The organic matter of a gulf coast well studied by a thermal analysis-gas chromatography technique

A thermal analysis-gas chromatography technique, previously described by Whelan et al. has been used to analyze cuttings from a Continental Offshore Stratigraphic Test (COST No. 1) drilled in the Gulf Coast of the U.S.A. The data allowed an evaluation of the degree of maturation of the organic matter and provided an accurate determination of the depth of the threshold of intense oil generation at 3048 m (10,000 ft.). Qualitative changes of hydrocarbons in the C₇–C₁₄ range were determined by gas chromatography and confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. These data are discussed in terms of generation and migration processes. The catagenetic evolution results in a strong tendency for a proportional increase in n-alkanes. Mass transfer phenomena may be responsible for updip movement of the lighter hydrocarbons.     

Generation and migration of hydrocarbons in offshore South Texas Gulf Coast sediments

The hydrocarbon content of two thick Tertiary sequences from the offshore Gulf Coast (South Padre Island and Mustang Island) was studied using a headspace technique, thermal distillation, pyrolysis and solvent extraction. The threshold of oil generation was determined to occur in the range of 3050 m (10,000 ft; 120°C) in Miocene sediments.In the South Padre Island well, the distribution of the different classes of hydrocarbons along the sedimentary column suggests some updip migration processes are occurring.     

Climatic trends

A 10,000-year long simulation has been made with the CSIRO Mark 2 coupled global atmospheric-oceanic model for present climatic conditions. The annual mean output from the model has been used to calculate global distributions of climatic trends. These trends were derived by linear regression using a least squares fit to a given climatic time series for a selected trend duration. Typically, this information cannot be obtained from the limited observational record, hence the simulation provides a documentation of many climatic trend characteristics not previously available. A brief examination of observed climatic trends is given to demonstrate the viability of the trend analysis. This is followed by a range of global trend distributions for various climatic variables and trend durations. At any one time only relatively small regions of the globe have trends significant at the 95% level. Markedly different trend patterns occur for a given trend duration computed for different times within the simulation. Decadal and multi-decadal trend patterns revealed consistent relationships for El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-related climatic variables. It was found that within a given duration trend, noticeable shorter term counter-trends can exist, with the latter being much stronger. In general, a strong trend is indicative of a short duration, thus highlighting the danger of extrapolating such trends. Examination of time series of climatic trends emphasised the dominance of decadal variability and the essential residual nature of, especially longer term, trends. Rainfall trends over Australia are used to indicate the almost continent-wide changes that can occur in trend patterns within a few decades, in agreement with observation. The outcome emphasises that any changes in current, observed climatic trends should not automatically be attributed to greenhouse forcing. Importantly, it is noted that for conditions associated with naturally occurring climatic variability, the global mean of any climatic trend distribution should be zero or near zero. Departures from this situation imply the existence of an external forcing agency. Thousand year trends could be readily identified within the simulation, but the variations from millennium to millennium indicate the occurrence of secular variability. A probability density function distribution of 30-year duration trends within a selected millennium revealed a near-Gaussian outcome. This, together with other analyses, supports the conclusion that stochastic processes dominate the climatic variability within the simulation.     

The effect of syndepositional deformation within the Upper Permian Capitan Platform on the speleogenesis and geomorphology of the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, USA

The Guadalupe Mountains in New Mexico and Texas are home to more than 300 caves. Caves have been formed within the Upper Permian Capitan carbonate platform and are oriented along two structural trends, one of which is parallel to the platform margin and the other of which is roughly perpendicular to it. Our recent studies of the Capitan Platform have identified syndepositional faults associated with growth monoclines and synclines in Slaughter Canyon, New Mexico, and these are also parallel to the platform margin. In this study, we demonstrate that syndepositional faults and folds are also present in Rattlesnake and Walnut Canyons, as much as 19 km along strike, and that they have exerted control on karstification of the Guadalupe Mountains from the Upper Permian until present.Three distinctive episodes of karst formation have been recognised in outcrops on the basis of karst-filling deposits and crosscutting relationships. The syndepositional “Phase 1 karst” was formed along syndepositional faults and fractures and is filled by platform-derived sediments. The burial “Phase 2 karst” is filled by post-Permian siliciclastics and is limited to the youngest syndepositional faults and fractures that penetrate the platform in the proximity of its terminal margin. Connectivity of these youngest faults and fractures to the platform top and the overlying stratigraphy is inferred to have controlled the distribution of the Phase 2 karst. The “Phase 3 karst” includes the present cave systems, which were mainly formed by sulphuric acid produced by mixing of fossil and fresh underground waters in conjunction with the uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains in the Late Tertiary, and have since been modified by vadose karst processes. The Phase 3 karst caves are not solely developed along syndepositional faults and fractures as the earlier karst palaeocaverns are, but also follow another, uplift-related, structural trend.Syndepositional folds, faults, and fractures in the Capitan Platform have influenced the shaping of the modern surface geomorphology of the Guadalupe Mountains by controlling drainage and, hence, erosion. Trellis drainage parallel to the platform margin is developed where syndepositional folds, faults, and fractures occur. The morphology of the trellis drainage varies systematically across the range in response to the character of the deformation structures and karst features along which the drainage channels have developed.     

Anelastic Strain Recovery and The Kaiser Effect Retention Span in the Carnmenellis Granite, U.K.

Summary Knowledge of in-situ stress in rock masses is essential for mining and civil engineering design and the Kaiser effect method of stress determination provides an economical alternative to currently applied investigation techniques. A practical problem associated with this method is the loss of the Kaiser effect over time during the process of anelastic strain recovery, but a direct relationship is observed between anelastic strain recovery and the number of acoustic emissions. The behaviour is modelled here using the Kelvin and Burger rheological models, for the stages of creep during uniaxial laboratory loading, anelastic strain recovery and the loss of the Kaiser effect, with constants being calculated and compared for samples loaded under geological and laboratory conditions. It is found that the loss of the KE at low stress levels compares directly with the process of anelastic strain recovery and fits the Burger model over the time scales of interest. A difference between primary and secondary (undercored samples) recovery is demonstrated with a slower recovery for primary relaxation and with samples taken from geological stress environments recovering more slowly than those loaded under laboratory conditions, for all stress levels tested.     

Automated Time Series Measurement of Microbial Concentrations in Groundwater-Derived Water Supplies

Fecal contamination by human and animal pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, and protozoa, is a potential human health hazard, especially with regards to drinking water. Pathogen occurrence in groundwater varies considerably in space and time, which can be difficult to characterize as sampling typically requires hundreds of liters of water to be passed through a filter. Here we describe the design and deployment of an automated sampler suited for hydrogeologically and chemically dynamic groundwater systems. Our design focused on a compact form to facilitate transport and quick deployment to municipal and domestic water supplies. We deployed a sampler to characterize water quality from a household well tapping a shallow fractured dolomite aquifer in northeast Wisconsin. The sampler was deployed from January to April 2017, and monitored temperature, nitrate, chloride, specific conductance, and fluorescent dissolved organic matter on a minute time step; water was directed to sequential microbial filters during three recharge periods that ranged from 5 to 20 days. Results from the automated sampler demonstrate the dynamic nature of the household water quality, especially with regard to microbial targets, which were shown to vary 1 to 2 orders of magnitude during a single sampling event. We believe assessments of pathogen occurrence and concentration, and related assessments of drinking well vulnerability, would be improved by the time-integrated characterization provided by this sampler.     

Importance of unsaturated zone flow for simulating recharge in a humid climate

Transient recharge to the water table is often not well understood or quantified. Two approaches for simulating transient recharge in a ground water flow model were investigated using the Trout Lake watershed in north-central Wisconsin: (1) a traditional approach of adding recharge directly to the water table and (2) routing the same volume of water through an unsaturated zone column to the water table. Areas with thin (less than 1 m) unsaturated zones showed little difference in timing of recharge between the two approaches; when water was routed through the unsaturated zone, however, less recharge was delivered to the water table and more discharge occurred to the surface because recharge direction and magnitude changed when the water table rose to the land surface. Areas with a thick (15 to 26 m) unsaturated zone were characterized by multimonth lags between infiltration and recharge, and, in some cases, wetting fronts from precipitation events during the fall overtook and mixed with infiltration from the previous spring snowmelt. Thus, in thicker unsaturated zones, the volume of water infiltrated was properly simulated using the traditional approach, but the timing was different from simulations that included unsaturated zone flow. Routing of rejected recharge and ground water discharge at land surface to surface water features also provided a better simulation of the observed flow regime in a stream at the basin outlet. These results demonstrate that consideration of flow through the unsaturated zone may be important when simulating transient ground water flow in humid climates with shallow water tables.     

Reaction of Q to thermal metamorphism in parent bodies: Experimental simulation

Planetary noble gases in chondrites are concentrated in an unidentified carrier phase, called “Q.” Phase Q oxidized at relatively low temperature in pure oxygen is a very minor part of insoluble organic matter (IOM), but has not been separated in a pure form. High‐pressure (HP) experiments have been used to test the effects of thermal metamorphism on IOM from the Orgueil (CI1) meteorite, at conditions up to 10 GPa and 700 °C. The effect of the treatment on carbon structural order was characterized by Raman spectroscopy of the carbon D and G bands. The Raman results show that the IOM becomes progressively more graphite‐like with increasing intensity and duration of the HP treatment. The carbon structural transformations are accompanied by an increase in the release temperatures for IOM carbon and ³⁶Ar during stepped combustion (the former to a greater extent than the latter for the most HP treated sample) when compared with the original untreated Orgueil (CI1) sample. The ³⁶Ar/C ratio also appears to vary in response to HP treatment. Since ³⁶Ar is a part of Q, its release temperature corresponds to that for Q oxidation. Thus, the structural transformations of Q and IOM upon HP treatment are not equal. These results correspond to observations of thermal metamorphism in the meteorite parent bodies, in particular those of type 4 enstatite chondrites, e.g., Indarch (EH4), where graphitized IOM oxidized at significantly higher temperatures than Q (Verchovsky et al. 2002 ). Our findings imply that Q is less graphitized than most of the macromolecular carbonaceous material present during parent body metamorphism and is thus a carbonaceous phase distinct from other meteoritic IOM.     

Long-term monitoring using resident and caged mussels in Boston Harbor yield similar spatial and temporal trends in chemical contamination

Measurements of chemical contaminants in caged (transplanted) and resident mussel populations have become a routine tool for monitoring and assessing the status and trends of coastal water quality. However, few long-term data sets are available to assess the comparability and efficacy of these two monitoring approaches. Three long-term independent data sets exist for Boston Harbor: the National Mussel Watch program has analyzed resident blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) from the Boston Harbor/Massachusetts Bay region for over twenty years, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority has annually deployed caged (transplanted) mussels (M. edulis) to assess bioaccumulation potential of sewage effluent discharged under its NPDES permit for over fourteen years, and the GulfWatch program has analyzed resident blue mussel populations for over twelve years. Together, these data provide consistent and comparable information on temporal and spatial changes in chemical contamination in Boston Harbor as steps were taken to reduce contaminant loading. The data also demonstrate the complementary nature of resident and caged (transplanted) mussels for assessing contaminant trends even when the basic approaches and sampling frequency differ. These fifteen-year data sets demonstrate contaminant concentrations in mussels from Boston Harbor are similar and with few exceptions have significantly decreased since the early 1990s. The observed trends also demonstrate broad scale improvements to the quality of Boston Harbor and expand understanding of the response of coastal systems to interventions that reduce the load of chemicals to the ocean.     

Vulnerability of a public supply well in a karstic aquifer to contamination

To assess the vulnerability of ground water to contamination in the karstic Upper Floridan aquifer (UFA), age-dating tracers and selected anthropogenic and naturally occurring compounds were analyzed in multiple water samples from a public supply well (PSW) near Tampa, Florida. Samples also were collected from 28 monitoring wells in the UFA and the overlying surficial aquifer system (SAS) and intermediate confining unit located within the contributing recharge area to the PSW. Age tracer and geochemical data from the earlier stage of the study (2003 through 2005) were combined with new data (2006) on concentrations of sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆), tritium (³H), and helium-3, which were consistent with binary mixtures of water for the PSW dominated by young water (less than 7 years). Water samples from the SAS also indicated mostly young water (less than 7 years); however, most water samples from monitoring wells in the UFA had lower SF₆ and ³H concentrations than the PSW and SAS, indicating mixtures containing high proportions of older water (more than 60 years). Vulnerability of the PSW to contamination was indicated by predominantly young water and elevated nitrate-N and volatile organic compound concentrations that were similar to those in the SAS. Elevated arsenic (As) concentrations (3 to 19 μg/L) and higher As(V)/As(III) ratios in the PSW than in water from UFA monitoring wells indicate that oxic water from the SAS likely mobilizes As from pyrite in the UFA matrix. Young water found in the PSW also was present in UFA monitoring wells that tap a highly transmissive zone (43- to 53-m depth) in the UFA.