Using distributed temperature sensing (DTS) technology in acid gas injection design

The use of slickline distributed temperature sensing (SL-DTS) technology is becoming widespread due to its ease of operation and ability to acquire real-time multiple temperature traces inside the wellbore. Injection of treated acid gas (TAG)—a mixture of CO₂ and H₂S—into geologic formations has become an attractive technical and economic option for oil and gas producers and processors who are faced with regulations concerning excess sulfur and greenhouse gas emissions. Acid gas injection (AGI) into geologic formations is more economical and more flexible in dealing with varying TAG compositions than sulfur recovery units (SRUs) using the Claus process. SRUs do not achieve air quality standards and have high operation and maintenance costs. In addition, there is low demand for sulfur and sulfur disposal costs are high. The results of the analysis of SL-DTS data acquired in conjunction with step rate and pressure falloff (PFO) tests are presented in this paper. These tests were conducted to evaluate the injection potential of geologic formations. The injection zone consisted of a carbonate formation characterized by Karst features, vugs, and natural fractures. The SL-DTS data during the initial injection flow rate for the step rate test (SRT) indicated that high permeability zones accepted fluid at lower injection rates. An increasing number of discrete zones began to accept fluid as the injection rate was increased. The results of the SRT provided the fracture pressure of the formation. This information was used to design an AGI program that would avoid fracturing the formation while allowing for the required volume of TAG to be injected. The results of the PFO test provided information on the reservoir pressure and permeability and also indicated the presence of one or more hydraulic fractures. This case study of SL-DTS measurements made during a SRT and a PFO test for the design of an AGI well provides valuable insights into the potential of DTS technology and its use in AGI and carbon capture/sequestration (CCS) operations. Its findings could be applied to analyze injection potential of geological formations not only for AGI projects but also for CCS, and CO₂ enhanced oil recovery opportunities.     

Diagenetic model of carbonate rocks of Guri Member of Mishan Formation (Lower to Middle Miocene) SE Zagros basin,Iran

In order to understand the post-depositional history of carbonate rocks of Guri Member (Lower to Middle Miocene), three stratigraphic sections were selected in north Bandar-Abbas in southeast of Iran. Sampling was carried out, analyzed for selective parameters such as oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) and interpreted in the present study. We recognized several diagenetic processes including micritization, cementation, neomorphism, compaction, dissolution, silicification, dolomitization, fracturing and vein filling. Some of the diagenetic processes occurred at different conditions, so in order to achieve precise interpretation, samples from different carbonate components such as, micrite, fracture cement, solution pore cement, intergranular cement, and some biotic allochems were analyzed. In this study micrite samples were subdivided into two groups including micro-spary and micrite. They were recognized under Cathodoluminescence microscope. In addition, micrite samples were classified into five groups based on their depositional environments: supratidal, lagoon, coral bar, open sea, and open basin. There were minor changes in stable isotope ratios based on the sedimentary environments, stratigraphy successions, and micro-spary or micrite properties. In this study, similar calcite cements in petrography studies were differentiated by stable isotope data. Those calcite cements have formed in different diagenetic environments such as meteoric and burial cements. Paragenetic sequence of carbonate rocks were interpreted by integration of petrographic and isotopic studies. We have reconstructed diagenetic models of Guri Member into four stages including marine, meteoric, burial, and uplifting.     

Permian volcanic rocks from the Apuseni Mountains (Romania): Geochemistry and tectonic constraints

An Early Permian volcanic assemblage is well exposed in the central-western part of the Apuseni Mountains (Romania). The rocks are represented by rhyolites, basalts and subordinate andesites suggesting a bimodal volcanic activity that is intimately associated with a post-orogenic (Variscan) syn-sedimentary intra-basinal continental molasse sequences. The mafic and mafic-intermediate rocks belong to sub-alkaline tholeiitic series were separated in three groups (I–III) showing a high Th and Pb abundances, depletion in Nb, Ta and Sr, and slightly enriched in LREE patterns (La_N/Yb_N = 1.4–4.4). Isotopically, the rocks of Group I have the initial ratios ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(i) = 0.709351–0.707112, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd_(i) = 0.512490–0.512588 and high positive ?_Nd270 values from 3.9 to 5.80; the rocks of Group II present for the initial ratios values ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(i) = 0.709434–0.710092, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd_(i) = 0.512231–0.512210 and for ?_Nd270 the negative values from −1.17 to −1.56; the rocks of Group III display for the initial ratios the values ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(i) = 0.710751–0.709448, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd_(i) = 0.512347–0.512411 and for ?_Nd270 the positive values from 1.64 to 2.35. The rocks resembling continental tholeiites, suggest a mantle origin and were further affected by fractionation and crustal contamination. In addition, the REE geochemistry (1 > Sm_N/Yb_N < 2.5; 0.9 > La_N/Sm_N < 2.5) suggests that these rocks were generated by high percentage partial melting of a metasomatized mantle in the garnet peridotite facies. The felsic rocks are enriched in Cs, Rb Th and U and depleted in Nb, Ta, Sr, Eu, and Ti. The REE fractionation patterns show a strong negative Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu* = 0.23–0.40). The felsic rocks show the initial ratios the values: ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_(i) = 0.704096–0.707805, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd_(i) = 0.512012–0.512021 and for ?_Nd270 the negative values from −5.27 to −5.44. They suggest to be generated within the lower crust during the emplacement of mantle-derived magmas that provided necessary heat to crustal partial melting.     

GENDER,RACE, AND COMMUTING AMONG SERVICE SECTOR WORKERS*

The generality that women work closer to home and have shorter commuting times than men needs to be assessed for racial groups. Statistical analysis of commuting times for a large sample of service workers in the New York metropolitan area shows that black and hispanic women commute as far as their male counterparts and their commuting times far exceed those of white men and women. Workplace factors, such as income, occupation, and job accessibility, are important in explaining these findings.     

Wildfire impacts on education and healthcare: Paradise,California, after the Camp Fire

Natural Hazards - The 2018 Camp Fire caused significant damages to the education and healthcare systems in the town of Paradise, CA. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative case study...     

Apparent Solar Tornado-Like Prominences

Recent high-resolution observations from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) have reawakened interest in the old and fascinating phenomenon of solar tornado-like prominences. This class of prominences was first introduced by Pettit (Astrophys. J. 76, 9, 1932), who studied them over many years. Observations of tornado prominences similar to the ones seen by SDO had already been documented by Secchi (Le Soleil, 1877). High-resolution and high-cadence multiwavelength data obtained by SDO reveal that the tornado-like appearance of these prominences is mainly an illusion due to projection effects. We discuss two different cases where prominences on the limb might appear to have a tornado-like behavior. One case of apparent vortical motions in prominence spines and barbs arises from the (mostly) 2D counterstreaming plasma motion along the prominence spine and barbs together with oscillations along individual threads. The other case of apparent rotational motion is observed in a prominence cavity and results from the 3D plasma motion along the writhed magnetic fields inside and along the prominence cavity as seen projected on the limb. Thus, the “tornado” impression results either from counterstreaming and oscillations or from the projection on the plane of the sky of plasma motion along magnetic-field lines, rather than from a true vortical motion around an (apparent) vertical or horizontal axis. We discuss the link between tornado-like prominences, filament barbs, and photospheric vortices at their base.     

Fabric analysis of Allende matrix using EBSD

Abstract— Fabric analysis of the interstitial matrix material in primitive meteorites offers a novel window on asteroid formation and evolution. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) has allowed fabrics in these fine‐grained materials to be visualized in detail for the first time. Our data reveal that Allende, a CV3 chondrite, possesses a uniform, planar, short‐axis alignment fabric that is pervasive on a broad scale and is probably the result of deformational shortening related to impact or gravitational compaction. Interference between this matrix fabric and the larger, more rigid components, such as dark inclusions (DIs) and calcium‐aluminium‐rich inclusions (CAIs), has lead to the development of locally oriented and intensified matrix fabrics. In addition, DIs possess fabrics that are conformable with the broader matrix fabric. These results suggest that DIs were in situ prior to the deformational shortening event responsible for these fabrics, thus providing an argument against dark inclusions being fragments from another lithified part of the asteroid (Kojima and Tomeoka 1996; Fruland et al. 1978). Moreover, both DIs and Allende matrix are highly porous (?25%) (Corrigan et al. 1997). Mobilizing a highly porous DI during impact‐induced brecciation without imposing a fabric and incorporating it into a highly porous matrix without significantly compacting these materials is improbable. We favor a model that involves Allende DIs, CAIs, and matrix accreting together and experiencing the same deformation events.     

Discovery of the 'missing' mode in HR 1217 by the Whole Earth Telescope

HR 1217 is a prototypical rapidly oscillating Ap star that has presented a test to the theory of non-radial stellar pulsation. Prior observations showed a clear pattern of five modes with alternating frequency spacings of 33.3 and 34.6 μHz, with a sixth mode at a problematic spacing of 50.0 μHz (which equals  1.5×33.3 μHz)  to the high-frequency side. Asymptotic pulsation theory allowed for a frequency spacing of 34 μHz, but Hipparcos observations rule out such a spacing. Theoretical calculations of magnetoacoustic modes in Ap stars by Cunha predicted that there should be a previously undetected mode 34 μHz higher than the main group, with a smaller spacing between it and the highest one. In this Letter, we present preliminary results from a multisite photometric campaign on the rapidly oscillating Ap star HR 1217 using the 'Whole Earth Telescope'. While a complete analysis of the data will appear in a later paper, one outstanding result from this run is the discovery of a newly detected frequency in the pulsation spectrum of this star, at the frequency predicted by Cunha.