Lessons Learned From the World's Largest Continuous Onshore and Offshore 3D Seismic Survey

In 2017 ADNOC decided to cover the entire Abu Dhabi Emirate, onshore and offshore, with high- resolution and high-fold 3D seismic. Acquisition of the world's largest continuous seismic survey started in late 2018 and is around 77% complete at the time of writing. Data processing is well under way and interpretation of the first delivered 3D cubes is ongoing. Now is an opportune time to review the status of this gigantic project and draw preliminary lessons. Comparison with legacy data shows a massive improvement in deep imaging, which was one of the main objectives of this survey. The basement can clearly be interpreted, while it is hardly visible on legacy data being covered with high energy multiples. A thorough analysis demonstrated that increased offset is the main reason for the uplift. The large fold and the low frequency sweep also help recover signal down to 3 Hz. This extends the bandwidth in the low frequencies by one to two octaves compared to legacy data, which tremendously benefits structural interpretation and stratigraphic inversion.

Carnivora from the Baynunah Formation

I describe new specimens of carnivoran mammals from the continental late Miocene Baynunah Formation, exposed in the western coastal region of Abu Dhabi Emirate. New material collected between 2002 and 2014 includes dental specimens of the mustelid Plesiogulo sp. and a large-sized hyaenid, postcranial remains and an upper canine of a large- sized machairodontine felid, postcrania and a tooth of a medium-sized felid, and postcrania of a medium-sized mustelid. The latter two are new taxonomic records for the Baynunah Formation. With a minimum of six species, the carnivoran assemblage from the Baynunah Formation is the richest known from the Miocene of the Arabian Peninsula.

Birds from the Baynunah Formation

The late Miocene Baynunah Formation in western Abu Dhabi Emirate (United Arab Emirates) has yielded new bird fossils, including both skeletal and eggshell remains that we describe here, together with a revision and summary of previous findings. A ratite pelvis is characterized by its larger size compared with extant ostriches and is assigned to Struthio cf. karatheodoris. Fossil eggshells belong to the ootaxon Diamantornis laini as well as to an aepyornithoid type. Diamantornis laini is previously recorded from contemporaneous sites in Africa, and aepyornithoid eggshells are widespread across Neogene sites in Eurasia and Africa. Neognath birds are represented by three taxa, a cormorant Phalacrocorax sp. (size of P. fuscicollis), a darter Anhinga cf. hadarensis, and a heron of the tribe Nycticoracini. The darter attests to a link with Africa, being tentatively referred to a fossil species known from East Africa. The Baynunah birds provide valuable information on the biogeographic origins of different components of the avifauna in the late Miocene, near the junction between the Palaearctic, Indomalayan and Afrotropical zoogeographical regions.

Rodents from the Baynunah Formation

The Baynunah Formation of western Abu Dhabi Emirate includes the only record of late Miocene fossil mammals from the Arabian Peninsula. This study reports on new fossil rodents, recording three species previously unknown from the fauna. The first fossil squirrel from the Baynunah Formation is described here, although the limited material makes a detailed taxonomic assessment difficult. An additional indeterminate dendromurine species is also identified. Additionally, a new genus and species of an exceedingly large fossil gerbil, [gen et sp nov], is described. This species exhibits several primitive traits relative to the co-occurring Abudhabia baynunensis, yet is more derived than closely related (yet older) Ameuromys grandis. [gen et sp nov] most likely represents an intermediate species in the Ameuromys grandis — Abudhabia baynunensis group. The rodent fauna also supports previous biochronological estimates for the Baynunah Formation (8 to 6 Ma). The absence of leporids among the Baynunah micromammals suggests the fauna is older than 7 Ma. Lastly, although the Baynunah fauna shows a strong African biogeographic signal overall, the rodents represent a portion of the fauna with significant relationships with Asia.

Assessment of Metals Concentrations in Soils of Abu Dhabi Emirate Using Pollution Indices and Multivariate Statistics

The aim of this study was twofold. Firstly, we performed a land capability class determination of the agricultural soils from the Abu Dhabi Emirate, the United Arab Emirates, based on the concentrations of 17 chemical elements determined in the soil samples collected from 84 locations. Secondly, we assess the soil pollution with different metals, using several pollution indices. The results of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) shows that four principal components (PCs) are responsible for describing the total metals concentrations’ variance, the highest contribution on PC1 being that of Mn, and Cr, on PC2 that of Fe, on PC3 that of Cu, and on PC4 that of Al. After determining the optimal number of clusters, we classified the sites into three clusters, while the studied metals were grouped function on their concentrations. Then, we used five indices to assess the pollution level of the soil at the study sites and in the clusters. The geo—accumulation index (Igeo) indicates uncontamination/moderately contamination with Cu in cluster 1, uncontaminated/moderately contaminate soils with Cd, Cu, and Ni in cluster 2, and uncontaminated/moderately contaminated soil with Cu and moderately contaminated with Pb, Zn, and Ni in cluster 3. By comparison, the enrichment factors overestimate the pollution of the studied sites. The pollution load index (PLI) indicates a baseline level of pollution at 14 sites and the deterioration of the soil quality at four sites. The Nemerow pollution index provides similar results as PLI.