakistan. Topographic analysis of a part of the transpression (the thrust bounded Roghani ridge) revealed northward growth of the Spinatizha fault with the presence of three water gaps and two corresponding wind gaps. Geomorphic indices including stream length‐gradient index, mountain front sinuosity, valley floor width to valley height ratios, and entrenchment of recent alluvial fan deposits were used to define the lateral growth and direction of propagation of the Spinatizha fault. Left‐lateral displacement along Chaman fault and uplift along the Spinatizha fault was defined using topographic analysis of the Roghani ridge and geomorphic mapping of an impressive alluvial fan, the Bostankaul fan. The landforms and structures record slip partitioning along the Indian plate boundary, and account for the convergence resulting from the difference in the Chaman fault azimuth and orientation of the velocity vector of the Indian plate. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

SWAT-based hydrological modelling of tropical land-use scenarios

Abstract

The Hulu Langat basin, a strategic watershed in Malaysia, has in recent decades been exposed to extensive changes in land-use and consequently hydrological conditions. In this work, the impact of Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) on hydrological conditions (water discharge and sediment load) of the basin were investigated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Four land-use scenarios were defined for land-use change impact analysis, i.e. past, present (baseline), future and water conservation planning. The land-use maps, dated 1984, 1990, 1997 and 2002, were defined as the past scenarios for LUCC impact analysis. The present scenario was defined based on the 2006 land-use map. The 2020 land-use map was simulated using a cellular automata-Markov model and defined as the future scenario. Water conservation scenarios were produced based on guidelines published by Malaysia’s Department of Town and Country Planning and Department of Environment. Model calibration and uncertainty analysis was performed using the Sequential Uncertainty Fitting (SUFI-2) algorithm. The model robustness for water discharge simulation for the period 1997–2008 was good. However, due to uncertainties, mainly resulting from intense urban development in the basin, its robustness for sediment load simulation was only acceptable for the calibration period 1997–2004. The optimized model was run using different land-use maps over the periods 1997–2008 and 1997–2004 for water discharge and sediment load estimation, respectively. In comparison to the baseline scenario, SWAT simulation using the past and conservative scenarios showed significant reduction in monthly direct runoff and monthly sediment load, while SWAT simulation based on the future scenario showed significant increase in monthly direct runoff, monthly sediment load and groundwater recharge.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor C. Perrin     

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers and their methoxylated analogs in mullet (Mugil cephalus) and sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) from Bizerte Lagoon, Tunisia

Concentrations of ten polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and eight methoxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (MeO-PBDEs) in mullet (Mugil cephalus) and sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) collected from the Bizerte Lagoon and the Mediterranean Sea were investigated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of these compounds in marine fishes from Tunisia. The PBDE mean concentrations in fish from Bizerte Lagoon were 45.3 and 96.2 ng g(-1) lw respectively in mullet and sea bass, while the concentrations of these compounds in mullet and sea bass from Mediterranean Sea were 7.80 and 27.9 ng g(-1) lw respectively. MeO-PBDE concentrations in mullet and sea bass from Bizerte Lagoon ranged from 6.46 to 286 ng g(-1) lw and from 49.4 to 798 ng g(-1) lw respectively, while the concentrations of these compounds in mullet and sea bass from Mediterranean Sea ranged from 190 to 401 ng g(-1) lw and from 353 to 578 ng g(-1) lw respectively. The total PBDEs and total MeO-PBDEs concentration in fish from Bizerte Lagoon were similar or slightly lower than those reported for other species from other locations around the world.     

Characterization of phosphoric acid- and lime-stabilized tropical lateritic clay

The effect of calcium-based stabilizers such as lime on the geotechnical properties of tropical soils has been reported by many researchers. However, the amount of literature available on the micro-structural, molecular, and leaching characteristics of lime and in particular phosphoric acid-stabilized lateritic clays has been limited. This research was carried out in an attempt to identify the time-dependent soil-chemical reactions. In addition, the possible mechanisms that contributed to the stabilization process were discussed in the light of various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques such as X-ray diffractometry (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDAX), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) etc. Based on the results it was found that in lime-treated samples, the coating action of free iron oxides on clay particles imposed inhibitive effects on the dissolution of clay alumina. On the other hand, in phosphoric acid-stabilized soil, due to the increase in solubility of metal oxides and also the subsequent release of clay alumina the formation of cementitious compounds were more feasible. From engineering point of view, the phosphoric acid-stabilized lateritic soil showed the highest degree of improvement with an approximately threefold strength increase in comparison with the natural soil over an 8-month curing period.