Evaluation of formation pore pressure behind the casing using borehole gravity data

Reliable estimates of the fluid pressure in the pore space of rocks are critical for different aspects of petroleum exploration and production including injection operations and scenarios of water flooding. Numerous approaches are available for formation pore pressure evaluation, however, these measurements become a challenge inside a cased borehole, and a list of possible options is short: either the casing is to be perforated, or the production tubing needs to be disconnected to perform the pressure tests. We present a method for through-casing evaluation of formation pore pressure without shutting down production. We suggest equipping an observation well with a borehole gravimeter and acquiring time variations of the vertical component of the gravity field. Changes in gravity occur during gas production and are related to time variations of formation pore pressure. Gravity changes obtained in the observation well are supposed to be inverted for time-dependent formation pore pressure variations beyond the casing. Our results and recommendations are based on numerical modeling of pore pressure spatial distribution during gas field exploitation and relevant changes in borehole gravity. Benchmark models were elaborated in order to consider a dynamic process of pressure changes in time and space under conditions similar to those in the Medvezhye gas field (Russia). Different modeling scenarios are considered for early and late stages of gas field exploitation. The sensitivity analysis was performed to estimate quantitatively a sensitivity of borehole temporal gravity changes to variations in formation pore pressure behind the casing. Based on resolution analysis we justify the possibility to extract the gravity measurements directly related to changes in pore pressure from the total changes in the gravity field due to reservoir exploitation. The impact of pore pressure on the gravity field measured in boreholes during the water flooding is also evaluated, and obtained results are discussed.     

800-yr-long records of annual air temperature and precipitation over southern Siberia inferred from Teletskoye Lake sediments

A unique 800-yr-long record of annual temperatures and precipitation over the south of western Siberia has been reconstructed from the bottom sediments of Teletskoye Lake, Altai Mountains using an X-ray fluorescence scanner (XRF) providing 0.1-mm resolution timeseries of elemental composition and X-ray density (XRD). Br content appears to be broadly correlative with mean annual temperature variations because of changes in catchment vegetation productivity. Sr/Rb ratio reflects the proportion of the unweathered terrestrial fraction. XRD appears to reflect water yield regime and sediment flux. Sedimentation is rather continuous because annual clastic supply and deposited mass are the same. The artificial neural networks method was applied to convert annual sedimentary time-series of XRD, Br content, and Sr/Rb ratio to annual records of temperature and precipitation using a transfer function. Comparison of these reconstructed Siberian records with the annual record of air temperature for the Northern Hemisphere shows similar trends in climatic variability over the past 800 yr. Estimated harmonic oscillations of temperature and precipitation values for both historical and reconstructed periods reveal subdecadal cyclicity.     

The impact environment of the Hadean Earth

Impact bombardment in the first billion years of solar system history determined in large part the initial physical and chemical states of the inner planets and their potential to host biospheres. The range of physical states and thermal consequences of the impact epoch, however, are not well quantified. Here, we assess these effects on the young Earth's crust as well as the likelihood that a record of such effects could be preserved in the oldest terrestrial minerals and rocks. We place special emphasis on modeling the thermal effects of the late heavy bombardment (LHB) – a putative spike in the number of impacts at about 3.9 Gyr ago – using several different numerical modeling and analytical techniques. A comprehensive array of impact-produced heat sources was evaluated which includes shock heating, impact melt generation, uplift, and ejecta heating. Results indicate that ∼1.5–2.5 vol.% of the upper 20 km of Earth's crust was melted in the LHB, with only ∼0.3–1.5 vol.% in a molten state at any given time. The model predicts that approximately 5–10% of the planet's surface area was covered by >1 km deep impact melt sheets. A global average of ∼600–800 m of ejecta and ∼800–1000 m of condensed rock vapor is predicted to have been deposited in the LHB, with most of the condensed rock vapor produced by the largest (>100-km) projectiles. To explore for a record of such catastrophic events, we created two- and three-dimensional models of post-impact cooling of ejecta and craters, coupled to diffusion models of radiogenic Pb*-loss in zircons. We used this to estimate what the cumulative effects of putative LHB-induced age resetting would be of Hadean zircons on a global scale. Zircons entrained in ejecta are projected to have the following average global distribution after the end of the LHB: ∼59% with no impact-induced Pb*-loss, ∼26% with partial Pb*-loss and ∼15% with complete Pb*-loss or destruction of the grain. In addition to the relatively high erodibility of ejecta, our results show that if discordant ca. 3.9 Gyr old zones in the Jack Hills zircons are a signature of the LHB, they were most likely sourced from impact ejecta.     

Geochemistry of Thermal Waters of Continental Margin of Far East of Russia

Studied waters belong to warm(T=30-50℃),alkaline(pH=8.9-9.3),low mineralized(TDS235 mg/1)Na-HCO_3 or Na-SO_4-HCO_3 thermal waters with high content of SiO_2(up to 81 mg/l)and F(up to 3.9 mg/1),occur on modern volcano-tectonic rejuvenated areas of Eastern Sikhote-Alin orogenic belt.Low~3He concentration as well as N_2/O_2 and N_2/Ar ratios exclude influence of deep mantle fluid.New rare earth element data constrain our understandmg of water-rock interaction occurring in the water source region.Meteoric origin of waters is proved by stable isotope values varying from-71‰to-136.1‰and from-10.8‰to-18.8‰forδ~2U andδ~(18)O respectively.REE patterns reflect high pH,resultfing from water-rock interaction and oxidative conditions.Calculations of deep aquifer temperature using Na-K and quartz geothermometers show 116.8-131.1°C and 82.2-125.8℃respectively.Presence of deep faults both with abnormal thermal gradient(~45-50 K/km)define unique geochemical shape of thermal waters of Sikhote-Alin,area,where no present volcanic activity is registered.     

Faunal communities at sites of gas- and oil-bearing fluids in Lake Baikal

Macro- and meiofaunal communities were examined at four geomorphologically distinct sites with different gas- and oil-bearing fluid characteristics in the northern, central and southern basins of Lake Baikal. All sites had elevated concentrations of bicarbonate, nitrate, sulphate and chloride ions in pore fluids, with highest values at the Frolikha vent. Elevated levels of iron ions were found in pore waters of the St. Petersburg methane seep and the Gorevoy Utes oil seep. The chemical composition of pore waters at the Malenky mud volcano was similar to that reported in earlier work. Consistent with published data, the Frolikha vent (northern basin) and the St. Petersburg methane seep (central basin) were characterised by methane of mixed genesis (thermogenic + biogenic), whereas the methane source was mainly thermogenic at the Gorevoy Utes oil seep (central basin) and biogenic at the Malenky mud volcano (southern basin). In contrast to marine seep ecosystems, the macrofauna was dominated only by amphipods, giant planarians and oligochaetes, whereas bivalves were absent; the meiofauna was similar to its marine counterpart, being dominated by nematodes, cyclops, harpacticoids and ostracods. A statistically significant positive relationship was revealed between faunal abundance and the availability of bacterial mats on seep sediments. Moreover, ANOVA tests showed significant increases in both meiozoobenthic and macrozoobenthic densities at “hot spot” vent/seep sites relative to discharge-free reference sites. The isotopic composition of carbon and nitrogen at various trophic levels of these benthic vent/seep communities was found to differ markedly from that reported by earlier studies for the pelagic and other benthic food webs in Lake Baikal. As in marine seeps, the macrofauna had variable isotopic signatures. Light δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values suggest the utilization of chemosynthetically fixed and/or methane-derived organic matter. By contrast, the heavy δ¹³C signatures of some mobile amphipods likely reflect consumption of photosynthetically derived carbon. These findings would at least partly explain why Lake Baikal is a notable outlier in global temperature–biodiversity patterns, exhibiting the highest biodiversity of any lake worldwide but at an extremely cold average temperature.     

Atmospheric boundary layer over steep surface waves

Turbulent air-sea interactions coupled with the surface wave dynamics remain a challenging problem. The needs to include this kind of interaction into the coupled environmental, weather and climate models motivate the development of a simplified approximation of the complex and strongly nonlinear interaction processes. This study proposes a quasi-linear model of wind-wave coupling. It formulates the approach and derives the model equations. The model is verified through a set of laboratory (direct measurements of an airflow by the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique) and numerical (a direct numerical simulation (DNS) technique) experiments. The experiments support the central model assumption that the flow velocity field averaged over an ensemble of turbulent fluctuations is smooth and does not demonstrate flow separation from the crests of the waves. The proposed quasi-linear model correctly recovers the measured characteristics of the turbulent boundary layer over the waved water surface.