Department of Geology
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Welcome to the Department of geology, one of the leading academic and research centers in the field of geology. With distinguished faculty members, advanced educational facilities, and a dynamic research environment, our faculty provides an excellent platform for the development of knowledge and specialized skills.
Our goal at the Department of geology is to nurture competent, creative, and dedicated graduates who can play a significant role in scientific, industrial, and social fields. Our academic programs emphasize the latest scientific resources, applied research, and continuous interaction with the industry, preparing students for both professional careers and further academic pursuits.
Physically, Iran is best known for its warm-to-hot, semiarid to arid climatic conditions. In the north (Alborz Mountains) and west (Zagros Mountains) it has mountain ranges rising to 3500-4500. m. a.s.l., however, which supported major alpine glaciers during the Quaternary Ice Ages and maintain a few much smaller ones today. Scientific investigation of caves in the mountains is in its early stages. Two examples with perennial ice have received preliminary study; (1) Yakh-Morad Ice, at 2490. m above sea level in the Alborz, has perennial ice from seepage entering a lower level cold trap and retains seasonal ice into Aug. in warmer upper levels; it is believed that a net loss of the perennial ice is occurring. Dena Ice Cave, at 3900. m. a.s.l. in the Zagros, is a single descending passage with large ice stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstones from seepage. The cave may be experiencing net accumulation of ice today. © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Geotechnique (17517656)48(5)pp. 621-636
The pressuremeter test has proved to be a useful tool for geotechnical engineers to determine the in situ properties of soils. However, results indicate that the strength values derived from pressuremeter tests are often quite different from those obtained from good laboratory tests and other in situ tests. It is believed that a major part of this disagreement may be due to the influence of pressuremeter geometry. This is because, in most analyses, the pressuremeter is assumed to be infinitely long, although commercial pressuremeters are of finite length. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the possible effect of the finite pressuremeter length on soil parameters derived from the tests. A two-dimensional axisymmetric finite-element analysis was used to simulate pressuremeter tests. It was found that the finite pressuremeter length has a significant effect on derived soil properties. Experimental studies on the effect of a finite pressuremeter length reported in the literature are not sufficiently comprehensive to reach a definite conclusion about the effect of pressuremeter geometry on derived soil properties. In the present study, therefore, a large number of pressuremeter tests with four different length/ diameter ratios (L/D = 5, 10, 15, 20) were conducted in a 1 m × 1 m calibration chamber located at the university of Newcastle, Australia. Based on the results of those laboratory pressuremeter tests, experimental correlations are presented which can be readily used in practice to account for the effect of pressuremeter geometry on the derived soil properties.
Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment (14359537)59(3)pp. 195-199
Mudrocks exhibit a variation in compressive strength when the direction of the plane of weakness is varied with respect to the direction of the principal stresses. Uniaxial compression tests were performed on two anisotropic mudrocks (siltshale and mudshale). The sample laminations were at orientation angles of 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90° relative to the direction of loading. The anisotropy strength ratio (the ratio of the maximum compressive strength to the minimum strength) over the full range of the lamination orientations was determined. The results of the uniaxial compressive strength tests were compared with the strength anisotropy index ratio [IS(50)] determined from the point load strength tests. The difference between the anisotropy ratios from the individual point load test results and from the uniaxial compressive test results indicates the difficulty of determining the anisotropy from point load tests.
Waste Management and Research (0734242X)19(3)pp. 257-261
The thermophilic and mesophilic microbiota in compost produced from Esfahan municipal solid waste were examined at different stages of composting process from day zero to 28 days and was conducted in four different seasons. Some of the mesophilic bacteria observed in initial stages of composting process were gram negative Escherichia, Klebsiella, Aeromonas and Alcaligenes, and gram positive Enterococcus and Bacillus species. After 20 days of the composting process lower species diversity of mesophiles (only Bacillus species) were isolated, which was most likely due to the high temperature (60-68°C) condition. Some of the observed thermophilic bacteria at later stages of the process are: Bacillus subtilis, B. polymyxa, B. pumilus, B. sphaericus, and B. licheniformis from thermotolerants, and B. stearothermophilus, B. acidocaldarius, and B. schleglii from thermophiles. Among the mesophilic fungi, at the initial stages of composting process some types of yeasts and molds were isolated, but after day 20 due to high temperature condition (60-68°C), no mesophilic fungi were obtained. On the 15th day of composting the highest diversity of thermo-tolerant fungi such as Cladosporium, Aspergillus, Mucor, Rhizopus, and Absidiae spp. were observed. The results indicated that, in order to obtain a sanitary product in cold seasons, the composting process needs a longer duration and fewer turnings.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters (0012821X)203(1)pp. 93-104
The mantle peridotites of Neyriz record two successive episodes of plastic deformations; the first one related to the igneous accretion of the lithosphere and the second one developed during the first stage of the emplacement of the peridotites. These two events have been distinguished on the basis of microstructural criteria. The diapiric pattern, particularly relevant to the mantle process beneath spreading ridges, features vertical flow lines and elliptic flow plane trajectories in a pipe and extends along the ridge axis about 5 km. These structures rotate to horizontal and diverge in every direction in a narrow transition zone, a few hundred meters thick, below the Moho discontinuity. Such a diapiric pattern has been recognized in a few places along the Neyriz paleo-ridge. A large amount of magma passed through these mantle diapirs that were probably the main zones feeding the overlying magma chamber. The most common pattern features very regular structures over several kilometers along the strike of the paleo-ridge: the flow plane dips away from the ridge axis, and the flow line is parallel to the spreading direction. This flow pattern is frozen during the gradual accretion of the lithospheric mantle away from the ridge in a steady-state spreading regime. A shear-sense inversion at just below the Moho is commonly observed, pointing to forced asthenospheric flow. The reconstructed orientation of the Neyriz paleo-spreading center is 105°, compatible with the geometry and orientation of harzburgite foliations and lineations and sheeted dikes. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Ground Water (0017467X)41(5)pp. 602-607
The Theis type curve matching method and the Cooper-Jacob semilog method are commonly used for estimation of transmissivity and storage coefficient of infinite, homogeneous, isotropic, confined aquifers from drawdown data of a constant rate pumping test. Although these methods are based on drawdown data, they are often applied indiscriminately to analyze both drawdown and recovery data. Moreover, the limitations of drawdown type curve to analyze recovery data collected after short pumping times are not well understood by the practicing engineers. This often may result in an erroneous interpretation of such recovery data. In this paper, a novel but simple method is proposed to determine the storage coefficient as well as transmissivity from recovery data measured after the pumping period of an aquifer test. The method eliminates the dependence on pumping time effects and has the advantage of employing only one single recovery type curve. The method based on the conversion of residual drawdown to recovered drawdown (buildup) data plotted versus a new equivalent time (Δt X tp/tp + Δt). The method uses the recovery data in one observation point only, and does not need the initial water level h0, which may be unknown. The accuracy of the method is checked with three sets of field data. This method appears to be complementary to the Cooper-Jacob and Theis methods, as it provides values of both storage coefficient and transmissivity from recovery data, regardless of pumping duration.
Engineering Geology (00137952)68(3-4)pp. 225-236
Site investigation and evaluation of properties of soil or rock are important aspects of geotechnical design. Determination of the ground stiffness is one of the important parameters in geotechnical engineering. Since the measurement of shear modulus is very sensitive to soil disturbance, especially for sand, determination of the stiffness of soil in the field is more reliable than in laboratory tests on sampled specimens. Measurement of shear modulus is one of the most common applications of self-boring pressuremeter testing. As an in situ device, the pressuremeter provides a unique method for assessing directly the in situ shear modulus of a soil. This paper describes a laboratory study of silica sand stiffness, which varies with stress level and strain amplitude. The results show that the elastic shear modulus value is mainly dependent on the value of the mean effective stress and relative density. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Ground Water (0017467X)42(1)pp. 2-2
Carbonates and Evaporites (08912556)19(1)pp. 67-74
The Gavkhoni Playa Lake is located to the southeast of Esfahan, Iran. It is surrounded by the Varzaneh aeolian sand field to the west and alluvial/fluvial sediments to all other directions. It is typical of the few permanent lakes within closed drainage basins in Iran. The properties of intermittent fine-grained and coarse-grained siliciclastic and finally fine-grained evaporite sediments suggest that the basin was influenced repeatedly by wet and dry periods. During periods of flooding, it had been a shallow permanent lake. With increasing aridity, the middle of the lake became increasingly restricted and shallower which resulted in the formation of a salt pan, contributing to the nature of the lake brine. Due to the enclosed nature of the lake system, the water chemistry of Gavkhoni Playa Lake is dominated by sodium and chloride ions but shows wide variations in composition and concentration through time and location. The percentage of Na+(1,012 to 10,3040 ppm), Cl(4,118 to 19,9365 ppm), Mg2+ (360 to 25,691 ppm), and K+(78 to 3,570 ppm) is highest toward the south and at a minimum in the north. Calcium content, ranging from 160 to 3,480 ppm, appears highest in the north. The percentage of strontium (5 to 292 ppm) with the highest value to the north, is extremely low in comparison to other elements. Sulfate is another abundant anion in the brines with the highest content of 22,051 ppm. Bicarbonate is a minor anion ranging from 73 to 450 ppm with the highest values to the north and west. The concentration of sulfate and bicarbonate does not change regularly in the brines from north to south, nor does it vary seasonally. The chemical analysis of the brine shows that it becomes progressively depleted in carbonate and sulfates from the margins to the center of the lake. It ultimately became a Na+, (Mg2+), Cl-brine type in the northern section and a Na+, Mg2+, Cl-brine type in the central part of the lake. After complete desiccation, the mineral assemblage exhibited halite, camallite, bischofite, and tachyhydrite in abundance.
Ground Water (0017467X)42(1)pp. 2-2
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