Geomorphological Mapping of Razzaza–Habbaria Area using Remote Sensing Techniques

Landforms on the earth surface are so expensive to map or monitor. Remote Sensing observations from space platforms provide a synoptic view of terrain on images. Satellite multispectral data have an advantage in that the image data in various bands can be subjected to digital enhancement techniques for highlighting contrasts in objects for improving image interpretability. Geomorphological mapping involves the partitioning of the terrain into conceptual spatial entities based upon criteria. This paper illustrates how geomorphometry and mapping approaches can be used to produce geomorphological information related to the land surface, landforms and geomorphic systems. Remote Sensing application at Razzaza–Habbaria area southwest of Razzaza Lake shows the different geomorphologic units and the land use maps that were delineated from Landsat ETM+ Image. Digital Image unsupervised classification was adopted to delineate the different classes by applying ERDAS 8.4 software. According to this classification five classes were selected and delineated in different colors

Basins and Cultivated Lands Recharge Evaluation on The Basis of Experimental & Mathematical Analysis in Hashimiya-Iraq

القياسات الرياضية والحقلية والدراسة المختبرية المعتمدة لتققيم صلاحية الاشكال الرياضية ضمنها نموذج هورتن في حساب الترشيح وهي معادلة الطاقة والمتعددة والمختلطة . العمل شمل قياسات الترشيح لمنطقة الهاشمية الواقعة وسط العراق والتي قسمت الى تسعة قطاعات اداريةهي الجربوعية ،الهاشمية ،النويدرة ،الطبرة ،ااسادة ،الزينية ،اج3،الفياضية والتياس.الدراسة الحالية أثبتت أن معادلة الطاقة هي الافضل حيث يصل معامل الارتباط 0.996 بينما للمتعددة والمختلطة وهورتن 0.947،0.958 و0.84 على التوالي. من الجدير بالذكر ، ان نموذج هورتن يعرض ترشيح اوطأ بعد الساعتين.عمق الترشيح الحقيقيي في الطبقة الحاملة التحت سطحية حسبت بالاعتماد على النماذج الحقلية والفحوصات المختبرية لنسيج التكوين الجيولوجي لتحديد المسامية لمنطقة الهاشمية.A mathematical, field measurements and laboratorial study was adopted to evaluate the validity of many mathematical forms including Horton Model for estimating infiltration rate and infiltration potential, they are; power, polynomial and mixed formulas. The work composed of infiltration field measurements for Hashyimia Region located in the middle of Iraq which for simplicity and accuracy is divided into nine administration agricultural sectors namely as; Jerboeyia, Hashyimia, Niwedra, Tebra, Sada, Zineyia, H3, Fayadhiya, and Bazul sectors. The current study proved that the power formula is the best fit to the measuring data than polynomial, mixed and Horton models since the power formula offers 0.996 correlation factor whereas polynomial, mixed and Horton offer 0.947, 0.958 and 0.84 respectively. It is worth to mention that in all cases Horton Model offers less infiltration potential after 2hrs since infiltration process is starte

Impact of Climate Changes on the Hydrochemistry of Razaza Lake and Rahaliya – Shithatha Springs – Central Iraq

The climate parameters, rainfall, temperature data for more than forty years for three Iraqi meteorological stations (Baghdad, Basra, and Mosul) were studied .The results show good evidence of climate change indicated by the remarkable decrease of the average means annual rainfall in the studied stations, with the remarkable increase of the average minimum annual temperature. The impact of the climatic change on the hydrochemistry of Razaza lake and Rahaliya – Shithatha springs was obvious in increasing the water salinity as studied for years 1995 and 2013. The average mean annual rainfall for ten years intervals indicate that there were a remarkable decrease in amount of rainfall from 90 mm for the period 1992-2001 to about 71 mm for the period 2002- 2013.  The Razzaza lake water has indicated that chloride group and one major family (Chloride-sodium family) is the dominant for years 1995 and 2013 with increase of Mg ions during 2013. The Rahaliya – Shithatha springs’ water has showed that the sulphate and chloride groups are dominant for years 1995 and 2013, with increase of sulphate group to 80% during 2013. Keywords: Climatic changes, hydrochemistry, Razaza lake and Rahaliya – Shithatha springs, Iraq

EVALUATION OF IRAQI COASTS USING LITTORAL AND MARINE BIVALVE SHELLS

The geochemical analysis of both of Crassostrea cucullata and Chione californensis shells and hydrochemical analyses of water are carried out to study the environmental evaluation in the Iraqi coasts. Shells and water are collected during low tide period (March to August 2011), from seven different stations (Fadakia, Rass AlBishah, Khor Abdullah, Khor Shytianah, Hacham Island, Khor AlZubair and Shatt AlBasrah). The hydrochemical analyses reflect two zones of water salinity, Fadakia and Shatt AlBasrah of brackish water with TDS range (15148 – 18130 ppm), and the other marine coastal sites of saline water with TDS range (34123 – 45220 ppm). XRD of shells of Chione californensis reveals that they have two layers, an inner layer constitutes of aragonite and outer layer constitutes of calcite, while the shells of Crassostrea cucullata have only calcite layer. Water salinity increasing associate with increase of major chemical constituents of oyster shells. Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca values in the coastal line Crassostrea cucullata shells are higher than Fadakia and Shatt AlBasrah shells that may be due to increment of salinity in the coastal line compared with Fadakia and Shatt AlBasrah areas. Zn, Cu, Pb, Sr, and Cr metals in Khor Shytianah Crassostrea cucullata are higher than the other areas may attribute to higher contamination in this area. The chemical constituents of CaO%, MgO, Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca in Khor Shytianah and Hacham Island Chione californensis shells are higher than Khor Abdullan shells, this result may be indicator to higher salinity of sea water in Khor Shytianah and Hacham Island compare with the sea water of Khor Abdullah. Heavy metals (Co, Ni, Rb, Sr, Zn, Ba, Cr, Th, Mo, and Pb) in Khor Shytianah Chione californensis shells were more than the other shells may be due to high range of contamination of sea water by this metal

Sedimentological and diagenetic study of the Early Middle Miocene Jeribe Limestone Formation in selected wells from Iraq northern oilfields (Ajil; Hamrin; Jadid; Khashab)

Five subsurface sections covering the entire length of the Jeribe Limestone Formation (Early Middle Miocene) were studied from four oilfields in northern Iraq. It is hoped to unravel this formation microfacies ; depositional environment; diagenetic attributes and their parental processes; and the relationship between these processes and the observed porosity patterns. The microfacies were found to include mudstone, wackestone, packstone, and grainstone, which have been deposited respectively in open platform, restricted platform, and edge platform which represent the lagoonal environment, while the deposits of the lower parts of the Jeribe formation especially in well Hamrin- 2 reflect a deeper fore slope environment. By using the lithofacies association concepts, the depositional model of the Jeribe Formation was built. From a reservoir point of view, the formation suffered from two groups of diagenetic processes. The first one includes the porosity destructive ones such as cementation; compaction; mechanical degradation; anhydritization; and silicification. The second group include porosity enhancers ones which to include dissolution; and dolomitization

HYDROCHEMICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE FEED WATER IN THE WESTERN PART OF HUWAIZA MARSH, MAISSAN GOVERNORATE, SOUTH OF IRAQ

The aim of this study is to evaluate the hydrochemistry of the western part of Huwaiza Marsh, in Maissan Governorate; southern Iraq. This study was conducted during April to August 2013, where 13 stations have been selected: four stations represent the feed water and nine stations located in the western part of Huwaiza Marsh. The total dissolved solids (TDS) range from (1175 to 1387) mg/L and from (1594 to 2481) mg/L for the feed water and Huwaiza Marsh water, respectively. Electrical conductivity (EC) values for the feed water and Huwaiza Marsh range from (1782 to 2400) μs/cm for the former and from (2630 to 3517) μs/cm for the later. The pH values range from (7.7 to 8.2) for the feed water and from (7.4 to 7.5) for the Huwaiza Marsh water. The results of chemicals analysis of dissolved cations and anions (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, Cl-, SO42-, HCO3- and NO3-) showed different values, and the concentration is decreasing during winter season, because of the high water levels, and increasing during the summer season due to low water levels. The marsh water is unsuitable for human drinking, because most of the variable’s rates exceeded the permissible limits and they are acceptable grade for livestock and poultry

ASSESSMENT OF GROUNDWATER QUALITY FOR DRINKING IN TUZ KHURMATU AREA, SALAHADDEN GOVERNORATE – IRAQ

The results of climatic data that obtained from Tuz Khurmatu meteorological station show actual evidence in the climatic changes, which are indicated by remarkable decreases in the means of annual rainfall, relative humidity percentages and with increases of the means of annual minimum and maximum temperatures. The unconfined aquifer of Adaim river basin is recharged mainly from rain water. Since this source is scarce, the aquifer gains its water slowly in a rate less than the rate of losing by both evaporation and abstraction wells. The water Quality Index (WQI) has been used to assess suitability of groundwater quality for human drinking purpose in Tuz Khurmatu area. Groundwater samples were collected in September (2010) and March (2011) from twenty wells and analyzed for their physicochemical characteristics such as pH, total dissolved solids, Electrical Conductivity, sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, bicarbonate, sulphate, chloride and nitrate. Each parameter was compared with its standard permissible limit as prescribed by Iraqi drinking water standards. The results showed that WQI values for the groundwater of the study area ranged from 27.25 to 139.81. Based on the WQI classification majority of the samples are falling under excellent to good water category and suitable for drinking water purpose

A MODIFIED WATER INJECTION TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE OIL RECOVERY: MISHRIF CARBONATE RESERVOIRS IN SOUTHERN IRAQ OIL FIELDS, CASE STUDY

A modified water injection technique has organized by this study to improve oil recovery of the Mishrif reservoirs using polymerized alkaline surfactant water (PAS-Water) injection. It is planned to modify the existing water injection technology, first to control and balance the hazardous troublemaker reservoir facies of fifty-micron pore sizes with over 500 millidarcies permeability, along with the non-troublemaker types of less than twenty micron pore sizes with 45 to 100 millidarcies permeability. Second to control Mishrif reservoirs rock-wettability. Special core analysis under reservoir conditions of 2250 psi and 90 °C has carried out on tens of standard core plugs with heterogeneous buildup, using the proposed renewal water flooding mechanism. The technique assures early PAS-water injection to delay the water-breakthrough from 0.045 – 0.151 pore volumes water injected with 8 – 25% oil recovery, into 0.15 – 0.268 pore volumes water injected with 18 to 32% improved oil recovery. As well as, crude oil-in-water divertor injection after breakthrough, within 0.3 to oil0.65 – 0.85-pore volume of water injected to decrease water cut 1 four 0 to 15%. The overall progress of the PAS-water injection has achieved residual oil mobility of 65%, and upgraded the 35 – 50% oil recovery range by less than three pore volume water injected with 20 – 60% water cut, compared with the same oil recovery range by more than ten pore volume water injected with around 70% water cut. The ultimate oil recovery improved by this technique is from 70% via more than 20 pore volume water injected with over 95% water cut by usual water injection, to 85 – 90% via 6.4 pore volume water injected with over 90% water cut by the modified water injection. The technique succeeded to lower the end-point mobility ratio to 1.5 from above five by usual water injection. It is highly recommended to use ten micron mesh filter at the main injection site and four or five micron mesh filter at the injector sites; to avoid more than 80% of the suspended particles and save as much as possible the overall reservoir facies from permeability damage

Global assessment of sand and dust storms

The specific objectives of the assessment are to: 1) Synthesise and highlight the environmental and socio-economic causes and impacts of SDS, as well as available technical measures for their mitigation, at the local, regional and global levels; 2) Show how the mitigation of SDS can yield multiple sustainable development benefits; 3) Synthesize information on current policy responses for mitigating SDS and 4) Present options for an improved strategy for mitigating SDS at the local, regional and global levels, building on existing institutions and agreements

Assessment of Contamination along the Tigris River from Tharthar-Tigris Canal to Azizziyah, Middle of Iraq

The Tigris River is the second-longest river in Western Asia and runs through heavily populated areas, especially in Baghdad city with nearly 8 million inhabitants. The water demand is at its highest levels, nevertheless the Tigris discharge has severely declined in the last decades; combined with the fact that the wastewater quantities are increasing, and the wastewater treatment plants are experiencing a deficiency. Four sites were chosen: the Tharthar-Tigris Canal which is located in the north part of Baghdad city, Baghdad city, the Diyala River conjunction with the Tigris River site, and Al-Azizziyah site in the south of Baghdad city near Kut government, to determine the effect of the decreasing Tigris River flow on the water quality and to identify the sources of pollution. In this research, the used method evaluates the concentration of the contaminants along the course of the Tigris River to determine the source of the contaminants as the novelty of this research. The data include the discharge of The Tigris River, a hydrochemical analysis, such as major ions and trace elements, and biological parameters (BOD5, COD, E. coli bacteria, and coliform bacteria MPN/100 mL) as contamination indicators. Multivariate statistical techniques (factor analysis) were applied to evaluate spatial variations, for the years 2005 to 2020, and Phreeqc software was used to assess the saturation indices determine the dominant geochemical processes source responsible for surface water quality. The dominant minerals of the Tigris River were gypsum, anhydrite, and halite. The Tigris River is within the permissible limits for drinking, except at the Tharthar-Tigris Canal and Diyala River, and the main water quality deterioration factors of the Tigris River were recognized as: total dissolved solids, E. coli bacteria, fecal coliform bacteria, BOD5, and COD. By applying the SPSS program, two factors were identified. The first anthropogenic factor discharged into the river represents 71.27% of the variance and is comprised of agricultural land wastewater and sewage water. While the second factor represents 17.02%, indicated by the variables Ca2+, K+, Mg2+, and SO42−. This factor accounts for the chemical weathering of rocky components. It is recommended that a periodic monitoring system is needed to. follow up on pollution levels and water quality for the Tigris River, by conducting seasonal surveys