INVERSION OF POST-STACK SEISMIC DATA USING SIMULATED ANNEALING1

Model-based inversion of seismic reflection data is a global optimization problem when prior information is sparse. We investigate the use of an efficient, global, stochastic optimization method, that of simulated annealing, for determining the two-way traveltimes and the reflection coefficients. We exploit the advantage of an ensemble approach to the inversion of full-scale target zones on 2D seismic sections. In our ensemble approach, several copies of the model-algorithm system are run in parallel. In this way, estimation of true ensemble statistics for the process is made possible, and improved annealing schedules can be produced. It is shown that the method can produce reliable results efficiently in the 2D case, even when prior information is sparse.     

Anomalous geochemical signals from phosphatic Middle Cambrian rocks in the southern Georgina Basin, Australia

Middle Cambrian rocks of the Georgina Basin contain both phosphatic and organic-rich sediments, the former often occurring as commercially viable phosphate deposits, and the latter as minor oil shale occurrences. Both kinds of rocks occur in the Hay River Formation penetrated by Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR) stratigraphic corehole Tobermory 14. Detailed sampling and analysis of this core has been undertaken to assess the chemostratigraphy of the Hay River Formation; to examine the possible use, as a palaeoceanographic tool, of changes in δ¹³C values of carbonates and kerogens; and to gain an understanding of phosphate deposition in this part of the basin. The Upper Hay River Formation was deposited in a normal marine environment characterized by oxic bottom conditions. It contains several episodes of significant trace metal enrichment which appear to indicate periodic replacement of the water body. The Lower Hay River Formation, however, was deposited in an abnormal marine environment low in sulphate and Mo and enriched in P. Its carbonate phase has positive δ¹³C values 1–1.5%₀ enriched over the accepted Cambrian marine carbonate value of -0.57 ± 0.17%₀. The very low sulphate concentration, Mo-depletion and spiking of carbonate δ¹⁸O values suggests there was an influx of deeper ocean water of sufficient volume to maintain prolonged stable anoxic bottom waters. These data support a previous suggestion that phosphogenesis in the Georgina Basin was related to ‘Oceanic Anoxic Events'.     

Cosmogenic radionuclide dating indicates ice‐sheet configuration during MIS 2 on Nordaustlandet,Svalbard

Hormes, A., Akçar, N. & Kubik, P. W. 2011: Cosmogenic radionuclide dating indicates ice‐sheet configuration during MIS 2 on Nordaustlandet, Svalbard. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2011.00215.x. ISSN 0300‐9483.0300‐9843 Glacial geological field surveys, aerial image interpretation and cosmogenic radionuclide (CRN) dating allowed us to reconstruct the ice‐sheet configuration on Nordaustlandet, the northernmost island of the European sector on the margin of the Arctic Ocean. The timing of deglaciation was investigated by determining the ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be ages of glacially scoured bedrock, weathered periglacial blockfields and glacial erratic boulders. Only ¹⁰Be ages were useful for our interpretations, because of unresolved analytical problems with ²⁶Al. Fjords and lowlands on Nordaustlandet yielded Late Weichselian ¹⁰Be ages, indicating that actively erosive ice streams scoured the coastal fjord bathymetry during marine isotope stage (MIS) 2. In Murchisonfjorden, ground‐truthed air‐photograph interpretation and ¹⁰Be ages of boulders indicated a cold‐based glacier ice cover during MIS 2 on higher plateaus. ¹⁰Be ages and lithological studies of erratic boulders on higher and interior plateaus of Prins Oscars Land (>200–230 m a.s.l.) suggest that the Mid‐Weichselian glaciation (MIS 4) might have been more extensive than that during MIS 2.     

Facies and ground-penetrating radar characteristics of coarse-grained beach deposits of the uppermost Pleistocene glacial Lake Algonquin, Ontario, Canada

The lithofacies of the uppermost Pleistocene ( ca 11 800 to 10 400 ¹⁴C yr  bp ), cold-temperate, coarse-grained beach deposits of Lake Algonquin, the precursor of the present Lake Huron of North America, have been studied and interpreted based on analogous features of modern beaches from the same region. Ice foot and ice-cementation develop during winter but, unlike Arctic beaches, ice-related sedimentary features are seldom, if ever, preserved in the Pleistocene and recent deposits of the Great Lakes. Instead, the deposits retain the typical characteristics of wave-dominated, pure gravel and mixed sand and gravel beaches, there including the classical subdivision of infill zone, swash zone/sand run, imbricated zone, coarse flat-clast zone and coastal dunes. These zones form a regular succession on the surface of many modern beaches; however, they seldom occur as quasi-complete vertical successions in older deposits. In the studied uppermost Pleistocene deposits, the various components are separated vertically by erosional contacts (bounding surfaces) readily recognizable on working faces of large sand and gravel pits and mappable in the subsurface by ground-penetrating radar. The lithofacies are sufficiently diagnostic to allow recognition of depositional settings, and the lithofacies architecture allows the deciphering of important geological events, such as: (i) local input of fluvial material onto the shoreface, where it was partially reworked by waves and moved onto the beachface; (ii) occurrence of major storm events; and (iii) repeated rapid transgressions and regressions typical of the glacial-lake precursors of the modern Great Lakes.     

Rapid tunnel-valley formation beneath the receding Late Weichselian ice sheet in Vendsyssel, Denmark

Interpretation of Transient ElectroMagnetic (TEM) data and wire-line logs has led to the delineation of an intricate pattern of buried tunnel valleys, along with new evidence of glaciotectonically dislocated layers in recessional moraines in the central part of Vendsyssel, Denmark. The TEM data have been compared with recent results of stratigraphical investigations based on lithological and biostratigraphical analyses of borehole samples and dating with Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon. This has provided an overview of the spatial distribution of the late Quaternary lithostratigraphical formations, and the age of the tunnel valleys has been estimated. The tunnel valleys are typically 5–10 km long, 1 km wide and are locally eroded to depths of more than 180 m b.s.l. The valleys are interpreted to have been formed by subglacial meltwater erosion beneath the outermost part of the ice sheet during temporary standstills and minor re-advances during the overall Late Weichselian recession of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet. The formation of the tunnel valleys occurred after the retreat of the Main ice advance c . 20 kyr BP and before the Lateglacial marine inundation c . 18 kyr BP. Based on the occurrence of the tunnel valleys and the topography, four ice-marginal positions related to the recession of the northeastern Main advance and seven ice-marginal positions related to the recession from the following eastern re-advance across Vendsyssel are delineated. All the tunnel valleys were formed within a time interval of a few thousand years, giving only a few hundred years or less for the formation of the tunnel valleys at each ice-marginal position.     

Magnetostratigraphy

Magnetostratigraphy involves the study of changes in the Earth's magnetic field that are recorded in sediments and rocks. These include short-term fluctuations (secular variation), polarity transitions and magnetic reversal sequences. All have important applications in the Earth sciences. They can be used to calculate the rates of sea-floor spreading and sediment deposition rates, and for time-correlation of rock sequences, especially when no other means are available.