AN INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIVE ACCURACY OF THE MOST COMMON NORMAL-MOVEOUT EXPRESSIONS IN VELOCITY ANALYSES*

Three common expressions for the normal moveout of recorded seismic events are investigated by numerical simulation procedures for accuracy in predicting the root-mean-squared (RMS) or mean, as the case may be, subsurface velocity function from seismic data. The principal investigation, for which detailed error curves are shown, was derived for a stochastic subsurface model composed of strata with thicknesses ranging up to 91.4 m (300 ft) and boundary velocity contrasts ranging up to 45.7 m/sec (150 ft/sec); there was a 95 percent chance of velocity increase with increased depth. The effects of changes in the basic statistical subsurface model are discussed. The results appear to confirm the judiciousness of the choices of to and (x/z') as plotting parameters to be used with the respective percent errors in the three expressions, where are, respectively, the zero-offset arrival time of, the offset distance of, and the mean-squared velocity encountered by a seismic ray. Out of the three normal-moveout expressions examined, the “straight-raypath” expression with the RMS velocity substituted as its velocity term proved to be the most accurate in the determination of velocities.     

Diamonds and Other Exotic Minerals Recovered from Peridotites of the Dangqiong Ophiolite,Western Yarlung-Zangbo Suture Zone,Tibet

Various combinations of diamond, moissanite, zircon, quartz, corundum, rutile, titanite, almandine garnet, kyanite, and andalusite have been recovered from the Dangqiong peridotites. More than 80 grains of diamond have been recovered, most of which are pale yellow to reddish-orange to colorless. The grains are all 100-200 μm in size and mostly anhedral, but with a range of morphologies including elongated, octahedral and subhedral varieties. Their identification was confirmed by a characteristic shift in the Raman spectra between 1325 cm~(-1) and 1333 cm~(-1), mostly at 1331.51 cm~(-1) or 1326.96 cm~(-1). Integration of the mineralogical, petrological and geochemical data for the Dongqiong peridotites suggests a multi-stage formation for this body and similar ophiolites in the Yarlung-Zangbo suture zone. Chromian spinel grains and perhaps small bodies of chromitite crystallized at various depths in the upper mantle, and encapsulated the UHP, highly reduced and crustal minerals. Some oceanic crustal slabs containing the chromian spinel and their inclusion were later trapped in suprasubduction zones(SSZ), where they were modified by island arc tholeiitic and boninitic magmas, thus changing the chromian spinel compositions and depositing chromitite ores in melt channels.     

Announcements

Abstract

This is an updated and extended presentation of the results of the IAHS Workshop on Quality Assurance in Hydrologic Measurement, held during the XXI General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), Boulder, Colorado, USA, in July 1995. The main focus at Boulder was on experience with hydrological applications of the international standard ISO 9002 and developments in rating curve theory. A case study of a quality assurance system is presented. Progress in hydrometric quality assurance since the workshop and areas for future development are discussed.     

Podiform Chromitites in the Luobusa Ophiolite (Southern Tibet): Implications for Melt-Rock Interaction and Chromite Segregation in the Upper Mantle

The Luobusa ophiolite in the Indus—Yarlung Zangbo sutureof southern Tibet hosts the largest known chromite deposit inChina. The podiform chromitites occur in a well-preserved mantlesequence consisting of harzburgite with abundant lenses of dunite.The harzburgites have relatively uniform bulk-rock compositionswith mg-numbers [100 Mg/(Mg + Fe)] ranging from 89 to 91 andshow flat, unfractionated, chondrite-normalized platinum groupelement (PGE) patterns. Their accessory chromite varies widelyin cr-number [100Cr/(Cr + Al)] (18–66). These rocks areessentially residua left after extraction of mid-ocean ridgebasalt (MORB)-type magmas. The podiform chromitites displaynodular, massive, disseminated and banded textures and typicallyhave dunite envelopes that grade into the surrounding harzburgiteand diopsidic harzburgite with increasing pyroxene contents.They consist of relatively uniform chromite with high cr-numbers(74–82), have strongly fractionated, chondrite-normalizedPGE patterns with enrichment in Os, Ir and Ru relative to Rh,Pt and Pt, and are believed to have formed from a boniniticmagma produced by a second stage of melting. Dunites containaccessory chromite intermediate in composition between thoseof harzburgite and chromitite and are believed to be the productsof reaction between new boninitic magmas and old MORB-type peridotites.The melt-rock reaction removed pyroxene from the peridotitesand precipitated oli-vine, forming dunite envelopes around thechromitite pods. The melts thus became more boninitic in compositionand chromite saturated, leading to precipitation of chromitealone. The interplay of melt-rock interaction, chromite fractionationand magma mixing should lead to many fluctuations in melt composition,producing both massive and disseminated chromitites and phaselayering within individual podiform bodies observed in the Luobusaophiolite. KEY WORDS: boninitic magmas; dunite envelope; melt—rock interaction; MORB peridotities; podiform chromitites ^*Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Geology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ont, Canada P3E 2C6.     

Geochronology and Geochemistry of the Middle Proterozoic Aoyougou Ophiolite in the North Qilian Mountains,Northwestern China

The Aoyougou ophiolite lies in an early Palaeozoic orogenic belt of the western North Qilian Mountains, near the Aoyougou valley in Gansu Province, northwestern China. It consists of serpentinite, a cumulate sequence of gabbro and diorite, pillow and massive lavas, diabase and chert. Ages of 1840±2 Ma, 1783±2 Ma and 1784±2 Ma on three zircons from diabase, indicate an early Middle Proterozoic age. The diabases and basalts show light rare-earth element enrichment and have relatively high TiO2 contents, characteristic of ocean island basalts. All of the lavas have low MgO, Cr, Ni contents and Mg numbers indicating a more evolved character. They are believed to have been derived from a more mafic parental magma by fractionation of olivine, Cr-spinel and minor plagioclase. Based on the lava geochemistry and regional geology, the Aoyougou ophiolite was probably believed to have formed at a spreading centre in a small marginal basin. Subduction of the newly formed oceanic lithosphere in the Middle Proteroz     

XRF Determination of 19 Trace Elements In International Geochemical Reference Samples

Routine XRF determination of 19 trace elements in 23 international standards using the method of Leake et al is examined. Agreement of results for 15 well-established international reference samples is generally good, showing that this method gives comparable results to other techniques. New trace element data using this method are presented for the 8 USGS III standards.     

DYNAMIC PREDICTIVE DECONVOLUTION*

Dynamic predictive deconvolution makes use of an entire seismic trace including all primary and multiple reflections to yield an approximation to the subsurface structure. We consider plane-wave motion at normal incidence in an horizontally layered system sandwiched between the air and the basement rock. Energy degradation effects are neglected so that the layered system represents a lossless system in which energy is lost only by net transmission downward into the basement or net reflection upward into the air; there is no internal loss of energy by absorption within the layers. The layered system is frequency selective in that the energy from a surface input is divided between that energy which is accepted over time by net transmission downward into the basement and the remaining energy that is rejected over time by net reflection upward into the air. Thus the energy from a downgoing unit spike at the surface as input is divided between the wave transmitted by the layered system into the basement and the wave reflected by the layered system into the air. This reflected wave is the observed seismic trace resulting from the unit spike input. From surface measurements we can compute both the input energy spectrum, which by assumption is unity, and the reflection energy spectrum, which is the energy spectrum of the trace. But, by the conservation of energy, the input energy spectrum is equal to the sum of the reflection energy spectrum and the transmission energy spectrum. Thus we can compute the transmission energy spectrum as the difference of the input energy spectrum and the reflection energy spectrum. Furthermore, we know that the layered system acts as a pure feedback system in producing the transmitted wave, from which it follows that the transmitted wave is minimum-delay. Hence from the computed energy spectrum of the transmitted wave we can compute the prediction-error operator that contracts the transmitted wave to a spike. We also know that the layered system acts as a system with both a feedback component and a feed-forward component in producing the reflected wave, that is, the observed seismic trace. Moreover, this feedback component is identical to the pure feedback system that produces the transmitted wave. Thus, we can deconvolve the observed seismic trace by the prediction-error operator computed above; the result of the deconvolution is the wave-form due to the feedforward component alone. Now the feedforward component represents the wanted dynamic structure of the layered system whereas the feedback component represents the unwanted reverberatory effects of the layered system. Because this deconvolution process yields the wanted dynamic structure and destroys the unwanted reverberatory effects, we call the process dynamic predictive deconvolution. The resulting feedforward waveform in itself represents an approximation to the subsurface structure; a further decomposition yields the reflection coefficients of the interfaces separating the layers. In this work we do not make the assumption as is commonly done that the surface as a perfect reflector; that is, we do not assume that the surface reflection coefficient has magnitude unity.     

Trading Strategies for New Zealand: The GATT, CER and Trade Liberalisation

Abstract. Despite the dramatic post-1984 changes in the management of the New Zealand economy, including the establishment of a more diverse pattern of trading partners and products, there remain significant external constraints. New Zealand's position outside major trading blocs is problematic at a time of declining terms of trade for agro-commodities. In this essay, the strategies pursued to improve New Zealand's trading position are considered with special reference to the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Closer Economic Relations (CER) with Australia, and the promotion of trade liberalisation.