Subjects: Geology; Weather; Fauna and Flora; and General
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Chapter II Present Environmental Status 2.0. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................33 2.1. Physical environment .......................................................................................................................................33 2.2. Natural environment .........................................................................................................................................58 2.3. Economic, social and cultural environment .....................................................................................81 2.4. Developmental plans and land use ..........................................................................................................88 2.5. Résumé .......................................................................................................................................................................93 32 Chapter II Present Environmental Status 2.0. Introduction The background of the present study has been given in the last chapter. The present chapter mainly deals with environmental profile of the study area under consideration to carry out EIA. It is the prerequisite for any EIA study to find out environmental status of the region before the implementation of any project. As the proposed project has not been started yet, the present physiography and socio- economic study could be considered as the baseline profile. The probable changes may be considered as the impact of the various activities selected included in the project. Thus, the chapter attempts to document the present environmental status. 2.1. Physical environment In this section of study parameters selected for study are Geology, Pedology, Climate and Water reserves. 2.1.1. General geology The formations which have exposures in the area of study in the order of old to new ones are Jahrom, Asmari, Champeh and Mool parts of Gachsaran formation, Mishan, Aghajari and Bakhtiari. Below are given a number of them. A) Cenozoic Era Goori section of Mishan formation: The lithology of this sedimentary unit includes thick lime layers in gray, light brown and cream. Its weathered form occurs in brown and reddish brown due to iron oxide. - Lower Miocene Epoch Gachsaran formation: It includes two parts: Mool and Champeh The Mool alternately comprises grey and green marls and gypsiferous marly. The Champeh includes argillaceous grey, white and buff limes. 33 - Lower Miocene Epoch Asmari formation: Includes limes in cream, buff, dark brown and porous ones. The upper part of this formation is formed by dolomitic limes and is base comprises limes of greenstone type. - Oligocene Tamiocene Jahrom formation includes microcrystalline to phanerocrystalline dolomites in cream, dark brown, grey, brown and buff, with average to weak exo-fossil porosity. - Lower-upper Eocene Epoch Pabdeh formation: Includes argillaceous limes in grey with a buff ting. - Pliocene to Lower Eocene B) Mesozoic Era Cretaceous Period Goorpey formation: Includes brown limes with clay content, which is seen on the vertex and base of Gluocnite formation. - Campanion Ilam formation: Includes cream and grey limes of packstone type of weak porosity. - Santonin Daryan formation: Includes buff and cream limes of the wackstone to packstone type of average to weak porosity. - Aptin C) Jurassic Period Hith anhydritic formation: Layers of soft white anhydrite and hard, transparent anhydrides, alternately with layers of brown and buff dolomite. - Higher Jurassic Sormeh formation: It is generally made of fine to coarse dolomite. Tabriz formation: It is made of shale and thin layers of dolomite. - Lias 34 Period: Triassic Period Dashtak formation: Includes shale in the early evaporite and dolomite of Sefidar. Kangan formation: A shale unit about 100 meters in the formation‟s base occupies half of its thickness. These shale units are referred to as Kangan Base Shale. The upper part of Kangan formation is made of white lime of marlstone and grey dolomite. - Lower Triassic Period Dalan formation: It comprises three major parts of upper gallery carbonates of Nar and the lower gallery carbonates. Fahlian formation: From top to bottom, it is made of beige porous crystalline lime, beige bioclastic crystalline lime, beige dolomitic lime with a little biotin content. The formation is 110 meter long. Fig. 2. 1. Simplified Geological map of Fars Province Source: Ministry of Industries and Mines, Geological Survey of Iran. 35 2.1.1.1. Structural geology (Tectonics) a) The structural geology of Zagros Mountains: The Zagros Mountains are located in southwest Iran, extending northwest-southeast. In respect of tectonics, they are located at the intersection of the Iranian and Saudi Arabian plates and the stages of the intersection from the lower Cretaceous up to the present in each of their structural sections have been recorded. On this basis, Hanynes and Mc Quillan have set the following division from northeast to southwest respectively: 1. Stable block 2. Crushed zone 3. Abyssal zone (trench) 4. Embracing faults zone 5. Simple folded zone The folded belt of Zagros in the Iranian part of the area is on average 250 km wide on the southeast to 120 km wide on the northwest, and is 1375 km long. b) The structural geology of Fars: Fars lies within the Zagros folded belt. There is no consensus as to the frontiers of this structural zone. The western boundary of Fars zone is limited by Kazeroon fault. The eastern limit is a hypothetical boundary which separates Fars from the folded area of Bandar Abbas. The northern boundary abuts on Terasenha zone and the southern boundary on the Persian Gulf coastline, and more or less coincides with the appearance limit of Zagros anticlines. Of the most important characters of Fars area is a bedrock ridge which has extended from Qatar to under the Zagros, resulting in Gavbandi uplift. In fact, this ridge has caused a platform status in Fars. On the west and east sides of Gavbandi, multiple faults are seen along which salt domes have appeared. No domes are on the very uplift. The anticlines in Fars have an east- west to northwest-southeast, which follows the general trend of Zagros anticlines. Kashfi (1983) has separated the northwest and southeast parts on the basis of the change in folding pattern along the Zagros folded belt, and considered Kazeroon fault as the borer of such separation. Fars area coincides the eastern part. 36 c) Structure: An obvious exposure of this anticline is the Goori part of Sazandishan. The structure on the land surface in the horizon of Goori is about 32 km long and 8 km wide. The anticline shanol is almost symmetrical. The northern and southern flank dips are almost equal and in the lowest part of lime exposure of Goori is about 18-20 degrees. In some points of line layers of Goori its dip is up to 80 degrees, which results from surface landslides and is ineffective in deep structure. The area of study is a sinusoidal mountain feature whose uppermost point is higher than the adjacent plain by 1150 meter and the average altitude of its peak is some 1600 meter from sea level. The youngest formation is Bakhtiari formation, with an exposure on the northeast flank of Varavi Anticline. In tectonic respects, Varavi anticline has a box folcl shape. The whole length of the anticline has fractures on the northeast-southwest trend which are almost perpendicular to the fold axis and the existing streams (waterways) have been formed in these fractures. 2.1.1.2. Seismicity Zendan north-west fault on the east of the area, and Kazeroon Fault on the west. The thrust faults have been formed by compression forces. Normal faults formed by the movement of bedrock (southeast of Zagros) Major faults: There is a strike-slip fault with a dextral movement and north- south trend, which passes the northwest of Varavi anticline. The other is a smaller fault with an almost northeast-southwest trend, which intersects the former one. In addition, there are smaller faults in the vicinity of these two faults in a north- south trend. A comparison of the exposures of the northeast flank of Tabnak anticline and southwest flank of Varavi shows that a northwest-southeast fault pass through the syncline of these two anticlines which has made Tabnak anticline depressed relative to Varavi anticline. Figure 2.2 shows seismicity throughout Iran on the basis of the data in 2005. According to the Iranian Bylaw of Earthquake Resistant Design of Buildings (Standard 2800, third edition), as can be seen, the area is regarded highly seismic in terms of seismic zoning. Also, Figure 2.3 shows the faults zoning of Fars. According to the figure, the (immediate) area of study lacks any faults. 37 Fig. 2. 2. Seismicity map of Fars Province Source: Ministry of Housing and Urban, 2005. 38 Fig. 2. 3. Faults of Fars Source: Ministry of Industries and Mines, Geological Survey of Iran. 2.1.2.Topography The area of study is located at 53º 10' and 53º 15' eastern longitude and 27º 20' to 27º 22' northern latitude. About 60 percent of the area comprises mountains and the rest is covered with slope plains, river plains, sedimentary plains, and flood plains. The highest point is located in the drainage basin of Roodmand, the sub basin of Ghare- aghaj River, where the mounts of Khankehdan, Bonrood, and Chehelcheshmeh are over 4000 meter high from sea level. The least high point is located in the sub basin of Jahrom saline river, and only 5% of the lands