Geomechanical modelling to assess fault integrity at the CO2CRC Otway Project,Australia

This paper presents the first published 3D geomechanical modelling study of the CO2CRC Otway Project, located in the state of Victoria, Australia. The results of this work contribute to one of the main objectives of the CO2CRC, which is to demonstrate the feasibility of CO₂ storage in a depleted gas reservoir. With this aim in mind, a one-way coupled flow and geomechanics model is presented, with the capability of predicting changes to the in situ stress field caused by changes in reservoir pressure owing to CO₂ production and injection. A parametric study investigating the pore pressures required to reactivate key, reservoir-bounding faults has been conducted, and the results from the numerical simulation and analytical analysis are compared. The numerical simulation indicates that the critical pore fluid pressure to cause fault reactivation is 1.15 times the original pressure as opposed to 1.5 times for the comparable analytical model. Possible reasons for the differences between the numerical and analytical models can be ascribed to the higher degree of complexity incorporated in the numerical model. Heterogeneity in terms of lateral variations of hydrological and mechanical parameters, effect of topography, presence of faults and interaction between cells are considered to be the main sources for the different estimation of critical pore pressure. The numerical model, which incorporates this greater complexity, is able then to better describe the state of stress that acts in the subsurface compared with a simple 1D analytical model. Moreover, the reactivation pressures depend mainly on the state of stress described; therefore we suggest that numerical models be performed when possible.     

Hydrologic factors controlling groundwater salinity in northwestern coastal zone,Egypt

The aim of this article is to assess the main factors influencing salinity of groundwater in the coastal area between El Dabaa and Sidi Barani, Egypt. The types and ages of the main aquifers in this area are the fractured limestone of Middle Miocene, the calcareous sandstone of Pliocene and the Oolitic Limestone of Pleistocene age. The aquifers in the area are recharged by seasonal rainfall of the order of 150 mm/year. The relationship of groundwater salinity against the absolute water level, the well drilling depth, and the ability of aquifer to recharge has been discussed in the present work. The ability of aquifer to locally recharge by direct rainfall is a measure of the vertical permeability due to lithological and structural factors that control groundwater salinity in the investigated aquifers. On the other hand, the fracturing system as well as the attitude of the surface water divide has a prime role in changing both the mode of occurrence and the salinity of groundwater in the area. Directly to the west of Matrouh, where the coastal plain is the narrowest, and east of Barrani, where the coastal plain is the widest, are good examples of this concept, where the water salinity attains its maximum and minimum limits respectively. Accordingly, well drilling in the Miocene aquifer, in the area between El Negila and Barrani to get groundwater of salinities less than 5000 mg/l is recommended in this area, at flow rate less than 10 m³/hr/well. In other words, one can expect that the brackish water is probably found where the surface water divide is far from the shore line, where the Wadi fill deposits dominate (Quaternary aquifer), acting as a possible water salinity by direct rainfall and runoff.     

Investigating the molecular systematic relationships amongst selected Plesionika (Decapoda: Pandalidae) from the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea

Despite the high number of species and ecological diversity of pandalid shrimps, there has been no previous attempt to resolve evolutionary relationships of several genera using molecular tools. Although mitochondrial DNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) is widely used in barcoding studies to delimit species boundaries, additional insights into phylogenetic affinities can be obtained, especially when used in combination with data from additional genes. The knowledge of molecular diversity is essential to understand phylogenetic relationships and will help systematic clarifications. Based on partial fragments of the 16S and COI genes, we have focused specifically on addressing the systematic relationships of the economically and ecologically important shrimp genus Plesionika within a framework of five genera from within the Pandalidae. Our results showed that species within Plesionika are substantially divergent when compared with other genera, exhibiting the highest average nucleotide divergence, with 0.1123 and 0.0846 in COI and 16S genes, respectively. In addition, sequence divergence was found to vary greatly within the genus Plesionika (COI/16S): 0.0247/0.0016 between Plesionika antigai and Plesionika heterocarpus and 0.1616/0.098 between Plesionika heterocarpus and Plesionika edwardsii. We did not find amino acid sequence divergence between P. heterocarpus and P. antigai compared with P. heterocarpus and P. edwardsii (8.10%, K2P distance). Three species of Plesionika (P. antigai, P. heterocarpus and Plesionika scopifera) appear well separated from other Plesionika species in both maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses. The present study confirms the utility of COI over 16S as a genetic marker to resolve relationships between different species of Plesionika from the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, in addition to species delimitation. The findings highlight the need to further review paraphyly within Plesionika in an attempt to recognize a concordance in the evolutionary history of Plesionika with major ecological and geological events.     

Analogue study of particle segregation in pyroclastic density currents, with implications for the emplacement mechanisms of large ignimbrites

Abstract Analogue flume experiments were conducted to investigate the transport and sedimentation behaviour of turbulent pyroclastic density currents. The experimental currents were scaled approximately to the natural environment in three ways: (1) they were fully turbulent; (2) they had a very wide range of particle sizes and associated Rouse numbers (the ratio of particle settling velocity to effective turbulent eddy velocity in the current); and (3) they contained particles of two different densities. Two sets of surge‐type experiments were conducted in a 5 m long, water‐filled lock‐exchange flume at five different volumetric particle concentrations from 0·6% to 23%. In one set (one‐component experiments), the currents contained just dense particles; in the other set (two‐component experiments), they contained both light and dense particles in equal volume proportions. In both sets of experiments, the population of each component had a log‐normal size distribution. In the two‐component experiments, the size range of the light particle population was selected in order to be in hydrodynamic equivalence with that of the dense particles. Dense particles were normally graded, both vertically and downstream, in the deposits from both sets of experiments. The mass loading (normalized to the initial mass of the suspension) and grain size of the dense component in the deposits decreased with distance from the reservoir and were insensitive to initial total particle concentration in the currents. On the other hand, in the two‐component experiments, the light particles were extremely sensitive to concentration. They were deposited in hydrodynamic equivalence with the dense particles from dilute currents, but were segregated efficiently at concentrations higher than a few per cent. With increasing particle concentration, the large, light particles were carried progressively further down the flume because of buoyancy effects. Deposits from the high‐concentration currents exhibited reverse vertical grading of the large, light particles. Efficient segregation of the light component was observed even if the bulk density of the current was less than that of the light particles. In both sets of experiments, marked inflexions in the rate of downstream decline in mass loading and maximum grain size of the dense component can be attributed to the presence of two different particle settling regimes in the flow: (1) particles with Rouse numbers >2·5, which did not respond to the turbulence and settled rapidly; and (2) particles with Rouse numbers <2·5, which followed the turbulent eddies and settled slowly. The results are applied to the transport and sedimentation dynamics of pyroclastic density currents that generate large, widespread ignimbrites. Field data fail to reveal significant departures from aerodynamic equivalence between pumice and lithic clasts in three such ignimbrites: the particulate loads of some large ignimbrites are transported principally in turbulent suspensions of low concentration. In some ignimbrites, the well‐developed inflexions in curves of maximum lithic (ML) size vs. distance can be attributed to the existence of distinct high and low Rouse number particle settling regimes that mark the transition from an overcharged state to one in which the residual particulate load is transported more effectively by turbulence.     

Surveying Upstate NY Well Water for Pesticide Contamination: Cayuga and Orange Counties

Private wells in Cayuga and Orange counties in New York were sampled to determine the occurrence of pesticide contamination of groundwater in areas where significant pesticide use coincides with shallow or otherwise vulnerable groundwater. Well selection was based on local groundwater knowledge, risk modeling, aerial photo assessments, and pesticide application database mapping. Single timepoint samples from 40 wells in each county were subjected to 93‐compound chromatographic scans. All samples were nondetects (reporting limits ≤1 μg/L), thus no wells from either county exceeded any of 15 state groundwater standards or guidance values. More sensitive enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) found two wells with quantifiable atrazine in each county (0.1–0.3 μg/L), one well with quantifiable diazinon (0.1 μg/L) in Orange County, and one well with quantifiable alachlor (0.2 μg/L) in Cayuga County. Trace detections (<0.1 μg/L) in Cayuga County included atrazine (five wells), metolachlor (six wells), and alachlor (one well), including three wells with multiple detections. All 12 Cayuga County wells with ELISA detections had either corn/grain or corn/forage rotations as primary surrounding land uses (although 20 other wells with the same land uses had no detections) and all quantified detections and most trace detections occurred in wells up to 9‐m deep. Orange County trace (<0.1 μg/L) ELISA detections (atrazine three wells, diazinon one well, and metolachlor five wells) and quantified detections were only generally associated with agricultural land uses. Finding acceptable drinking water quality in areas of vulnerable groundwater suggests that water quality in less vulnerable areas will also be good.     

Internal tides and waves near the continental shelf edge

Abstract

The subject is reviewed from the viewpoints of theory, internal tide and wave structure and their implications.

A wider theoretical context suggests scope for further investigation of natural or nearly-trapped forms above the inertial frequency.

Although internal tides in many locations are observed to have first-mode vertical structure, higher modes are seen offshore from shallow shelf-break forcing and for particular Froude numbers, and may be expected locally near generation. Bottom intensification is often observed where the sea floor matches the characteristic slope. Solitons form from internal tides of large amplitude or at large changes of depth.

Internal tides and solitons are observed also at many sills and in straits, and to intensify in canyons.

Non-linear effects of the waves, especially solitons, include the conveyance of water, nutrients, ‘‘mixing potential'’ etc. away from their source to other locations, and the generation of mean currents. The waves transfer energy and possibly heat between the ocean and shelf, may be a source of medium frequency waves on the shelf (periods of minutes) and can contribute to interior mixing and overturning, bottom stirring and sediment movement.     

Models of neutron stars in generalized bimetric theory of gravitation

Yerevan State University; Institute of Applied Physics Problems, Armenian Academy of Sciences. Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 121–129, July–August, 1991.     

On the causes of 18O-depletion and 18O/16O homogenization during regional metamorphism; the East Humboldt Range core complex,Nevada

 Previous stable isotope studies at Lizzies Basin revealed that metasedimentary rocks are ¹⁸O-depleted relative to protolith values, particularly in the lower parts of the section (Lower Zone) where the rocks are also isotopically homogeneous on a scale of hundreds of meters (quartz δ¹⁸O=+9.0 to +9.6 per mil). In contrast, metasedimentary rocks at higher levels at Lizzies Basin (Upper Zone) are less ¹⁸O-depleted and more heterogeneous in δ¹⁸O. In order to understand more fully the isotopic evolution of this terrane, a series of detailed, meter-scale traverses across various metamorphic and igneous lithologies were completed at Lizzies Basin, and at the structurally higher Angel Lake locality. Traverses in the Lizzies Basin Lower Zone and in the lower parts of Angel Lake (Angel Lake Lower Sequence) across various silicate lithologies, including abundant granitoids, reveal similar degrees of homogeneity, although the average δ¹⁸O values are higher at Angel Lake. In contrast, traverses which include substantial thicknesses of marble and calc-silicate gneiss and very little granitoid have more heterogeneous quartz δ¹⁸O values (+11.9 to +13.4 per mil), and also have a higher average δ¹⁸O (+12.9 per mil), than observed elsewhere. The scale of ¹⁸O/¹⁶O homogeneity in quartz observed at Lizzies Basin and Angel Lake (meters to hundreds of meters) requires fluid-mediated isotope exchange, which accompanied Tertiary metamorphism. There is a correlation between the degree of ¹⁸O-depletion in metasedimentary rocks, ¹⁸O/¹⁶O homogenization between lithologies, and the proportion of granitoids (leucogranites in particular) within any part of the section, and a corresponding anticorrelation with the proportion of marble. This points to a causal relationship, whereby the leucogranites (as well as the Tertiary hornblende diorite and biotite monzogranite) acted as both a relatively low-¹⁸O reservoir and a source of fluids to enhance exchange, while the marbles hindered isotope depletion and homogenization by acting as relatively high-¹⁸O reservoirs and impermeable layers. Material balance calculations help delineate the plausible mechanisms of exchange between granitoids and metasediments. Single-pass infiltration of magmatic fluids from the granitoids is not capable of reproducing all of the observations. Fluid-mediated exchange by convective recirculation of magmatic fluids on a scale of meters is the mechanism which explains all of the observations. The generalized model for the isotopic evolution of the East Humboldt Range core complex provides an excellent opportunity to establish the main causes and controlling factors of ¹⁸O-depletion and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O homogenization during regional metamorphism. Received: 27 July 1993 / Accepted: 1 July 1994