A STRATIGRAPHIC CASE HISTORY USING THREE-DIMENSIONAL SEISMIC DATA IN THE GULF OF THAILAND *

A three-dimensional marine seismic survey was conducted in the Gulf of Thailand to aid in the development of a gas field indicated by three wildcat wells. The results and interpretation reported previously demonstrated improved fault resolution and better structural definition. Five successful appraisal wells have now been drilled, and these show that most of the sands have limited extent. Widespread character changes in the seismic data also support stratigraphic variations in many of the sands. Several new methods of 3D stratigraphic interpretation have been developed while investigating the depositional history of this area. Anomalous seismic amplitudes, tied to sands penetrated by wells and mapped from Seiscrop^TM horizontal sections in time and depth, have indicated the distribution of bars and channels. Horizon Seiscrop sections, each sliced through a single bed, have been used to delineate these depositional features directly. G-LOG^TM sections, displaying seismic logs derived by rigorous wave equation inversion, confirm the existence of these features. Sands greater than 10 m thick have proved mappable.     

High-pressure metamorphism caused by magma loading in Fiordland, New Zealand

Cretaceous granulite facies metamorphism in the Fiordland area of New Zealand has distinctive mineralogical, textural and structural features that set it apart from most other regional metamorphic belts. The metamorphism, developed over a 30×150-km area and the consequence of a 20-km-thick increment to crustal thickness, is closely associated in space and time with a large plutonic complex, the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss (WFO). Although temperatures and pressures as high as 700  °C and 12  kbar were attained, the metamorphic overprint on earlier low-pressure assemblages is weak and incomplete. Little strain accompanied the metamorphism. The temperature threshold at which metamorphic recrystallization is recorded is over 500  °C. Zoned garnets are preserved at unusually high temperatures, indicating duration of metamorphism on the order of 10 times shorter than in most other regional terranes. This pattern of features bears close similarity to metamorphism in the Coast Plutonic Complex in North America, where a mechanism of 'magma loading' has been invoked. In Fiordland, the high-pressure metamorphism can be explained by depression of country rock under a crustal zone that is inflated by intrusion of the WFO. Regional structure of the WFO as a horizontally sheeted complex suggests that the pluton was emplaced by vertical displacement of country rock, and supports the magma loading model.     

深反射地震揭示喜马拉雅地区地壳上地幔的复杂结构

报告了中、美两国在喜马拉雅山区进行的第一次深反射地震试验的结果．试验剖面南起喜马拉雅山山脊南亚东县的帕里镇，向北穿过喜马拉雅山脊的荡拉，到达康马南的萨马达．剖面长约１００ｋｍ．共中心点（ＣＭＰ）叠加剖面上显示出：１．在地壳中部有一强反射带，向北缓倾斜下去，延长达１００ｋｍ以上．它可能代表了一个活动的逆冲断裂或是一条巨大的拆离带，印度地壳整体或下地壳沿此拆离层俯冲到藏南之下．２．上部地壳的反射很丰富，显示了上地壳存在着大规模的叠瓦状结构．３．下地壳的反射同相轴呈现短而有规律的分布，显示了塑性流变特征．４．在测线南部莫霍反射明显，深度达７２－７５ｋｍ．发现南部有双莫霍层的存在．５．试验中还取得莫霍层下面３２，３８，４８ｓ等双程走时的多条反射，向北倾斜，反射同相轴延续较长，信息丰富，反映了上地幔的成层结构和变形特征．这些结果对印度大陆地壳整体或其下地壳俯冲到藏南特提斯喜马拉雅地壳之下，并导致西藏南端地壳增厚的观点，给予了实质性的支持．     

Modelling of mineral equilibria in ultrahigh-temperature metamorphic rocks from the Anápolis–Itauçu Complex, central Brazil

A new quantitative approach to constraining mineral equilibria in sapphirine‐bearing ultrahigh‐temperature (UHT) granulites through the use of pseudosections and compatibility diagrams is presented, using a recently published thermodynamic model for sapphirine. The approach is illustrated with an example from an UHT locality in the Anápolis–Itauçu Complex, central Brazil, where modelling of mineral equilibria indicates peak metamorphic conditions of about 9 kbar and 1000 °C. The early formed, coarse‐grained assemblage is garnet–orthopyroxene–sillimanite–quartz, which was subsequently modified following peak conditions. The retrograde pressure–temperature (P–T) path of this locality involves decompression across the FeO–MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ (FMAS) univariant reaction orthopyroxene + sillimanite = garnet + sapphirine + quartz, resulting in the growth of sapphirine–quartz, followed by cooling and recrossing of this reaction. The resulting microstructures are modelled using compatibility diagrams, and pseudosections calculated for specific grain boundaries considered as chemical domains. The sequence of microstructures preserved in the rocks constrains a two‐stage isothermal decompression–isobaric cooling path. The stability of cordierite along the retrograde path is examined using a domainal approach and pseudosections for orthopyroxene–quartz and garnet–quartz grain boundaries. This analysis indicates that the presence or absence of cordierite may be explained by local variation in a_H2O. This study has important implications for thermobarometric studies of UHT granulites, mainly through showing that traditional FMAS petrogenetic grids based on experiments alone may overestimate P–T conditions. Such grids are effectively constant a_H2O sections in FMAS‐H₂O (FMASH), for which the corresponding a_H2O is commonly higher than that experienced by UHT granulites. A corollary of this dependence of mineral equilibria on a_H2O is that local variations in a_H2O may explain the formation of cordierite without significant changes in P–T conditions, particularly without marked decompression.     

TUNING EFFECTS,LITHOLOGICAL EFFECTS AND DEPOSITIONAL EFFECTS IN THE SEISMIC RESPONSE OF GAS RESERVOIRS*

Synergism of 3-D seismic data, wavelet processing, colour display and interactive interpretation has been exploited in the study of a Gulf of Mexico gas reservoir. Seismic amplitude has been used as a measure of the proportion of a sand/shale reservoir capable of producing gas. This has led to the mapping of net producible thickness of gas sand. The tuning phenomena resulting from geometric effects alone were studied in detail, and tuning curves of various levels of sophistication were used as the basis for amplitude editing. Statistical tuning curves were derived by interactive cross-plotting and deterministic curves by wavelet extraction. Multiple wavelet side lobes cause multiple maxima in the tuning curve. Depositional effects and intrareservoir communication have also been studied by interactive cross-plotting.     

Pyroxenes from the Late Stages of Fractionation of the Skaergaard Intrusion, East Greenland

The pyroxenes of the upper zone of the Skaergaard layered seriesconsist of an iron-rich series of brown and green clinopyroxenes.Five new analyses are presented, together with a revised trendline which includes the full range of clinopyroxenes believedrepresentative of the Skaergaard fractionation sequence. Therange for the augite-ferroaugite-ferrohedenbergite series isfrom Ca_42?4 Mg_47?9 Fe_9?7 to Ca_42?5 Mg_0?4 Fe_57?1, the most ferriferousvariety coexisting with a pure fayalite. A re-study of the compositionsand textures of certain green ferrohedenbergites supports thebelief that they are the product of sub-solidus inversion offerriferous ß-wollaston?tes, which crystallized asa temporary phase between the periods when brown ferrohedenbergitescrystallized directly from the magma. A consideration of thecompositional and textural relationships between green and brownpyroxenes, and the significance of the mosaic inversion texture,have led to an interpretation of the crystallization and inversionsequence for these minerals. Four new analyses of ferrohedenbergitesfrom the downward-crystallized upper border group rocks provideevidence for a trend which differs slightly from that for thelayered series ferrohedenbergites.     

Characterization and P-T Evolution of Melt-bearing Ultrahigh-temperature Granulites: an Example from the Anapolis-Itaucu Complex of the Brasilia Fold Belt, Brazil

Sapphirine–quartz occurs in orthopyroxene–garnetgranulites in two areas