Volume 5, Issue 2

UNESCO promotes geoconservation through various programs intended to establish an inventory of geologically and geomorphologically significant features worldwide that can serve as an important database to understand the Earth’s global geoheritage. An ultimate goal of such projects globally is to establish geoparks that represent an integrated network of knowledge transfer opportunities, based on a specific array of geological and geomorphological sites able to graphically demonstrate how the Earth works to the general public. In these complex geoconservation and geoeducational programs, the identification of significant geological and geomorphological features is very important. These are commonly referred to as ‘geosites’ or ‘geomorphosites’, depending on whether the feature or processes the site demonstrates is more geological or geomorphological, respectively. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an extraordinary place due to its arid climate and therefore perfect exposures of rock formations. The Kingdom is also home to extensive volcanic fields, named “harrats” in Arabic, referring particularly to the black, basaltic lava fields that dominate the desert landscape. Current efforts to increase awareness of the importance of these volcanic fields in the geological landscape of Arabia culminated in the first proposal to incorporate the superbly exposed volcanic features into an integrated geoconservation and geoeducation program that will hopefully lead to the development of a geopark named, “The Harrat Al Madinah Volcanic Geopark” [1]. Here we describe one of the extraordinary features of the proposed Harrat Al Madinah Volcanic Geopark, namely a steep lava spatter cone formed during a historical eruption in 1256 AD.

An initial investigation of recirculation is carried out for the coast of the Black Sea. The local mesoscale circulations (land-sea breezes, mountain and valley winds) in coastal areas are shown to be an additional risk factor in creating favorable conditions for air stagnation and accumulation of air pollutants in the surface atmosphere layer. Two types of annual recirculation patterns are revealed for northern and north-eastern coast of the Black Sea. Long-term changes in recirculation are investigated. It is shown that the recirculation parameter values remained quasistable until the mid-1970s. Since 1976–1977, steady intensification of recirculation in both winter and summer is identified.

In this study, regression-based prediction of volume and aboveground biomass (AGB) of coniferous forests in a mountain test site was conducted. Two datasets — one with applied topographic correction and one without applied topographic correction — consisting of four spectral bands and six vegetation indices were generated from SPOT 5 multispectral image. The relationships between these data and ground data from field plots and national forest inventory polygons were examined. Strongest correlations of volume and AGB were observed with the near infrared band, regardless of the topographic correction. The maximal correlation coefficients when using plotwise data were −0.83 and −0.84 for the volume and AGB, respectively. The maximal correlation with standwise data was −0.63 for both parameters. The SCS+C topographic correction did not significantly affect the correlations between spectral data and forest parameters, but visually removed much of the topographically induced shading. Simple linear regression models resulted in relative RMSE of 32–33% using the plotwise data, and 43–45% using the standwise data. The importance of the source and the methodology used to obtain ground data for the successful modelling was pointed out.

Based on remote sensing, geological data, geomorphologic analysis, and field observations, we determine the fault system which is a potential source of earthquakes in Hoa-Binh reservoir. It is the sub-meridian fault system composed of fault segments located in the central part of the eastern and western flanks of the Quaternary Hoa-Binh Graben: the Hoa-Binh 1 fault is east-dipping (75–80°), N-S trending, 4 km long, situated in the west of the Hoa-Binh Graben, and the Hoa-Binh 2 is a west-dipping (75–80°), N-S trending; 8.4 km long fault, situated in the east of the Hoa-Binh Graben. The slip rate of normal fault in Hoa-Binh hydropower dam was estimated at 0.3–1.1 mm/yr. The Maximum Credible Earthquake (MCE) and Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) in the Hoa-Binh hydropower dam have been assessed. The estimated MCE of HB.1 and HB.2 is 5.6 and 6.1 respectively, and the maximum PGA at Hoa-Binh dam is 0.30 g and 0.40 g, respectively. The assessment of seismic hazard in Hoa-Binh reservoir is a typical example of seismic hazards of a large dam constructed in an area of low seismicity and lack of law of seismic attenuation.

In the proposed study, non-linear behavioral patterns in the seismic regime for earthquakes in the Himalayan basin have been studied using a complete, verified EQ catalogue comprised of all major events and their aftershock sequences in the Himalayan basin for the past 110 years [1900–2010]. The dataset has been analyzed to give better decision making criteria for impending earthquakes. A series of statistical tests based on multi-dimensional rigorous statistical studies, inter-event distance analyses, and statistical time analyses have been used to obtain correlation dimensions. The time intervals of earthquakes within a seismic regime have been used to train the neural network to analyze the nature of earthquake patterns in the different clusters. The results obtained from descriptive statistics show high correlation with previously conducted gravity studies and radon anomaly variation. A study of the time of recurrence of the numerical properties of the regime for 60 years from 1950 to 2010 for the Himalayan belt for analysis of significant EQ failure events has been done to find the best fit for an empirical data probability distribution. The distribution of waiting time of swarm events occurring in the Himalayan basin follows a power-law model, while independent events do not fit the power-law distribution. This suggests that probability of the occurrence of swarm events [M ⩽ 6.0] with frequent shaking may be more frequent than that of the occurrence of independent events of magnitude [M >6.0] in the Himalayan belt. We propose a three-layer feed forward neural network model to identify factors, with the actual occurrence of the maximum earthquake level M as input and target vectors in Himalayan basin area. We infer through a series of statistical results and evaluations that probabilistic forecasting of earthquakes can be achieved by finding the meta-stable cluster zones of the Himalayan clusters for the spatio-temporal distribution of earthquakes in the area.

Al Wahbah Crater is one of the largest and deepest Quaternary maar craters in the Arabian Peninsula. It is NW-SE-elongated, ∼2.3 km wide, ∼250 m deep and surrounded by an irregular near-perpendicular crater wall cut deeply into the Proterozoic diorite basement. Very few scientific studies have been conducted on this unique site, especially in respect to understanding the associated volcanic eruption processes. Al Wahbah and adjacent large explosion craters are currently a research subject in an international project, Volcanic Risk in Saudi Arabia (VORiSA). The focus of VORiSA is to characterise the volcanic hazards and eruption mechanisms of the vast volcanic fields in Western Saudi Arabia, while also defining the unique volcanic features of this region for use in future geoconservation, geoeducation and geotourism projects. Al Wahbah is inferred to be a maar crater that formed due to an explosive interaction of magma and water. The crater is surrounded by a tephra ring that consists predominantly of base surge deposits accumulated over a pre-maar scoria cone and underlying multiple lava flow units. The tephra ring acted as an obstacle against younger lava flows that were diverted along the margin of the tephra ring creating unique lava flow surface textures that recorded inflation and deflation processes along the margin of the post-maar lava flow. Al Wahbah is a unique geological feature that is not only a dramatic landform but also a site that can promote our understanding of complex phreatomagmatic monogenetic volcanism. The complex geological features perfectly preserved at Al Wahbah makes this site as an excellent geotope and a potential centre of geoeducation programs that could lead to the establishment of a geopark in the broader area at the Kishb Volcanic Field.

Shear wave velocity is a critical physical property of rock, which provides significant data for geomechanical and geophysical studies. This study proposes a multi-step strategy to construct a model estimating shear wave velocity from conventional well log data. During the first stage, three correlation structures, including power law, exponential, and trigonometric were designed to formulate conventional well log data into shear wave velocity. Then, a Genetic Algorithm-Pattern Search tool was used to find the optimal coefficients of these correlations. Due to the different natures of these correlations, they might overestimate/underestimate in some regions relative to each other. Therefore, a neuro-fuzzy algorithm is employed to combine results of intelligently derived formulas. Neuro-fuzzy technique can compensate the effect of overestimation/underestimation to some extent, through the use of fuzzy rules. One set of data points was used for constructing the model and another set of unseen data points was employed to assess the reliability of the propounded model. Results have shown that the hybrid genetic algorithm-pattern search technique is a robust tool for finding the most appropriate form of correlations, which are meant to estimate shear wave velocity. Furthermore, neuro-fuzzy combination of derived correlations was capable of improving the accuracy of the final prediction significantly.

Petrographic studies indicate that lateral variations in the decomposition levels of peat are associated with the predominantly occurring peat macerals. Source Rock Analyzer (SRA) results indicate lateral variation in peat organic matter types from type II to III and back again to type II, occurring laterally within the top 0-m to 0.5-m layer at the basin margin to the midsection and further towards the near-center areas of the peat dome. This variation is most likely caused by a combination of factors: (a) Horizontal zonation and lateral variation of the dominant species of plant assemblages (b) Fibric (marginal) peats and hemic to sapric peats associated with type II organic matter (kerogen). Sample organic matter (coal-equivalent kerogen) typing indicates that the relative abundance of phytoclasts and palynomorphs generally supports the organic matter classification obtained by the SRA method. Lateral variations in the peat organic matter types may support the lateral vegetation variation concept. The classification of peat organic matter types (interpreted from visual analyses of palynological slides) occurring from the basin periphery to the mid-section and further towards the basin center yields organic matter of type II to type III and mixed types II to III (coal kerogen-equivalent), respectively.

During the course of the UNESCO/IGCP project nr. 442 (1999–2001) the present author, along with several colleagues, has described rare raw material types, used in the Neolithic/Aeneolithic, for the construction of stone implements. A metamorphic rock-type (greenschist) containing a substantial amount of Al-rich green spinels, is of special interest. This raw material type is characterized in this contribution. The rocks, which are the object of the present study, are metamorphic rocks of the greenschist association (containing monoclinic as well as rhombic amphiboles, and Al-rich green spinels in a substantial (5–20 vol. %) amount). Accessory mineralsnot necessarily encountered in each thin section, are olivine, orthopyroxene, corundum, clinozoisite, muscovite, cordierite, various plagioclases (albite and anorthite included), phlogopite, ilmenite, magnetite and sphene. The results of microprobe analyses for individual rock-forming minerals are presented. The genesis of the described rock-types is complicated; they are product of three metamorphic events (M1, M2, M3).

The landscapes of the world are constantly changing under the influence of human activities leading to the growth of artificial surfaces. The covering of soil by artificial surfaces is referred to as soil sealing. Aerial and satellite images or data derived from them (for instance CORINE land cover — CLC data used here) provide important information that makes it possible to assess the occurrence, area and rate of soil sealing. As the term sealed soil cannot be wholly identified with the content of the appropriate CLC classes, the term land cover flow urbanization (LCFU) will be used here. The essence of this study is the demonstration and documentation of the trends of the LCFU in Europe for the periods 1990–2000 and 2000–2006 on a single map. This may contribute to a better spatial awareness of the ongoing transformation of landscape under the effects of human activities in an pan-European context. Changes in the LCFU can be seen on a map, compiled from 3 × 3 km squares at an all-European scale, using colours and their hues, to fulfil the role both of identification and classification. The colour method employed makes it possible to perceive three groups of LCFU changes on two time horizons, that is, whether the rate of LCFU in 2000–2006 increased or remained the same (hues of red); or dropped compared to the 1990–2000 period (hues of light to dark blue). The third group represents the LCFU with rates higher or lower than the average (countries with changes recorded in only one time horizon are presented in dark and light magenta colours).