Evaluating Sediment Production Caused by the Lithology of the Geological Formations in Sedimentary Basins (Case Study: Lali Area, Khuzestan, Iran)

Abstract

As sediments are produced and accumulated in sedimentary basins especially in dams’ reservoirs and they highly affect the reservoirs life span, it is essential to scrutinize the effect of lithology and types of geological formations of an area on the life span of reservoirs specifically from the viewpoints of the erodability of these formations due to their lithology type. Lali area, Khuzestan, Iran and the water catchment of the intended area (based on geological situation and Taraz dam situation) are placed in the sedimentary-structural zone of the folded Zagros. The method of this research is based on analyzing the topography and geology maps and field work in order to identify the lithology of the geological formations. In fact, the amount of its erodability has been characterized by the type of the geological formations. The current research aims at putting the geological results, lithological data of the formations types and the outcrop of the soil-lithological units together in order to evaluate the sedimentary and erosive factors of these units and precisely identify the area’s geological formations to remove the ambiguities in this issue. Studies indicate that formations made of looser gypsum and marl like Pabde-Gurpi and Gachsaran are exposed to more sedimentation and erosion than the formations made of compacted lime stone and conglomerate with silica-lime cement such as Bakhtiary and Asmari formations and the sand stones of Aghajari formation reveal the moderate to high resistance. Thus, the lithological identification of the formations, the type of sediments and their looseness and hardness contribute to detect the amount and type of deposits entering into the dam reservoir. The type and amount of these transported and deposited sediments are assessed to predict more suitable optimized ways to exploit dams’ reservoirs.