An Assessment on Permeability and Grout Take of Limestone: A Case Study at Mut Dam, Karaman, Turkey

The main purposes of the present study are to evaluate pilot grouting and to develop regression equations for prediction of grout intake. There are no permeability problems with the sandstone-siltstone-claystone alternations and basement clayey limestone at the dam site. Karstic limestone block is permeable due to karstification and heavy discontinuities. For the purpose of the study, Q system, geological strength index (GSI), secondary permeability index (SPI), joint spacing (JSP), joint apertures (Ap), Lugeon (Lu), and the permeability coefficient (k) were determined. Karstic limestone block rock mass properties correlated with grouting material amount. A series of simple and multiple nonlinear regression analyses was performed between grout take material amount (Gt) and average values of these rock mass properties. Significant determination coefficients were determined. Prediction capacity of the empirical equations were also examined with root mean square error (RMSE), values account for (VAF), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and prediction error evaluations. Considering simple regression analyses, the equation derived with Gt-SPI gives the best performance. The best prediction is determined with the equation derived with rock quality designation values (RQD), SPI, and joint aperture as input parameters with the multiple nonlinear regression analysis, in addition to this, other empirical equations also provide acceptable results.

Loropetalum flavum (Hamamelidaceae), a new species from northern Vietnam

Loropetalum flavum (Hamamelidaceae) is described and illustrated as a new species from Bat Dai Son Mountains situated in the northern Vietnam. Recently discovered plant was observed as a typical element of the rich primary forest found on the highly eroded karstic limestone mountain formations allied to the border with China. The new species is characterized by arboreous habit; stellately indumentum of branchlets, leaves and flowers; axillary, capitate, 4–12-flowered inflorescences; yellow, sessile, actinomorphic, bisexual, 4–6-merous flowers with 2-whorled perianth and 2–8 fleshy disc lobes; stamens with conspicuous subulate connective protrusion; anthers with 2 rectangular 2-sporangiate thecae, each dehiscing by 2 valves and syncarpous gynoecium with 2-locular inferior ovary bearing 2 very short separate styles. A key to all known species of Loropetalum species is given and lectotype of L. lanceum is proposed.

Karstic spring wetlands of the Persepolis Basin, southwest Iran: unique sediment archives of Holocene environmental change and human impacts

Palustrine carbonates are frequently found with active and dried karstic springs in the foothills of the mountains bordering the Persepolis Basin, southwest Iran. A combination of geological conditions favours their formation, including (i) the presence of karstic limestone aquifers in the limbs of anticlines cut through by fault systems; (ii) very gentle slopes from the spring resurgence point towards the centre of the alluvial plain, creating a flat waterlogged area; and (iii) a semiarid climate with marked precipitation seasonality or significant fluctuations in water discharge and wetland water table. We suggest the term “anastomosing wetlands” or “anastomosing palustrine environments” to denote the studied karstic spring–fed carbonate wetlands, because of similarities with anastomosing river systems in aerial view. The common presence of extended anastomosing wetland carbonates in the Persepolis Basin and adjacent basins in the central and southern Zagros suggests that they can play an important role in the geological records of collision-related basin-and-range settings dominated by karstic limestones. Karstic spring wetlands are a main source of fresh water hosting a rich biodiversity, which attracts human communities, whose impact is visible in the archaeological material imbedded in the wetland stratigraphy. Fresh water availability, through these spring wetlands, partly explains why the semiarid Persepolis region was selected by successive civilizations, from Elamites to Persians until early Islamic entities, to establish regional centres throughout the period from the third millennium B.C. to the first millennium A.D. Only a few of these ecosystems have survived the intensive human activities of recent decades.

Elastic Parameters from Compressional and Shear Wave Tomographic Survey: A Case Study from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

An integrated P- and S-wave cross-borehole tomographic survey was performed in the city center of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with the aim of exploring a karstic limestone area near an area that previously encountered cavities. Horizontally polarized shear waves were generated with two opposing, perpendicular strike directions and recorded with a multi-level, three-component receiver array. This allowed a high quality picking of the traveltimes, whereby the wave train reverses at the time of the S-wave arrival. In addition, high quality sparker generated P-waves were recorded. The P- and S-wave traveltimes were used to invert for two co-located tomograms. These tomograms enabled a better interpretation capability than a P- or S-wave tomogram on its own. The tomograms enabled the calculation of the elastic parameters, i.e., P- to S-wave velocity (Vp/Vs) ratio, Poisson's ratio, bulk modulus, Young's modulus and the shear modulus, on a 2D surface between the boreholes. This further aided the interpretation, as areas with limited traveltime accuracy and thus, an increase in tomographic error, could be easily identified, and the extent of a large cavity could be estimated. The interpretation of the tomograms was constrained by two additional boreholes, which provided more confidence on the delineation and location of cavities at depths. The survey shows the benefit of co-locating P- and S-wave tomography surveys.

New taxa of Peliosanthes and Tupistra (Asparagaceae) in the flora of Laos and Vietnam and supplemental data for T. patula

Three new taxa, Tupistra gracilis, Peliosanthes griffithii var. breviracemosa and P. hirsuta, are described and illustrated. The first two taxa are local endemics of northern Vietnam and the last species is endemic to karstic limestone areas of central Laos. Tupistra fungilliformis and P. yunnanensis are recorded for the first time for Vietnam. A recently described species T. patula from northern Vietnam is supplemented with new data on its morphology, ecology and distribution.