Secondary Calcification of Planktic Foraminifera from the Indian Sector of Southern Ocean

This study focused on planktic foraminifera in plankton tows and surface sediments from the western Indian sector of Southern Ocean in order to evaluate the potential foraminiferal secondary calcification and/or dissolution in the sediment. It is found that the symbiotic foraminiferal species are abundant in the subtropical region, whereas non-symbiotic species dominate in the sub-Antarctic and polar frontal regions. The distribution of the symbiotic and non-symbiotic foraminiferal species is controlled by temperature, salinity, light, nutrients and phytoplankton biomass. There is also a lateral southern extent in abundance of planktic foraminifera from surface sediments to plankton tows. The shell weights of the planktic foraminifera N. pachyderma, G. bulloides and G. ruber within the surface sediments are on an average heavier by 27%, 34% and 40% respectively than shells of the same size within the plankton tows, indicative of secondary calcification. The planktic foraminiferal isotopes show the presence of heavier isotopes in the surface sediment foraminifera as compared to plankton tows, thus confirming secondary calcification. Secondary calcification in G. ruber occurs in the euphotic zone, whereas in case of N. pachyderma and G. bulloides it is at deeper depths. We also observed a decrease in the shell spines in surface sediment foraminifera as compared to plankton tows, indicative of the morphological changes that foraminifera underwent during gametogenesis.     

Thermomechanical properties of deep argillaceous formations

A difficulty in the interpretation of mechanical and thermo-mechanical tests on specimens drawn from large argillaceous formations is the strong inhomogeneity of void ratio, clay minerals and carbonates content.

In this paper a relationship is developed to link strength and the maximum preconsolidation stress to the initial void ratio and carbonate content. Compressibility is also correlated to carbonates.

Thermal strains in drained and undrained conditions for a Spanish, a belgian and an Italian natural clay are compared. In the elastic state strains are comparable, while in the plastic range thermal strains are highest for the Belgian clay, lower in the Spanish cemented clay and lowest in the Italian clay, very stiff and cemented.     

An iterative scheme for use in MT 2D forward modelling — to speed up production of the Jacobian and to improve accuracy of the inverse matrix

An important stage in two-dimensional magnetotelluric modelling is the calculation of the Earth's response functions for an assumed conductivity model and the calculation of the associated Jacobian relating those response functions to the model parameters. The efficiency of the calculation of the Jacobian will affect the efficiency of the inversion modelling. Rodi (1976) produced all the Jacobian elements by inverting a single matrix and using an approximate first-order algorithm. Since only one inverse matrix required calculation the procedure speeded up the inversion. An iterative scheme to improve the approximation to the Jacobian information is presented in this paper. While this scheme takes a little longer than Rodi's algorithm, it enables a more accurate determination of the Jacobian information. It is found that the Jacobian elements can be produced in 10% of the time required to calculate an inverse matrix or to calculate a 2D starting model. A modification of the algorithm can further be used to improve the accuracy of the original inverse matrix calculated in a 2D finite difference program and hence the solution this program produces. The convergence of the iteration scheme is found to be related both to the originally calculated inverse matrix and to the change in the newly formed matrix arising from perturbation of the model parameter. A ridge regression inverse algorithm is used in conjunction with the iterative scheme for forward modelling described in this paper to produce a 2D conductivity section from field data.     

An Unique Glomerophyric Diorite Porphyry from the Southern Margin of North China Craton: Geochronology, Geochemical and Quantitative Textural Analysis Constraints

<正>1 Introduction The Wulong glomerophyric diorite porphyry has an extremely peculiar texture with plagioclase phenocrysts clustered as flower-like glomerocrysts(Figs.1ab),which is never discovered elsewhere of the world.The     

Petrogenesis of Potassic Basalts from Northeast China: New Constraints from Trace Elements in Olivine

<正>This study used trace elements in olivine as a new petrogenetic indicator to further constrain the petrogenesis of potassic basalts from the Erkeshan-Wudalianchi-KeluoXiaogulihe potassic volcanic field(EWKX for short)in the Songliao Basin of NE China,with a combination of the previous olivine and whole-rock geochemical data.We     

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON FALL VELOCITY OF NON-UNIFORM SEDIMENT IN FLOWING WATER

I INTRODUCTIONThe settlement of particles in fluid has been studied in many fields such as hydraulics, metallurgy andchemistry since the middle of 19 century because of its great importance. Although the settlement ofsingle particle and group settling velocity of uniform particles in still water are relatively well-studied, yetthe settlement of non-uniform particles in flowing water lacks understanding. For instance, Cunningham(1910), Richardson (1954) and Batchelor (1972), have obtained…     

Fractal generation of surface area of porous media

Many natural porous geological rock formations, as well as engineered porous structures, have fractal properties, i.e., they are self-similar over several length scales. While there have been many experimental and theoretical studies on how to quantify a fractal porous medium and on how to determine its fractal dimension, the numerical generation of a fractal pore structure with predefined statistical and scaling properties is somewhat scarcer. In the present paper a new numerical method for generating a three-dimensional porous medium with any desired probability density function (PDF) and autocorrelation function (ACF) is presented. The well-known Turning Bands Method (TBM) is modified to generate three-dimensional synthetic isotropic and anisotropic porous media with a Gaussian PDF and exponential-decay ACF. Porous media with other PDF's and ACF's are constructed with a nonlinear, iterative PDF and ACF transformation, whereby the arbitrary PDF is converted to an equivalent Gaussian PDF which is then simulated with the classical TBM. Employing a new method for the estimation of the surface area for a given porosity, the fractal dimensions of the surface area of the synthetic porous media generated in this way are then measured by classical fractal perimeter/area relationships. Different 3D porous media are simulated by varying the porosity and the correlation structure of the random field. The performance of the simulations is evaluated by checking the ensemble statistics, the mean, variance and ACF of the simulated random field. For a porous medium with Gaussian PDF, an average fractal dimension of approximately 2.76 is obtained which is in the range of values of actually measured fractal dimensions of molecular surfaces. For a porous medium with a non-Gaussian quadratic PDF the calculated fractal dimension appears to be consistently higher and averages 2.82. The results also show that the fractal dimension is neither strongly dependent of the porosity nor of the degree of anisotropy assumed.     

Characteristics of China’s oil and gas pool formation in latest geological history

The structural activities took place extensively in the Asia continent during the Cenozoic era owing to the strong continent-to-continent collision and continuous compression between the India Plate and the Eurasia Plate. Huang Jiqing called such structural activities Himalayan movement. China’s sedimentary basins developed and took shape mainly during the Himalayan movement period. It is also the main period for formation and development of the oil and gas reservoirs. Of 366 large and medium-sized oil and gas fields currently found in China, 212 reservoirs were formed in the Neogene-Quaternary period. The proportion is as high as 68.2%. The oil and gas migration and accumulation in the latest geological period, which were controlled by the times, properties, styles and strength of the Himalayan movement, took place mainly in eight regions, such as the low uplift area of Bohai Sea, the onshore faulted sag area of Bohai Bay, anticlinorium zone in Daqing, the foreland fold-and-thrust belt in West China, the tilted structural zone in West China, the cratonic palaeohigh in the Tarim Basin, the zone of fault and fold belt in the East Sichuan Basin, and the biological gas zone in the East Qaidam Basin. The oil and gas pool formations in those regions have their own characteristics. With the great potential and broad prospect, those regions are the main exploration areas in China in the future.