The role of geological structures on water leakage from the karst dam sites in Zagros Region, Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

School of Geology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In the Zagros Region, alternative karst and non-karst formations have been folded into a series of cylindrical synclines and anticlines. Some of folds are dissected by rivers oriented approximately perpendicular to the axes, forming excellent deep valleys for dam construction. Due to an ineffective site detection and inappropriate design and construction of grout curtain, some of the dams constructed on the folds in Zagros are facing with leakage problem or have been remediated. At this research, six schematic models for probable leakage route from the reservoirs constructed in synclines and anticlines are presented by considering fold characters and dam location. Results show that in synclines, the most important leakage controlling factors are thickness and permeability of the non-karst formations located at the floor or/and abutments of the reservoir. In case of anticlines, hydraulic relation between the limbs is the most important controlling factor. It was concluded that the precise problem appears at dam sites in which the anticline limbs are hydraulically connected and karst rocks are directly exposed on the surface or covered by a thin layer of permeable sediments at the floor or abutments of the reservoir. This kind of geological setting involves a high risk of leakage problem and reservoir needs an extended water-
tightening system.

Keywords

Main Subjects


Article Title [Persian]

-

Alavi, M., 2004. Regional stratigraphy of the Zagros fold-thrust belt of Iran and its proforeland evolution. American journal of Science, 304(1): 1-20.##
Agard, P., Omrani, J., Jolivet, L., Whitechurch, H., Vrielynck, B., Spakman, W., Wortel, R., 2011. Zagros orogeny: a subduction-dominated process. Geological Magazine, 148(5-6): 692-725.##
Agard P, Omrani J, Jolivet L, Mouthereau F., 2005. Convergence history across Zagros (Iran): constraints from collisional and earlier deformation. International journal of earth sciences, 94(3): 401-419.##
Babaeian, I., Modirian, R., Karimian, M., Zarghami, M., 2015. Simulation of climate change in Iran during 2071-2100 using PRECIS regional climate modelling system.##
Ballato P, Uba C.E., Landgraf, A., Strecker, M.R., Sudo, M., Stockli, D.F., Friedrich, A., Tabatabaei, S.H., 2011. Arabia-Eurasia continental collision: Insights from late Tertiary foreland-basin evolution in the Alborz Mountains, northern Iran. Bulletin, 123(1-2): 106-131.##
Charlton, J.E., Ginther, C., Bruce, D.A., 2010. Comprehensive Foundation Rehabilitation at Bear Creek Dam. Environmental & Engineering Geoscience, 16(3): 211-227.##
Cooper, S.P., Goodwin, L.B. and Lorenz, J.C., 2006. Fracture and fault patterns associated with basement-cored anticlines: The example of Teapot Dome, Wyoming. AAPG bulletin, 90(12): 1903-1920.##
Filz, G. M., Bruce, D. A., 2016. Deep Mixing Grows Up: The Evolution of Deep-Mixing Technology in the US Market over the Last Decade. Geo-Strata–Geo Institute of ASCE, 20(3): 30-37.##
Mercuri, M., Smeraglia, L., Curzi, M., Tavani, S., Maffucci, R., Pignalosa, A., Billi, A. and Carminati,E., 2021. Pre-folding fracturing in a foredeep environment: insights from the Carseolani Mountains (central Apennines, Italy). Geological Magazine, 1-17.##
Milanović, P., 2004. Water resources engineering in karst. CRC press, Boca Raton, Florida, US, 312.##
Milanović, P., 2018. Engineering Karstology of Dams and Reservoirs. CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida, US, 355.##
Milanović, P., 2021. Dams and reservoirs in karst? Keep away or accept the challenges. Hydrogeology Journal, 29(1): 89-100.##
Mohajjel, M., Fergusson, C.L., Sahandi, M.R., 2003. Cretaceous–Tertiary convergence and continental collision, Sanandaj–Sirjan zone, western Iran. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 21(4): 397-412.##
Motiei, H., 1993. Stratigraphy of Zagros: Geological Survey of Iran, 583.##
Mozafari, M., 2015. Effective parameters on leakage from karst dam sites in Iran; [Ph.D. thesis]: Shiraz, University of Shiraz, 115.##
Mozafari, M., Sajjadian, M., Sorninia, Y., Bagheri, R., Ghader, F., 2020. Hydrogeology and geomorphology of Bisetun Aquifer (NW Iran): interesting example of deep endokarst. Carbonates and Evaporites, 35(4): 1-19.##
Mozafari, M., Milanović, P., Jamei, J., 2021. Water leakage problems at the Tangab Dam Reservoir (SW Iran), case study of the complexities of dams on karst. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, 80(10): 7989-8007.##
Mozafari, M., Hosseini, Z., Fijani, E., Eskandari, R., Siahpoush, S., Ghader, F., 2022. Effects of climate change and human activity on lake drying in Bakhtegan Basin, southwest Iran. Sustainable Water Resources Management, 8(4): 1-18.##
Mouthereau, F., Lacombe, O., Meyer, B., 2006. The Zagros folded belt (Fars, Iran): constraints from topography and critical wedge modelling. Geophysical Journal International, 165(1): 336-356.##
Oberlander, T., 1965. The Zagros streams: A new interpretation of transverse drainage in an Orogenic Zone: Syracuse Geographical Series, No. 1, Syracuse University Press, New York, 168.##
Omofunmi, O.E., Kolo, J.G., Oladipo, A.S., Diabana, P.D., Ojo, A.S., 2017. A review on effects and control of seepage through earth-fill dam. Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology, 22(5):1-11.##
Prospero, J.M., Ginoux, P., Torres, O., Nicholson, S.E., Gill, T.E., 2002. Environmental characterization of global sources of atmospheric soil dust identified with the Nimbus 7 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) absorbing aerosol product. Reviews of geophysics, 40(1): 2-1.##
Ramsey, L.A., Walker, R.T., Jackson, J., 2008. Fold evolution and drainage development in the Zagros Mountains of Fars province, SE Iran. Basin Research, 20(1): 23-48.##
Raziei, T., 2018. An analysis of daily and monthly precipitation seasonality and regimes in Iran and the associated changes in 1951–2014. Theoretical and applied climatology, 134(3): 913-934.##
Reza, B., Keulartz, J., Korthals, M., 2009. Reflexive water management in arid regions: The case of Iran. Environmental Values, 18(1): 91-112.##
Saein, A.F., 2018. Tectonic and Structural Framework of the Zagros Fold-thrust Belt. Elsevier.Twiss, R.J., Moores, E.M. 1992. Structural geology. W.H. Freeman & Company, New York. 532.##
Yazdandoost, F., 2016. Dams, drought and water shortage in today’s Iran. Iranian Studies, 49(6): 1017-1028.##