How to evacuate 10 km3 of mud: saturate with gas and decrease the pressure!

The crest of the Absheron anticline in the South Caspian Basin at a few hundred meters below the present seafloor shows a subcircular depression about 8 km in diameter and 200 m deep, bounded by steep edges dipping 15° to 45° into it. The depression and the surrounding series are respectively filled and overlain by a regional mass-transport deposit (MTD) 150 m thick outside the depression and 300 m thick inside, composed mostly of extensional blocks. Geometric and stratigraphic analyses indicate that 150 m of initially deposited sediment were removed from a closed area after burial. Seismic evidence of shallow gas accumulations below the crater-like feature suggests that gas likely played a significant role in its development. The model proposed for the emplacement of the crater is that the gas-bearing cover of a shallow gas reservoir underwent exsolution when its overburden thinned during an episode of extensional slope failure. This resulted in loss of resistance to shear and evacuation of the gas-bearing sediment, likely at the shearing base of the failed mass. This evacuation feature is considered an example where the presence of gas locally governs the morphology of an MTD. The interpreted process shows a positive feedback between slope failure and loss of strength at the base of the resulting MTD.

Selected contributions from the 11th Gas in Marine Sediments International Conference of September 2012, Nice: an introduction

This Introduction presents an overview of selected contributions from the 11th Gas in Marine Sediments International Conference held on the 4–7 September 2012 in Nice, France, and published in this special issue of Geo-Marine Letters under the guest editorship of Catherine Pierre, Patrice Imbert and Jean Mascle. These cover fluid seepage dynamics at widely varying spatiotemporal scales in a giant buried caldera of the Caspian Sea, mud volcanoes and pockmarks in the Mediterranean and adjoining Gulf of Cadiz, as well as Lake Baikal, pockmarks of shallower waters along the Atlantic French coast and in Baltic Sea lagoons, deepwater pockmarks and cold seeps on the Norwegian margin and the Hikurangi Margin of New Zealand, asphalt seepage sites offshore southern California, and the tectonically controlled southern Chile forearc. We look forward to meeting all again at the 12th Gas in Marine Sediments conference scheduled for 1–6 September 2014 in Taipei, Taiwan.     

Post‐stack stratigraphic inversion workflow applied to carbon dioxide storage: application to the saline aquifer of Sleipner field‡

In the Norwegian North Sea, the Sleipner field produces gas with a high CO₂ content. For environmental reasons, since 1996, more than 11 Mt of this carbon dioxide (CO₂) have been injected in the Utsira Sand saline aquifer located above the hydrocarbon reservoir. A series of seven 3D seismic surveys were recorded to monitor the CO₂ plume evolution. With this case study, time‐lapse seismics have been shown to be successful in mapping the spread of CO₂ over the past decade and to ensure the integrity of the overburden. Stratigraphic inversion of seismic data is currently used in the petroleum industry for quantitative reservoir characterization and enhanced oil recovery. Now it may also be used to evaluate the expansion of a CO₂ plume in an underground reservoir. The aim of this study is to estimate the P‐wave impedances via a Bayesian model‐based stratigraphic inversion. We have focused our study on the 1994 vintage before CO₂ injection and the 2006 vintage carried out after a CO₂ injection of 8.4 Mt. In spite of some difficulties due to the lack of time‐lapse well log data on the interest area, the full application of our inversion workflow allowed us to obtain, for the first time to our knowledge, 3D impedance cubes including the Utsira Sand. These results can be used to better characterize the spreading of CO₂ in a reservoir. With the post‐stack inversion workflow applied to CO₂ storage, we point out the importance of the a priori model and the issue to obtain coherent results between sequential inversions of different seismic vintages. The stacking velocity workflow that yields the migration model and the a priori model, specific to each vintage, can induce a slight inconsistency in the results.     

Low-cost inundation modelling at the reach scale with sparse data in the Lower Damodar River basin,India

Abstract

Data unavailability is the main reason for limited applications of hydrodynamic models for predicting inundation in the developing world. This paper aims to generate moderately high-resolution hybrid terrain data by merging height information from low-cost Indian Remote Sensing satellite (IRS) Cartosat-1 stereo satellite images, freely-available Shuttle Radar Topograph Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) data, and limited surveyed channel cross-sections. The study reach is characterized by anabranching channels that are associated with channel bifurcation, loops and river islands. We compared the performance of a simple 1D–2D coupled LISFLOOD-FP model and a complex fully 2D finite element TELEMAC-2D model with the hybrid terrain data. The results show that TELEMAC-2D produced significantly improved simulated inundation with the hybrid terrain data, as compared to the SRTM DEM. LISFLOOD-FP was found unsuitable to work with the hybrid DEM in a complicated fluvial environment, as it failed to efficiently divert water in the branches from the main channel.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor A. Viglione     

Operator-oriented CRS interpolation

In common‐reflection‐surface imaging the reflection arrival time field is parameterized by operators that are of higher dimension or order than in conventional methods. Using the common‐reflection‐surface approach locally in the unmigrated prestack data domain opens a potential for trace regularization and interpolation. In most data interpolation methods based on local coherency estimation, a single operator is designed for a target sample and the output amplitude is defined as a weighted average along the operator. This approach may fail in presence of interfering events or strong amplitude and phase variations. In this paper we introduce an alternative scheme in which there is no need for an operator to be defined at the target sample itself. Instead, the amplitude at a target sample is constructed from multiple operators estimated at different positions. In this case one operator may contribute to the construction of several target samples. Vice versa, a target sample might receive contributions from different operators. Operators are determined on a grid which can be sparser than the output grid. This allows to dramatically decrease the computational costs. In addition, the use of multiple operators for a single target sample stabilizes the interpolation results and implicitly allows several contributions in case of interfering events. Due to the considerable computational expense, common‐reflection‐surface interpolation is limited to work in subsets of the prestack data. We present the general workflow of a common‐reflection‐surface‐based regularization/interpolation for 3D data volumes. This workflow has been applied to an OBC common‐receiver volume and binned common‐offset subsets of a 3D marine data set. The impact of a common‐reflection‐surface regularization is demonstrated by means of a subsequent time migration. In comparison to the time migrations of the original and DMO‐interpolated data, the results show particular improvements in view of the continuity of reflections events. This gain is confirmed by an automatic picking of a horizon in the stacked time migrations.     

Adaptation to an uncertain climate change: cost benefit analysis and robust decision making for dam dimensioning

Climate models project large changes in rainfall, but disagree on their magnitude and sign. The consequences of this uncertainty on optimal dam dimensioning is assessed for a small mountainous catchment in Greece. Optimal dam design is estimated using a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) based on trends in seasonal temperature and precipitations from 19 IPCC-AR4 climate models driven by the the SRES A2 emission scenario. Optimal reservoir volumes are modified by climate change, leading to up to 34% differences between optimal volumes. Contrary to widely-used target-based approaches, the CBA suggests that reduced rainfall should lead to smaller water reservoirs. The resulting change in the Net Present Value (NPV) of water supply is also substantial, ranging from no change to a large 25% loss, depending on the climate model, even assuming optimal adaptation and perfect foresight. In addition, climate change uncertainty can lead to design errors, with a cost ranging from 0.3 to 2.8% of the NPV, depending on site characteristics. This paper proposes to complement the CBA with a robust decision-making approach that focuses on reducing design-error costs. It also suggests that climate change impacts in the water sector may reveal large, that water reservoirs do not always provide a cost-efficient adaptation strategy, and that alternative adaptation strategies based on water conservation and non-conventional water production need to be considered.     

Tidal sediment transport versus freshwater flood events in the Konkouré Estuary, Republic of Guinea

In comparison to their temperate counterparts, sediment processes in tropical estuaries are poorly known and especially in African ones. The hydrodynamics of such environments is controlled by a combination of multiple processes including morphology, salinity, mangrove vegetation, tidal processes, river discharge, settling and erosion of mud and by physico-chemical processes as well as sediment dynamics.The aim of this study is to understand the sediment processes in this transitional stage of the estuary when the balance between river discharges and marine processes is reversing. Studying the hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics of the Konkouré Estuary has recently been made possible thanks to new data on bathymetry, sedimentary cover, salinity, water elevations, and current velocities. The Lower Konkouré is a shallow, funnel shaped, mesotidal mangrove-fringed, tide-dominated estuary, well mixed during low river discharge and stratified during high river discharge. The Konkouré Estuary is turbid despite the small amount of terrestrial input and its residual velocity at the mouth during low river discharges, landwards for two of the three branches, suggests a landward migration by tidal pumping of the suspended particulate matter. A Turbidity Maximum Zone (TMZ) is identified for typical states of the estuary with regard to fluvial and tidal components. Suspended sediment transport during a transitional stage between the rainy and dry seasons is known thanks to current velocity and Suspended Sediment Concentration (SSC) measurements taken in November 2003. The Richardson layered number calculation assesses that turbulence is the major mixing process in the water column, at least during the flood and ebb stages, whereas stratification occurs during the slack water periods. Tidal currents generate bottom erosion, and turbulence mixes the suspended sediment throughout the water column. As a result, a net sediment input is calculated from the western Konkouré outlet for two consecutive tidal cycles. Despite the net water export, almost 300 tons per tide reach the estuary through this outlet, for a moderate river flow.     

Trawling or Visual Censuses? Methodological Bias in the Assessment of Fish Populations in Seagrass Beds

Abstract. Fishes associated with the seagrass Posidonia oceanica were censused both by skid trawl and visual counts around Ischia Island, Italy. Both sampling procedures were performed during the day in summer and in winter at two sites. Significant differences in the number of species, number of individuals, biomass, and trophic structure of the fish assemblage were observed between sampling methods. Fewer fish species were recorded by visual counts than by trawling. More individuals and a greater biomass, however, were recorded from visual counts. The population of macrocarnivores (Scorpaenidae, Serranidae) were better estimated by trawling, as were canopy-dwellers (Syngnathidae; Symphodus rostratus) and benthic species (Gobiidae; Blenniidae; Bothidae). Conversely, good swimmers ( Sparidae; Coris julis, Symphodus spp.), and planktivorous fishes (Centracanthidae, Pomacentridae) mostly escaped the trawl and were better assessed by visual counts. The importance of methodological biases differed from one season to the other and was higher in summer than in winter. Particular attention should be paid to the biases induced by sampling techniques when interpreting data, and different sampling methods should be used to accurately study the fish assemblages of seagrass meadows.     

A new classification of the Turkish terranes and sutures and its implication for the paleotectonic history of the region

The Turkish part of the Tethyan realm is represented by a series of terranes juxtaposed through Alpine convergent movements and separated by complex suture zones. Different terranes can be defined and characterized by their dominant geological background. The Pontides domain represents a segment of the former active margin of Eurasia, where back-arc basins opened in the Triassic and separated the Sakarya terrane from neighbouring regions. Sakarya was re-accreted to Laurasia through the Balkanic mid-Cretaceous orogenic event that also affected the Rhodope and Strandja zones. The whole region from the Balkans to the Caucasus was then affected by a reversal of subduction and creation of a Late Cretaceous arc before collision with the Anatolian domain in the Eocene. If the Anatolian terrane underwent an evolution similar to Sakarya during the Late Paleozoic and Early Triassic times, both terranes had a diverging history during and after the Eo-Cimmerian collision. North of Sakarya, the Küre back-arc was closed during the Jurassic, whereas north of the Anatolian domain, the back-arc type oceans did not close before the Late Cretaceous. During the Cretaceous, both domains were affected by ophiolite obduction, but in very different ways: north directed diachronous Middle to Late Cretaceous mélange obduction on the Jurassic Sakarya passive margin; Senonian synchronous southward obduction on the Triassic passive margin of Anatolia. From this, it appears that the Izmir-Ankara suture, currently separating both terranes, is composite, and that the passive margin of Sakarya is not the conjugate margin of Anatolia. To the south, the Cimmerian Taurus domain together with the Beydağları domain (part of the larger Greater Apulian terrane), were detached from north Gondwana in the Permian during the opening of the Neotethys (East-Mediterranean basin). The drifting Cimmerian blocks entered into a soft collision with the Anatolian and related terranes in the Eo-Cimmerian orogenic phase (Late Triassic), thus suturing the Paleotethys. At that time, the Taurus plate developed foreland-type basins, filled with flysch-molasse deposits that locally overstepped the lower plate Taurus terrane and were deposited in the opening Neotethys to the south. These olistostromal deposits are characterized by pelagic Carboniferous and Permian material from the Paleotethys suture zone found in the Mersin mélange. The latter, as well as the Antalya and Mamonia domains are represented by a series of exotic units now found south of the main Taurus range. Part of the Mersin exotic material was clearly derived from the former north Anatolian passive margin (Huğlu-type series) and re-displaced during the Paleogene. This led us to propose a plate tectonic model where the Anatolian ophiolitic front is linked up with the Samail/Baër-Bassit obduction front found along the Arabian margin. The obduction front was indented by the Anatolian promontory whose eastern end was partially subducted. Continued slab roll-back of the Neotethys allowed Anatolian exotics to continue their course southwestward until their emplacement along the Taurus southern margin (Mersin) and up to the Beydağları promontory (Antaya-Mamonia) in the latest Cretaceous–Paleocene. The supra-subduction ocean opening at the back of the obduction front (Troodos-type Ocean) was finally closed by Eocene north–south shortening between Africa and Eurasia. This brought close to each other Cretaceous ophiolites derived from the north of Anatolia and those obducted on the Arabian promontory. The latter were sealed by a Maastrichtian platform, and locally never affected by Alpine tectonism, whereas those located on the eastern Anatolian plate are strongly deformed and metamorphosed, and affected by Eocene arc magmatism. These observations help to reconstruct the larger frame of the central Tethyan realm geodynamic evolution.     

Mapping sub‐pixel fluvial grain sizes with hyperspatial imagery

This study presents an investigation of image texture approaches for mapping sub‐pixel fluvial grain‐size features from airborne imagery, allowing for the rapid acquisition of surface sand and coarse fraction (>1·41 mm) grain‐size information. Imagery at 30 mm resolution was acquired over four gravel bars from the Fraser River (British Columbia, Canada). Combined first‐order and second‐order image texture approaches (windowed standard deviation filter and the grey level co‐occurrence matrix) were used. First‐order image texture, through the application of a standard deviation filter and subsequent thresholding was used to detect the presence of surface sand, with optimal accuracy achieved at 91 ± 1·9%. A wide‐ranging parameter space investigation was used to derive optimum parameters for the grey‐level co‐occurrence matrix. Subsequently first‐order and second‐order image textures were used in multiple linear regression to achieve good calibrations with several sub‐pixel grain‐size percentiles; relative error at 1·44%, 3·18%, 6·80% and 10·6% for D₅, D₁₆, D₃₅ and D₅₀, respectively. The larger percentiles of D₈₄ and D₉₅ had relative errors of 24·7% and 29·7%, respectively. The breakdown of calibration precision for larger percentiles is attributed to a ‘pixel averaging effect’. It is concluded that multispectral imagery is not required, because sufficient image texture information can be derived from standard colour imagery. Recommendations are suggested for the application of this method to other localities and data sets, thus reducing exhaustive parameter searches in future studies.