This study deals with the shallow alluvial aquifer situated beneath the urban area of kirkuk city. The ancient part of the city (Shorja) is affected by seepage from local agricultural areas causing relatively high heavy metals concentration in groundwater. The selection of polluted site depended on the highest TDS value (3856 mg/L) associated with the highest heavy metal concentrations (Pb, Ni, Co and Zn) in groundwater. This study focuses on the evaluation of natural attenuation effectivity for long-term protection of groundwater quality using realistic three-dimensional reactive-transport groundwater model. The requirements of 3-dimensional reactive transport model were obtained from field observation and laboratory works, in addition to aquifer stratigraphy, minerology and hydrochemistry. The simulations were achieved by using PHAST program that is depended on the HST3D flow and transport code and the hydrochemical PHREEQC code. The modeling results explained the ability of natural attenuation in consuming the concentration of heavy metals, where Long-term (20 year) simulation results show that heavy metal adsorption on hydrous ferric oxide, effectively capture the movement of heavy metals in groundwater down gradient of source areas, resulting in an basically immobile groundwater plume.
The groundwater recharge from rainfall for the main shallow aquifer in the northeastern Missan governorate south of Iraq is investigated via classical and refined chloride mass balance techniques. Application of both techniques reveals that the mean annual groundwater recharge is 0.82 mm/y. The annual recharge received by the aquifer approximately reaches to three million cubic meters after multiply this figure by the area of the study area (about 1856 km2). This figure represents a renewable storage from which a sustainable management of the groundwater reserve could be implemented. The techniques applied are robust, costly-effective, and could be used with other methods such as groundwater table fluctuation method to give a more realis
... Show MoreIn the present work, the radioactivity of ten soil specimens has been measured, which were gathered from various sites from AL-Taimeem area in Al-Anbar province, The qualitative activity of natural radionuclides 238U, 232Th and 40K for soil specimens were evaluated by utilizing gamma-ray spectroscopy with NaI(Tl) detector of (3"×3") dimension. The results revealed that, the qualitative activity, for 238U was varied from (14.730 Bq/kg) to (28.070 Bq/kg), for 232Th was varied from (16.510 Bq/kg) to (29.480 Bq/kg), for 40K was varied from (143.820 Bq/kg) to (231.550 Bq/kg) ,with an average values of (21.152±2.98 Bq/kg) , (24.219±3.93 Bq/kg), (190.720±22.20 Bq/kg), success
... Show MoreThe study area is located in Al-Anbar Governorate, western Iraq. The climatic data were collected from Al-Ramadi Meteorological Station for the period 1990 to 2020 and used to assess the climatic condition of the study area. The total annual rainfall, relative humidity, monthly average temperature, evaporation, wind speed and sunshine duration are 108 mm, 52.7 %, 22.6˚C, 2814.3 mm, 2.2 m/s and 8.8 h/day, respectively. The climate of the study area is described as an arid to sub arid and relatively hot in summer and cold with low rain in winter. During the data used, the highest potential evapotranspiration was 217.1 mm in July, while the lowest value was 10.7 mm in January, with a total amount of 1170.07 mm. The highest and l
... Show MoreThe purpose of this study is to describe the extent and nature of informal tenure practices in urban areas in Iraq, through undertaking a rapid assessment in Baghdad city. The UN-HABITAT 2008 publication Secure Land Rights for All discusses the importance of access and rights to land throughout the developing world. Secure land rights are critical to development and poverty reduction, and the greatest challenge in providing secure land rights are in urban areas, where overcrowding can lead to a number of informal tenure practices ranging from individually unregistered or unauthorised housing, to large informal settlements. Access to land is a fundamental basis for human shelter, food production, and other economic activity. Secur
... Show MoreTo investigate and assess the effects of land use and land cover (LULC) on concentrations of heavy metals in the surface soils of Lesser Zab River Basin (LZRB), 25 surface soil samples were taken from different LULC classes. Heavy metals concentrations were measured and their enrichment factors were calculated. Most of the LZRB soil samples are moderately alkaline with pH>8 and characterized by low organic content. The average abundance of the major oxides follow the decreasing order of SiO2 % > CaO % > Al2O3 % > Fe2O3 %> MgO > K2O % > TiO2 % > Na2O % > SO3 % > P2O5 %. A correlation matrix revealed that clay and feldspar minerals, Fe and Mn oxides / hydroxides are the most important carrier phase for several
... Show MoreGroundwater quality investigation has been carried out in the western part of Iraq (west longitude '40°40). The physicochemical analyses of 64 groundwater samples collected from seven aquifers were used in the determination of groundwater characterization and assessment. The concept of spatial hydrochemical bi-model was prepared for quantitative and qualitative interpretation. Hydrogeochemical data referred that the groundwater is of meteoric origin and has processes responsible for observed brackishness. The geochemical facies of the groundwater reveal that none of the anions and cations pairs exceed 50% and there are practically mixtures of multi-water types (such as Ca–Mg–Cl–HCO3 and Na+K–SO4–Cl water type) as do
... Show MoreSmoking-related diseases can be attributed to the inhalation of many different toxins, including heavy metals, which have a host of harmful health effects. The primary objective of this study was to determine whether local and imported cigarette brands used in Iraq , have they elevated levels of metals or not .Three metals Lead (Pb) , Cadmium (Cd) and Chromium(Cr) were determined in tobacco of seventeen brands of imported cigarettes commonly available in Iraq and three Iraqi domestic cigarettes , which were randomly taken from retail market in Baghdad by using flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The produced data of imported and local cigarette brands were discussed and compared together and with studies from elsewhere .The result
... Show MoreThe current study included, studying the ability of eight genera of plants belong to Brassicaceae family, Brassica tournifortii, Cakile Arabica, Capsella bursa – pastoris,Carrichtera annua, Diplotaxis acris, Diplotaxis haru , Eruca sativa and Erucaria hispanica to accumulate ten heavy metals Cadmium, Chromium , Copper, Mercury, Manganese ,Nickel ,Lead ,and Zinc . Plant leaves samples were collected from Al-Tib area during spring of 2021.The data demonstrated that, the highest conc. of Cd was 2.7 mg/kg in Diplotaxis acris leaves and lower value was 0.3 mg/kg in Cakile Arabica leaves. For Co, the highest conc.was 1.3 mg/kg in Capsella bursa – pastoris leaves, whereas the lower value was 0.5 mg/kg in Cakile arabica leaves. As for Cr ele
... Show MoreGroundwater is considered as one of the most important sources of fresh-water, on which many regions around the world depend, especially in semi-arid and arid regions. Protecting and maintaining groundwater is a difficult process, but it is very important to maintain an important source of water. The current study aims to assess the susceptibility of groundwater to pollution using the DRASTIC model along with the GIS environments and its tool boxes. A vulnerability map was created by relying on data collected from 55 wells surveyed by the researchers as well as archived records from governmental institutions and some international organizations. The results indicate that the region falls into three vulnerability functional zones , namely
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