This work has been accomplished through a dense field work on the Sawa Lake. The aim of this work is to highlight on characteristics that are consistent with outstanding universal values to be a new Iraqi site belongs to the World Natural Heritage. This study sorted many unique characteristics might ensure that Sawa Lake as a world natural heritage sites. This study shows that the lake had met four natural criteria of the outstanding universal values: (1) the seventh criterion which states to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance. (2) The eighth criterion which stated to be outstanding example representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features. (3) The ninth criterion which stated to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals. (4) The tenth criterion which state to contain most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.
Sawa Lake is one of the unique lakes in Iraq. It is located in the southwestern part of Iraq. It is one of the closed lakes, as no surface water source works to feed the lake. The lake feeds on groundwater. The source of this groundwater is the Dammam Basin. During the past ten years, The lake has had many changes, which led to a decrease in water levels. This also led attention to study of the causes of these changes. Many types of research were presented in the study of the state of the lake. This research used remote sensing images from Landsat 8 OLI to monitor the changes during 2020-2021 by applying the NDWI equation to extract water area from image data. The results of the areas were obtained from a special report by Normalized Dif
... Show MoreThe analytical results of the failure types of six limestone islands in the Ha Long bay of Vietnam have been identified. The calculated results of safety factor for 03 plane failure blocks lie within 0.9 and 2, have high potential failure. The analytical results have been also simulated these islands in three-dimensional space and have been also analyzed their potential failure on the fracture surfaces. The results obtained in this paper have important significance for planning and development of the Ha Long bay area, as World Natural Heritage, Quang Ninh province of Vietnam.
Heavy metal contamination comprises a great concern in the environment. A magnetic study combined with heavy metal analyses was performed in the Sawa Lake in Al-Muthanna governorate (southern Iraq). Concentrations of selected heavy metals (Cr, Fe, Ni, As and Pb) have been measured and magnetic susceptibility (χ) of sediment samples collected from the lake bottom was calculated.
The results confirmed that a cement plant, which is located less than two kilometers away from the lake has no contamination levels on the lake’s sediments. No enhancement in the magnetic susceptibility was observed. X-ray florescence (XRF) was performed for heavy metal analyses.
Spatial variations of χ with the mean value of 4.58 x
... Show MoreNutrient enrichment of Sawa lake water was made using different nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations during autumn and spring at three stations. Different concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and N: P ratios were used to test variations in phytoplankton population dynamics. Nitrogen at a concentration of 25 µmole.l-1 and N: P ratio of 10:1 gave highest phytoplankton cell number at all stations and seasons. A total of 64 algal taxa dominated by Bacillariophyceae followed by Cyanophyceae and Chlorophyceae were identified. The values of Shannon index of diversity were more than one in the studied stations.
Sawa Lake is considered one of the distinct closed water systems located in the southwestern part of Iraq. In last years, the lake has suffered from a significant decrease in the water depth reached 1.5 m, thus the current study aims to monitor and analyse the change in water level, and identify causes and effect of this change on the lake hydrochemical properties by using analyzing cations and anions with the assistance of sub bottom profilers technique as well as obtained information from scientific diving.
The results revealed that the lake had an equilibrium state between feed up and withdrawal water as well as evaporation during history. In spite of the high evaporation rates in the region, thi
... Show MoreThis study deals with formation models of gypsum barrier, chemical temporal changes, and assessments of the Sawa Lake within the Al- Muthanna province, Southern Iraq, it is a very important issue to find the water quality and water assessments of this lake. Eleven water samples are collected from Sawa Lake. Many scientific concepts are used such as major cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+ and K+), major anions (SO4=,Cl-,HCO3- and CO3=) with minor anions ( PO43-, NO3-) and H2S . Trace elements (Pb, Cd, Zn, As, Ni, Co, Cu, Mn, Fe, As, Sr And B) and bacterial test were analyzed in each sample. Total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), pH and temperature (T) were directly measured in the field. The equilibrium state between the conce
... Show MoreThis investigation pertains to the evaluation of water quality in SAWA Lake, located in the Al-Muthanna province of Southern Iraq, from 1977 to 2020. Understanding the water quality and assessments of this Lake is of great importance. The Lake is home to small, transparent, blind fish measuring approximately 10 cm and is often referred to as the "wonderful" or "strange" Lake due to its many unique features. The study focuses on several elements to represent water quality, including total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, and temperature (T), which were measured directly in the field. Additionally, scientific concepts such as K+, Ca2+, Cl-, HCO