Pseudo-outcrop Visualization of Borehole Images and Core Scans

A pseudo-outcrop visualization is demonstrated for borehole and full-diameter rock core images to augment the ubiquitous unwrapped cylinder view and thereby assist nonspecialist interpreters. The pseudo-outcrop visualization is equivalent to a nonlinear projection of the image from borehole to earth frame of reference that creates a solid volume sliced longitudinally to reveal two or more faces in which the orientations of geological features indicate what is observed in the subsurface. A proxy for grain size is used to modulate the external dimensions of the plot to mimic profiles seen in real outcrops. The volume is created from a mixture of geological boundary elements and texture, the latter being the residue after the sum of boundary elements is subtracted from the original data. In the case of measurements from wireline microresistivity tools, whose circumferential coverage is substantially <100 %, the missing circumferential data are first inpainted using multiscale directional transforms, which decompose the image into its elemental building structures, before reconstructing the full image. The pseudo-outcrop view enables direct observation of the angular relationships between features and aids visual comparison between borehole and core images, especially for the interested nonspecialist.     

Fireballs: Interpretation of airblast data

Abstract— When a meteoroid passes through the Earth's atmosphere, it may generate acoustic waves in the form of a conical shock front and again in an explosive terminal burst. These acoustic waves reach the ground and their arrival times may be recorded on seismograms. Equations are given (with numerical examples, and for various atmospheric models) to recover the track of the meteoroid, and possibly the meteorite, from times of arrival at the seismographic stations.     

Polarization models of young stellar objects – II. Linear and circular polarimetry of R Coronae Australis

Near-infrared linear imaging polarimetry of the young stellar objects R CrA and T CrA in the J , H and K n bands, and circular imaging polarimetry in the H band, is presented. The data are modelled with the Clark and McCall scattering model. The R CrA and T CrA system is shown to be a particularly complex scattering environment. In the case of R CrA there is evidence that the wavelength dependence of polarization changes across the nebula. MRN dust grain models do not explain this behaviour. Depolarization by line emission is considered as an alternative explanation. The dust grain properties could also be changing across the nebula.
Although surrounded by reflection nebulosity, there is a region of particularly low polarization surrounding R CrA that is best modelled by the canonical bipolar outflow being truncated by an evacuated spherical cavity surrounding the star. The symmetry axis of the nebula appears inclined by 50° to the plane of the sky.
The H -band circular polarimetry of R CrA clearly shows a quadrupolar structure of positive and negative degrees of circular polarization that reach peak magnitudes of ∼5 per cent within our limited map. It is shown that spherical MRN grains are incapable of producing this circular polarization given the observed linear polarization of the R CrA system. Instead, scattering from aligned non-spherical grains is proposed as the operating mechanism.
T CrA is a more archetypical bipolar reflection nebula, and this object is modelled as a canonical parabolic reflection nebula that lies in the plane of the sky. The wavelength independence of linear polarization in the T CrA reflection nebula suggests that the scattering particles are Rayleigh sized. This is modelled with the MRN interstellar grain size distribution.     

Polarization evolution in strong magnetic fields

Extremely strong magnetic fields change the vacuum index of refraction. Although this polarization-dependent effect is small for typical neutron stars, it is large enough to decouple the polarization states of photons travelling within the field. The photon states evolve adiabatically and follow the changing magnetic field direction. The combination of a rotating magnetosphere and a frequency-dependent-state decoupling predicts polarization phase lags between different wavebands, if the emission process takes place well within the light cylinder. This QED effect may allow observations to distinguish between different pulsar-emission mechanisms and to reconstruct the structure of the magnetosphere.     

The geomorphic legacy of water and erosion control structures in a semiarid rangeland watershed

Control over water supply and distribution is critical for agriculture in drylands where manipulating surface runoff often serves the dual purpose of erosion control. However, little is known of the geomorphic impacts and legacy effects of rangeland water manipulation infrastructure, especially if not maintained. This study investigated the geomorphic impacts of structures such as earthen berms, water control gates, and stock tanks, in a semiarid rangeland in the southwestern USA that is responding to both regional channel incision that was initiated over a century ago, and a more recent land use change that involved cattle removal and abandonment of structures. The functional condition of remnant structures was inventoried, mapped, and assessed using aerial imagery and lidar data. Headcut initiation, scour, and channel incision associated with compromised lateral channel berms, concrete water control structures, floodplain water spreader berms, and stock tanks were identified as threats to floodplains and associated habitat. Almost half of 27 identified lateral channel berms (48%) have been breached and 15% have experienced lateral scour; 18% of 218 shorter water spreader berms have been breached and 17% have experienced lateral scour. A relatively small number of 117 stock tanks (6%) are identified as structurally compromised based on analysis of aerial imagery, although many currently do not provide consistent water supplies. In some cases, the onset of localized disturbance is recent enough that opportunities for mitigation can be identified to alter the potentially damaging erosion trajectories that are ultimately driven by regional geomorphic instability. Understanding the effects of prior land use and remnant structures on channel and floodplain morphologic condition is critical because both current land management and future land use options are constrained by inherited land use legacy effects. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA     

Excavation of subglacial bedrock channels by seasonal meltwater flow

Subglacial water flow drives the excavation of a variety of bedrock channels including tunnel valleys and inner gorges. Subglacial floods of various magnitudes – events occurring once per year or less frequently with discharges larger than a few hundred cubic metres per second – are often invoked to explain the erosive power of subglacial water flow. In this study we examine whether subglacial floods are necessary to carve bedrock channels, or if more frequent melt season events (e.g. daily production of meltwater) can explain the formation of substantial bedrock channels over a glacial cycle. We use a one‐dimensional numerical model of bedrock erosion by subglacial meltwater, where water flows through interacting distributed and channelized drainage systems. The shear stresses produced drive bedrock erosion by bed‐ and suspended‐load abrasion. We show that seasonal meltwater discharge can incise an incipient bedrock channel a few tens of centimetres deep and several metres wide, assuming abrasion is the only mechanism of erosion, a particle size of D=256 mm and a prescribed sediment supply per unit width. Using the same sediment characteristics, flood flows yield wider but significantly shallower bedrock channels than seasonal meltwater flows. Furthermore, the smaller the shear stresses produced by a flood, the deeper the bedrock channel. Shear stresses produced by seasonal meltwater are sufficient to readily transport boulders as bedload. Larger flows produce greater shear stresses and the sediment is carried in suspension, which produces fewer contacts with the bed and less erosion. We demonstrate that seasonal meltwater discharge can excavate bedrock volumes commensurate with channels several tens of metres to a few hundred metres wide and several tens of metres deep over several thousand years. Such simulated channels are commensurate with published observations of tunnel valleys and inner gorges. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A nuanced quantile random forest approach for fast prediction of a stochastic marine flooding simulator applied to a macrotidal coastal site

Integrating full-process high resolution hydrodynamic simulations within early warning system (EWS) for marine flooding is hindered by the large computation time cost of such numerical models. This...