Physical properties of sediment from the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope

This study characterizes cored and logged sedimentary strata from the February 2007 BP Exploration Alaska, Department of Energy, U.S. Geological Survey (BPXA-DOE-USGS) Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well on the Alaska North Slope (ANS). The physical-properties program analyzed core samples recovered from the well, and in conjunction with downhole geophysical logs, produced an extensive dataset including grain size, water content, porosity, grain density, bulk density, permeability, X-ray diffraction (XRD) mineralogy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and petrography.This study documents the physical property interrelationships in the well and demonstrates their correlation with the occurrence of gas hydrate. Gas hydrate (GH) occurs in three unconsolidated, coarse silt to fine sand intervals within the Paleocene and Eocene beds of the Sagavanirktok Formation: Unit D-GH (614.4 m-627.9 m); unit C-GH1 (649.8 m-660.8 m); and unit C-GH2 (663.2 m-666.3 m). These intervals are overlain by fine to coarse silt intervals with greater clay content. A deeper interval (unit B) is similar lithologically to the gas-hydrate-bearing strata; however, it is water-saturated and contains no hydrate.In this system it appears that high sediment permeability (k) is critical to the formation of concentrated hydrate deposits. Intervals D-GH and C-GH1 have average “plug” intrinsic permeability to nitrogen values of 1700 mD and 675 mD, respectively. These values are in strong contrast with those of the overlying, gas-hydrate-free sediments, which have k values of 5.7 mD and 49 mD, respectively, and thus would have provided effective seals to trap free gas. The relation between permeability and porosity critically influences the occurrence of GH. For example, an average increase of 4% in porosity increases permeability by an order of magnitude, but the presence of a second fluid (e.g., methane from dissociating gas hydrate) in the reservoir reduces permeability by more than an order of magnitude.     

Formation pressure testing at the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope: Operational summary, history matching, and interpretations

In February 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy, BP Exploration (Alaska), and the U.S. Geological Survey, collected open-hole pressure-response data, as well as gas and water sample collection, in a gas hydrate reservoir (the BPXA-DOE-USGS Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well) using Schlumberger's Modular Dynamics Formation Tester (MDT) wireline tool. Four such MDT tests, ranging from six to twelve hours duration, and including a series of flow, sampling, and shut-in periods of various durations, were conducted. Locations for the testing were selected based on NMR and other log data to assure sufficient isolation from reservoir boundaries and zones of excess free water. Test stages in which pressure was reduced sufficiently to mobilize free water in the formation (yet not cause gas hydrate dissociation) produced readily interpretable pressure build-up profiles. Build-ups following larger drawdowns consistently showed gas-hydrate dissociation and gas release (as confirmed by optical fluid analyzer data), as well as progressive dampening of reservoir pressure build-up during sequential tests at a given MDT test station.History matches of one multi-stage, 12-h test (the C2 test) were accomplished using five different reservoir simulators: CMG-STARS, HydrateResSim, MH21-HYDRES, STOMP-HYD, and TOUGH + HYDRATE. Simulations utilized detailed information collected across the reservoir either obtained or determined from geophysical well logs, including thickness (11.3 m, 37 ft.), porosity (35%), hydrate saturation (65%), both mobile and immobile water saturations, intrinsic permeability (1000 mD), pore water salinity (5 ppt), and formation temperature (3.3-3.9 °C). This paper will present the approach and preliminary results of the history-matching efforts, including estimates of initial formation permeability and analyses of the various unique features exhibited by the MDT results.     

The geochemical nature of the Archean Ancient Gneiss Complex and Granodiorite Suite,Swaziland: a preliminary study

The Ancient Gneiss Complex (AGC) of Swaziland, an Archean gray gneiss complex, lies southeast and south of the Barberton greenstone belt and includes the most structurally complex and highly metamorphosed portions of the eastern Kaapvaal craton. The AGC is not precisely dated but apparently is older than 3.4 Ga.The AGC consists of three major units: (a) a bimodal suite of closely interlayered siliceous, low-K gneisses and metabasalt; (b) homogeneous tonalite gneiss; and (c) interlayered siliceous microcline gneiss, metabasalt, and minor metasedimentary rocks — termed the metamorphite suite. A geologically younger gabbro-diorite-tonalite-trondhjemite suite, the Granodiorite Suite, is spatially associated with the AGC and intrusive into it.The bimodal suite consists largely of two types of low-K siliceous gneiss: one has SiO₂ < 75%, Al₂O₃ > 14%, low Rb/Sr ratios, and depleted heavy rare earth elements (REE's); the other has SiO₂ > 75%, Al₂O₃ < 13%, high Rb/Sr ratios, and relatively abundant REE's except for negative Eu anomalies. The interlayered metabasalt ranges from komatiitic to tholeiitic compositions. Lenses of quartz monzonitic gneiss of K₂O/Na₂O close to 1 form a minor part of the bimodal suite. Tonalitic to trondhjemitic migmatite locally is abundant and has major-element abundances similar to those of non-migmatitic varieties.The siliceous gneisses of the metamorphic suite show low Al₂O, K₂O/Na₂O ratios of about 1, high Rb/Sr ratios, moderate REE abundances and negative Eu anomalies.K/Rb ratios of siliceous gneisses of the bimodal suite are very low (～130); of the tonalitic gneiss, low (～225); of the siliceous gneiss of the metamorphite suite, moderate (～300); and of the Granodiorite Suite, high (～400).Rocks of the AGC differ geochemically in several ways from the siliceous volcanic and hypabyssal rocks of the Upper Onverwacht Group and from the diapirs of tonalite and trondhjemite that intrude the Swaziland Group.     

Artificial muscle technology: physical principles and naval prospects

The increasing understanding of the advantages offered by fish and insect-like locomotion is creating a demand for muscle-like materials capable of mimicking nature's mechanisms. Actuator materials that employ voltage, field, light, or temperature driven dimensional changes to produce forces and displacements are suggesting new approaches to propulsion and maneuverability. Fundamental properties of these new materials are presented, and examples of potential undersea applications are examined in order to assist those involved in device design and in actuator research to evaluate the current status and the developing potential of these artificial muscle technologies. Technologies described are based on newly explored materials developed over the past decade, and also on older materials whose properties are not widely known. The materials are dielectric elastomers, ferroelectric polymers, liquid crystal elastomers, thermal and ferroelectric shape memory alloys, ionic polymer/metal composites, conducting polymers, and carbon nanotubes. Relative merits and challenges associated with the artificial muscle technologies are elucidated in two case studies. A summary table provides a quick guide to all technologies that are discussed.     

Examination of core samples from the Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well, Alaska North Slope: Effects of retrieval and preservation

Collecting and preserving undamaged core samples containing gas hydrates from depth is difficult because of the pressure and temperature changes encountered upon retrieval. Hydrate-bearing core samples were collected at the BPXA-DOE-USGS Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well in February 2007. Coring was performed while using a custom oil-based drilling mud, and the cores were retrieved by a wireline. The samples were characterized and subsampled at the surface under ambient winter arctic conditions. Samples thought to be hydrate bearing were preserved either by immersion in liquid nitrogen (LN), or by storage under methane pressure at ambient arctic conditions, and later depressurized and immersed in LN. Eleven core samples from hydrate-bearing zones were scanned using x-ray computed tomography to examine core structure and homogeneity. Features observed include radial fractures, spalling-type fractures, and reduced density near the periphery. These features were induced during sample collection, handling, and preservation. Isotopic analysis of the methane from hydrate in an initially LN-preserved core and a pressure-preserved core indicate that secondary hydrate formation occurred throughout the pressurized core, whereas none occurred in the LN-preserved core, however no hydrate was found near the periphery of the LN-preserved core. To replicate some aspects of the preservation methods, natural and laboratory-made saturated porous media samples were frozen in a variety of ways, with radial fractures observed in some LN-frozen sands, and needle-like ice crystals forming in slowly frozen clay-rich sediments. Suggestions for hydrate-bearing core preservation are presented.     

The invasive Asian green mussel Perna viridis in South Africa: all that is green is not viridis

The Asian green mussel Perna viridis is an invasive Indo-Pacific species recently reported from South African harbours. To verify the invasion, a phylogenetic (and morphological) analysis of green-shelled mussels (n = 39), found in six South African harbours, was conducted using the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI). Estimates of genetic distances using the neighbour-joining analysis identified P. viridis only from Durban Harbour. All other green mussels were more than 3.2% divergent from P. viridis and were identified as green-shelled variants of indigenous P. perna. The only reliable morphological differences distinguishing the two species were the poorly developed mantle papillae and the wavy pallial line in P. viridis. The confirmed occurrence of P. viridis in a South African harbour suggests that there is a possible threat of the species becoming established and then spreading onto the open coast and competing with indigenous P. perna.     

新疆阿尔泰铁木尔特铅锌矿床流体包裹体研究及地质意义

铁木尔特中型铅锌矿是阿尔泰山南缘克兰盆地内的重要VMS型矿床。矿床赋存于上志留统-下泥盆统康布铁堡组上亚组第二岩性段,容矿岩石为大理岩、绿泥石英片岩、变钙质粉砂岩、夕卡岩。矿体呈似层状和透镜状。矿床的形成经历了喷流沉积期、叠加改造期和表生期。石英、长石、方解石和石榴子石中包裹体类型主要为液体包裹体,在石英中另出现了气体包裹体、纯气体包裹体、含子矿物多相包裹体、含液体CO2的三相包裹体和两相CO2包裹体。喷流沉积期成矿流体均一温度变化于150～330℃,其峰值是165℃和285℃,成矿流体盐度(NaCleq)为4%～16%,流体密度为0.77～0.97g/cm3,流体阳离子主要以Na+为主,次之为K+,阴离子以Cl-为主,其次是SO42-,气相成分主要是H2O和CO2。叠加改造期均一温度范围是150～480℃,峰值为285℃,盐度(NaCleq)为2.2%～17.08%和33.93%～47.2%,流体密度变化于0.61～1.03g/cm3之间,流体阳离子主要以Na+为主,次为K+、Mg2+、Ca2+,阴离子以Cl-为主,其次是SO42-,气相成分主要是H2O和CO2,其次为N2、CH4,含有少量C2H6。