The history of oil exploration and development in the northern North Sea

Discovery of the southern North Sea gas fields and, by 1970, several billion-barrel oil fields in the central North Sea encouraged oil companies to explore in the deeper, less hospitable waters of the northern North Sea. There, seismic surveys revealed a pre-Cretaceous unconfmity with 'highs' forming potential oil traps. One of the largest of these buried 'highs' was drilled by ShelllEsso, and oil was found in quantity in Middle Jurassic deltaic sandstones. This led to the discovery of eight major oil fields with reserves in excess of 7500 million barrels. Detailed studies of the sandstone reservoirs of the Brent Delta are enabling petroleum geologists and engineers to maximize recovery from these northern fields.     

Microbial processes in the Negev phosphorites (southern Israel)

ABSTRACT Microscopic and SEM observations indicate that cyanobacterial activity was important during the formation of the Campanian Negev phosphorites. One aspect of such activity is the development of phosphorites through the binding of phosphate particles. These sediments often demonstrate a conspicuous smooth cryptalgal lamination. The algal binder was fossilized as intertwined phosphatic sheaths that coat and seal off the phosphate grains. Different types of sheaths representing the remnants of an algal community were found. Thick apatite overgrowth commonly deforms the microbial fossils converting them into barely recognizable forms. Fabrication of phosphate particles is another aspect of the microbial activity. Phosphate algal coated grains are a common constituent of the Negev phosphorites. The algal coating consists of stacked phosphatic tubes and colonies of coccoid unicells with an apatite infilling. Fragmented phosphatic sheath bundles form another type of phosphate particle produced by algae. Obliteration of algal structures is common, resulting in undifferentiated groundmasses of cryptocrystalline apatite. The extremely close connection between microbial structures and phosphatization processes suggests cyanobacterial participation in phosphorus enrichment.     

Collecting fossil fishes in cowboy country

The Eocene Green River Formation fishes of southwestern Wyoming are among the best preserved and best known fossil fishes yet discovered. Collecting them is hard work and a very technical and time-consuming process, but is made worthwhile by the fantastic setting in which the fossils occur. This is an account of a collecting trip under the leadership ofDr Lance Grande to expand the already spectacular collection of Green River fishes in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.     

Foraminiferal stratigraphy, palaeoenvironments and sedimentation of the glacigenic sequence southwest of Bjørrnøya

Based on four shallow drillings in the outer part of the Bjørnøya trough, palaeoenvironments of foraminifera in glacigenic sediments are discussed. Different methods were used; detailed foraminiferal analysis, oxygen and carbon stable isotope analysis and transfer functions. Six different foraminiferal assemblage zones were found. One zone, AA, appears to be pre-Pleistocene in age and contains an abundance of reworked early Tertiary foraminifera. Four of the assemblage zones have a dominant arctic foraminiferal content; however, a marked boreal input is evident, particularly in zone B where B. marginata dominates. We suggest that B. marginata has been resedimented from pre-Eemian 'warm' deposits. Its occurrence in these older warm intervals possibly reflects a lower input of the Norwegian Current into the area and possibly an increase in the relative nutrient content of the water masses. The six zones have also differing numbers of foram./gram sediment. An assemblage zone where a boreal component of foraminifera ( E. nipponica, P. bulloides ) dominates was found, zone C. We define this particular assemblage zone to be of Eemian age (isotope substage 5e). The foraminiferal assemblage composition and the oxygen and carbon isotopes from zone C indicate that oceanographic conditions in the Barents Sea during the Eemian were slightly different from those of the present and that, possibly, Atlantic waters were more prevalent.     

Modelling of turbidity currents on Navy Submarine Fan, California Continental Borderland

Several Holocene turbidites can be correlated across much of Navy Fan through more than 100 sediment core localities. The uppermost muddy turbidite unit is mapped throughout the northern half of the fan; its volume, grain-size distribution and the maximum height of deposition on the basin slopes are known. These parameters can be related to the precise channel morphology and mesotopography revealed by deep-tow surveys. Thus there is sufficient information to estimate detailed flow characteristics for this turbidity current as it moved from fan valley to distal basin plain. On the upper fan, the gradient and the increasing downstream width of the channel and only limited flow overspill suggest that the flow had a Froude number close to 1.0. The sediment associated with the channel indicates friction velocities of about 0.06 m s^?1 and flow velocities of about 0.75 m s^?1. Using this flow velocity and channel dimensions, sediment concentration (～2×10^?3) and discharge are estimated, and from a knowledge of the total volume of sediment deposited, the flow duration is estimated to be from 2 to 9 days. It is shown that the estimates of Froude number, drag coefficient, and sediment concentration are not likely to vary by more than a factor of 2. On the mid-fan, the flow was much thicker than the height of the surface relief of the fan and it spread rapidly. The cross-flow slope, determined from the horizontal extent of turbidite sediment, is used to estimate flow velocity, which is confirmed by consideration of both sediment grain size and rate of deposition. This again allows sediment concentration and discharge to be estimated. The requirements of flow continuity, entrainment of water during flow expansion, and observed sediment deposition provide checks on all these estimates, and provide an integrated picture of the evolution of the flow. The flow characteristics of this muddy turbidity current are well constrained compared to those for more sand-rich late Pleistocene and early Holocene turbidity currents on the fan.     

Sedimentation in ice-covered Lake Hoare, Antarctica

The sedimentation mechanisms that occur in ice-covered Lake Hoare, Antarctica are examined, to determine how sediment enters the lake, and how the sedimentation pattern affects blue-green algal growth at the lake bottom. The 3 m-thick ice cover contains pebbly sand as much as 2 m below the surface. Sediment with similar texture and mineralogy is found at the lake bottom. This evidence, together with the lack of sediment in the inflowing stream and the markedly different texture of sediment from the other terrains around the lake suggest that most of the sediment at the lake bottom comes in through the ice cover. Sand grains intermittently migrate through porous ice on the surface, water-filled vertical gas-channels penetrating two-thirds of the ice cover, and possibly through cracks in the ice that act as conduits. The algae at the lake bottom are able to survive in part because sediment that comes through the ice cover does not obliterate them.     

Turbidite depositional patterns and flow characteristics, Navy Submarine Fan, California Borderland

The late Pleistocene and Holocene stratigraphy of Navy Fan is mapped in detail from more than 100 cores. Thirteen ¹⁴C dates of plant detritus and of organic-rich mud beds show that a marked change in sediment supply from sandy to muddy turbidites occurred between 9000 and 12,000 years ago. They also confirm the correlation of several individual depositional units. The sediment dispersal pattern is primarily controlled by basin configuration and fan morphology, particularly the geometry of distributary channels, which show abrupt 60° bends related to the Pleistocene history of lobe progradation. The Holocene turbidity currents are depositing on, and modifying only slightly, a relict Pleistocene morphology. The uppermost turbidite is a thin sand to mud bed on the upper-fan valley levées and on parts of the mid-fan. Most of its sediment volume is in a mud bed on the lower fan and basin plain downslope from a sharp bend in the mid-fan distributary system. Little sediment occurs farther downstream within this distributary system. It appears that most of the turbidity current overtopped the levée at the channel bend, a process referred to as flow stripping. The muddy upper part of the flow continued straight down to the basin plain. The residual more sandy base of the flow in the distributary channel was not thick enough to maintain itself as gradient decreased and the channel opened out on to the mid-fan lobe. Flow stripping may occur in any turbidity current that is thick relative to channel depth and that flows in a channel with sharp bends. Where thick sandy currents are stripped, levée and mid-fan erosion may occur, but the residual current in the channel will lose much of its power and deposit rapidly. In thick muddy currents, progressive overflow of mud will cause less declaration of the residual channelised current. Thus both size and sand-to-mud ratio of turbidity currents feeding a fan are important factors controlling morphologic features and depositional areas on fans. The size-frequency variation for different types of turbidity currents is estimated from the literature and related to the evolution of fan morphology.     

Geomorphology of the Ablation Point massif, Alexander Island, Antarctica

A coloured geomorphological map at the approximate scale of 1:50,000 is presented for the Ablation Point massif area. The main gcomorphological features have been described, such as ice and snow cover, glacial landforms and deposits (and chronology), ice marginal lakes, melt pools, gelifluction landforms and patterned ground and valley-slope landforms. The area is thought to be a good analogue for glacial-age maritime northwest Europe.     

Lateral fluctuations in pelagic sedimentation during the Pleistocene glaciations

Boström, K., & Fisher, D. E.: Lateral fluctuations in pelagic sedimentation during the Pleistocene glaciations. Boreas, Vol. 1, pp. 275–288. Oslo, 1st December, 1972.
A total of 308 sediment samples of dated cores from 7 different locations have been analyzed for several major and trace elements. Our results, as well as previously published ones, show that during the Pleistocene the pelagic sediments have high concentrations of Mn, Cu, Co, REE, etc., in deposits of glacial age and low concentrations in corresponding interglacial ones; for hemipelagic sediments the situation is reversed. This shows that the boundary between reducing hemipelagic sediments and well-oxidized pelagic sediments has been migrating laterally back and forth due to climatic variations. Such sediment sequences may be easily confused with deposits where postdepositional migration of Mn and other elements has taken place.