Multi‐transient electromagnetic repeatability experiment over the North Sea Harding field‡

We present results of synthetic time‐lapse and real repeatability multi‐transient electromagnetic surveys over the North Sea Harding field. Using Archie's law to convert porosity and fluid saturation to resistivity we created 3D isotropic models of the reservoir resistivity at different stages of production from the initial state in 1996 through to complete hydrocarbon production by 2016 and, for each stage, we simulated an east‐west transient electromagnetic survey line across Harding. Unconstrained 1D full‐waveform Occam inversions of these synthetic data show that Harding should be detectable and its lateral extent reasonably well‐defined. Resistivity changes caused by hydrocarbon production from initial pre‐production state to production of the oil rim in 2011 are discernible as are significant changes from 2011–2016 during the modelled gas blowdown phase. The 2D repeatability surveys of 2007 and 2008 tied two wells: one on and the other off the structure. Between the two surveys the segment of the field under investigation produced 3.9 million barrels of oil – not enough to generate an observable time‐lapse electromagnetic anomaly with a signal‐to‐noise ratio of 40 dB. Processing of the 2007 and 2008 data included deconvolution for the measured source current and removal of spatially‐correlated noise, which increased the signal‐to‐noise ratio of the recovered impulse responses by about 20 dB and resulted in a normalized root‐mean‐square difference of 3.9% between the data sets. 1D full‐waveform Occam inversions of the real data showed that Harding was detectable and its lateral extent was also reasonably well‐defined. The results indicate that the multi‐transient electromagnetic method is suitable for exploration, appraisal and monitoring hydrocarbon production.     

Mental health, ethnography and the body

Summary Covert ethnographic research materials are used to highlight different individuals' embodied configurations of time and space (in this case people with mental health problems). Research relationships that revolve around body presentation and body movement are then examined. The problematic associations between covert ethnography and feminist methodologies are also addressed.     

Future changes of the terrestrial ecosystem based on a dynamic vegetation model driven with RCP8.5 climate projections from 19 GCMs

Future changes of terrestrial ecosystems due to changes in atmospheric CO₂ concentration and climate are subject to a large degree of uncertainty, especially for vegetation in the Tropics. Here, we evaluate the natural vegetation response to projected future changes using an improved version of a dynamic vegetation model (CLM-CN-DV) driven with climate change projections from 19 global climate models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). The simulated equilibrium vegetation distribution under historical climate (1981–2000) has been compared with that under the projected future climate (2081–2100) scenario for Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) to qualitatively assess how natural potential vegetation might change in the future. With one outlier excluded, the ensemble average of vegetation changes corresponding to climates of 18 GCMs shows a poleward shift of forests in northern Eurasia and North America, which is consistent with findings from previous studies. It also shows a general “upgrade” of vegetation type in the Tropics and most of the temperate zones, in the form of deciduous trees and shrubs taking over C3 grass in Europe and broadleaf deciduous trees taking over C4 grasses in Central Africa and the Amazon. LAI and NPP are projected to increase in the high latitudes, southeastern Asia, southeastern North America, and Central Africa. This results from CO₂ fertilization, enhanced water use efficiency, and in the extra-tropics warming. However, both LAI and NPP are projected to decrease in the Amazon due to drought. The competing impacts of climate change and CO₂ fertilization lead to large uncertainties in the projection of future vegetation changes in the Tropics.     

Fluctuations in a magmatic sulphur isotope signature from the Pinnacles Mine,New South Wales,Australia

Sulphur isotopic compositions of 29 sulphide samples from the Broken Hill-type Pinnacles Deposit, NSW, are found to cluster at 0%. (mean −0.8‰). The restricted range of the (δ³⁴S) values between −3.5 and + 3.7‰ with a mean of −0.8‰, is interpreted as reflecting partial oxidation of a dominantly magmatic sulphur source. δ³⁴S data for galena samples fall into two groups: (1) isotopically heavier galenas (range −0.7 to 0.0‰; mean −0.4‰) which come mainly from the footwall Zn lode and (2) isotopically lighter galenas (range −3.5 to −0.8‰; mean −2.2‰) which are from the main Pb lode. Sphalerite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite have slightly heavier isotopic compositions (range −1.6 to +3.7‰ mean +0.3‰) but exhibit the same stratigraphic differentiation. These data are interpreted as representing fluctuating conditions at the site of ore deposition, in which upwelling hydrothermal fluids were subject to increasing fO₂ and decreasing temperature with time.     

A microwave digestion technique for the extraction of fossil diatoms from coastal lake and swamp sediments

This study provides an introduction to a microwave digestion technique for the extraction of fossil diatoms from sediments. The microwave technique is compared with the standard diatom extraction technique of Battarbee (Diatom analysis. In: Berglund B.E. (ed.), Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology. John Wiley and Sons) that uses a combination of dilute hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide and the advantages and disadvantages of their use are discussed. The results suggest that the microwave technique is fast, inexpensive and most importantly produces replicable fossil diatom assemblage data. Small samples sizes are used (0.3 g) for the microwave method thus lower quantities of chemicals are required (6 ml), which significantly decreases the cost of sample processing. Our results show that the microwave digestion technique is a viable alternative that will produce similar results within a shorter period of time.     

A Case Study of Soil-Gas Sampling in Silt and Clay-Rich (Low-Permeability) Soils

Soil-gas sampling and analysis is a common tool used in vapor intrusion assessments; however, sample collection becomes more difficult in fine-grained, low-permeability soils because of limitations on the flow rate that can be sustained during purging and sampling. This affects the time required to extract sufficient volume to satisfy purging and sampling requirements. The soil-gas probe tubing or pipe and sandpack around the probe screen should generally be purged prior to sampling. After purging, additional soil gas must be extracted for chemical analysis, which may include field screening, laboratory analysis, occasional duplicate samples, or analysis for more than one analytical method (e.g., volatile organic compounds and semivolatile organic compounds). At present, most regulatory guidance documents do not distinguish between soil-gas sampling methods that are appropriate for high- or low-permeability soils. This paper discusses permeability influences on soil-gas sample collection and reports data from a case study involving soil-gas sampling from silt and clay-rich soils with moderate to extremely low gas permeability to identify a sampling approach that yields reproducible samples with data quality appropriate for vapor intrusion investigations for a wide range of gas-permeability conditions.     

New relation between hardness and compressibility of minerals

A relation between hardness (H) for minerals and compressibility (β) is proposed: \(H = \frac{M}{{\rho q\beta }}\) , where M is the molecular weight, ρ the density and q the number of atoms in a formula unit. The relation is derived from thermodynamics and is based on an analogy between mineral hardness and the concept of hardness assumed for the classification of reactivity of molecular species. It is confirmed with 27 elemental solids and 66 crystalline compounds, that this simple relation fairly well describes the trend of experimental hardnesses of minerals, and that the new relation has advantages over one earlier proposed [Plendl et al. (1965)] for connecting hardness to compressibility.