Organic Petrological Studies on Immature Source Rocks

Organic petrology is a marginal science that is quite practicable. At present, it has developed into a routine research tool that is widely applied in petroleum exploration and assessment. Based on several years‘ research of the authors, this paper presents the advances in organic petrological studies on immature source rocks, including the classification and characteristics of macerals, the composition of macerals and types of organic matter, the abundance and evolution of organic matter, oil-prone macerals, hydrocarbon generation and expulsion. All these results show that organic petrology is of considerable value pertaining to its application in the assessment of immature oil and gas. The immature source rocks consist of various macerals with obvious heterogeneity, contain different hydrocarbon-generating macerals with different oil thresholds and oil peaks, and show a two-staged evolutionary pattern of organic matter.     

Large aftershocks triggering by Coulomb failure stress following the 2001<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>S</Subscript>=8.1 great Kunlun earthquake

The great Kunlun earthquake occurred on Nov. 14, 2001 in Qinghai Province, China. Five large aftershocks with magnitude larger than 5.0 occurred near the Kunlun fault after main shock. Calculations of the change in Coulomb failure stress reveal that 4 of 5 large aftershocks occurred in areas with Δσ_f>0 (10^?2–10^?1 MPa) and one aftershock occurred in an area with Δσ_f=?0.56 MPa. It is concluded that the permanent fault displacement due to the main shock is the main cause of activity of large aftershocks, but not the whole cause.     

Study of charge structure and radiation characteristic of intracloud discharge in thunderstorms of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The comprehensive observations on lightning discharges were conducted in Naqu area of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in summer of 2002. The electric structures of thunderstorms and the characteristics of lightning discharges at initial stage were analyzed by using the observation data. The results show that most of intracloud (IC) lightning flashes were polarities inverted in thunderstorms with tripole electric charge structure and occurred between negative charge region located in the middle of the thunderstorm and positive charge region located at the bottom of the thunderstorm. The radiation characteristics of discharge processes in cloud with longer lasting time involved in Cloud-to-Ground (CG) lightning flashes were similar to that of IC discharges. A lot of radiation pulses were produced in these discharge processes. Because the IC discharges took place at the bottom of thundercloud and were near the ground, they may produce more serious damage to equipment on the ground therefore should not be neglected in lightning protection.     

The application of auto-temperature-controlled ventilation embankment in Qinghai-Tibet Railway

Auto-temperature-controlled ventilation embankment is an effective engineering measure for “cooling roadbed”. Practice proves that this new method can sufficiently make use of natural cold energy. It has the advantages of higher efficiency, better cooling effect and feasibility in engineering practice, and wider application in various environment, etc. And also, it is comparatively cheap in project cost. Through practice in the field for half a year, the testing results show that, with the application of auto-temperature-controlled system, the artificial permafrost table has been raised by 65 cm. The artificial permafrost table was basically at the embankment bottom, and the action of freeze-thaw circle on engineering stability was effectively avoided. In the month with highest ground temperature, in the scope with 1–4 m in depth, including the majority of the embankment and the upper part in the original seasonal layer, the ground temperature decreased by 0.7°C. Through thermal flux calculation in the original seasonal layer, in the month with the maximum thermal flux coming into permafrost, it is found that the thermal flux reduces nearly by half. Coming into the cooling period for nearly a month, the ground temperature in entire auto-temperature-controlled embankment is close to zero, and the foundation is at negative temperature. But in a large region in the embankment and foundation the ground temperature was over 0°C and varied from 0°C to0.39°C in ordinary ventilation embankment.     

Land cover dynamics in Garhwal Himalayas — a case study of balkhila sub-watershed

The present paper focuses on land cover dynamics pattern in Balkhila sub-watershed situated in Garhwal Himalayas. This study contributes example from human shaped ecosystem in mountainous regions where fragmentation of natural resources is active. The remote sensing and GIS has been used to understand the land cover dynamics along the topography. The results report that the land cover dynamics is dependent on the aspect due to sun illumination. The altitude and slope are no more a barrier for resource extraction and the human activity zone is shifting towards higher altitudes and slopes. The changes are also defined along the road and settlements.     

An automated seamless mosaicing system of multi-charge coupled devices of panchromatic data

Panchromatic data of pixel resolution 5.8 m obtained from IRS-1C and IRS-1D satellites proved to be very useful for mapping purposes. One of the popular data product is the 70 km swath mosaic which is covered by a combination of 3 CCD line sensors, each with 4096 pixels. Each CCD-line sensor with different imaging times causes geometric problems of mosaicing three strips data together. In this paper, we propose the details of the design elements of system that caters to the need for accurate and automatic multi strip image registration without any second resampling of the data. The systematic geometric correction grid mapping is improved to facilitate accurate mosaicing by automatic image registration task that makes use of the overlap data within image strips and image registration is achieved up to sub-pixel level.     

High-Ti type N-MORB parentage of basalts from the south Andaman ophiolite suite,India

A complete dismembered sequence of ophiolite is well exposed in the south Andaman region that mainly comprises ultramafic cumulates, serpentinite mafic plutonic and dyke rocks, pillow lava, radiolarian chert, and plagiogranite. Pillow lavas of basaltic composition occupy a major part of the Andaman ophiolite suite (AOS). These basalts are well exposed all along the east coast of southern part of the south AOS. Although these basalts are altered due to low-grade metamorphism and late hydrothermal processes, their igneous textures are still preserved. These basalts are mostly either aphyric or phyric in nature. Aphyric type exhibits intersertal or variolitic textures, whereas phyric variety shows porphyritic or sub-ophitic textures. The content of alkalies and silica classify these basalts as sub-alkaline basalts and alkaline basalts. A few samples show basaltic andesite, trachy-basalt, or basanitic chemical composition. High-field strength element (HFSE) geochemistry suggests that studied basalt samples are probably derived from similar parental magmas. Al₂O₃/TiO₂ and CaO/TiO₂ ratios classify these basalts as high-Ti type basalt. On the basis of these ratios and many discriminant functions and diagrams, it is suggested that the studied basalts, associated with Andaman ophiolite suite, were derived from magma similar to N-MORB and emplaced in the mid-oceanic ridge tectonic setting.     

A brief comparison of lava flows from the Deccan Volcanic Province and the Columbia-Oregon Plateau Flood Basalts: Implications for models of flood basalt emplacement

The nature and style of emplacement of Continental Flood Basalt (CFB) lava flows has been a matter of great interest as well as considerable controversy in the recent past. However, even a cursory review of published literature reveals that the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) and Hawaiian volcanoes provide most of the data relevant to this topic. It is interesting to note, however, that the CRBG lava flows and their palaeotopographic control is atypical of other CFB provinces in the world. In this paper, we first present a short overview of important studies pertaining to the emplacement of flood basalt flows. We then briefly review the morphology of lava flows from the Deccan Volcanic Province (DVP) and the Columbia-Oregon Plateau flood basalts. The review underscores the existence of significant variations in lava flow morphology between different provinces, and even within the same province. It is quite likely that there were more than one way of emplacing the voluminous and extensive CFB lava flows. We argue that the establishment of general models of emplacement must be based on a comprehensive documentation of lava flow morphology from all CFB provinces.     

Minority women’s microenterprises in rural areas of the United States of America: African American,Hispanic American and Native American case studies

Women in many rural areas of the US often engage in small-scale businesses as one of several avenues for contributing to household incomes. In those geographical areas that contain a significant minority population, many of the women's businesses display the cultural diversity of the regions in which they live. Likewise, women's roles as economic providers as well as wives and mothers are reflected in the manner in which they operate their businesses. Candida Brush suggests that women's strategies for operating their businesses are highly integrative because women's business decisions are intertwined with familial responsibilities, household economic demands and desires to contribute to their communities. Hispanic and Native American women in the Four Corners region of southwestern US and African American women in central Virginia participated in interviews in which they responded to numerous short answer and open-ended questions about their businesses and decision-making strategies. From these interviews an image emerges of rural minority business women who are operating their businesses at the nexus of family obligations, economic necessities, cultural ties and with a commitment for serving their communities. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.