Closing costs are usually an unavoidable part of buying a home. While there are ways to reduce some closing costs and fees, they are an expense you will likely have to consider when it comes time to save for a home.
On average, buyers can expect to pay between 2 and 5 percent of the purchase price in closing costs and fees.
In this article, we're going to break down those costs and talk about some ways to plan for, or limit, the fees associated with closing on a home.
Most closing costs in a real estate transaction are paid for by the buyer. When getting approved for a mortgage, your lender is required to provide you with an estimate of the closing costs. This is called a "Closing Disclosure statement" which overviews the details of your loan.
Different lenders will charge varying amounts in fees. Some are even willing to waive certain fees. But, we'll discuss that later.
These are just some of the many fees that can be due upon closing on a home. Depending on where you live, which lender you choose, and the type of mortgage you secure, your closing costs will vary, so it's a good idea to shop around for a lender and mortgage type with reasonable closing costs.
Some lenders offer no-cost, or low-cost mortgages. However, these savings often come with a higher interest rate which, over the lifespan of your loan, can cost you more in the long run.
You should also be aware of the different loan types that you may be eligible for. FHA loans, USDA loans, and VA loans are all designed for buyers hoping to make lower down payments on their home.
Each loan type provides different amounts due at closing. Fortunately, your mortgage lender will be able to give you an estimate of costs for each loan type.
Want to get an estimate of the closing costs you'll have to pay when you buy a home? You can use this online calculator to see an average.
Many buyers are searching for a home with an attached garage. It helps to keep cars out of the sun, rain, and snow. An attached garage allows you to walk directly from your vehicle into your home without worry.
Garages used to be detached. These structures offered many benefits to homeowners that seem to be forgotten. As cars became more popular and larger, families began to own two cars at their properties. When this became common, so too di the attached garage.
While an attached garage is seen as a luxury and often a necessity, the good points a detached garage have shouldn't be overlooked.
Attached garages can be converted into living spaces. This affords you as a homeowner much more room without the need to move. Homeowners can then build a detached garage for storage or the placement of a vehicle.
A detached garage adds character to a home. Many buyers complain of tired suburban architecture, where the garage often becomes somewhat of a focal point for the front of the home. Detached garages can be more pleasing to look at.
You'll also have a bit more wiggle room as to how you design your home. If you build a detached garage, it can be placed at an angle on the property. The garage can also be hidden in the backyard, or designed to look like a smaller version of the larger house. A path can even be built through the yard to the garage to bring a design to the entire yard.
Another advantage to a detached garage is that toxic fumes from your vehicle won't get into the house. Homes with detached garages can often receive green points for environmentally friendly building practices. There's also less of a risk posed to you and your family for things like carbon monoxide poisoning. You can't leave a vehicle running very long in an attached garage without that risk.
A detached garage also affords the possibility of adding living space above the garage. It can be a great play space for kids or a game room for adults. You can even build a home office in the upstairs portion of the garage. The area will indeed be quiet if placed strategically. If the attached garage is new construction, you can run wild with it. The design is up to you and the possibilities are truly endless.
While many buyers search for a home with an attached garage, detached garages can have many pros and allow great flexibility to you as a homeowner.
Is Your Offer to Purchase Competitive?
As a homebuyer, it is important to do everything you can to find your dream residence. Once you discover your ideal house, you should be ready to submit a competitive offer to purchase this home.
Examine a house closely before you craft an offer to purchase – you will be glad you did. Because if you leave no stone unturned in your quest to learn about a residence, you can create an offer to purchase that accounts for a house's age and condition.
If you have questions about a house, you should reach out to a seller's agent. That way, you can address these questions before you submit an offer to purchase.
Also, it is important to remember that there is no such thing as a "bad" question to ask about a house. A home purchase may be one of the biggest transactions you will complete in your lifetime. And if you devote time and energy to learn about all aspects of a house, you can ensure you are ready to purchase this home. Perhaps best of all, you can identify potential home problems that otherwise may prove to be costly and time-intensive down the line.
Differentiating between a buyer's market and seller's market is key, particularly for those who are ready to submit an offer to purchase a house. If you assess the local housing sector, you can find out whether a buyer's or seller's market is in place and submit an appropriate offer to purchase your dream residence.
In a buyer's market, homes may remain available for many weeks or months after they are listed. Thus, a seller may be willing to accept an offer to purchase, even if it falls below his or her initial home asking price.
Comparatively, in a seller's market, there is a shortage of quality houses available. And in this market, the best houses sell quickly, which means you likely will need to submit a competitive offer to purchase to secure your ideal home.
To determine if a buyer's or seller's market is in effect, take a look at how quickly houses are selling in your city or town. You also should find out if homes are selling at or above their initial asking prices. With this information in hand, you will be better equipped than ever before to submit a competitive offer to purchase your dream house.
There is no need to overspend to buy your ideal house. Therefore, you should try to submit an offer to purchase that accounts for your homebuying budget.
Oftentimes, it helps to meet with banks and credit unions before you embark on a home search. This will allow you to get pre-approved for a mortgage and enter the homebuying journey with a budget at your disposal.
As you navigate the homebuying journey, you may want to hire a real estate agent, too. Because if you have a real estate agent at your side, you should have no trouble crafting a competitive offer to acquire your dream residence.
A buyer's market typically is a dream come true for those who want to find a high-quality and affordable house. In fact, there are many things you can do to capitalize on a buyer's market to ensure you can purchase a house that you'll be able to enjoy for years to come.
Now, let's take a look at three tips to help you get the most out of a buyer's market.
Consider where you want to live and what you want to find in your dream home – you'll be glad you did. If you hone your house search, you can avoid wasting time and resources on homes that fail to meet your expectations.
A mortgage is crucial, particularly for individuals who want to take advantage of a buyer's market. Because if you enter the real estate market with a mortgage in hand, you can map out your home search based on your budget.
Getting pre-approved for a mortgage generally won't take long. Banks and credit unions are happy to teach you everything you need to know about home financing and help you select the right mortgage. Furthermore, these financial institutions employ mortgage specialists who can respond to your home financing concerns and queries.
If you want to streamline your search for a home in a buyer's market, you should work with an expert real estate agent. That way, you can receive homebuying tips and recommendations you may struggle to receive elsewhere.
A real estate agent understands what it takes to complete a successful house search in a buyer's market. As such, he or she will work with you to make your homeownership dream come true.
As you get set to enter a buyer's market, it helps to prepare as much as you can. Thanks to the aforementioned tips, you can simplify your home pursuit in a buyer's market. As a result, you can find a wonderful residence that is sure to serve you well both now and in the future.
1. Did the home match or exceed my expectations?
It is important to understand whether a home is one that you could enjoy both now and in the future. And if you found that you liked a home after an open house, you may want to proceed with an offer on this residence.
Usually, it is a good idea to carry a checklist of your homebuying wants and needs that you can use throughout an open house. With this list in hand, a homebuyer can identify a house's strengths and weaknesses.
If you ever have concerns or questions during an open house, don't hesitate to find the listing real estate agent for assistance too. By doing so, you can gain the insights you need to determine whether a particular house is a viable long-term investment.
2. What would life be like if I purchased the home?
An open house can bring out a broad range of emotions in homebuyers, particularly if these individuals see things that they like in a residence.
For example, a homebuyer who sees a large outdoor deck may envision summer barbecues with family members and friends. Or, a homebuyer who views a spacious kitchen might picture dinner parties that he or she could host in the future.
If a home brings out positive feelings, it may be a keeper. As such, a homebuyer who feels good about a home after an open house may want to move forward with an offer.
3. Am I ready to submit an offer on the home?
Submitting an offer on a house can be tricky. On the one hand, you don't want to overspend to acquire a residence. Conversely, you want to submit a competitive offer that matches the home seller's expectations.
After an open house, it never hurts to meet with a real estate agent. Then, you can outline your homebuying goals and determine whether now is a good time to submit an offer on a residence.
If you decide to proceed with an offer, ensure that the proposal is fair and is submitted in a timely fashion. In all likelihood, the home seller will have 24 to 48 hours to accept, decline or counter your proposal. Once you receive a home seller's decision on your offer, you can determine the next step on your homebuying journey.
Lastly, if a home seller rejects your offer, there is no need to worry. With an expert real estate agent at your side, you can check out other open house events in your area. And as a result, you should have no trouble accelerating the process of going from homebuyer to homeowner.
Alleviate stress as you decide how to proceed after you attend an open house – consider the aforementioned factors, and you can determine whether a particular residence is right for you.


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Nevada's October 2020 Economic Forum
by Meredith Levine
Nevada's Economic Forum: Background
The Economic Forum is a state-mandated panel that convenes periodically to submit revenue projections for the General Fund—Nevada's major operating fund—to the Governor and the Legislature. It is a five-member committee drawn from the private sector, with three members selected by the Governor and one nominated by each the Assembly and Senate.
The Economic Forum meets in December of even-numbered years to provide forecasts for the unrestricted revenue portion of the General Fund. That forecast is binding on the Governor's Recommended Budget for the upcoming biennium. The Forum also typically convenes about a month before the official forecast to hear testimony on the economic outlook and preliminary General Fund estimates. In 2020, an October meeting was added to the schedule to gather comprehensive information on economic indicators in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here, we summarize highlights from the October 2020 meeting of the Economic Forum.
Federal Coronavirus Aid Provided and Its Use to Mitigate the Impact of Covid-19 on the Residents, Businesses, and the State Budget
Nevada received $20.8 billion in COVID-19 funding across four pieces of federal legislation. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 accounted for the largest share of federal COVID-19 funds in Nevada ($17.1 billion, or about 82 percent). Under CARES, Nevada received $1.25 billion through the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) to assist the State and local government in COVID-19 response.
The money was appropriated to the City of Las Vegas, Clark County, the State, and other local governments outside of Clark County. Per U.S. Treasury guidelines, the CRF could not be used for revenue replacement. Throughout Nevada, CRF money was distributed to assist individuals and small businesses and to support public health initiatives. As of October 1, 2020, just $842,771 in CARES Act money remains unexpended.
The CRF supported $20 million in commercial rental assistance for Nevada's small businesses and nonprofits. In addition, Nevada provided $30 million in CRF money to the Nevada Housing Division for residential rental assistance; $20 million is being held in reserve for Clark County once its own rental assistance money has been dispensed.
Nevada Residential and Nonresidential Construction Outlook
In southern Nevada, the residential housing market has not been affected by COVID-19 in the same way as other economic indicators. It is moving in a "counterintuitive direction," with prices remaining high despite 15.5 percent unemployment in the State. The new construction market remains stable: about 10,000 new homes were completed in 2019, and the pace is expected to remain the same throughout 2020. However, mortgage defaults in Nevada have begun to spike, and the concern is that the longer the pandemic grips the State, the greater the likelihood that the real estate market will weaken. Additionally, some major construction projections are coming to an end (e.g., Allegiant Stadium, new resorts, etc.), and without significant new construction in the pipeline, that could affect sales tax collections. New projects and approved construction activity in the northern Nevada pipeline suggest that that market remains resilient. Median home prices continue to increase, which is a pattern that is expected to continue until more supply comes online.
New and Expanding Business Development in Nevada
There is resilience and diversification in Nevada's industry base, though there is regional differentiation. Tourism, gaming, and entertainment is the dominant sector in southern Nevada, while other sectors, such as manufacturing, are gaining in northern Nevada. For the balance of the State, mining continues to be a growth sector.
There was a loss of 287,300 jobs in Nevada as of April 2020, but as of August, 52 percent – 150,800 jobs – had recovered. Service industries have been most at-risk during the economic downturn. Of lost jobs in Nevada, 84 percent were in Clark County.
Given public health and economic uncertainty, which include vaccine availability and questions surrounding federal financial assistance, scenario projections for specific statewide economic indicators for March 2021 are as follows:
Unemployment Rate: Best Case (9.2 percent), Most Likely (14.0 percent), and Worst Case (23.9 percent)
Job Growth: Best Case (-6.5 percent), Most Likely (-11.7 percent), and Worst Case (-18.8 percent)
Visitor Volume Growth: Best Case (-13.7 percent), Most Likely (-28.4 percent), and Worst Case (-50.2 percent)
Taxable Sales Growth: Best Case (-9.1 percent), Most Likely (-18.0 percent), and Worst Case (-27.6 percent)
Looking forward, Las Vegas is expecting growth in the manufacturing and logistics sectors. But total capital investment is expected to decrease in 2020 as large construction projects come to a close. The expectation is for recovery in 2021, but it could be slow, with many industries focused on lowering business costs. Workforce investment will be key to recovery, and given the state of layoffs, it is necessary to retrain/reskill Nevada's available workforce for higher wage jobs, observed Jared Smith, Chief Operating Officer, Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA).
Compared to southern Nevada, the downturn has not been as pronounced in northern Nevada. This can be attributed to a relatively lower dependence on tourism and hospitality in that region. But northern Nevada has not been entirely insulated from the economic shock, and upskilling the workforce is expected to be important to recovery and sustained growth.
Current Status and Outlook for the Tourist and Convention/Trade Show Market in Nevada
The dependence on tourism in southern Nevada is high – it is the economic engine of the region and is not yet experiencing a full recovery, much less growth. Drive traffic has recovered to pre-COVID levels, but air travel has declined significantly. Employment in the industry is down approximately 25 percent from that prior to the virus. Visitation in 2020 has decreased by 57 percent over 2019. Gross gaming revenue has declined, though there has been some recovery from the locals market. Visitation recovery factors are contingent on the following, which are variable and uncertain: health crisis/vaccine rollout, uneven recovery throughout the country, consumer travel behavior changes, varying recovery/travel restrictions internationally, virtual versus in-person meetings/conventions, and additional government stimulus and assistance programs.
In northern Nevada, cash occupied room nights, average room rate, and taxable room revenues are below 2019 numbers but are beginning to recover. Vacation rentals have remained strong. In fact, vacation rental taxable room revenue in 2020 increased nine percent over 2019. In addition, there are prospects for air travel increases with demand for new routes at the Reno–Tahoe International Airport. As in southern Nevada, the convention market has weakened, and group travel is not expected to rebound fully for 24 months.
Nevada Insurance Markets
It is not yet known how changes in health care coverage arising from the pandemic may affect insurance premium tax revenue, though it may be lower in the next two fiscal years than it has been in recent years. From a tax perspective, not all health plans sold in Nevada are required to pay premium taxes. The fully insured plans in the individual and group markets pay premium tax, along with managed care organizations in the Medicaid market. The plans offered in the self-funded group market, Medicare market, and Tricare/VA markets are not subject to premium taxes.
With increased unemployment from COVID-19 and the loss of health care coverage for employees, the Nevada Division of Insurance expects a shift in how Nevadans are covered. Given the deep impact of COVID-19 in the gaming industry that produced employment losses in the sector, some of the coverages losses likely will occur in the self-funded group market and the large group fully insured market, accompanied by projected increases in Medicaid as a share of Nevada's population. Self-funded groups do not pay premium taxes, so this shift could result in an increase in taxable premiums and may offset decreases in taxable premiums in other segments.
State Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Actual Revenue Collections in Comparative Context
Forecasting is especially challenging in the current economic climate and attendant pandemic-related uncertainty. A comparison of actual revenues with the Economic Forum May 1, 2019, Forecast (adjusted for legislative actions approved during the 2019 Legislative Session) that was binding on the legislatively approved budget and the June 29, 2020, Consensus Estimate (Governor's Office of Finance Budget Division and Legislative Counsel Bureau Fiscal Analysis Division) that was used to project available revenue for FY 2021 during the 31st (2020) Special Session reveals these complications.
For example, the Consensus Estimate projected a decrease in cigarette tax revenue over the May 1, 2019, forecast on the basis of reduced visitation numbers and constrained personal budgets. But the actuals came in $12.4 million higher than what was projected in the Consensus Estimate and differed by only $44,000 over the forecast that was approved in May 2019. Thus, for that revenue source, the initial forecast was more accurate than the updated numbers. As Russell Guindon, Principal Deputy Fiscal Analyst, Legislative Counsel Bureau, Fiscal Analysis Division, stated, "Hey, it's pretty tough to figure out what goes on with tax collections in a pandemic."
That does not necessarily hold true for all revenue sources but merely points to the uncertainties associated with a fluid situation that hinges on the approval of a vaccine for mass distribution, full restoration of convention travel, and the availability (or lack thereof) of federal stimulus money, amongst others.
Personal Income and Wages in Relation to Population, Employment, and Inflation on a National Level and the State of Nevada
Data on Nevada total nonfarm employment shows a loss of 229,200 jobs between the first and second quarters of 2020, for a decrease of 16.1 percent over the two periods. The single-year losses exceed the Great Recession loss of 179,000 jobs between the first quarter of 2007 and the fourth quarter of 2010 (-13.8 percent). While construction was the major industry affected during the Great Recession, pandemic-related unemployment has been concentrated in leisure and hospitality.
Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), is at 0.4 percent, which is below the 1.8 percent inflation rate in the second quarter of 2019. Reduction in CPI has been driven by the energy component.
Between the first and second quarters of 2020, Nevada wages/salaries as a share of total personal income decreased from 48.9 percent to 38.6 percent, below the U.S. shares of 50.2 percent to 43.3 percent, respectively. This indicates that the Nevada wage/salary share of total personal income was slightly below the national average prior to the pandemic but is now nearly five percentage points below the U.S. share (which itself declined). Stimulus checks and unemployment compensation, which are transfer payments, have had an offsetting effect nationally and in Nevada. Specifically, Nevada total personal income increased by 11.9 percent between the first and second quarters of 2020, but total wages and salaries decreased 11.7 percent over the same period.
The October 2020 meeting of the Economic Forum provide a comprehensive assessment of Nevada's economy from a variety of different perspectives. COVID-19 is a public health crisis that has produced a significant economic shock. Unemployment continues to remain high, and visitation has not returned to pre-COVID levels, which presents a challenge in a tourism-dependent economy. Nevada has been affected differentially by the crisis in that the effects have been more pronounced in southern Nevada than in northern Nevada.
Whether or not it is a difference of a degree than kind is not clear. All areas of Nevada are witnessing signs of recovery, particularly with respect to leisure travel. But southern Nevada is highly dependent on large conventions and events as drivers of midweek revenue. Depressed discretionary business and personal income elsewhere in the country, coupled with apprehension about COVID-19 transmissibility on airplanes and lack of confidence in health and safety protocols across all aspects of the travel experience, makes full restoration in the short term highly unlikely. A lingering recession is not outside the realm of possibility.
Expert testimony seemed to suggest something of a consensus in two respects: (1) a full rebound likely is contingent on a vaccine that is approved for mass distribution to ensure confidence in a "return to normal"; and (2) while Nevada was badly hit by the pandemic, the federal stimulus package and enhanced unemployment benefits have kept many people afloat, though others are still hurting quite badly. This money helped soften blow for many of Nevada's families, and while State revenue was affected deeply, it could have been far worse. However, in the absence of additional federal support, the economic pain could persist or even worsen.
Uncertainty was a recurring theme of the October 2020 Economic Forum. It is doubtful that these uncertainties will become known quantities by the time official forecasts are approved at the December 2020 meeting of the Economic Forum, but the estimates will account for uncertainty and ever-evolving economic conditions.
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This is an institution that takes itself very (too?) seriously and, perhaps, suffers a little from that. Housed in the former Grand Priory of the Knights of Malta (The Knights Hospitaler) of the 16th century, when not being used for temporary exhibitions, the museum contains a thoroughly idiosyncratic collection of local and national eighteenth century French painting, much of which one can really live without seeing. However on the top floor is a collection of Picasso drawings donated (according to local legend) to the town by the great man (a frequent visitor to the town's bull fights) when he realised that in spite of the fact that Van Gogh painted more than one hundred and eighty great of his world-famous paintings during his eighteen months stay in the town, none has remained there. The drawings are wonderful but if you dislike bullfights and cannot separate art from the rest of life, then keep away. The building itself is, however, completely glorious and completely worth a visit in its own right.


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Lignin for all things bio
Using the testbed LignoCity in Kristinehamn, Sweden, RISE together with partners has shown how lignin can be used to produce both bioplastics, biocoatings, bioresins, biofuels as well as carbon fibre for lightweight applications and energy storage. Now, a new project is being launched
Log salvage in Ghana Lake Volta
Ghana's President, Nana Akufo-Addo, recently commissioned a log salvage facility that will operate in the Volta Lake in the Eastern Region. The company concerned, Kete Krachi Timber Recovery Company Ltd. (KKTR), aims to salvage tree stumps from the lake. Source: Timberbiz Operations a
Indonesia marks major milestone against illegal logging
Indonesia and the EU have marked the second anniversary of a major milestone in their partnership against illegal logging — the launch of the world's first 'FLEGT' licensing scheme, guaranteeing the legality of timber products exported to the EU. Since Indonesia began issuing FLEGT li
New home approvals up in September down in October
ABS data released shows that a total of 17,070 homes (seasonally adjusted) were approved for construction in the month of October 2018, 1.5% fewer than in the previous month and 13.2% fewer than in October 2017. The monthly decline in total approvals was driven by multi-unit homes, wh
Building for bushfires and minimizing risk
Designing to 'build out' bushfires by minimising the risk of ember, radiant heat and flame damage means timber homes can safely be built, even in bushfire-prone areas (BPA). With fire authorities predicting an increasing bushfire threat in Australia, building with fire in mind has bec
New Timber Queensland Board has an eye on the future
Timber Queensland, the body representing the State's $3.2 billion per annum forest and timber industry, held its Annual General Meeting and a unanimous decision by members present elected James Hyne, Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Hyne Timber as the new chair and Paul Bidwell deputy
VAFI seeks to work with new forestry minister
The Victorian Association of Forest Industries (VAFI) congratulates the Andrews Government's newly appointed Agriculture Minister, Jaclyn Symes, MP. VAFI CEO, Tim Johnston, said he looks forward to working closely with Minister Symes on behalf of VAFI members given the industry's econ
Keep up with the revolution in offsite timber construction
Smart technology is changing everything. The advances taking place in the offsite manufacture of timber frame and mass wood buildings for residential and commercial buildings, is nothing short of revolutionary. New and smart technologies are improving productivity and speed of constru
Institute of Foresters call for papers
The Institute of Foresters of Australia and the New Zealand Institute of Forestry have made a call for papers for the joint conference 25-28 August (Christchurch) 2019. The theme for this major conference is: The Forest Newsfeed: Communicating Forestry in the Connected Age. Source: Ti
Australian Paper gets enviro tick for waste disposal energy
Australian Paper's $600 million energy from waste proposal at its Latrobe Valley plant has been given an 'environmental tick' from EPA Victoria. The EPA has issued a Works Approval, which means the project meets the EPA's stringent emissions standards. Source: Philip Hopkins for Timbe


Over the winter break we presented you with our top 15 Bayern players in the club's history. In the closing article, we then wanted to know your opinions. In today's round-up, we'll show you the results of the reader survey.
In the comments section below our ranking, the discussion was already heating up: That's too harsh on Neuer. I'd have Lizarazu. Where's Thomas Müller? Schweinsteiger's been overrated. How does Scholl get into a top 15? So we gave you all the chance to choose your best players in Bayern's history yourselves. Here is the result of the reader survey.
In total, 332 lists were sent back, giving a sufficiently good statistical basis for the results. Before the survey, twenty players were specified who then had to be put in order by the readers. The general selection could have been expanded arbitrarily, but too many players would have put off readers or the lower places might not have been filled in. A free selection wasn't implemented because otherwise the results would have been too strenuous to collate.
That inevitably means that some deserving players, who some would have liked to see in their list, weren't available. An unfortunate situation that is hopefully more understandable thanks to the above explanation.
Now the votes have to be counted and the user list compared with the Miasanrot editorial list. The table shows the user list, with the average position in the user ranking as well as the original position in the Miasanrot ranking list shown too.
Both Robben and Müller jump up a place in the readers' list.
The first thing to note is that the user list doesn't differ a great deal from the Miasanrot ranking list. No individual position of a player changed by more than one place. In total there were just three position changes in the top 15: Arjen Robben overtakes Paul Breitner and comes in eighth, Sepp Maier and Klaus Augenthaler swap places, Thomas Müller narrowly goes ahead of Mehmet Scholl into the top 15.
This congruency of the list of 15 experts and the order of over 300 readers also speaks for the balance in the choice of experts. Although individual expert lists varied more strongly from the end result, these were all important to find a good means of having widespread opinions.
It's interesting that between Müller and Scholl the gap is only 0.01 points on average after over three hundred lists. Müller was voted into the top 15 by 125 readers, Scholl by just 106. In contrast, the readers see Robben clearly ahead of Breitner and Maier even more clearly ahead of Augenthaler.
The four other additional players – Effenberg, Roth, Ballack, Hoeneß – trail comparatively far behind the top 15. None was put in the top 15 more often than 60 times by the readers. Hoeneß with 57 votes got the most nominations. Only 15 users see Ballack as among the best Bayern players.
Here it should be mentioned that to a certain extent this is certainly due to the type of survey. In the survey the selection was already pre-sorted corresponding to the Miasanrot list. Particularly with tight decisions between specific players that can lead to a tendency not to change the pre-given order.
A somewhat more detailed analysis shows that the distances between the players are in places rather different. In the Miasanrot rankings, for example, Philipp Lahm was comparatively far ahead of Oliver Kahn, while the two were only separated by 0.3 places on average among the readers. As a result Karl-Heinz Rummenigge trails far behind in fifth place in the user ranking list.
While in the Miasanrot list Lothar Matthäus and Bastian Schweinsteiger came out almost exactly the same down to the decimal points, the readers see the last German world player of the year more clearly ahead of the fußballgott. And that despite Schweinsteiger getting six nominations for the best Bayern player of all time.
Two legendary Bayern goalkeepers hanging out: Kahn and Maier, the latter rated more highly by the readers than by the Miasanrot selection.
Gerd Müller is the only player who is in the top 15 in all 332 user lists. A whole 218 times saw the Bomber listed as the best Bayern player. Following him are Beckenbauer (73x) and Lahm (15x). In total eleven players got votes as the best Bayern player. Among them, curiously, are also Ballack and Scholl.
The double double winner from 2005 and 2006 was, however, also put by far the most times in the twentieth and thus last position. A total of 21 users have Ballack there. Oddly enough, both Beckenbauer and Lahm got at least one vote for last place.


1. There are two projected image divisions; Color and Nature. There are three classes; AA and A.
2. Digital images entered in color division may be of any subject matter and technique. An assigned subject may be required in one or more competitions. Assigned subjects will be announced by the appropriate chairperson.
4. A make-up opportunity may be allowed, at the discretion of the projected image division chairperson. If approved, a member who has missed a monthly competition due to a sudden or unavoidable absence, or due to an honest error may then enter four images, rather than two, provided the month of missed competition or of make-up is not one with an assigned subject. Only one make-up may be authorized per year.
Title sample NM-Bail-C-Polar Bears.jpg NM first letter can only be N (Nature) or C (Color). The next part can be A or AA. It refers to the class in which images will be judged. Bail – the first 4 letters of your last name. C – the initial of your first name. Polar Bears the title of your image.
No elements may be moved, cloned, added, deleted, rearranged or combined.
No manipulation or modification is permitted except resizing, cropping, selective lightening or darkening, and restoration of original color of the scene.
No special effect filters can be applied.
All sharpening must appear natural.
The Color section allows all of the above. Any work done in programs such as "PhotoShop" or "Elements" must be your own.
The winning images from each month will be posted on the RPC website using a low resolution UNLESS you deny permission to do so. In addition, the winning files will be saved for entry in Projected Image of the Year.


Archives will accept up to four copies of a Record if available; do not specifically make copies to transfer to Archives. Then destroy all extra copies you do not send to Archives.
Archives would prefer the original computer file of a Record instead of a printed copy if possible.


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Sexual Harassment (Title IX)
Church Divinity School of the Pacific is committed to creating and maintaining a community in which students, faculty and administrative and academic staff can work together in an atmosphere free of all forms of harassment, exploitation or intimidation, including sexual. Specifically, every member of the CDSP community should be aware that Church Divinity School is strongly opposed to sexual harassment and that such behavior is prohibited both by law and by CDSP policy.
Definition: Sexual harassment is an activity or behavior, which consists of the exploitation of power or a power imbalance in an inappropriate sexual manner. Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of sexual nature constitute sexual harassment when:
Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of instruction, employment or participation in CDSP activities;
Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis for evaluation in making academic or personnel decisions affecting an individual; or
Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive CDSP environment.
Examples of sexual harassment include, but are not limited to the following:
Verbal Harassment – epithets or derogatory comments.
Physical Harassment – assault, impeding or blocking movement, or any physical interference with normal work or movement.
Visual Forms of Harassment – derogatory posters, notices, bulletins, cartoons, or drawings.
Sexual Favors – unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, which is conditioned upon an employment benefit or student status, that unreasonably interferes with an individual's work performance or creates an offensive work environment.
In determining whether the alleged conduct constitutes sexual harassment, consideration shall be given to the record of the incident as a whole and to the totality of the circumstances, including the context in which the alleged incidents occurred.
If the alleged perpetrator of the sexual harassment is a member of the faculty or staff, or a student of another GTU member school, the GTU itself, or one of its affiliates, then the CDSP representative who receives the complaint should notify the Dean, President, or Director of the alleged perpetrator's school or affiliate. The investigation and resolution of the complaint will be conducted by and according to the policies of the alleged perpetrator's institution. A copy of that institution's procedures should be made available to the complainant as soon as possible. The Dean of CDSP should maintain close communication with those conducting the investigation from the alleged perpetrator's institution and insure that the CDSP complainant is treated justly. If the complainant is a member of the CDSP community, the resources listed below will be made available to him/her.
Resources for Counseling and Consultation. The immediate priority in the case of alleged sexual harassment is to provide a safe, informal and confidential atmosphere for the alleged victim to talk with person(s) about the incident, to check out feelings, talk through the incident, and otherwise do a "reality check" on the incident. CDSP will have on file a list of resources, independent from the school that may be used in this manner. The President and Dean's Office shall compile and update this list on a regular basis. This list will be available from the Dean of Students. All faculty advisors will be made aware of this list on an annual basis for referral purposes. The Dean of Students will publicize the availability of these resource people to the CDSP community. Recognizing that an individual may experience a time of delayed reaction between the alleged occurrence of sexual harassment and the reporting of the incident, the aforementioned resource list will also be available to persons seeking advice regarding past incidents. Additionally, should any such person decide to file a complaint of sexual harassment, an investigation would proceed in the manner described below.
CDSP Investigation of Complaints. A formal investigation into any allegation of harassment will begin upon notification of CDSP of the alleged incident(s). If the complainant is a student, notification should be made to the Dean of Students; if the complainant is a faculty member, notification should be made to the Dean of Academic Affairs; if the complainant is a staff member, notification should be made to the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; if the complaint arises in the context of Field Education, notification should be made to the Director of Field Education. If, in any situation, the allegations of harassment are against or involve the individual to be notified, the complainant may notify any other individual listed or the President and Dean to commence an investigation. Upon notification, the President and Dean will appoint appropriate persons from the community (faculty, staff and/or student) to investigate the incident.
When a CDSP student is involved in an incident of alleged harassment, a student (such as the Ombudsperson) shall be appointed to the investigative committee. The President and Dean will also take necessary actions to defuse the situation, separate the parties, or maintain the status quo, as deemed appropriate under the circumstances. The complainant and the respondent, who will be advised by the President and Dean of the pending investigation, shall agree upon all members of the investigative committee. Either complainant or respondent may petition the President and Dean that a member of the investigative committee not serve in this particular situation if there is a question about the member's ability to be impartial. Further, either or both complainant and respondent may be permitted to have an advocate come with them to the meeting(s) of the committee. Every effort shall be made to maintain the confidentiality of the parties involved. However, disclosure of the specific allegations and individuals may be necessary to conduct a complete investigation. It is against CDSP policy for anyone to retaliate against a complainant who pursues a complaint or any witness or participant in an investigation.
The committee shall review the incident as a whole and consider the totality of the circumstances, including the context in which the alleged incident(s) occurred. Following a reasonable investigative period (1 or 2 weeks) the committee shall report its findings and recommendations to the President and Dean.
Corrective Action. The committee recommendations may include, but are not limited to the following:
A verbal and/or written statement admonishing the alleged offender.
A request that the alleged offender apologize personally to the complainant.
A recommendation of therapy for either or both the alleged offender and/or complainant.
Other action which may include request for resignation if employment is involved, suspension or dismissal where enrollment is involved, withdrawal of Field Education Certification where Field Education is involved, or other appropriate actions determined by the President and Dean.
Other action may also include notification of appropriate ecclesiastical authorities, as deemed necessary.
The complainant may also choose to pursue litigation in the civil courts.
Prior to making any decision or taking action, the President and Dean may seek additional counsel from persons of his/her choice, including, but not limited to, the Chair of the Board of Trustees. The President and Dean may also take other action, as he/she deems appropriate. The decision and action of the President and Dean is final.
In the event that the President and Dean is alleged to be involved in a case of sexual harassment, the following procedures will be followed: The Dean of Academic Affairs, the Dean of Students, or the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer shall form the investigative committee. The Chair of the Board of Trustees shall be notified of the allegations. The Chair may appoint a member of the Board of Trustees to serve on the committee. The committee will conduct a timely investigation and report their findings to the Chair of the Board. The final review process shall be, in this instance, by the Chair of the Board of Trustees and other persons named by the Chair. The decision and action reached by the Chair of the Board of Trustees is final.
Contact information for each of the officials named in this policy is available on the Executive Team page of the website.
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4 clients in General District Court. Two go as they typically would. One client has been in jail waiting for another State to extradite her for 30 days. Per normal experience, I tell her that it is 90% likely that she will be released (she asked). Of course, this is the one case wherein the judge actually grants the prosecution 2 more weeks (their excuse is that they had not moved to nolle prosequi a traffic ticket and maybe that's the reason the other State hasn't come). The client is very unhappy and will not talk to me after the hearing.
Later that day a client with two felonies and a misdemeanor has not been shipped to the courthouse by the jail. When I check, he has bonded out and never bothered to contact me. He never came to court so the judge issued a capias and set another date a month out (assuming he's picked up).
2 clients in General District Court in a smaller county. One case is dropped due to some technical difficulties in the prosecution's case. The other case is a DUI with an 80+ year old lady with a DUI charge and a civil charge of refusing to take the breath test. The Trooper tells me that she ran two cars off the road before she came to a stop and that she told him the reason she was driving was to go buy more beer. I work it out so that her DUI is dropped but she has to give up her license for a year. The most interesting part of the day was watching the prosecutor running between Circuit Court and General District Court (most of the time you only see defense attornies doing this). He's the single part-time prosecutor in the county and somehow the Judges scheduled both courts to be open at exactly the same time. While waiting for him to come to General District Court, I went over to the Circuit Court where they were holding pre-trials for what seemed like half the county (they had just busted a large, family drug ring). While sitting there I am assigned a client who is charged with 4 counts of distribution of cocaine. The judge made it very clear that if the charges were not handled thru guilty pleas there will be jury trials for the defendants.
A client who had been released after I got his felonies reduced to misdemeanors and the prosecutor to agree to time served (he had been off for several months being restored at the State mental institution) was required by the judge to get a HIV test and come back to court. On this date he failed to return for the second time and the judge issued a capias.
I go to the Richmond jail to visit a client and while I'm waiting prisoner after prisoner walks by asking if I'm a "paid lawyer" (not a Richmond Public Defender). I hand out about eight cards.
A client who had robbed the fast food resteraunt he worked at with a shotgun was sentenced to 22 years. This means the 18 year old kid will get out of jail when he is 40. The appeal will start shortly.
A client is in front of the General District Court on a capias for not coming to court on a prior date. When the client says he couldn't get a ride to the court on that day the judge asks why he didn't walk to court. After the judge is finished (but before sentencing), I point out that I live 5 minutes from where he lived and it takes me half a hour to drive to court on a highway that has a 65mph speed limit. The judge lectured me for pointing that out but he only sentenced the client to 5 days so it seemed to do some good.
Then I jump in my car and drive to another county's courthouse just in time for a client not to show up for his court date and get a capias. Then I have to handle a case wherein a merchant is using a criminal charge in order to get the prosecutor to be his bill collector. My client pays off the bounced check and the charge goes away.
Note: Every single one of the clients who did not show for court was a court appointed client; I find that about 10% of court appointed clients who are on the street do not show for court.


The most valuable marbles are pre-1950's. Collectors are looking for marbles made in the late 1800's through the 1940's.
Why? It was about 1950 that the Japanese started making the cat-eye style marbles. These popular marbles were very cheap to buy and put most of the remaining marble companies in the U.S.A. out of business.
Click here to attach your pictures and receive your free appraisal.
This guide is meant to be a simple and quick way to identify and learn about vintage marbles. It is not meant to be the definitive guide to every type of marble ever produced. But I will try and answer some of the most common questions I am frequently asked, as well as show examples of some of the most collectible marbles.
The links above will take you to photos and descriptions of each marble type listed.
We are happy to have Marble Alan's world famous marble identification and guide to learning about marble collecting online at BuyMarbles.com as of April 2012.
You don't want to miss this fantastic comprehensive learning experience!
How do I know if my marbles are old?
One of my most often asked questions. Let's first determine where the marbles came from. Do you know about their history? Are they from a grandparent or relative or did you get them at an auction?
The age of the person you get them from will help right away. A 65 year old would have marbles from the early 50's, a 75 year old from the early 40's, etc.
If you get marbles from an auction or antique store it can be much more difficult to figure out. Most of the time the marbles will be old, we just aren't sure how old. Auctioneers will sometimes 'seed' an auction with Ball jars containing new marbles and call them vintage at the sale. Antique stores may have booths with these same jars. Many have fallen for this and overpaid for brand new marbles, including booth operators.
Browse through the picture pages listed here and you will start to get an idea of how old your marbles are if you recognize a few.
How important is the condition of my marbles?
Condition is key to the overall value of a marble. Marbles are antique toys made of glass or clay. Like any glass antique, whether a plate or a marble, chips, cracks, etc. lower the final value significantly. It does not take much damage at all to lower the value of a marble.
This can be a real issue with marbles since they were kid's toys meant to be played with. The majority of marbles will have some damage. Collectors want mint marbles or as close to that as can be found. Marbles in poor condition will be of little value even if they are very valuable in mint condition.
Remember, just because a marble is old does not mean it's valuable. Condition, Condition, Condition! This is so important. If your marbles are chipped up and in rough condition, they will not appraise for much value.
Click on the title to see more information on each type of marbles or use the links at the top of the page.
German Handmade's were one of the earliest type of marbles imported to the United States. These remain one of the most popular of collectible marbles worldwide. There are hundreds of color combinations and styles, but most fall into a handful of categories.
Many imported German marbles were made of clay or different type of stone. The most popular were stone Agates which were hand ground. The clay marbles were glazed and some un-glazed. The most common clays are called 'Benningtons' and have a brown or blue spotted glaze.. The clay marbles with bulls-eye, flowers, leaves, etc. hand painted on them are called 'Chinas'.
American machine made marbles started being manufactured in the early 1900's. Production really took off with the use of marble making machines that could mass produce marbles. This lasted into the 1940's. Many of the marble companies would turn out 1 million marbles a day.
Foreign marble makers put most of the American companies out of business by 1950. A few remained in the USA including Marble King and Jabo, Inc. who are still in operation today. Most marbles today are made in Mexico and China. Mega Marbles and Imperial are two of the largest.
There are fakes and reproductions still being made today. Some are glass and try to mimic old machine made or German handmade marbles. The most common are clay marbles said to be dredged from a river, from the Tennessee area, Civil War marbles, etc.


text:
Journal of Hydrogeology & Hydrologic EngineeringISSN: 2325-9647
Research Article, J Hydrogeol Hydrol Eng Vol: 10 Issue: 2
Evaluating Three Conventional Electrode Arrays in 2d Electrical Resistivity Imaging Surveys for Studying the Sedimentary Layers and the Hydrogeological Situation in Southern Iraq
Ahmed Abdulameer1,2,3*, Jassim M Thabit2, Firas H AL-Menshed 3 and Broder Merkel1
1Institute for Geology, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Gustav-Zeuner-Str. 12, Freiberg, Germany
2Department of Geology, College of Science, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
3General Commission for Groundwater, Baghdad, Iraq
*Corresponding Author : Ahmed Abdulameer
Institute for Geology, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Gustav-Zeuner-Str. 12, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
Tel: 00491798871266;
Received Date: January 05, 2021; Accepted Date: January 20, 2021; Published Date: January 27, 2021
Citation: Abdulameer A, Thabit JM, AL-Menshed FH, Merkel B (2021) Evaluating Three Conventional Electrode Arrays in 2d Electrical Resistivity Imaging Surveys for Studying the Sedimentary Layers and the Hydrogeological Situation in Southern Iraq. J Hydrogeol Hydrol Eng 10:1.
This study compares three conventional electrode arrays in 2D electrical resistivity imaging surveys by applying them to study the sedimentary layers and the hydrological situation in three coastal locations close to the Khor Al-Zubair, southern Iraq. At each location, a 2D imaging line of 1200 m length wasimplemented columnar the Khor Channel, using Dipole-dipole, Wenner and Wenner-Schlumberger arrays at the same line. The inverse models revealed the presence of three major resistivity layers, the uppermost layer has a medium resistivity attributed to the upper aquifer and is affected by the salinegroundwater. The second electrical layer represents the upper aquifer, completely filled with brackish groundwater. The third, very low resistivity layer correlates to the lower aquifer and is filled with saline groundwater. Also, a hard clay bed (aquiclude) is visible on all geophysical lines in the depth range of 20 m-28m. Results indicate that all three electrode arrays can detect the sedimentary layers and the extension of saline groundwater but with a difference in accuracy. The Wenner-Schlumberger array revealed the best results in delineating the resistivity layers, the extension of saline groundwater in the uppermost layer of aquifer and the clayey aquiclude and shows the best horizontal and vertical resolutions. The dipole-dipole array was less accurate in determining this extension of saline groundwater and the aquiclude. The Wenner array results were unsatisfactory in delineating the aquiclude and the lower aquifer. The Wenner-Schlumberger array, as hypothesized, is efficient in determining different resistivity layers, especially in the presence of horizontal and vertical structures or high background noise, and if long survey lines are required.
Keywords: 2D imaging technique; Saline groundwater extension; Dipole-dipole array; Wenner array; Wenner-Schlumberger array
Subsurface geological and environmental investigations are important tasks, which can be conducted applying different techniques. Most of this techniques, however, are complex, site specific, costly, have limited extension, and might be accompanied with some other difficulties, e.g. difficult access to some sites (riparian zone) and regulatory constraints (oil facilities). In this regard geophysical investigations, especially electrical resistivity techniques, give a moderate solution and a very cost-effective and efficient alternative. These techniques depend on the existence of considerable dissimilarities in the resistivity of subsurface geological materials that can be identified by surface voltage measurements between pairs of electrodes after injecting an electrical current through pairs of electrodes [1]. Generally, many standard electrode arrays are used for 2D imaging lines: Wenner (WN), Dipole-Dipole (DD), Wenner- Schlumberger (WS), Pole-Pole (PP), Pole-Dipole (PD), and Equatorial Dipole-Dipole (EDD) [2-12], and applying each array are site and anomaly specific. Therefore, many investigations were conducted to specify the applicability of different arrays at different sites and for different targets [13-20].
In Iraq, many geophysical investigations have been conducted for different purposes. Comparing three arrays (DD, WS, and WN) showed that the WN array is the most suitable to study shallow subsurface structures in an area in Baghdad, Iraq [21], while the WS array would be a good option if the target area was deeper. For archaeological investigation, testing the efficiency of the WN, DD, and WS arrays in Uruk archaeological site east of Al-Samawah city in Iraq showed that the DD array provides the highest vertical resolution of the targeted anomalies [22]. However, for complex sedimentary deposits, the WS array was found superior among the Schlumberger reciprocal (SR), DD, and WN arrays in providing the best pictures with the best resolution for deep layers in the northern Badra district in Iraq [23].The authors confirmed the suitability of the WS array for determining different layers in areas with long survey lines and high heterogeneity. Thabit JM and Al-Zubedi AS tested the WS, WN and DD arrays in 2D imaging surveys through synthetic models to determine which array is the most effective in realizing the vertical fracture zone and three separate cavities [24]. The results showed that the WS array is the best approach to determine vertical and horizontal structures. Also tested the DD, WS, and WN arrays in the University of Technology Camp/Iraq-Baghdad to study the subsurface features. The author found that the WS array is the most suitable array for the target area, as subsurface features and three types of soil (Silty clay, clay, and sand) could be detected [25]. Applying the 2D imaging survey using WS, DD, and PD arrays across Um El-Githoaa cavity in Western Iraq revealed that the DD array was more successful in defining the cavity than the other arrays [26].
However, one of the most important issues in Iraq is groundwater as main source of water for many local communities. However, geophysical investigations in this domain are limited so far, and it is not known which method could be applied successfully to investigate such problems. Therefore, the goal of this study was to use different arrays in a specific area in Iraq where geological and hydrogeological questions are still without reply. To achieve this goal, the Study Area (SA) close to Khor AL-Zubair (KhZ) in south eastern part of Iraq was selected, where local people are suffering from many problems. It is worth mentioning that the KhZ Channel is low land filled with water and it is an inland extension of the sea, with a measured salinity of 44,000 mg/l. Groundwater in this area, which is considered the main source of water for the local community, is deteriorating qualitatively and quantitatively, and the reasons are not defined so far. The main aquifer in this area is reported to have high salinity, which deteriorates the natural ecosystem and causes significant socioeconomic effects [27]. Therefore, many farmers abandoned their farms in some parts. The sediments in the SA are clastic sediments, which have high resistivity causing high noise in geophysical surveys. Besides, it was planned to survey as deep as possible covering a big area by applying long survey lines. Therefore, and according to these criteria, WS array was expected to give the best results. Yet, three arrays were (DD, WN and WS) applied to compare their functionality to the same location.
Figure 1 shows the geological map of the SA which is a part of the region investigated previously by [27]. The SA is flat and covered at most with Quaternary deposits (clay, sand, and pebble). Quaternary sediments are both Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. The Al-Batin Alluvial Fan (Pleistocene) represents the main part of the SA [28]. It consists of sandy gravels and gravelly sand, where sand is generally medium to coarse-grained, while gravels exist as lenses with thickness in the range of 0.1 m to 2.0 m. Sheet run-off, tidal flats, and anthropogenic deposits form the core of the Holocene deposits. The sheet run-off deposits represent a mixture of outwash and wadi deposits. The tidal flats are characterized by fine-grained sediments (silt and clay) and occasionally sand [29]. Anthropogenic deposits made of bricks, plastics, pottery fragments and other man-made artifacts have a negative impact on groundwater quality.
Figure 1: Left: Map of Iraq and location of the SA (red square); Right: Geological map with the main lithological units and map of the SA with locations of 2D geophysical lines (black continuous lines), Lithology bore holes (Brown circles), and KhZ (blue).
According to the Water Quality Association [30] groundwater in the SA is classified in six categories:
Fresh Water-<1,000 TDS
Brackish Water-1,000 TDS to 5,000 TDS
Highly Brackish Water-5,000 TDS to 15,000 TDS
Saline Water-15,000 TDS to 30,000 TDS
Seawater-30,000 TDS to 40,000 TDS
Brine-40,000 TDS to 300,000+TDS
The aquifer system consists of two hydrogeological units [27]: The upper unit is an unconfined aquifer and the lower unit is a confined to semi-confined aquifer of the Dibdibba Formation. A Hard Clay Bed (HCB) called "Jojab" separates these two units having a thickness in the range 2 m-4 m [31]. The saturated zone of the upper aquifer has a thickness of 15 m-20 m. It contains brackish water with TDS of 5000 mg/L-15000 mg/L [30], yet it is still to a certain degree suitable for agricultural activities. The confined to semi-confined unit located underneath contains groundwater with TDS in the range 15000 mg/ L-30000 mg/L (ibid). Both aquifers are composed of clastic sediments [32] and groundwater table from 1 m-6 m above sea level (m.a.s.l) and it slopes to the north and north-east [33]. The groundwater flow direction is following the general topographic slope from the W and SW towards the E and NE [34]. The transmissivity of the Dibdibba aquifer is within the range of 14 m2/day-964 m2/day, its hydraulic conductivity is 0.38 m/d with a well discharge of 12 m3/day-1166 m3/day [35].
2D resistivity imaging
The survey was conducted using the SYSCAL pro+ with a system of 10-channels (IRIS Instruments, Orléans, France), which is able to handle 120 electrodes. Three sites (section 1, section 3, and section 5) were chosen to apply 2D imaging profiles. It is worth mentioning here that the survey was done along these three sites two times. First, 2D imaging was applied along these sections with length of 1200 m and 10 m electrodes spacing. The survey was carried out at this step with the three aforementioned electrode arrays (DD, WN, and WS), at the same profile for each site. Second, just one array was applied along these sections with length of 2400 m and the same 10 m electrodes spacing for the purpose of detecting spatial extent of salinity contamination [27].The value of (a) for the WS and DD arrays was set to 10 m and the value of (n) was set between 1(a) and 6(a). All of these profiles have a northeast-southwest direction, columnar to the KhZ, and determine the sedimentary layers, the hydrological situation, and saline groundwater extension (Figure 1). Besides forward models nine inverse models were obtained from this survey, three models for the same profile at each site. The purpose of these nine models was to study and evaluate which electrode array can give a better 2D model for determining the sedimentary layers, the hydrological situation, and saline groundwater extension in the SA.
Four boreholes (B4, B8, B9 and B11), distributed throughout the SA (Figure 1) were used for lithological correlation and quantitative interpretation of the obtained inverse models.
The software RES2DINV ver. 3.59 (GEOTOMO SOFTWARE) was used for the purpose of data analysis and inversion. The inversion algorithm of this software is described in details by [36-38]. The inversion method is used to estimate the true resistivity of the subsurface from field data measurements [36,37], through calculating the theoretical apparent resistivity for an inverted resistivity model of field data produced by the inversion routine. Then the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) between the measured and calculated apparent resistivity values is determined by means of the comparison between the two pseudo sections. In the first iteration of inversion routine, the results of the forward model (apparent resistivity), which is based on an initial 2D model of resistivity distribution, is compared with actual field data; then the initial model is adjusted based on the difference. The inversion method is explained in details by [1], and the processing steps can be summarized as follows:
1 Generating apparent resistivity pseudo section from field data. 2 Generating inverse resistivity model of field data. 3 Calculating apparent resistivity pseudo section for the inverted model. 4 Comparing the two apparent resistivity pseudo sections to determine the RMS between them. 5 Modifying the inverted resistivity model according to the measured field data. 6 Generating a new calculated apparent resistivity for the inverted model. Comparing the new calculated apparent resistivity model with the measured apparent resistivity one to reduce RMS between both. Steps 1, 2, 3 and 4 represent the forward modeling, while 5, 6 and 7 represent the inversion process, and they are done in the first iteration. The iteration is repeated, decreasing the RMS until it meets a userdefined value or the number of predefined iterations is reached. Figure 2 summarized the inverse routine procedure.
Figure 2: Flowchart of the resistivity imaging inversion.
Because of the heterogeneity near the surface and the noisy data, the initial damping factor has been set to 0.2 and the minimum damping factor has been set to 0.02. The vertical/horizontal flatness filter ratio is another critical parameter in this regard and it has been set to 0.5 due to the anomaly in the studied are extended horizontally. The standard least-squares method has been used for data inversion to minimize Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) as shown in [39]. Additionally, the RES2DINV calculates a resistivity model iteratively to minimize the difference between the calculated and observed values of apparent resistivity. The number of iterations was set to the default value 5. The obtained RMS error during the minimization of the square differences between the observed and the calculated apparent resistivity values varied between 5.0% and 10.7% over all 2D resistivity lines. Pre-processing was an important step to discard unrealistic measurements (high and low apparent resistivities) from the inversion process. For all cross sections, the bad data (excluded data) accounted for less than 6% of the total dataset.
Prefatory information about the situation in the underground was provided by previous geophysical, geochemical, hydrological and geological studies down to the investigation depth reached by the resistivity profile.A multicore 1200 m long cable and (120) electrodes were used, which is common in carrying out a 2D electrical resistivity survey. In fact, the multicore cable was divided into manageable segments, 10 m in length and connected end to end during the survey process. Furthermore, the electrodes were set into the ground at constant lengths along a survey line and linked to the multicore cable. The survey system automatically measured the apparent resistivity (ρa Ωm) in a pre-defined sequence of combinations of four electrodes.Minimizing data acquisition time was achieved by measuring several voltages simultaneously across multiple pairs of electrodes following a single impulse of electric current [1,40,41].
Sensitivity Function
One of the most important factors affecting the accuracy of resistivity measurements is the sensitivity function of the array. The sensitivity function is defined as the ability of an array to distinguish changes in the subsurface resistivity values, depending on the relative distances between the electrodes and especially potential electrodes [1]. Therefore, a high value of the sensitivity function is an indicator of the strength of the effect of subsurface materials on the measurements.Therefore, the sensitivity function can be considered as a function of clarity and accuracy as well as the investigation depth of an array [1,42]. Mathematically, the sensitivity is described by the Fréchet derivative (F) for the homogeneous hemispherical medium with limited dimensions [43]. With regard to the Depth of Investigation (DOI) it is well known in resistivity sounding surveys, that when the distance between the electrodes increases, the array can distinguish the resistivity of deeper layers.
Many authors [44-46] used a simple analytical solution (Equation 1) [2] to determine the properties of various arrays in resistivity sounding surveys [1].
Z is the investigation depth and a is the spacing between electrodes, as is normal for the practical measurements of a sequence of electrode arrays. Edward LS calculated the median depth of investigation of the different electrode arrays used in one dimension resistivity sounding surveys [44]. Loke MH, Barker RD also calculated the median depth of investigation for different arrays in 2D and 3D imaging surveys [36].
Furthermore, the a-spacing and the n-factor (for 2D and 3D cases) are the most important parameters. The main object of these parameters is to select a suitable sequence to achieve real subsurface imaging. These factors are correlated with the DOI and the horizontal coverage of each type of array, signal strength, and sensitivity function to vertical and horizontal change in resistivity [16]. To increase the DOI, the value of n and the value of a is increased. If a large horizontal coverage with a small DOI is required, n has to be decreased and a has to be increased. Furthermore, it is recommended not to increase n more than 6 times for the DD and WS arrays. Increasing this value more than 6 times decreases the accuracy of the potential measurements and increases the amount of noise [47]. It can also be seen that with increasing n, the levels can be increased for the arrays. These levels refer to horizontal lines of measurements for each value of a; and they are related to the DOI, where the DOI increases with increasing levels. The arrays have many combinations of n and a, according to the desired penetration depth, spatial resolution, and background noise. In general, larger a, and n give relatively deeper information about the geological structure, while small a or small n may offer a relatively good horizontal resolution for the shallower geological sections. As mentioned before, the DD, WN, and WS electrode arrays were applied in this study and these are explained below.
DD array
The arrangement of the electrodes and sensitivity section are explained by Dahlin, Zhou and Loke [8,1]. The distance between potential electrodes (P1-P2) and also between current electrodes (C2- C1) is referred to as a-spacing. However, this array is characterized as well by the n-factor, which describes the distance between the current electrode (C1) and the nearest potential electrode (P1) and is equal to multiples of a-spacing (na). The largest sensitivity values are generally located between C2-C1 and P1-P2 dipole pairs. When the n-factor increases, the high sensitivity values tend to increase beneath the C2- C1 and P1-P2 dipoles while the sensitivity values under the center of the array decrease. In general, the DD array has relatively high anomaly effects and it is more affected by noise than using the WN and WS arrays. This noise might be due to either unusual data or negative readings. The DD array often produces lower signal-to-noise ratios [8]. Moreover, the DD array is much more sensitive to electrode spacing errors than the WN and WS arrays. The electrode spacing error is caused by measurement errors in electrode position or inadvertent electrodes location [48].
However, the geometry of this array plays the most important role in this regard [8]. Therefore, the DD array is not able to determine the horizontal layers due to its bad vertical resolution when depth increases. However, it is suitable to be applied to very shallow investigations. The DD array is highly affected by noise, due to the near-surface inhomogeneity and the lateral subsurface inhomogeneity. Also, the DD array delineates the shallow layers when the distance between its electrodes is small, but it is not capable of recognizing the deeper geological structures when the distance between its electrodes becomes too long (for more information, see [36,44]).
WN array: This array has been more popular as a result of the work carried out by the research group of the Birmingham University [49]. The sensitivity section and the arrangement of the electrodes of this array are explained by [1,8]. There is an almost horizontal contour beneath the center of the array, thus it is relatively sensitive to vertical changes in the subsurface resistivity below the center of the array. However, this array is less sensitive to horizontal changes in subsurface resistivity [1]. Thus it is considered as appropriate to resolve vertical changes but it is poor to some extent to detect horizontal changes.
WS array: This is a new, mixed array lying somewhere between the WN and Schlumberger (SC) arrays [50]. Actually, it is a combination of WN and SC arrays, adapted for using an arrangement with a line of electrodes with a constant spacing, normally used in 2D electrical imaging [51]. However, the normal WN array is a special case of a WS array [51]. Dahlin [8], explained the sensitivity section and electrodes distribution of the WS array. The area of the highest positive sensitivity is below the center of the array. This array is quite sensitive to vertical and horizontal structures [52], so it is useful when vertical and horizontal structures are of interest. Based on the above sequences, the properties for each array used in this study are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: The sequences properties of three conventional electrode arrays, where a is the distance between potential electrodes (P1-P2) or current electrodes (C2-C1), and n the distance between the current electrode (C1) and the nearest potential electrode (P1).
The calculated model is derived from the interpreted model and compared with the field measurements to find the error ratio. The inversion methods try to determine the subsurface model, which corresponds with the field data within acceptable limits [53]. The inverse models from 2D imaging show three resistivity layers, covering a wide range of resistivity. This resistivity values range from 0.1 Ωm-130 Ωm (Figures 3-5). This wide range of resistivity appears as a consistent pattern in all the inverted models from the three arrays used. The HCB aquiclude clearly appears in all the 2D models as a zone of resistivity between 3 Ωm and 7 Ωm. This HCB is overlain by a layer covering a wide resistivity range of 3 Ωm-130 Ωm.
Figure 3: Two-dimensional inverted models of DD section 1, WS section 1 and WN section 1.
Figure 5: Two-dimensional inverted models of DD section 5, WS section 5 and WN section 5
This layer in turn consists of two resistivity zones. The first zone (3 Ωm-17 Ωm) seems to be partly affected by the movement of the saline water from the KhZ inland. The second zone of the upper layer is interpreted as being a non-affected, upper, unconfined aquifer with resistivity in the range of 20 Ωm-130 Ωm. Below the HCB is a second resistivity layer with the resistivity less than 3 Ωm and most likely represents saline water in the lower aquifer (with TDS of 15,000 mg/ L-30,000 mg/L).The 2D inverse models of sections 1 (Figure 3) has three distinct resistivity layers. The first layer consists of two resistivity zones; the first zone has resistivity values in the range of 17 Ωm-130 Ωm, extending to a distance of 450 m. This zone is the upper part of the unconfined aquifer, which consists of pebbles, sand and, clay and it is saturated with brackish groundwater (TDS 5000 mg/ L-15,000 mg/L).
The second zone of the first resistivity layer is characterized by resistivity values in the range of 3 Ωm-17 Ωm, and it represents the part of the unconfined aquifer affected by the saline water movement from the KhZ inland. The HCB is recognizable at a depth of 27 m, with a resistivity in the range of 3 Ωm-7 Ωm. The lower aquifer represents the third resistivity layer, which is characterized by saline groundwater with TDS in the range 15,000 mg/L-30,000 mg/L and resistivity of 0.1 Ωm-3.0 Ωm. For lithological correlation, borehole B4 (Figure 4) [27] located far away from the imaging line of 3,000 m has been used.
To the south of the section 1 (Figure 2) is the 2D inverse models of section 3 (Figure 4) which has the same aforementioned features in its major layers (Figure 3) [27]. The aquiclude HCB appears on this model at a depth of 28 m, having a resistivity of 3 Ωm-7 Ωm. On top of this aquiclude is a layer with two different zones with distinct resistivity values. The first zone starts at the beginning 2D imaging to 270 m (S-W) and has resistivity values between 17 Ωm and 80 Ωm, which represents the upper unconfined aquifer, consisting of clastic sediments, and brackish groundwater (TDS 5000 mg/L-15,000 mg/L).
The second zone of this layer has resistivity values in the range 3 Ωm-17 Ωm and represents an area affected by the saline groundwater extension moving from the KhZ inland. Below the aquiclude is the deep aquifer which is the third major layer, with saline groundwater and TDS of 15,000 mg/L-30,000 mg/L and a resistivity of 0.1 Ωm-2.0 Ωm. For lithological correlation with the inverse models, borehole B9 (Figure 4) [27] located far away from the 2D imaging line of 300 m has been used.
To the north of section 1, the 2D inverse models for section 5 (Figure 5) consist of three major layers as well. The first layer has two different zones, the first zone having a resistivity in the range 17 Ωm-70 Ωm, was detected at the beginning 2D imaging to about 160 m. It represents the upper unconfined aquifer consisting of clastic sediments and filled with brackish groundwater. Starting from a distance of 170 m the second resistivity zone appears and extends to the end of section 5. This second zone represents an area affected by the saline groundwater extension moving from the KhZ inland, with a resistivity range of 3 Ωm-17 Ωm. With a resistivity of 1 Ωm-3 Ωm the aquiclude occurs at a depth of 28 m. The lower aquifer is the third major layer characterized by a resistivity of 0.3 Ωm-3.0 Ωm and saline groundwater (TDS 15,000 mg/L-30,000 mg/L). For lithological correlation, boreholes B8 and B11 (Figure 5) [27], has been used.
To compare different types of electrical resistivity arrays, it is important to take into account the shape, boundary, and depth of the investigated target. Emphasizing the reliability of the results is one important criterion. However, this is challenging when the elementary knowledge of the model is limited (in particular, the sharpness or smoothness of the resistivity gradient at the boundaries between different parts of the model). It is worth mentioning that the penetration depth of an array depends mainly on the sensitivity to resistivity contrast, the maximum separation of the electrode array employed in the imaging survey, and the size of the target relative to the burial depth. However, it should be noted that the resolution of the deepest anomalous bodies may be affected by edge effects, due to the reduced data cover for long electrode separation near the end of the electrode layout [1].
In fact, the oblique transition zone between the salt wedge intrusion and the brackish water aquifer is identified and well distinguished in all of the inverted models for the three tested arrays. Nevertheless, the results show some differences, especially in the detection of the HCB (aquiclude) in the subsurface area; a heterogeneous resistive level is presented with a consistent pattern in all the obtained inverse models of all of the arrays used. Moreover, (Figures 3-5) show that the same high variation in the horizontal and vertical resistivity characterize the various inversion models.
Comparison between Arrays
The three arrays used in this study (DD, WN, and WS) were compared with regard to their performance.
The number of apparent resistivity measurements in the DD array is large compared with the WN and WS array. The DD array was successful in detecting the HCB (aquiclude), better than the WN array but not as accurate as the WS array (in determining the thickness and depth of the HCB (aquiclude); its thickness is overestimated). Moreover, the DD array showed more noise in comparison to the WN and WS arrays. The resolution of the DD array is comparable to that of the WN array, yet it lacks good quality in the case of the WS array nevertheless, the depth resolution of the DD array is not the best when compared with that of the WS and WN arrays. The DD array has better horizontal coverage compared with the WN and WS arrays. Furthermore, the resolution of the DD array inverse models decreases rapidly, although it has large horizontal and vertical coverage data than the WN and WS arrays. When the distance between the electrodes of any array is increased and these electrodes are moved for each measurement, the effect of near-surface and lateral inhomogeneity decrease and vice versa. The DD array is highly affected by nearsurface and lateral inhomogeneity in comparison to other arrays. Therefore, the DD array is preferable to be used for cases where rapid horizontal changes in resistivity are expected and shallow investigations are needed.
WS array
The WS array was superior in determining the clay bed (aquiclude) and it gave the greatest depth of investigation in comparison to the DD and WN arrays. The number of measurements was larger than that of the WN array and lower than that of the DD array. It also showed less noise in comparison to the DD and WN arrays. The WS array showed the best inverse models that delineated the upper and lower aquifer and the brackish water/saltwater wedge and display the best resolution with depth. The WS array has a slightly better horizontal coverage compared with the WN array, but it has less horizontal coverage than the DD array. In addition, it has moderate data coverage between the WN and DD arrays. If the distance between the electrodes of any array is increased and these electrodes are moved for each measurement, the effect of near-surface and lateral inhomogeneity will decrease and vice versa. Therefore, the WS array is affected by near-surface and lateral inhomogeneity more than the WN array and less than the DD array. Therefore, the WS array is typically used to determine the sedimentary layers, especially in areas with high background noise and with long survey lines as it gives better results than the DD and WN arrays.
WN array
The WN array is characterized by the lowest number of apparent resistivity measurements among the others; therefore this array fails in providing a good inverse model, even though it is the array least effected by noisy data. Its resolution is still lower than that of the WS array but better than that of the DD array. However, it has a disadvantage in this 2D survey because there is relatively poor horizontal coverage when electrode spacing increases, compared with that of the DD and WS arrays. In the WN array, the a-spacing is the only parameter that controls the measurements. The vertical resolution of the WN array decreases with increasing investigated depth. Thus, its resolution is less than that of the WS for long survey lines and better than that of the DD array. Also, this array was not successful in clearly capturing the horizontal extent of the HCB (aquiclude) and lower aquifer. So, this array is not recommended for deep investigations in the presence of such geological structures.
Figure 6 shows the sensitivity sections for the DD, WS, and WN arrays along section 5. Table 2 also shows the characteristics of each array and it can be seen that the DD array has more data points (3531) than the others, while the WN has the least (1827). This reflects the higher coverage of the DD array compared with the other arrays. Regarding the number of bad data points, the DD array has 232, the WS array has 149, and the WN is not affected by bad data in the case of section 5. Due to the high number of bad data points, the DD array has the lowest pseudo depth despite the highest coverage, while the WN array has the highest pseudo depth because the status here is reversed. In terms of time, measuring the DD array took longer (195 minutes) than the others in the case of section 5. The WS array took 117 minutes, while the WN array took the shortest time (97 minutes). The WN and WS arrays have the highest number of model blocks (1547) compared with the DD array (1428), therefore, the high sensitivity values in the DD array are in the area beneath the electrodes C1, C2 and P1, P2 but not in the central point of the array. Also, the DD array has the highest average of sensitivity values (8.87) compared with the WS array (4.08) and the WN array (2.12), and this explains why the DD array has the highest number of bad data points and is most affected by poor data. Moreover, the resolution of the WN array is greater near the surface while it decreases with depth, while the DD array possess the lowest resolution and the WS array is the best in this regard; the highest sensitivity values concentrate beneath the center of the array if investigation depth is increased.
Table 2: The properties of sensitivity sections of the DD, WS, and WN arrays along section 5.
Figure 6: Relative sensitivity sections of arrays-DD section 5, WS section 5, and WN section 5.
Three 2D electrical resistivity configurations, Dipole-dipole, Wenner, and Wenner Schlumberger, were tested in this study in an area in the vicinity to Khor Al-Zubair in southern Iraq. The study area is characterized by horizontal geological layers, with aquifer system consisting of upper unconfined aquifer saturated with brackish groundwater, and lower confined one with saline groundwater, separated by an aquiclude.
All three of the inverse models were able to identify the saline groundwater extension in the uppermost layer and the geological situation but with different horizontal and vertical resolutions. The comparison demonstrated that the Wenner-Schlumberger array was the best in capturing the extension of the anomaly (horizontally and vertically), and it could provide better inverse models which reflected the subsurface lithology. The Wenner-Schlumberger inverse model reflects all hydrogeological and geological features, upper unconfined aquifer, lower confined aquifer, aquiclude, and saline water wedge while the dipole-dipole and Wenner arrays were less precise in determining these features. Moreover, The Wenner-Schlumberger also gave the inverse models with the best resolution, which were least affected by noise, while the results of Wenner and Dipole-dipole were more influenced by noise; therefore, the Wenner and Dipole-dipole arrays could not accurately capture the aquiclude and/or its vertical extension. The Wenner- Schlumberger array gave the most realistic inverse model which coincides with the real situation in the study area. This primarily supports the hypothesis assumed at the beginning of the research.
This work was supported by the General Commission for Groundwater of Iraq. The authors would like to express their thanks to Mr. Dhafir Abdullah, Dr. Ahmed Nadhum, and Mr. Abdul Jabbar Hanoon and to the staff of the investigation department for providing all the requirements needed to accomplish this work. Many thanks for Dr. Wael Kanoua for his hints and suggestions.
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