Laboratory technique for quantitative thermal emissivity measurements of geological samples

Thermal infrared spectroscopy is a powerful technique for the compositional analysis of geological materials. The spectral feature in the mid-IR region is diagnostic of the mineralogy and spectral signatures of mixtures of minerals that add linearly, and therefore, can be used as an important tool to determine the mineralogy of rocks in the laboratory and remotely for planetary exploration. The greatest challenge in the emission measurement lies in the measurement of the weak thermal photons emitted from geological materials in a laboratory setup, and accurately records the temperature of the rock sample. The present work pertains to the details of a new Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) laboratory that has been developed under the ISRO Planetary Science and Exploration (PLANEX) programme, for emission related mineralogical investigations of planetary surfaces. The focus of the paper is on the acquisition and calibration technique for obtaining emissivity, and the deconvolution procedure to obtain the modal abundances of the thermal emission spectra in the range of 6–25 μm using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The basic technique is adopted from the work of Ruff et al (1997). This laboratory at the Department of Earth Sciences, IIT-Bombay is currently developing pure end mineral library of mineral particulates (<65 μm), and adding new end members to the existing ASU spectral library. The paper argues the need for considering Lunar Orbiter Thermal Emission Spectrometer (LOTES) for future Indian Moon mission programme (Chandrayan-II) to determine evidences of varied lithologies on the lunar surface.     

Scoresum — A technique for displaying and evaluating multi-element geochemical information, with examples of its use in regional mineral assessment programs

A technique called SCORESUM was developed to display a maximum of multi-element geochemical information on a minimum number of maps for mineral assessment purposes. The technique can be done manually for a small analytical data set or can be done with a computer for a large data set. SCORESUM can be used with highly censored data and can also weight samples so as to minimize the chemical differences of diverse lithologies in different parts of a given study area.The full range of reported analyses for each element of interest in a data set is divided into four categories. Anomaly scores — values of O (background), 1 (weakly anomalous), 2 (moderately anomalous), and 3 (strongly anomalous) — are substituted for all of the analyses falling into each of the four categories. A group of elements based on known or suspected association in altered or mineralized areas is selected for study and the anomaly scores for these elements are summed for each sample site and then plotted on a map. Some of the results of geochemical studies conducted for mineral assessments in two areas are briefly described. The first area, the Mokelumne Wilderness and vicinity, is a relatively small and geologically simple one. The second, the Walker Lake 1° × 2° quadrangle, is a large area that has extremely complex geology and that contains a number of different mineral deposit environments. These two studies provide examples of how the SCORESUM technique has been used (1) to enhance relatively small but anomalous areas and (2) to delineate and rank areas containing geochemical signatures for specific suites of elements related to certain types of alteration or mineralization.     

中国煤和烃源岩镜质组的激光诱导荧光显微特征及其应用

应用自行组装的激光诱导荧光显微光度计(LIFM)系统地研究了中国煤和烃源岩中镜质组的荧光强度及荧光变化，建立了镜质组的荧光变化与成熟度之间的相关模式图(R-I-VRo)，该图可解决镜质组反射率抑制问题，并将烃源岩成熟度评价范围扩展到VRo达2．0％左右，该方法对于正确评价烃源岩成熟度具有广泛的应用前景。     

A novel technique for characterizing thermal expansion in minerals

When a crystalline solid is subjected to a temperature increase, its constituent polyhedra may change in size and shape and rotate relative to one another. If the deformation can be approximated by a linear transformation of atomic coordinates, these changes can be quantitatively described in terms of second rank tensors. An iterative least-squares method is used to calculate strain and rotation tensors given the positions of the coordinating atoms of a polyhedron at two temperatures. The method is applied to polyhedral thermal expansions in silicate and oxide minerals.     

精确的定量和定年技术--中子活化技术

精确的定年技术是建立高精度层序地层时间序列的关键,而该项技术的核心是如何精确地确定地层中地层界面的年代和其他可从沉积物序列中分辨出的地质事件的年代,特别是对地层中高频沉积旋回的每个旋回上下界进行定年,并在可能的情况下恢复地层的沉积间断时间,计算地层的沉积速率和沉积周期[1,2]。我国新生代陆相湖盆由于封闭性较高,湖底沉积对气候变化的反映比较敏感,因此湖相沉积物常被当作古气候变化记录的良好载体。通过对湖泊发展史的准确恢复和对其所蕴含的古气候演变规律的深入分析,可为全球变化趋势研究提供可信的科学依据。     

Analysis of large thermal maturity datasets: Examples from the Canadian Arctic Islands

This paper describes an approach for verifying thermal maturity data in a large historical dataset from the Canadian Arctic Islands. A compilation of more than 6000 maturity measurements (vitrinite reflectance and Rock-Eval Tmax) collected over the span of three decades involved a rigorous assessment of data quality. Some common anomalies in interpreting thermal maturity dataset include: (i) elevated thermal maturity due to Cretaceous igneous intrusion in the region, (ii) reworking of refractory material from older rocks into younger strata during the Triassic period, (iii) suppression of vitrinite reflectance and Tmax in hydrogen-rich samples, (iv) low maturity values due to cross-contamination by the younger sediments during drilling process (caving), and (v) offset maturity values obtained from different maturity measurements. The study discusses various independent checks to verify the obtained maturity parameters. The comparison between thermal maturity data with the sonic velocity of shale resulted in a satisfactory correlation. While such a correlation may vary in different sedimentary basins, it produces a useful independent assessment of thermal maturity. The results indicate that increased heat flow during the Jurassic–Early Cretaceous rifting of the Canada Basin may have caused the elevated maturity beyond the expected burial level as suggested by the discrepancy between thermal maturity and sonic velocity data. Given the fact that vitrinite reflectance records only the maximum temperature to which the enclosing rocks were exposed, deviation of the collected reflectance values from the current depth of burial serves as an indicator for the amount of geological uplift.     

The control of maturity and kerogen type on quantitative analytical pyrolysis data

Quantitative pyrolysis-gas chromatography has been performed on 96 kerogen samples isolated from 17 wells on the Norwegian Continental shelf. Petrographic and bulk geochemical measurements were also performed on the samples, and a combined data set of 117 variables for each sample was analysed using principal components analysis (PCA). This approach provides an objective and reproducible means of kerogen characterisation, which can be easily automated. In addition to objective kerogen characterisation and facile visualisation of facies and maturity related chemical trends, the method has the potential to allow objective prediction of key geochemical parameters such as maturity level from pyrogram data.     

A quantitative technique for assessing the roundness of pottery sherds in water currents

The shape property of transposed pottery sherds that changes most rapidly due to wear during water transport in natural sedimentary environments is roundness, the degree of curvature of edges and corners. of the many methods for the measurement of particle roundness, which are briefly reviewed, that proposed by Wadell (1932, 1933) is considered to specify roundness best. A simple and rapid procedure for the measurement of the Wadell projection roundness is described, which yields roundness values having a precision of the order of a few percent, the precision improving with the degree of roundness. the technique is therefore suitable for the analysis of large samples of transposed and transported sherds.     

The transmittance color index of amorphous organic matter: a thermal maturity indicator for petroleum source rocks

Since the mid-1980s, Texaco has used the transmittance color index (TCI) of amorphous kerogen as an indicator of kerogen thermal maturation. The technique simply involves the direct measurement of a white-light spectrum as it is transmitted through a particle of amorphous organic matter (AOM). In brief, TCI values are obtained by the analysis of white light originating from a 100-W 6-V tungsten lamp attached to a photometric microscope. The assignment of particular TCI values is based on the increasing curvature of spectra with increasing maturity. TCI curves shift from an average wavelength around 580 nm for samples of immature, amorphous kerogen (i.e., material with a mean, random vitrinite reflectance of about 0.20%) to about 660 nm for samples containing very dark brown to some black particulate material (i.e., kerogen with a mean, random vitrinite reflectance of about 2.15%). The range of TCI values covers all zones of petroleum generation and preservation. In our opinion, TCI can provide as accurate a basis for maturation interpretations as is available from vitrinite reflectance (or from the mean random reflectance of some zooclasts, such as graptolites and chitinozoans), or the widely used visual estimate the thermal alteration index (TAI) or the similarly determined conodont color index (CAI). TCI is probably most useful, however, in those situations where the rocks to be examined have not yet reached the semianthricite coalification stage (≈2.0% vitrinite reflectance).     

Nanomechanics of organic-rich shales: the role of thermal maturity and organic matter content on texture

Despite the importance of organic-rich shales, microstructural characterization and theoretical modeling of these rocks are limited due to their highly heterogeneous microstructure, complex chemistry, and multiscale mechanical properties. One of the sources of complexity in organic-rich shales is the intricate interplay between microtextural evolution and kerogen maturity. In this study, a suite of experimental and theoretical microporomechanics methods are developed to associate the mechanical properties of organic-rich shales both to their maturity level and to the organic content at micrometer and sub-micrometer length scales. Recent results from chemomechanical characterization experiments involving grid nanoindentation and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) are used in new micromechanical models to isolate the effects of maturity levels and organic content from the inorganic solids. These models enable attribution of the role of organic maturity to the texture of the indented material, with immature systems exhibiting a matrix-inclusion morphology, while mature systems exhibit a polycrystal morphology. Application of these models to the interpretation of nanoindentation results on organic-rich shales allows us to identify unique clay mechanical properties that are consistent with molecular simulation results for illite and independent of the maturity of shale formation and total organic content. The results of this investigation contribute to the design of a multiscale model of the fundamental building blocks of organic-rich shales, which can be used for the design and validation of multiscale predictive poromechanics models.     

水质监测中激光诱导荧光遥测技术的应用

激光诱导荧光(LIF)遥测是针对大面积水域富营养化状况进行原位、实时、快速测量的一种先进的监测技术。利用自行研制的水体污染LIF遥测系统对太湖水域进行了一次较为全面的测量,以测得的溶解有机物(DOM)荧光因子、瑞利散射因子和叶绿素a荧光因子分别代表各测量点的DOM浓度、浊度和叶绿素a浓度。同时以Skalar三维荧光成像仪测量各点DOM浓度,多参数水质分析仪测量浊度和叶绿素a浓度。对比分析了LIF遥测系统测量DOM荧光因子、瑞利散射因子和叶绿素a荧光因子与DOM浓度、浊度和叶绿素a浓度关系。结果表明LIF系统测得的DOM因子与三维荧光成像仪测量的DOM浓度值一致性较好(R=0.88733),而瑞利散射因子和叶绿素a荧光因子与多参数水质测量仪测得浊度值和叶绿素a浓度值线性相关性较差,相关系数分别为-0.39185和0.4552。对上述差异产生的可能原因进行了讨论,并阐述了LIF遥测技术在水质监测中的应用前景和潜在的应用限制。     

GC profiles of oils reflect organic maturity rather than depositional environment of parent source rock: examples from Central Australia

Abstract

Review and analysis of 1332 gas chromatography (GC) n-alkane traces of oils from the Cooper and Eromanga basins indicate the shape of any GC trace profile is primarily controlled by the degree of organic maturity (early, peak or late) at which the oils were expelled from the parent source rock, rather than indicating the depositional environment, and hence organic composition, of that source rock. The depositional environment of a source rock may still be inferred, however, from the position of the n-alkane maximum on the GC traces of early expulsion oils in association with the pour point of the oil. Departures of GC trace profiles from the standard early, peak or late expulsion profiles can indicate mixing of oils of different maturities, while variations in the GC trace profiles of oils within adjacent reservoir units may indicate phase separation of the parent liquid, or possible seal breach by an accumulation that exceeds the capacity of its overlying seal.

1. KEY POINTS

2. GC trace profiles of 1332 oils from across the Cooper and Eromanga basins of central Australia have been reviewed.

3. Organic maturity, rather than organic composition, of the parent source rock controls the shape of any GC trace profile.

4. All early maturity oils display a consistent GC trace profile shape that is different from all peak maturity oils and different again from all late maturity oils.

5. Depositional environment of the source rocks within a basin can be inferred from the relative pour points of the resultant oils.

     

Spatial statistics for urban analysis: A review of techniques with examples

Traditionally, urban analysis has been quick to adopt and benefit from developments in technology (e.g., microcomputer, GIS) and techniques (e.g., statistics, mathematical programming). This has not been the case, however, with newer methods of spatial analysis — in particular, spatial statistics. Only recently has this situation started to change. This paper documents the confluence of spatial statistics and urban analysis by first reviewing developments in spatial statistics, and then presenting examples of recent applications in urban analysis. The developments reviewed fall under the rubric of global and local forms of spatial analysis, and cover three major technical issues: spatial association, spatial heterogeneity and the modifiable areal unit problem. The examples highlight the relevance and usefulness of the techniques reviewed for urban transportation and land-use applications. The paper concludes with conjectures concerning future developments at the intersection of spatial statistics and urban analysis.     

Spatial statistics for urban analysis: A review of techniques with examples

Traditionally, urban analysis has been quick to adopt and benefit from developments in technology (e.g., microcomputer, GIS) and techniques (e.g., statistics, mathematical programming). This has not been the case, however, with newer methods of spatial analysis — in particular, spatial statistics. Only recently has this situation started to change. This paper documents the confluence of spatial statistics and urban analysis by first reviewing developments in spatial statistics, and then presenting examples of recent applications in urban analysis. The developments reviewed fall under the rubric of global and local forms of spatial analysis, and cover three major technical issues: spatial association, spatial heterogeneity and the modifiable areal unit problem. The examples highlight the relevance and usefulness of the techniques reviewed for urban transportation and land-use applications. The paper concludes with conjectures concerning future developments at the intersection of spatial statistics and urban analysis.     

Effect of organic-matter type and thermal maturity on methane adsorption in shale-gas systems

A series of methane (CH₄) adsorption experiments on bulk organic rich shales and their isolated kerogens were conducted at 35 °C, 50 °C and 65 °C and CH₄ pressure of up to 15 MPa under dry conditions. Samples from the Eocene Green River Formation, Devonian–Mississippian Woodford Shale and Upper Cretaceous Cameo coal were studied to examine how differences in organic matter type affect natural gas adsorption. Vitrinite reflectance values of these samples ranged from 0.56–0.58 %R_o. In addition, thermal maturity effects were determined on three Mississippian Barnett Shale samples with measured vitrinite reflectance values of 0.58, 0.81 and 2.01 %R_o.For all bulk and isolated kerogen samples, the total amount of methane adsorbed was directly proportional to the total organic carbon (TOC) content of the sample and the average maximum amount of gas sorption was 1.36 mmol of methane per gram of TOC. These results indicate that sorption on organic matter plays a critical role in shale-gas storage. Under the experimental conditions, differences in thermal maturity showed no significant effect on the total amount of gas sorbed. Experimental sorption isotherms could be fitted with good accuracy by the Langmuir function by adjusting the Langmuir pressure (P_L) and maximum sorption capacity (Γ_max). The lowest maturity sample (%R_o = 0.56) displayed a Langmuir pressure (P_L) of 5.15 MPa, significantly larger than the 2.33 MPa observed for the highest maturity (%R_o > 2.01) sample at 50 °C.The value of the Langmuir pressure (P_L) changes with kerogen type in the following sequence: type I > type II > type III. The thermodynamic parameters of CH₄ adsorption on organic rich shales were determined based on the experimental CH₄ isotherms. For the adsorption of CH₄ on organic rich shales and their isolated kerogen, the heat of adsorption (q) and the standard entropy (Δs⁰) range from 7.3–28.0 kJ/mol and from −36.2 to −92.2 J/mol/K, respectively.     

Monitoring and evaluating the stability of soil slopes: A review on various available methods and feasibility of acoustic emission technique

Landslide is considered as one of the major natural hazards that cause enormous social and economic losses. Some techniques have been introduced to monitor the stability of slopes, such as the global positioning system (GPS), the geographic information system (GIS), aerial photography, and inclinometers. Each one of these offers advantages against others, but at the same time also possesses different limitations. Acoustic emission (AE) has recently been recognized as one of the feasible techniques to monitor soil slope. This article addresses issues involved in application of AE techniques for soil slope monitoring. If it is properly instrumented, AE could provide effective solutions for detecting early activities related to landslide development and giving early warning to such failures.     

The thermal history of equilibrated ordinary chondrites and the relationship between textural maturity and temperature

The compositions and textures of phases in eleven equilibrated ordinary chondrites from the H, L, and LL groups spanning petrographic types 4-6 were studied and used to constrain the thermal histories of their parent bodies. Based on Fe-Mg exchange between olivine and spinel, average equilibration temperatures for type 4-6 chondrites encompass a small range, 586-777 °C, relative to what is commonly assumed for peak temperatures (600-950 °C). The maximum temperatures recorded by individual chondrites, which are minima relative to peak metamorphic temperatures, increase subtly but systematically with metamorphic type and are tightly clustered for H4-6 (733-754 °C) and LL4-6 (670-777 °C). For the Ls, Ausson (L5) records a higher maximum olivine-spinel temperature (761 °C) than does the L4 chondrite Saratov (673 °C) or the L6 chondrite Glatton (712 °C). Our data combined with olivine-spinel equilibration temperatures calculated for other equilibrated ordinary chondrites using mineral compositions from the literature demonstrate that, in general, type 4 chondrites within each chemical group record temperatures lower than or equal to those of types 5-6 chondrites.For H chondrites, the olivine-spinel closure temperature is a function of spinel grain size, such that larger grains, abundant in types 5-6 chondrites, record temperatures of ∼740 °C or more while smaller grains, rare in types 5-6 but abundant in type 4 chondrites, record lower temperatures. Olivine-spinel temperatures in the type 6 chondrites Guareña and Glatton are consistent with rapid (50-100 °C/Myr) cooling from high temperatures in the ordinary chondrite parent bodies. With one exception (∼500 °C/Myr), olivine-spinel data for St.-Séverin (LL6) are consistent with similar cooling rates. Cooling rates of order 100 °C/Myr at ∼750 °C for type 6 chondrites are considerably higher than previously determined cooling rates for lower temperatures (?550 °C) based on metallography, fission tracks, and geochronology. For H chondrites, current thermal models of an “onion shell” parent body are inconsistent with a small range of peak temperatures based on olivine-spinel and two pyroxene thermometry combined with a wide dispersion of cooling rates at low temperatures. Equilibrated chondrites may have sampled regions near a major transition in physical properties such as near the base of a regolith pile.     

下古生界有机质成熟度评价新参数：笔石表皮体光学特征再研究

下古生界缺失高等植物来源的镜质组,其有机质成熟度的确定一直是油气源岩评价的难题之一。基于对含笔石页岩的反射光显微镜观察和低成熟度含笔石页岩与煤共置的热压模拟实验,研究了下古生界海相页岩笔石表皮体的光性特征及其热演化规律,探讨了笔石表皮体随机反射率作为有机质热演化参数的可行性。下古生界海相页岩非粒状笔石表皮体呈条带状顺层或者碎片状产出、颗粒较大,光学特征类似于镜质组,适合于测量反射率。非粒状笔石表皮体随机反射率■换算为等效镜质组反射率■的关系式为■。采用笔石表皮体随机反射率分析了上扬子地区东部五峰组—龙马溪组页岩的有机质成熟度分布特征,认为非粒状笔石表皮体随机反射率是一个实用的下古生界烃源岩有机质成熟度指标,为确定下古生界有机质成熟度提供了一种可信的解决方案。