Structural styles,hydrocarbon prospects,and potential in the Salt Range and Potwar Plateau,north Pakistan

The Salt Range/Potwar Plateau (SRPP) is part of the Himalayan foreland and an important petroleum province in north Pakistan. The hydrocarbons are commonly produced from stacked Cambrian to Eocene clastic and carbonate reservoirs which have an average thickness of 1 km. These strata are overlain by at least 5 km of Miocene and younger continental molasse sedimentation in the deepest part of the foreland basin. Surface and subsurface (seismic interpretations and borehole data) geology combined with the timing and the patterns of sedimentation has allowed to interpret the deformation as thin skinned, with a detachment in weak Eocambrian evaporates and the development of ramp-and-flat structures, since about 8 Ma. We have reviewed the structural interpretations with new borehole logs, field geology, and reserve estimates in this paper to precisely define oil-field structures with a view on future exploration. As a result of this work, 12 oil fields are classified as three detachment folds, four fault-propagation folds, four pop-ups, and one triangle zone structure. The latter two are identified as better prospects with the last one as the best with estimated reserves of 51 million barrels of oil (MMBO). Hence, the triangle zones along with other ramp-and-flat structures from the North Potwar Deformed Zone (NPDZ) are recognized to provide potential future prospects. Finally, a 40-km-long structural cross section from NPDZ is used to discuss complex deformation of the triangle zone and duplex structures as future potential prospects. About 55 km of shortening across the NPDZ during Plio-Pleistocene time is calculated, which has important bearing on the geometry of prospects, reserve calculations, and the future exploration.     

Long-term activity of earthquake-induced landslides: A case study from Qionghai Lake Basin,Southwest of China

Earthquake-triggered landslides are a major geological hazard in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, and have prolonged impact on earth surface processes and fluvial system. To determine how long co-seismic landslides affect basins, a massive number of landslides existing in Qionghai Lake Basin were investigated for landslide distribution characteristics and geomorphological evidences, with further comparison and analysis using historic seismic analog method. The landslides found in Qionghai Lake Basin showed clear features of seismic triggering with strongly controlled by Zemuhe fault. These landslides are still active at present. Some new slides generally occur in ancient slope failure zones causing serious secondary hazards in recent years. In this study we strengthen the idea that the landslides triggered by the 185o Xichang earthquake （Ms7.5） have long term activity and prolonged impact on the mountain disasters with a period of more than 16o years. Our results support growing evidence that coseismic landslides have a prolonged effect on secondary disasters in a basin, and invite more careful consideration of the relationship between current basin condition and landslide history for a longer period.     

Evolutionary characteristics of a dust storm over Oman on 2 February 2008

The evolutionary characteristics of a dust storm over Oman on 2 February 2008 were studied by analyzing the weather associated with it. The National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis wind flow pattern at 1,000?hPa showed a clockwise and outward wind flow pattern over the study region, a manifestation of a high-pressure cold air mass. In addition, ground truth observations for surface temperature and surface winds showed cold northerly winds until the early morning of 2 February 2008. A strong wind shear resulted from differences in wind speed between warm air and trapped cold air. This vertical wind shear enhanced instability. Furthermore, the weakening of the inversion in the lower troposphere and the formation of a mixed layer due to transfer of horizontal momentum from upper air towards the surface led to strong surface winds. These strong winds lifted a large amount of dust particles off the ground, resulting in the dust event of 2 February 2008.     

Characterization of polychlorinated biphenyls and brominated flame retardants in sediments from riverine and coastal waters of Surabaya, Indonesia

A total of 33 surficial sediments from riverine and coastal waters from Surabaya, Indonesia were analyzed for PCBs and BFRs. Concentrations of PCBs (62 congeners), PBDEs (14 congeners) and HBCDs (3 isomers) varied from <DL-420, <DL-35 and <DL-5.4 ng g⁻¹ dw, respectively. Higher concentrations of these compounds were found in riverine than coastal sediments. Their levels and distribution were influenced by proximity to the point sources and TOC. The predominant congeners were CB-153, -28, -138, -149, -180, -33 and BDE-209, -207, -206, -197, -196, -183, -99, -47 for PCBs and PBDEs, respectively, and γ-isomer for HBCDs. Debromination of BDE-209 might be taking place producing lower toxic congeners in sediment. Levels of PCBs in riverine sediments were comparable with some polluted areas worldwide, but PBDEs and HBCDs were lower. Hazard assessment of PCBs indicated possible toxic potential, particularly in areas close to point sources.     

Simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation for tidal models

The Dutch continental shelf model (DCSM) is a shallow sea model of entire continental shelf which is used operationally in the Netherlands to forecast the storm surges in the North Sea. The forecasts are necessary to support the decision of the timely closure of the moveable storm surge barriers to protect the land. In this study, an automated model calibration method, simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA) is implemented for tidal calibration of the DCSM. The method uses objective function evaluations to obtain the gradient approximations. The gradient approximation for the central difference method uses only two objective function evaluation independent of the number of parameters being optimized. The calibration parameter in this study is the model bathymetry. A number of calibration experiments is performed. The effectiveness of the algorithm is evaluated in terms of the accuracy of the final results as well as the computational costs required to produce these results. In doing so, comparison is made with a traditional steepest descent method and also with a newly developed proper orthogonal decomposition-based calibration method. The main findings are: (1) The SPSA method gives comparable results to steepest descent method with little computational cost. (2) The SPSA method with little computational cost can be used to estimate large number of parameters.