2^nd International Conference on Geology April 21-22, 2016 Dubai, UAE

Frank Mattern has received his PhD from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. His specialty areas are Sedimentology, Basin Analysis and Structural Geology/Tectonics. He has taught in Germany, Mexico, the USA and is presently an Associate Professor at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman. His current research concerns the sedimentology of Paleozoic marine sandstones and Cenozoic limestones of Oman as well as structural/tectonic aspects of the region. In addition, he presently works on the facies interpretation and basin setting of Upper Triassic submarine fan deposits of the Langjiexue Group of southern Tibet as well as on the tectonics of the Songliao Basin, NE China.

For the first time distinct clinoforms are reported from the Cenozoic shallow marine carbonate deposits of Oman (Paleocene to Eocene Jafnayn Formation, Sunub Basin, Greater Muscat). One outcrop of superb exposure displays well-developed transitions from a single topset unit to several hundred foreset beds. The former is a single massive to crudely-bedded, biostromatic red algae-bearing horizon. The latter emanate from the former at an angle of 15° and consist of carbonate debris. Due to foresetting of sediment, the foreset beds represent cross-beds in an overall aggradational sequence. Despite the great number of foreset beds, the paleoslope angle didn’t change. The basal contact of the foreset beds is tangential (asymptotic), but the apices of the foreset beds are ill-defined. There are no bedding surfaces between the foreset beds and the red algae unit. Bedding surfaces that may have existed temporarily and must have been continuous from the red algae unit to the foreset beds are not preserved due to rapid deposition and rapid encrustation and binding by red algae. Progradation of the red algae unit over a paleoslope created several hundred foreset beds from the same red algae-bearing horizon, showing that the latter is time-transgressive. The red algae unit does not represent a classic “bed”, considering its obvious diachroneity over short distance and its lack of a lower bedding surface. Local evidence for synsedimentary extensional faulting encourages the interpretation that such deformation caused the formation of the paleoslope. The microfacies suggests a shelf lagoon setting with open circulation. The occurrence of Ranikothalia sp. and Distychoplax biserialis demonstrates that the succession is of Paleocene to lowermost/Lower Eocene age.

Arafat A. AlShuaibi is an Assistant Professor, Kuwait University, Kuwait. He is awarded Ph. D. in Geosciences, Stratigraphy/Micropaleontology from University of Texas at Dallas, USA, in 2006. He holds M. Sc. in Geology/Recent benthic foraminifera and B. Sc. in Geology Kuwait University, Kuwait in from Kuwait University, Kuwait. His current research interest is focused towards the study of the Upper Cretaceous planktonic foraminifera of the Austin Chalk in Texas.

Dust fallouts in Kuwait city was monitored on monthly basis during the period from March 2011 to February 2012 at 10 locations. The results of this study reveal that monthly dust deposition rates ranged from 0.002 to 0.32 kg/m2 with average deposition rate of 0.053 kg/m2and annual average deposition rate of 0.59 kg/m2, ranking the first out of 56 dust deposition rates observed throughout the world. On average, about 55.9% of the settled dusts have fine to very fine sand fraction sizes, while silt and clay comprise an average of 37.4 and 1.4% of the total sample, respectively. The concentrations for Zn and Mo out of 15 other elements analyzed from the dust were up to 11 times higher than their soil background values in Kuwait, while Pb and Ni were about seven times higher. Mo, Ni, Pb and Zn show maximum enrichment relative to the upper continental crustal component (Mn). Sr, Zr and Zn show highest concretions among all collected samples and quartz and calcite were the dominant minerals in the dust samples. The distribution of the heavy metals in dust seems to be controlled mainly by the land uses and the volume of traffic emissions.

Eslam Baklola is a Microbiologist at Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring, National Water Research Center, Egypt.

Water pollution refers to any alteration in biological and physicochemical characteristics of a water body that causes harm or nuisance to the beneficial use of this source. Since, Nile River is the main source of water for drinking purpose in Egypt, is the improvement and protection of the Nile River water quality is one of the most important national objectives. This study aims to determine the extent of water pollution of the Menyat Samanoud agriculture drain at El-Dakahliya governorate in order to determine the possibility of use drain water in irrigation. Biological, chemical and physical analyses of water at 6 sites (1=The beginning of the drain; 2=At front of the sewage treatment station; 3=The best factory discharge; 4=The mixed point of the factory discharge and the drain; 5=In front of the Nawsa El-Bahr village; 6=The end of the drain) revealed that the drain water was polluted by high load of turbidity, salinity, TDS, TSS, BOD, COD, chlorine, fluorine, phosphate, sulfates, total alkalinity, TVBCs, TC, FC, FS, pathogenic bacteria and deficiency of DO, which varied from season to another and from site to site.

Moza Hamdan Saif Alshidi is a Graduate student of Geophysics in the Department of Earth Science, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. He is interested in integrating the remote sensing data with geophysical study.

Applications of remote sensing technique are integrated with the results of geophysical methods in several studies to map and evaluate the surface and subsurface mineral and ore deposits and bearing structures. In this present study, we classify the tertiary age limestone formations deposited in part of the Sur region of Sultanate of Oman using Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellite data and decorrelation stretching image processing method by understanding the spectral absorption characters of the minerals of the formations. The analysis of ASTER spectral bands 8, 5, 1 using the image processing method better discriminated and classified the limestone formations such as bioclastic limestone, massive bioclastic limestone with conglomerate, grey to white marly limestone and bioclastic marl and marl limestone. Further, the study of minerals of the formations using the satellite data confirms the classification of the limestone formations and field and laboratory studies existed on the literatures. Our study also compares the results of published scientific work and recommends for mapping the limestone formations of the similar regions. The limestone occurrences of the arid region are economic important and the results of study can be integrated with geophysical methods for better mapping and classifying the limestone formations in future concern.

In this study, the visible and near infrared–shortwave infrared (VNIR-SWIR) spectral bands of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) are processed by decorrelated stretching and PCA methods to map the reservoir formations that are exposed in the Kufai and Buah domes of Huqf region of Sultanate of Oman. The results of study showed well discriminations of the formations in different in tone and texture to study their occurrences and distributions. The study demonstrates the capability of the ASTER and image processing techniques for mapping of such formations and recommends to similar areas of the world.

Sankaran Rajendran received the PhD degree in Geology from the Bharathidasan University, India, in 1996. From 2002 to 2010, he was a Assistant Professor with the Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, India. Currently, he is working in the Department of Earth Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. His research interests involve mapping mineral and environmental resources of earth using remote sensing and GIS techniques.

Sediment deposition during the Late Pleistocene to Holocene in the UAE coastal and near coastal areas records complex patterns of interplay between the terrestrial and marine environments. The major controls are sealevel rise and fall (eustatic effects of climate change), neotectonics (subsidence and uplift), and sediment supply and redistribution. These variable factors have resulted in sequence stratigraphic termination and modern parasequences. Features representing these events include progradation of alluvial and aeolian clastics, up to the beginning of the Holocene, followed by retrogression, with deposition of marine sequences and formation of coastal sabkha at different sealevel rise periods during the Holocene. The precise age estimation of sequence stratigraphic developments is typically challenging. In this study, 14C dating, together with fossil assemblage identification and interpretation of sedimentary structures, were used to identify late Pleistocene to Holocene aeolianites and tidal deposits. The aeolianites were deposited during the last glacial maximum when sealevel was at its lowest stand. The aeolianites are composed of transported oolites, microfossils, macrofossil and algal fragments and minor quartz-dominant mineral grains. The 14C isotopic dating of the oolites and shell particles from the aeolianites gave ages as great as 28,000 years. The tidal retrograde facies is characterized by bedded carbonate evaporites hosting a variety of macrofossils such as Cerithium sp., Cardium sp., and Donax sp. The 14C dates obtained for these evaporite sediments ranged from 2,000 to 4,000 years. The data provide evidence of paleoshoreline migration inland at variable rates during the Holocene.

Sediment deposition during the Late Pleistocene to Holocene in the UAE coastal and near coastal areas records complex patterns of interplay between the terrestrial and marine environments. The major controls are sealevel rise and fall (eustatic effects of climate change), neotectonics (subsidence and uplift), and sediment supply and redistribution. These variable factors have resulted in sequence stratigraphic termination and modern parasequences. Features representing these events include progradation of alluvial and aeolian clastics, up to the beginning of the Holocene, followed by retrogression, with deposition of marine sequences and formation of coastal sabkha at different sealevel rise periods during the Holocene. The precise age estimation of sequence stratigraphic developments is typically challenging. In this study, 14C dating, together with fossil assemblage identification and interpretation of sedimentary structures, were used to identify late Pleistocene to Holocene aeolianites and tidal deposits. The aeolianites were deposited during the last glacial maximum when sealevel was at its lowest stand. The aeolianites are composed of transported oolites, microfossils, macrofossil and algal fragments and minor quartz-dominant mineral grains. The 14C isotopic dating of the oolites and shell particles from the aeolianites gave ages as great as 28,000 years. The tidal retrograde facies is characterized by bedded carbonate evaporites hosting a variety of macrofossils such as Cerithium sp., Cardium sp., and Donax sp. The 14C dates obtained for these evaporite sediments ranged from 2,000 to 4,000 years. The data provide evidence of paleoshoreline migration inland at variable rates during the Holocene.