Pakistani students bring home SEG-challenge bowl

Osama Hassan Khan and Sami Toor won the 5th Annual Middle East Challenge Bowl, organized by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) on July 20 in Istanbul, Turkey. Osama Hassan Khan and Sami Toor from NED University, Karachi, Pakistan. Khan and Toor are final year students of petroleum engineering. They beat Rami M. Alloush and Roody Al-Obaha from Egypt.

Winners of 5th Annual Middle East Challenge Bowl, Istanbul with one of ExxonMobil's instructor

The runners up of Challenge Bowl are from Egypt. Rami M. Alloush is a petroleum engineer from Suez Canal University and Roody Al-Obaha is a geologist from Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.

Challenge Bowl Runners up: Rami M. Alloush (left) and Roody Al-Obaha (right) from Egypt

The SEG Challenge Bowl is an international contest testing students 'breadth and depth of knowledge in geosciences'. Participants were hailed from Azarbaijan, China, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

Group photo of Challenge Bowl participants: Teams left to right: Ozan Elif and Gulce Gizem Dinc (Turkey), unknown participants from Team III (Turkey), Asar Eraz and Adham Othman (Egypt), Sajjad Munir and Samreen Rasheed (Pakistan), Sami Toor and Osama H. Khan (Pakistan), Roody Al-Obaha and Rami M. Alloush (Egypt), Timur Fayzullaev (Uzbekistan) and CHong Chen (China), Ragim Gulamaliyev and Abdul Kerimov (Azarbaijan).

AS regional winners, Khan and Toor was awarded a travel grant to attend the 81st SEG international Exhibition and Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, USA between September 18 and 22 and to compete in the 6th Annual SEG internation Challenge Bowl finals.

Pakistani students after winning Challenge Bowl Competition: starting from left to right; Salma Mumtaz, Sajjad Munir, Sami Toor, Osama Hassan Khan, Samreen Rashid and Salsabeel Verdah

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Abstract Accepted for Presentation in AEG's 54th Annual Meeting--Anchorage, Alaska 2011

Research abstract of Mr. Sajjad Munir from Bahria University Islamabad has been accepted for presentation in AEG's 54th Annual meeting, after review by technical committee of Association Of Environmental & Engineering Geologists.
 

The topic of his research is "Groundwater Quality of Islamabad in the Vicinity ofLei Nala Using Isotopic, Hydrochemical and Trace Metals Analysis". The research was conducted during his BS research work during July-August, 2010 under the supervision of Dr. Azhar Mashiatullah, Pr. Scientist/Head IGERG. The lab facilities were provided by the Isotope Geochemistry and Ecological Research Group (IGERG) of Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH). Before this abstract his one research paper is published in a national journal of PAEC named "The Nucleus" and a book entitled as "Isotopic and Geochemical techniques to study Groundwater Pollution" Published by VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, Germany.

The summary of his research work is as under;

There is great potential in the use of isotope techniques for environmental hydrological and pollution studies.  In this study, we have applied environmental isotope analysis in conjunction with conventional chemical tools for providing information on the type and sources of pollutants and their distribution in the groundwater reservoirs in Islamabad around Lei Nala (which carries industrial and domestic waste of the city).   Lei Nala was sampled at four different locations, ten shallow groundwater samples (200 feet) and twelve deep groundwater (>200 feet) were collected within jurisdiction of Islamabad for study purpose. The results of physiochemical parameters of water quality are well with in the guidelines/recommended limits as stated by the WHO (World Health Organization), European Union (EU) and Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA).  Absence of CO₃ in all groundwater samples indicates presence of limestone dissolution giving rise to bicarbonate and ultimately Ca-Mg type waters. Hydrochemical facies suggests that general chemical composition of water is Ca–HCO₃ type. There is no significant change in the hydrochemical facies noticed in the study area, which indicates that most of the major ions are natural in origin. The concentration of Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr and Fe measured in shallow and deep groundwater samples is generally well within WHO, EU and Pak-EPA guidelines for drinking water. Arsenic is found in only one shallow and one deep groundwater sample at very low concentration.  Analysis of d ¹³C values indicates that limestone dissolution is the main source of dissolved inorganic carbon. In view of the neutral pH range (pH=7 ± 0.5) of water samples collected in the Islamabad area, bicarbonate is the main dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) specie in groundwater. A plot of dD and d¹⁸O shows three water groups can be distinguished, and further indicates recharge from rain in most of deep and shallow wells.  Analysis of deep groundwater samples suggests that there is significant evaporation of rain water before percolation into aquifer. Tritium analysis shows that rain water is the origin of Lei Nala, but also indicates that the water of Lei Nala is not infiltrating into the groundwater. This study shows that groundwater in the study area is being recharged by Lei Nala but in general chemical quality of groundwater is not poor.