Devastated by the combined impact of massive drainage works and upstream damming since the 1980's, Al-Hammar Marsh, Southern Iraq, has completely collapsed with 94 % of its land cover transformed into bare land and salt crusts by 2000. After a policy initiated to restore the Iraqi marshes again in 2003, the marsh recovered about half of its former area. As a part of the ecological recovery assessment of this newly inundated marsh, it is important to investigate the extend impact of desiccation after 3 years of inundation on water quality as the latter plays an important role in the restoration process of the marshes. Therefore, from a restoration point of view, major and trace element distribution and sourcing as well as seasonal variations were studied in the re-flooded marsh of Al-Hammar. First, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index [1] analyses applied revealed threatened or impaired water quality and conditions in the marsh that depart from natural or desirable levels. Second, multivariate statistical techniques such as Agglomerative Hierarchal Cluster Analyses (AHCA) that were used to analyze the data and identify the possible sources of water pollution in the marsh indicated that some elements such as Ca, SO4, Mg, TDS, Cl, Na, Co, and Ni are associated with natural sourcing while other elements such as Cd, Zn, Pb, and turbidity indicated a possible anthropogenic sourcing. Third, seasonal variations investigation displayed that the water quality is affected by natural seasonal processes such as evaporation and rainfall as well as biological activities. Dry season exhibited an increase in TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, SO4, and Cd due to the concentration by evaporation during the season compared to the dilution by rainfall during the wet season. In contrast, BOD and DO levels showed a considerable decrease in dry season owing to the poor water ability to hold oxygen at high temperature as a result of higher rate of microbial metabolism.
One eighth of the bird species in the world is considered globally threatened; the avifauna of Iraq comprises 409 species and is considered as the major indicator of the health of Iraq’s biological resources. The Iraqi geography falls into five main regions among which is the desert and semi-desert areas which cover much of the country area. Al-Najaf desert is still one of the poorly known regions from the biodiversity point of view. Birds of conservation concern are detected in Al-Najaf desert during 31 field trips to 20 sites conducted from August 2018 to April 2020, (citing literature records, and personal interviews with locals).The factors caused the bird numbers to decline in Al-Najaf desert include hunting and trapping, logging,
... Show MoreThe Climatic parameters for the years (1985-2015) were collected from Baghdad
meteorological station and then were applied to evaluate the climatic conditions for
the Al-Yusufyiah area south Baghdad. The total annual rainfall is (119.65 mm),
while the total annual evaporation is (3201.7 mm), relative humidity is (43.62%),
sunshine (8.76 h/day), temperature (23.28 C◦) and wind speed (3.06 m/sec). Climate
of the study area is described as an arid according to classification of (Kettaneh and
Gangopadhyaya, 1974), (Mather, 1973), and (Al-Kubaisi, 2004). Mean monthly
water surplus for the period (1985-2015) was recorded in the study area about (4.7
mm) in November, (11.67 mm) in December, (20.56 mm) in January and (6
Twenty-five groundwater samples from the Al-Zubair area, southern Iraq, were analyzed for physical and chemical variables. The study showed that the groundwater is of acidic type and in it tends towards light alkalinity. Both electrical conductivity and the total dissolved solids showed increased concentrations of sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium and sulfate, chloride, bicarbonate, and nitrate. The hydrochemical formula for most groundwater wells are (Ca-Cl), (Ca-SO4), (Mg-SO4), and (Na-Cl) type due to the high concentrations of these ions in the water., it was found that this water is not suitable for human drinking. Due to its high salinity compared to the requirements of international standard and Iraqi standa
... Show MorePolish Academy of Sciences
Aquatic macrophyte communities and environmental factors were studied at four Al-Hawizeh marsh sites from December 2017 until November 2018. Quantitative data from thirty species of aquatic plants were collected to investigate density, vegetation cover, biomass and their relationship to the environmental factors. For emerging plants, relative abundance reached the highest values (36%) than submerged and wet species, while free-floating plants produced the lowest value (17%).Physical and chemical properties have been studied including water temperature ranging from 11.3 ° C in January to 31.4 ° C in August, dissolved oxygen (DO)ranging from 1.88 mg/L in September to 10.5 mg / L in Ap
Al-Salhubia, area is located within the arid region in southern Iraq. Although no surface water is available in this area, the groundwater is considered the basis in the area, it is available in both good quality and quantity. For that reason, it is of prime importance to examine water type in the unconfined aquifer to determine suitability of groundwater for irrigation purposes. The groundwater type in the studied area is Ca-Mg dominant SO4 facies according to Piper and Stiff diagrams. Based on SAR, Na%, RSC, EC, and PI, the groundwater quality in the study area is suitable for irrigation in general.
The Mishrif and Yamama Formation are the main reservoirs in the Garraf oilfield, Nasiriyah city, of the Euphrates Subzone, Mesopotamian Basin, Southern Iraq. The Garraf oilfield structural pattern corresponds with the similar anticline forming the oilfields of Rafidain and Dujaila and is parallel to the main trend of Zagros, indicating simple coaxial deformation.
The petrophysical properties are evaluated using the Interactive Petrophysics V3.5 software. This comprises determining the lithology, mineralogy, and matrix for the investigated reservoirs, as estimating clay volume, total, effective, and secondary porosity, water saturation, permeability, and determining the net pay and gross thickness.
The findings of t
... Show MoreFor hydrochemical assessment of water resources at Baquba City, Diyala Governorate, four surface water samples were collected from the Diyala River and eight groundwater samples inside the city of Baquba. The samples were collected in the two periods, the dry period in October 2018 and the wet period in February 2019. The pH, EC, TH, turbidity, the major ions and trace elements (Fe, Cu, Co, Cd, Pb, Zn and Ni) were investigated. The results showed that the surface and groundwater are turbid, very hard and slightly brackish to moderately saltine in the groundwater, while it is hard to very hard and fresh in surface water. Heavy element analyzes revealed contamination of surface water samples and groundwater with the elements Cadmi
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