Influence of lithology and fluid flow on the temperature distribution in a sedimentary basin: A case study from the Cold Lake area, Alberta, Canada

A detailed study of the groundwater and terrestrial heat flow was carried out over an area of 23,700 km² west of Cold Lake, Alberta, which is part of the western Canada sedimentary basin. The information for the study was provided from data from 3100 wells drilled in the area. The screening and processing of thousands of stratigraphic picks, drillstem test data, bottom hole temperatures and formation water chemistry data was performed mainly using a specially designed software package. As a result, every stratigraphic unit is characterized by appropriate hydraulic and thermal parameters.

A sequence of aquifers, aquitards and aquicludes was differentiated. The groundwater flow in the Paleozoic aquifers is regional in nature and mainly horizontal. The flow in the Cretaceous aquifers is of intermediate type, mainly downward oriented. In general, the permeability of the Cretaceous and Paleozoic strata has such low values that the fluid velocity is less than 1 cm/yr.

The convective heat transport in the hydrostratigraphic sequence is negligible with respect to the conductive heat transfer, as shown by the Peclet number of the fluid and heat flow in porous media. The flow of the terrestrial heat flux from the Precambrian basement of the sedimentary basin to the atmosphere is controlled by the variability in the thermal properties of the formations in the basin.

The geothermal gradients were computed by hydrostratigraphic unit using a linear regression fit to the temperature data. As expected, they show higher values for the less conductive layers, and lower values for the more conductive ones. The weighted average, or the integral geothermal gradient of the whole sedimentary column, was computed by considering the difference between the temperature measured at the Precambrian basement and the annual average temperature at the surface. The areal distribution of the integral geothermal gradient (with an average of 22.0 mK/m) shows a strong correlation with the lithology.

The areal temperature distribution for each hydrostratigraphic unit was analyzed by mapping the deviation of the measured value from the computed geothermal gradient. The lateral heat flow from warmer to colder areas is one order of magnitude smaller than the vertical heat flow. In the more homogeneous units, the lateral heat flow presents a trend that seems to reflect the geometry and lithology.     

Lower-Middle Triassic rocks in the Enmynveem River (western Chukotka)

The Lower-Middle Triassic section of the Enmynveem River dated on the basis of macrofauna includes three genetic types of sediments with different structural-textural features: (1) sediments of high-density autokinetic flows; (2) sediments of low-density turbidity flows; and (3) background sediments with thin interlayers of fine-grained turbidites. It has been established that sandy-silty sediments of all three genetic types formed on the continental slope in deep-water conditions, but their accumulation was related to the erosion of rocks in various provenances. Some sediments were formed as the result of the erosion of proximal volcanic complexes, whereas other sediments were related to the erosion of metamorphic rocks on the distal continental land.     

Evolution of the Landscape of the Western Part of the Turan–Uyuk Basin (Tuva Highland) in the Late Pleistocene

Doklady Earth Sciences - A complex of works including geomorphological deciphering, field survey, drilling, electric prospecting, and dating of deposits using the radiocarbon method and optically...     

The Gagarka gold deposit in the central Urals, Russia

The Gagarka gold deposit was formed in two stages. The gold-telluride ore of the main early stage was formed ～260 Ma ago synchronously with Permian collision, which was accompanied by retrograde metamorphism with mobilization of Au and Te from geochemically similar massive sulfide lodes in the rift zone. The Au-bearing argillic metasomatic rocks of the late stage presumably Mesozoic in age are distinguished by specific geochemistry and locally superposed on the ore related to the early stage. The upper part of the metasomatic column consists of quartz-kaolinite rock, which is confused in many cases with products of Mesozoic-Cenozoic weathering and because of this is not perceived as a guide for hidden Au-bearing argillic alteration, whose resource potential remains underestimated in the Urals.     

Earthquake response of asymmetric building with MR damper

Plan asymmetric buildings are very susceptible to earthquake induced damage due to lateral torsional coupling, and the corners of these systems suffer heavy damage during earthquakes. Therefore, it is important to investigate the seismic behavior of an asymmetric plan building with MR dampers. In this study, the effectiveness of MR damper-based control systems has been investigated for seismic hazard mitigation of a plan asymmetric building. Furthermore, the infl uence of the building parameters and damper command voltage on the control performance is examined through parametric study. The building parameters chosen are eccentricity ratio and frequency ratio. The results show that the MR damper-based control systems are effective for plan asymmetric systems.     

TRANSIENT ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD OF A POLARIZABLE HALF-SPACE DUE TO VARIOUS CURRENT PULSES *

In this paper, the expressions for the induced voltage function V(T) and mutual impedance function Z_m(T) have been derived for specific range of time T and specific values of induced polarization parameters a for ramp and saw-tooth type of current pulses. The computed results for various cases are also presented. The low values of induced polarization parameter a represent the medium possessing membrane polarization, whereas high values exhibit electrode polarization medium. The method has practical applicability and is best suited for the interpretation of transient electromagnetic fields over a polarizable half-space.     

Local site effects in Latur, India: an empirical study based on the aftershocks of the Killari earthquake of September 29, 1993

The site amplification is estimated at five seismic stations of the Latur region using the horizontal to vertical spectral ratios of 33 aftershocks of the main Killari earthquake of September 29, 1993 (UTC). Spectral amplifications, ranging from a factor of 2–6 are found to vary with frequency at different places. Significant amplification is found at four sites within the Latur region, at Basavakalyan, Kasgi, Killari, and Mudgad Eakoji villages. Our results show a positive correlation between the site amplification and the damage pattern in area. The pattern and the nature of the site amplification estimated in the present study corroborates also with the analytical models and the borehole data indicating alternating layers of unconsolidated sediments and basaltic rocks.     

Sporadic and recurrent geomagnetic disturbances in 1859–1860 according to the archived data from the Russian network of stations

Based on an analysis of the available archived data from the Russian network of geomagnetic stations, it has been indicated that the known event of August–September 1859 was the first and the greatest event in the series of the recurrent geomagnetic storms. Similar series were repeatedly observed in the next years. These series are caused by the processes on the Sun and in the heliosphere related to the superposition of the solar wind flows. The sporadic and regular components in joint activity of the complex, including active regions and coronal holes on the rotating Sun, play the role of the Bartels M regions responsible for initiation and development of geomagnetic storms. Neither coronal holes nor active regions can separately explain observations. During interpretation, active regions and coronal holes should be considered as a unified complex.