Fifty five surface and subsurface soil samples were taken from the area between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers along the Main Drain course from north Baghdad to Basrah to evaluate the geochemical, physical characteristics and the probability contamination of these samples. The study area is covered by Quaternary sediments of complex alternation of sand, silt and clay. Significant variation in the textural content of the present soils is observed, where the northern and southern parts are characterized by silt predominance, while sand is prevailing in the central parts as a result of the extensive spreading of aeolian deposits represented mostly by sand dunes. Mineralogical analysis explains wide variations in the heavy minerals distribution of different origins and that all of these minerals reflect the same distribution patterns. Calcite and quartz are the minerals of non-clay fraction, whereas montmorellonite, kaolinite, and chlorite are the key clay mineral in the present soils. No geochemical anomalous concentration of the trace elements in the soils can be detected except of few locations revealing potential pollutions. Clustering technique of the surface and subsurface soils shows presence of five and six groups respectively. This confirms the complexity and diversity nature of the sedimentary environment. Discriminante analysis of the surface soils indicates that salinity and sand content are the main discriminating variables responsible for grouping the soils, whereas sand, salinity and the main oxides are the discriminating variables for grouping subsurface soils. These statistical analysis and other relations results confirm that no clear indication concerning trace element pollution can be detected in the study area soils.
Gypsiferous soil deposits (Gypcrete) are weakly consolidate earthy mixture of secondary gypsum, sand and clay. It is formed in arid and semi- arid area with annual precipitation rainfall less than 400mm. These sediments occur in surface and subsurface in region of little rainfall and rapid evaporation. This research deals with the study of gypcrete in Alexandria to improve the mineralogical and geochemical properties of the gypcrete. The gypcrete soil is used as raw material to produce the plaster for building purposes. Three samples of gypcrete were chemically and geochemically analyzed. The common mineral is howed in 0-0.5m Gypsum followed by Calcite in 0-1m and Quartz in 1-1.5m due to leaching and infiltration by rainfall as well as it
... Show MoreThe mineralogical investigation, geochemical analysis, and grain size calculation were carried out for floodplain sediment in the Tigris River to identify the properties of the sediment. The average values of the three main sediment classes, very fine sand, silt, and clay are 9.67, 62.53 and 27.80%, respectively. The silt size fraction was predominant. The classification and nomenclature of surface sediment types from the floodplain of the Tigris River are sandy-silt and mud, and they are the dominant sediment. Statistical parameters of grain size analysis refer to the average of the median values 3.74 Φ very fine sand; mean in average 6.16 Φ coarse silt; standard deviation evident by average 1.30 Φ poorly sorted, skewed; in
... Show MoreTwenty sand samples were collected from the sand dunes of Missan fields, Southeastern Iraq. Grain size distribution, mineralogical and chemical composition were studied for the total, medium, and fine-size sand fractions. The grain size analysis shows that the sand is the main component, followed by silt and trace of clay. The predominant grain size of sand is 0.250 to 0.500 mm, which forms more than 57.28 %, which indicates that these dunes were formed under the influence of relatively strong winds and the sedimentary material is close to the source. The light components are quartz, feldspar, and different rock fragments, while the heavy mineral assemblages are composed of opaque minerals, chlorite, mica, and amphiboles.
... Show MoreThe study of Shiranish Formation rocks in southern part of Iraq at Ansab area well (KH-6)
were carried out. The formation is tongued with tayarat formation, which bounded from top
and bottom, the upper tongue at thickness 49m. and tongued at depth (476-525m.) the lower
tongue at thickness 4m. tongued at (541-537m.).
The rocks of this formation were divided into three sedimentary microfacies:
1- Dolomitized formininferal Wackestone facies.
2- Dolomitized formininferal Mudstone facies.
3- Dolostone facies.
34 slides were investigated depending on mineralogical, compositional and biological
processes and compared diagenesis which reflect open marine shelf at lower part of formation
(F.Z.2) (S.M.F.8), but at the
The current study is a taxonomic account of three gastrotrich species that belong to Chaetonotidae (Phylum Gastrotricha) namely Ichthydium auritum Brunson, 1950 Lepidodermella squamata (Dujardin, 1841) and Chaetonotus anomalus Brunson, 1950. These species are registered as a new record from Iraq and were collected from several locations along the main outfall drain (MOD) in south of Baghdad, from January to December 2020. The species described in this article were found to be related to Hydrilla and Ceratophyllum and prefer environments rich in detritus and decomposing organic matter. The worms preferred water that is salty, hard, alkaline, and had good oxygen content.
The raw material soil of Al-Sowera factory quarry (quarry soil and mixture) used for building brick industry was tested mineralogically, geochemically and geotechnically. Mineral components of soil are characterized by Clay minerals (Palygoriskite and chlorite) and nonclay minerals like calcite, quratz, feldspar, gypsum and halite. The raw material is deficient in SiO2, Al2O3, K2O, Fe2O3 and MgO, while enriched in CaO. Loss on ignition and Na2O are in suitable level and appear to be concordant with the standard. Grain size analyses show that the decreasing sand and clay, and increasing silt ratio in both quarry soil and mixture caused decreasing in strength of brick during molding and after firing. The quarry soil is characterized by high p
... Show MoreFifteen samples were collected from recent sediments grouping at 80 km east Samawa City, southern Iraq. Three selected samples for grain size analysis and twelve samples for chemical and biofacies analysis. Grain size analysis indicated that the sediment is mainly composed of the silt and clay with a small amount of sand. Most of the samples considered to be as clayey silt. The dominated non clay minerals are Quartz, Calcite, and Dolomite, while the clay minerals are composed of mixed Montmorillonite- Chlorite, Palygorskite, Illite and Kaolinite. Chemical analysis showed that all samples have high concentrations of SiO2 and CaO in comparison with Al2O3, MgO, Fe2O3, K2O and N2O. The identified fauna
... Show MoreThe basic idea of the Main Outfall Drain, MOD, was to construct a main channel to collect saline drained water of the irrigation projects within central and southern parts of Iraq and discharge it down to the Arabian Gulf. The MOD has a navigation lock structures near Addalmage Lake at station 299.4km. This structure is designed to ensure navigation within the MOD. The water level difference upstream the cross regulator and the downstream conjugation structure is about 9m. This head difference can be used to generate electrical power by constricting a low head power plant. This study aimed to utilize the head difference in navigation lock structures for power generation. Different operation condition an
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