Progress and perspective on frontiers of geobiology

Geobiology is a new discipline on the crossing interface between earth science and life science,and aims to understand the interaction and co-evolution between organisms and environments.On the basis of the latest international achievements,the new data presented in the Beijing geobiology forum sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013,and the papers in this special issue,here we present an overview of the progress and perspectives on three important frontiers,including geobiology of the critical periods in Earth history,geomicrobes and their responses and feedbacks to global environmental changes,and geobiology in extreme environments.Knowledge is greatly improved about the close relationship of some significant biotic events such as origin,radiation,extinction,and recovery of organisms with the deep Earth processes and the resultant environmental processes among oceans,land,and atmosphere in the critical periods,although the specific dynamics of the co-evolution between ancient life and paleoenvironments is still largely unknown.A variety of geomicrobial functional groups were found to respond sensitively to paleoenvironmental changes,which enable the establishment of proxies for paleoenvironmental reconstruction,and to play active roles on the Earth environmental changes via elemental biogeochemical cycles and mineral bio-transformations,but to be deciphered are the mechanisms of these functional groups that change paleoenvironmental conditions.Microbes of potential geobiology significance were found and isolated from some extreme environments with their biological properties partly understood,but little is known about their geobiological functions to change Earth environments.The biotic processes to alter or modify the environments are thus proposed to be the very issue geobiology aims to decipher in the future.Geobiology will greatly extend the temporal and spatial scope of biotic research on Earth and beyond.It has great potential of application in the domains of resource exploration and global change.To achieve these aims needs coordinative multidisciplinary studies concerning geomicrobiology and related themes,database and modeling of biogeochemical cycles,typical geological environments,and coupling of biological,physical,and chemical processes.     

SEISMIC FACIES ANALYSIS CONCEPTS *

Seismic facies analysis makes use of different seismic parameters in order to get other than structural information. A review is given of possibilities and usefulness of seismic facies analysis in oil exploration. A seismic facies unit can be defined as a sedimentary unit which is different from adjacent units in its seismic characteristics. Parameters that should be taken into consideration in the seismic facies analysis are as follows: reflection amplitude, dominant reflection frequency, reflection polarity, interval velocity, reflection continuity, reflection configuration, abundance of reflections, geometry of seismic facies unit, and relationship with other units. Interpretation of seismic facies data may be either direct or indirect. The purpose of the direct interpretation is to find out geological causes responsible for the seismic signature of a seismic facies unit. So, the direct interpretation may be aimed at predicting lithology, fluid content, porosity, relative age, overpressured shales, type of stratification, geometry of the geological body corresponding to the seismic facies unit and its geological setting. The indirect interpretation is intended to reach some conclusions on depositional processes and environments, sediment transport direction, and some aspects of geological evolution (transgression, regression, subsidence, uplift, erosion). The results of the seismic facies analysis may be shown on seismic facies cross-sections and seismic facies maps. Depending on the available seismic data and geological conditions in the area under consideration, the seismic facies maps may be of different types such as general seismic facies maps showing distribution of different seismic facies units, sand-shale ratio maps, direction of cross-bedding and paleo-transport maps etc. Several kinds of seismic facies units and their geological interpretation are discussed as examples of seismic facies analysis.     

高精度地球物理学是创新未来的必然发展轨迹

地球物理学在整个地球科学研究与探索中占有重要地位,突破该领域以描述、推断为主体的框架,并逐步向量化或半量化前进确为必然.地球物理学逐步向高精度升华乃深化理解各有关科学问题的时代需求.基于物理学概念,从定义出发促使多学科交叉和不断创新,是地球物理学能否抢占地球科学制高点的核心所在.为此,真正意义上的高精度观测、高分辨率的...     

拓展国际合作的视野--出席第23届IUGG大会有感

第23届IUGG大会一个突出的特点就是学科间的交叉和融合，充分反映了新世纪地球科学以实现全球变化的预测为目标，进行多学科综合研究的发展趋势。文章从IUGG内部跨学科的合作研究，IUGG与国际科联(ICSU)各专业委员会之间的合作交流，以及IUGG与政府间组织和其他国际机构的合作三个层面，简要介绍了IUGG在全球范围内开展国际合作研究的概况。在此基础上，结合我国的实际，就拓展国际合作领域，提高我国地球科学研究水平，扩大我国的国际影响等提出了相应的建议。     

Evaluation of hydrogeochemical characteristics and the impact of weathering in seepage water collected within the sedimentary formation

A study was conducted by collecting eight seepage water samples that drain through the sedimentary rocks,mainly sandstone and shale,to evaluate the hydrogeochemical characteristics.The collected samples were analyzed for physico-chemical parameters using standard procedures.Three water types were identified in the Piper plot and the hydrogeochemical evolution starts from a CaCl facies(type 1) via mixed Ca-Mg-Cl and Ca-Na-HCO_3 facies(type 2) to Na-Cl facies(type 3).Increasing trend of electrical conductivity(EC) values were observed from type 1 water to type 3 water.Lower ionic concentrations with an average EC value of 35.7(is/cm in Ca-Cl facies indicate the recharge water by monsoonal rainfall,and ion exchange/weathering process is reflected in the mixing zone.Higher ionic concentration with an average EC value of 399(is/cm is noted in Na-Cl facies,which indicates the ion exchange during water-rock interaction.Higher log PCO_2 values are also found in this facies,revealing the longer residence time of seepage water in the rock matrix,which release more ions into the water.The relative mobility of elements during weathering suggest that the order of mobility in both sandstone and shale is Na Ca Mg K.It was observed that the hydrogeochemistry of seepage water is mainly controlled by the bedrock geology.     

Analysis of key parameters in a diffusion type beach profile evolution model

Diffusion type formulations are commonly used in beach profile evolution models. The practical idea behind that is to map the behaviour of the beach profile onto a simple mathematical model that exhibits the same behaviour under defined operating conditions. The success of this approach is based on the accurate determination of key parameters in the diffusion model that govern its behaviour, using observed beach behaviour in the field. In order to determine these parameters, i.e. diffusion coefficient and a time and space varying source function, we used observations of historic beach profiles at Milford-on-Sea beach in Christchurch Bay, Dorset, United Kingdom. The relationship between the diffusion coefficient and Dean's equilibrium profile was investigated, leading to a new interpretation of the diffusion coefficient in terms of the sediment characteristics. The analysis also shows the significance of the diffusion process in the medium to long term evolution of the beach profile. A canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was undertaken in order to identify patterns of behaviour between wave conditions and source terms, and the possible correlations between them. The analysis provides strong evidence of a useful link between the source term in the simple dynamical equation and the distribution of wave steepness.     

A conceptually based stochastic point process model for daily stream‐flow generation

Based on the stochastic and phenomenological aspects of hydrological processes, a conceptually based stochastic point process (SPP) model for daily stream‐flow generation is proposed in this paper. In which, storms are defined by a stochastic point process with marked values. All the random variables defining the process are assumed to be mutually independent, which constitutes a compound Poisson point process. The direct surface runoff is regarded as occurring from storage in a cascade of surface linear reservoirs and is responsible for the short‐term variation of the daily stream flows. The baseflow component is considered as coming from subsurface/groundwater storage and is responsible for the long‐term persistence of the storm time‐series. This type of model is proposed as a more realistic model of daily stream flow than models based on pure stochastic processes. Studies on the instantaneous unit hydrograph and the mechanism of baseflow could thereby provide some parameters for this model. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Paleomagnetic evidence for low-temperature emplacement of the phreatomagmatic Peperino Albano ignimbrite (Colli Albani volcano, Central Italy)

The Peperino Albano (approximately 19–36 ka old) is a phreatomagmatic pyroclastic flow deposit, cropping out along the slopes of the associated Albano maar (Colli Albani volcano, Italy). The deposit exhibits lateral and vertical transitions from valley pond to veneer facies, as well as intracrater facies. We present the results of a paleomagnetic study of thermal remanent magnetization (TRM) of the lithic clasts of the Peperino Albano ignimbrite that provide quantitative estimates of the range of emplacement temperatures across the different facies of the ignimbrite. Emplacement temperatures estimated for the Peperino Albano ignimbrite range between 240° and 350°C, with the temperatures defined in the intracrater facies being generally lower than in the valley pond and veneer facies. This is possibly due to the large size of the sampled clasts in the intracrater facies which, when coupled with low temperature at the vent, were not completely heated throughout their volume during emplacement. The emplacement temperatures derived from the paleomagnetic results are in good agreement with the presence of un-burnt plants at the base of the ignimbrite, indicating that the temperature of the pyroclastic flow was lower than the temperature of ignition of wood. Paleomagnetic results from the Peperino Albano confirm the reliability of the paleomagnetic approach in defining the thermal history of pyroclastic flow deposits.     

地震岩相识别概率表征方法

储层岩相分布信息是油藏表征的重要参数,基于地震资料开展储层岩相识别通常具有较强的不确定性.传统方法仅获取唯一确定的岩相分布信息,无法解析反演结果的不确定性,增加了油藏评价的风险.本文引入基于概率统计的多步骤反演方法开展地震岩相识别,通过在其各个环节建立输入与输出参量的统计关系,然后融合各环节概率统计信息构建地震数据与储层岩相的条件概率关系以反演岩相分布概率信息.与传统方法相比,文中方法通过概率统计关系表征了地震岩相识别各个环节中地球物理响应关系的不确定性,并通过融合各环节概率信息实现了不确定性传递的数值模拟,最终反演的岩相概率信息能够客观准确地反映地震岩相识别结果的不确定性,为油藏评价及储层建模提供了重要参考信息.模型数据和实际资料应用验证了方法的有效性.     

Some fundamental problems in outcrop sequence stratigraphy

Some fundamental problems in outcrop sequence stratigraphy are discussed, and the following ideas are obtained: (i) Detailed sedimentary facies analysis and study on stacking pattern of parasequences, careful and accurate study of biostratigraphy, and stratigraphical correlation of different facies areas are the essential conditions for proper identification of sequences. (ii) The first flooding surface may be an ideal sequence boundary in outcrop sequence stratigraphy, where the most distinct palaeontological and sedimentary changes take place and make the surface readily recognizable in outcmp. (iii) The distribution in space, specially in different facies belts, is regarded as an important criterion for defining and recognizing the various orders of sequences. The third-order sequence is probably global in nature, which may be discerned in various depositional facies belts at least on one continental margin, and can be correlated over long distances, sometimes worldwide. (iv) The first flooding surface may be used as a useful reference marker in optimizing chronostratigraphic boundaries. Project jointly supported by the SSER, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources of China.     

大陆岩石圈流变学研究进展

大陆岩石圈流变学是固体地球科学领域的基本问题,也是理解大陆变形的动力学过程和构造演化史的关键.本文对近年来大陆岩石圈流变学的研究进展进行了综述.重点讨论大陆岩石圈流变学的纵向分层和横向分块特性及流变学与地震活动性、壳－幔解耦及下地壳流动变形的地球动力学意义和中国大陆地区岩石圈流变学研究状况.最后,对大陆岩石圈流变学研究存在的问题和未来的研究方向做了一定的探讨和展望.     

The interdisciplinary role of space geodesy—Revisited

In 1988 the interdisciplinary role of space geodesy has been discussed by a prominent group of leaders in the fields of geodesy and geophysics at an international workshop in Erice (Mueller and Zerbini, 1989). The workshop may be viewed as the starting point of a new era of geodesy as a discipline of Earth sciences. Since then enormous progress has been made in geodesy in terms of satellite and sensor systems, observation techniques, data processing, modelling and interpretation. The establishment of a Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) which is currently underway is a milestone in this respect. Wegener served as an important role model for the definition of GGOS. In turn, Wegener will benefit from becoming a regional entity of GGOS.What are the great challenges of the realisation of a 10^?9 global integrated observing system? Geodesy is potentially able to provide – in the narrow sense of the words – “metric and weight” to global studies of geo-processes. It certainly can meet this expectation if a number of fundamental challenges, related to issues such as the international embedding of GGOS, the realisation of further satellite missions and some open scientific questions can be solved. Geodesy is measurement driven. This is an important asset when trying to study the Earth as a system. However its guideline must be: “What are the right and most important observables to deal with the open scientific questions?”.     

Foldback reflectors near methane hydrate bottom‐simulating reflectors: Indicators of gas distribution from 3D seismic images in the eastern Nankai Trough

Understanding of fluid behavior and gas distribution in the shallow subsurface are important considerations in gas hydrate formation and the global carbon cycle. Estimation of gas distribution based on reflection seismic surveys, however, is difficult because the boundary of a gas‐bearing zone is indistinct and not systematically defined. This study reports distinctive features related to gas‐hydrate distribution and possible fluid migration in high‐resolution 3D seismic‐reflection data from sediments of the eastern Nankai Trough. These features, here termed foldback reflectors (FBRs), descend in accordion shaped reflectors near the edges of bottom‐simulating reflectors (BSRs). FBRs generally correspond to lateral boundaries between two seismic facies, a ‘dimmed’ facies with relatively low amplitude and subdued high‐frequency components beneath the BSR and the contrasting facies around the BSR. The dimmed facies corresponds to areas of anomalously low velocity consistent with a small amount of free gas. FBR is mostly developed in well‐stratified formations in uplifted regions. Dip directions of the FBR appear to be restricted by orientation of the host formations. Edges of the FBR often correspond to high‐amplitude layers. Such occurrences of FBR suggest that regional uplift and layer‐parallel fluid migration are related to the formation of FBR as well as BSR.     

The practical use of simplicity in developing ground water models

The advantages of starting with simple models and building complexity slowly can be significant in the development of ground water models. In many circumstances, simpler models are characterized by fewer defined parameters and shorter execution times. In this work, the number of parameters is used as the primary measure of simplicity and complexity; the advantages of shorter execution times also are considered. The ideas are presented in the context of constructing ground water models but are applicable to many fields. Simplicity first is put in perspective as part of the entire modeling process using 14 guidelines for effective model calibration. It is noted that neither very simple nor very complex models generally produce the most accurate predictions and that determining the appropriate level of complexity is an ill-defined process. It is suggested that a thorough evaluation of observation errors is essential to model development. Finally, specific ways are discussed to design useful ground water models that have fewer parameters and shorter execution times.     

Is Earthquake Seismology a Hard, Quantitative Science?

—Our purpose is to analyze the causes of recent failures in earthquake forecasting, as well as the difficulties in earthquake investigation. We then propose that more rigorous methods are necessary in earthquake seismology research. First, we discuss the failures of direct earthquake forecasts and the poor quantitative predictive power of theoretical and computer simulation methods in explaining earthquakes. These failures are due to the immense complexity of earthquake rupture phenomena and lack of rigor in the empirical analysis of seismicity. Given such conditions, neither "holistic," interdisciplinary analysis of geophysical data nor greater reliance on the currently available results of earthquake physics is likely to work without revising scientific methodology. We need to develop more rigorous procedures for testing proposed patterns of earthquake occurrence and comparing them to predictions of theoretical and computer modeling. These procedures should use methods designed in physics and other sciences to formulate hypotheses and carry out objective validation. Since earth sciences study a unique object, new methods should be designed to obtain reliable and reproducible results. It is likely that the application of sophisticated statistical methods will be needed.     

Elastic impedance based facies classification using support vector machine and deep learning

Machine learning methods including support-vector-machine and deep learning are applied to facies classification problems using elastic impedances acquired from a Paleocene oil discovery in the UK Central North Sea. Both of the supervised learning approaches showed similar accuracy when predicting facies after the optimization of hyperparameters derived from well data. However, the results obtained by deep learning provided better correlation with available wells and more precise decision boundaries in cross-plot space when compared to the support-vector-machine approach. Results from the support-vector-machine and deep learning classifications are compared against a simplified linear projection based classification and a Bayes-based approach. Differences between the various facies classification methods are connected by not only their methodological differences but also human interactions connected to the selection of machine learning parameters. Despite the observed differences, machine learning applications, such as deep learning, have the potential to become standardized in the industry for the interpretation of amplitude versus offset cross-plot problems, thus providing an automated facies classification approach.     

联合多点地质统计学与序贯高斯模拟的随机反演方法

岩相和储层物性参数是油藏表征的重要参数,地震反演是储层表征和油气藏勘探开发的重要手段.随机地震反演通常基于地质统计学理论,能够对不同类型的信息源进行综合,建立具有较高分辨率的储层模型,因而得到广泛关注.其中,概率扰动方法是一种高效的迭代随机反演策略,它能综合考虑多种约束信息,且只需要较少的迭代次数即可获得反演结果.在概率扰动的优化反演策略中,本文有效的联合多点地质统计学与序贯高斯模拟,并结合统计岩石物理理论实现随机反演.首先,通过多点地质统计学随机模拟,获得一系列等可能的岩相模型,扰动更新初始岩相模型后利用相控序贯高斯模拟建立多个储层物性参数模型;然后通过统计岩石物理理论,计算相应的弹性参数;最后,正演得到合成地震记录并与实际地震数据对比,通过概率扰动方法进行迭代,直到获得满足给定误差要求的反演结果.利用多点地质统计学,能够更好地表征储层空间特征.相控序贯高斯模拟的应用,能够有效反映不同岩相中储层物性参数的分布.提出的方法可在较少的迭代次数内同时获得具有较高分辨率的岩相和物性参数反演结果,模型测试和实际数据应用验证了方法的可行性和有效性.     

The sediment composition and predictive mapping of facies on the Propeller Mound—A cold-water coral mound (Porcupine Seabight,NE Atlantic)

Here we provide a detailed qualitative and quantitative insight on recent sediment composition and facies distribution of a cold-water coral (CWC) mound using the example of the Propeller Mound on the Irish continental margin (Hovland Mound Province, Porcupine Seabight). Five facies types on Propeller Mound are defined: (1) living coral framework, (2) coral rubble, (3) dropstone, (4) hardground, representing the on-mound facies, and (5) hemipelagic sediment facies, which describes the off-mound area. This facies definition is based on already published video-data recorded by Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), photo-data of gravity cores, box cores, and dredges from sediment surfaces as well as on the composition of the sediment fraction coarser than 125 μm, which has been analyzed on five selected box cores. Sediment compositions of the living coral framework and coral rubble facies are rather similar. Both sediment types are mainly produced by corals (34 and 35 wt%, respectively), planktonic foraminifers (22 and 29 wt%, respectively), benthic foraminifers (both 7 wt%), and molluscs (21 and 10 wt%, respectively), whereas the living coral framework characteristically features additional brachiopods (6 wt%). Hardgrounds are well-lithified coral rudstones rich in coral fragments (>30 surf%), foraminifers, echinoderms, and bivalves. The dropstone facies and the hemipelagic sediment typically carry high amounts of lithoclasts (36 and 53 wt%, respectively) and planktonic foraminifers (35 and 32 wt%, respectively); however, their faunal diversity is low compared with the coral-dominated facies (12 and <2 wt% coral fragments, 7 and 6 wt% benthic foraminifers, and 4 and 0 wt% balanids). Using the maximum likelihood algorithm within ArcGIS 9.2, spatial prediction maps of the previously described mound facies are calculated over Propeller Mound and are based on mound morphology parameters, ground-truthed with the sedimentary and faunal information from box cores, photographs, and video-data. This method is tested for the first time for CWC ecosystems and provides areal estimates of the predicted facies, as well as suggests further occurrences of living coral frameworks, coral rubble, and dropstones, which are not discovered in the area yet. Thus, sediment composition analysis combined with facies prediction mapping might provide a potential new tool to estimate living CWC occurrences and sediment/facies distributions on CWC mounds, which is an important prerequisite for budget calculations and definition of marine protected areas, and which will improve our understanding of CWC mound formation.