Note on a paper by D. R. Caldwell,C. W. Van Atta And K. N. Helland

Abstract

In comparing their laboratory findings with those of other investigators, the authors incorrectly ascribed an eddy coefficient and mixing length too large by a factor of 2.2 to the results from a numerical model. An explanation is offered for the apparently small magnitude of dimensionless velocity deficit from the laboratory study.     

The establishment of the national gravity standard base net of Egypt (N.G.S.B.N.-77)

The earliest gravity measurements in Egypt were carried out by the Anglo-Egyptian Oil Company using Holweck-Lejay pendulum in the period 1937–1940.The measurement comprised few stations (about 41) in restricted areas along both the Western and Eastern coasts of the Gulf of Suez.During the period 1950–1951 Prof. G. Woolard made 21 gravimetric measurements in Egypt as a part of the world-wide gravity base net. Thi was refeered to Potsdam absolute value which was considered as the World Gravity Datum.In 1974, a new world-wide gravity net was published (I.G.S.N.71) which introduced a new concept for the world gravity reference datum, and consequently has replaced the Potsdam System. Since then, it was recommended that a national gravimetric network of base stations in Egypt on the basis of the I.G.S.N.-71 be established within the frame of establishing a gravity map of Egypt.In the period from January 1975, The General Petroleum Company carried out 624 gravity observations throughout the country. These measurements have been combined with the I.G.S.N.-71 values to form 65 gravity base points which in turn from the N.G.S.B.N. (Fig. 1).     

Avalonian (Pan-African) mylonitic deformation west of Boston, U.S.A.

West of Boston, Mass., Castle and others (1976) recognized an up to 5km wide, possibly folded, NE-SW trending Burlington Mylonite Zone. We have extended mapping south into Natick and Framington quadrangles, and supplemented it by fixing local directions of tectonic motion, which are more variable than reported by Goldstein (1989). In Natick the mylonite zone is partly migmatized and converted into blastomylonites, forming the lithodemic Rice Gneiss and is intersected by the Dedham Granite dated ca 630 Ma. The granite also invades deformed, folded, and commonly mylonitized Westboro Quartzite. Thus mylonitization, folding, and formation of migmatitic blastomylonites are all earlier than ca 630 Ma, and can collectively be attributed to the main phase of the Avalonian orogeny that in Africa is referred to as the Pan-African I. The sense of movements in the Rice Gneiss is generally sinistral strike-slip with a NE-SW trend of foliation. Other local mylonites have more variable directions of motion.A narrower E-W zone of mylonitization has been recognized by Grimes (M.S. thesis 1993, Boston College) and named the Nobscot Shear Zone. It affects the Milford Granite, also about 630 Ma in age, while similar but narrow shear zones affect other local granites including the Dedham. These zones, dipping steeply north and including the Nobscot, are less intensely mylonitized and are not associated with migmatites. Their age is not known, but since they affect only Precambrian rocks, they are assumed to be late Proterozoic. We attribute these zones to the second stage of the Avalonian or the Pan-African II.The older rocks west of Boston are widely affected by numerous brittle faults. These are all of unknown age, but probably Phanerozoic. The most significant brittle fault in the Burlington area is the mid to late Paleozoic Bloody Bluff Fault. We do not associate large scale mylonitization with that fault, because the mylonites are commonly cut by undeformed or little deformed Siluro-Devonian gabbro-diorites.     

INTEGRATED INTERPRETATION, 3D MAP MIGRATION AND VSP MODELLING PROJECT,NORTHERN U.K. SOUTHERN GAS BASIN1

Depth conversion in the northern part of the U.K. Southern Gas Basin is complicated by the presence of Zechstein (Permian) salt swells and diapirs. In addition, the post-Zechstein (post-Permian) section displays large lateral velocity variations. The primary agents which control the velocity of this stratigraphic section are: (1) depth of burial, (2) lithological variation within individual formations, and (3) the effects of subsequent tectonic inversion. An integrated approach which combines well velocity, seismic velocity and seismic interpretation is required for accurate depth estimation. In 1988 Mobil and partners drilled an exploratory well in the northern part of the U.K. Southern Gas Basin. This well was located near the crest of a Zechstein salt diapir. Over 2000 m of Zechstein was encountered in the well. The Permian Rotliegendes objective was penetrated at a depth of over 3700 m. The initial delineation of the objective structure was based on the results of 3D map migration of the seismic time interpretation. Spatially-variant interval velocity functions were used to depth convert through five of the six mapped horizons. Both well and model-based seismic interval velocity analysis information was used to construct these functions. A moving-source well seismic survey was conducted. The survey was run in two critical directions. In conjunction with presurvey modelling, it was possible to confirm immediately the structural configuration as mapped to a distance of 7 km from the well. Post-survey 3D map migration and modelling was employed to further refine the structural interpretation. Although the question of stratigraphic anisotropy was considered in the evaluation of the long offset modelling, no evidence was found in the field data to support a significant effect. Finally, comparisons were made of: curved-ray versus straight-ray migration/modelling, midpoint-depth velocity versus (depth-dependant instantaneous velocity functions, and Hubral- versus Fermat-based map depth migration algorithms. Significant differences in the results were observed for structural dips exceeding 15^o and/or offsets exceeding 6 km. Map depth migration algorithms which employed both curved rays and spatially-variant instantaneous velocity functions were found to best approximate the ‘true’ geological velocity field in the study area.     

Design Earthquakes in the U.K.

Three sites in the UK are taken, representative of low, medium and high hazard levels (by UK standards). For each site, the hazard value at 10⁻⁴ annual probability is computed using a generic seismic source model, and a variety of ground motion parameters: peak ground acceleration (PGA), spectral acceleration at 10 Hz and 1 Hz, and intensity. Disaggregation is used to determine the nature of the earthquakes most likely to generate these hazard values. It is found (as might be expected) that the populations are quite different according to which ground motion parameter is used. When PGA is used, the result is a rather flat magnitude distribution with a tendency to low magnitude events (\le 4.5 ML) which are probably not really hazardous. Hazard-consistent scenario earthquakes computed using intensity are found to be in the range 5.8–5.9 ML, which is more in accord with the type of earthquake that one expects to be a worst-case event in the UK. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.