Iraqi National Journal of Earth Science

Previously, the basin of Tanjero Formation (Campanian-Maastrichtian) has been given the setting of trench or miogeosyncline in which turbidite sedimentation had occurred. In the present study, conversely, many sedimentary structures are found that shows shallow environment of the lower and upper part of Tanjero Formation.These sedimentary structures revealed that during deposition of these parts the sea level is so lowered that the sediments are affected repeatedly by storms surges. These storms reworked sediments to form storm deposits (Tempestite) or to be transported to deeper water and deposited as turbidite. The recoded sedimentary structures are such as hummocky- cross stratification, interference and longitudinal ripple marks, plant debris
and grass body fossils in addition to clean sandstone (Arenite).

Sinjar Mountain is situated to the north-west of Iraq, which is one of the important sites of the range lands in the country. Many recent studies and researches in the world have shown the possibility of using means and technology of remote sensing in the determination and evaluation of cases of vegetation cover degradation depending on the normalized differences vegetation index (NDVI) and on the other vegetation indexes.
The study included the use of visual interpretation methods in the analysis of landsat images with (MSS) and (TM) systems, which are taken in different periods of time during the year seasons and with different spectral bands (1,2,3,4,7) for Sinjar Mountain and Badyat Al-Jazeera. The correlation between vegetation indexes such as simple ratio (SR), vegetation index (VI), normalized differences vegetation index (NDVI) and soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) were studied through the calculation of spectral reflectences values with different wave lengths.
The results showed the presence of strong relation between the density of vegetation cover and the evaluation of deterioration state with the reflection values with the red spectral band. It has also been found that there is a strong correlation between the values of (NDVI) and the density of vegetation cover and the degradation of range lands, in addition to the influence of sloping degree and direction in Sinjar Mountain on the (NDVI) calculated values.

Dissolution rate (K) of gypsum rocks of Fat'ha Formation (Middle Miocene) was determined at three different environments; closed system, that is still water and open system, that is flowing water and river water.
In closed system, the dissolution rate is not a constant; it increases as the concentration (C) of the dissolving solution. In an open system, dissolution rate is a constant at constant flow velocity (V) and given temperature (T). It increases with an increase of either of them; however, the effect of (V) on (K) is much more pronounced than that of (T).
Published data on the value of dissolution rate (K), based on laboratory experiments, are exaggerated by a factor of (4.1) to (4.6) compared with values of the present study. This is possibly due to the fact that these data represent dissolution through fissures in gypsum rocks and being far from natural environments for gypsum dissolution.

Low grade kaolin is converted to monolith hydroxysodalite dihydrate by hydrothermal treatment with 10M NaOH solution i.e., higher Na concentration, Na/Si =1.3. The X-ray diffraction and infrared methods are used to determine the chemical formula of cured material which is Na8Al6Si6O24(OH)2.2H2O. The CEC values do not correlate with that of SSA values, where for uncured kaolin the CEC have increased from 6.52 to 89.13 meq/100g for the cured kaolin or synthetic hydroxysodalite; on the other hand, the SSA values have decreased from 87 to 10 m2/g. An adsorption experiment shows that the expansion of the framework of hydroxysodalite is due to the replacement of Na+ by Pb2+; moreover, about 91% of Pb is effectively removed. To get optimum
removal, the solution must be buffered to about pH=4.5.

The Kalar town which is situated at the north east of Iraq was chosen for the investigations of the effect of rapid population increase on the quality of groundwater. The results showed that there are slight changes in ion concentrations due to dilution by rainfall. Pollutions with nitrate, phosphate and fluoride were detected in some water samples. The chemical relationships in expanded Durov, Chadha diagram, and Gibbs diagrams suggested that the groundwaters mainly belong to Ca-HCO3 type, and are controlled by chemical weathering of rock-forming minerals. Areal contour maps for electrical conductivity and ion distributions have shown that water samples from the town center are relatively rich in these values compared with other places in the town. This is attributed to the anthropogenic activity. A comparison of the groundwater quality in relation to drinking water quality standards proves that most of the water samples are suitable for drinking. US Salinity Laboratory’s diagrams, used for evaluating the water quality for irrigation and indicated that the majority of the groundwater samples are good for drinking, irrigation, and suitable for some industries like textile, chemical pulp but not paper industry.

A two-dimensional numerical based model is constructed to simulate the flow system of Dibdibba Sandy aquifer in Safwan-Zubair area, south of Iraq. A trial and error method is used to calibrate the model in two sequential stages: steady and transient states. Sensitivity analysis showed that the model is sensitive and less sensitive to change hydraulic conductivity and specific yield, respectively. The calibrated model is utilized to predict behavior of the aquifer over a planning horizon of 10 years (2001-2010) under two management alternatives. Based on the management alternative I which is depending on the fact that the operating wells is growing with a rate of 200 wells per year, a continuous decline of groundwater levels will occur if the model is run without recharging the aquifer. Average decline of head is of about (2 m). In the application of artificial recharge, the case is reversed. In most of the observation wells, the values of simulated head are rise and then decline gradually to a level that observed in the beginning of simulation period. The average rise in water table altitudes is (0.56 m). The results of the alternative II, which is depending on increase of discharge of each operating wells within the area of concern from 5 ℓ/s to 7 ℓ/s, are similar the first alternative where the averages decline and rise of water table altitudes are (0.85 and 0.88 m) respectively.

ABSTRACT
The genus Vallatisporites Hacquebard emend. Sullivan 1964b is studied in detail due to it's biostratigraphical and paleogeographical significance in the Carboniferous strata on a global scale. This cosmopolitan genus is widely used in chronostratigraphy and many of its species are used as a zonal fossils in different zonal schemes.
The common occurrence of the majority of the species belonging to this genus in the Carboniferous strata recorded in two boreholes in Iraq (Akkas-1 and Kh5/1), demanded detail study. Samples from borehole Akkas–1 which represented Lower Carboniferous (Late Visean–Early Namurian) age were critical to this study because they contained most of the Vallatisporites index species, especially the distinctive indemic, index species V.agadesi for the Visean / Namurian age in the North Africa and Middle East (including Iraq).
The present study provided an additional existence of the most zonal Vallatisporites spp. in the world, the ranges of some key forms of Vallatisporites in Iraq, neighboring areas and North Africa are different from those observed elsewhere which reflect that Iraq, adjacent areas and North Africa belong to the same phytogeographical province during the carboniferous period. In addition to that we take in to consideration the recent differentiation between V. pusilletes and V. hystricosus by the Vallatisporites Group and we consider all the Vallatisporites pusilletis recorded in the two boreholes studied as V. hystricosus. The botanical affinities of the genus Vallatisporites is Pteridophytes (Lycopsids).

Thermal band is generally not applied for land use classification, in the application of remote sensing, due to its inferior spatial resolution. However, thermal band data possess valuable informations, especially in the expression of the temperature of the Earth's surface and land cover and hence cannot be neglected.
The present study aims at the interpretation of data within the thermal band in the land use classification after merging with other bands and by using wavelet transform method.
The study focuses on two main parts; the first is the use of Mahalanobis Distance (Mah) method for land use classification. The method gave good results when applied to multi-spectral TM images of Mosul city, in comparison with other conventional methods. The second part is the adoption of a new method for merging thermal band TM6 with the remaining bands, on the basis of wavelet transform and the use of different wavelet filters such as Daubechies ('db4'), Symlet ('sym4'), and Coiflet ('coif4').
Finally, the method of merging thermal band with other band and using wavelete transform is compared with other conventional methods, like principle component analyses (PCA). It was noted that using wavelet transform, the classification accuracy is better. The best results are obtained in the third level, when using 'db4' wavelet filter. It has also been noted that urban areas are completely separated from the barren regions, in addition to the separation of different agricultural regions. This means that the thermal band informations are of great value in the classification of land use.