Demethylated hopanes in crude oils and their applications in petroleum geochemistry

Analyses of some Australian crude oils show that many contain varying concentrations of A/ B-ring demethylated hopanes. These range from C₂₆ to C₃₄ and have been identified from their retention times and mass spectral data as 17α(H)-25-norhopanes. Comparison of hopane and demethylated hopane concentrations and distributions in source-related, biodegraded oils suggests that demethylated hopanes are biotransformation products of the hopanes. Further, it appears that the process occurs at a late stage of biodegradation, after partial degradation of steranes has occurred. Demethylated hopanes are proposed as biomarkers for this stage of severe biodegradation. The presence of these compounds in apparently undegraded crude oils is thought to be due to the presence of biodegraded crude oil residues which have been dissolved by the undegraded crude oil during accumulation in the reservoir sands. The timing of hopane demethylation, relative to the degradation of other compounds, has been assessed and the progressive changes in crude oil composition with increasing extent of biodegradation have been identified. The use of demethylated hopanes as maturity parameters for severely biodegraded crude oils, and the applicability of established biomarker maturity parameters to such oils, are also discussed.     

Australian Rock Coasts: review and prospects

Studies of Australian rock coasts (except carbonate reefs) are reviewed and considered in view of recent process and morphological studies. The unique nature of the Australian coast, its geographical distribution and relative stability mean that it is a productive environment in which to research fundamental questions concerning rock coasts. Future research directions are identified, specifically in the areas of processes, morphology and modelling.     

A Water Balance Model for a Subarctic Sedge Fen and its Application to Climatic Change

A model to calculate the water balance of a hummocky sedge fen in the northern Hudson Bay Lowland is presented. The model develops the potential latent heat flux (evaporation) as a function of net radiation and atmospheric temperature. It is about equally sensitive to a 2% change in net radiation and a 1°C change in temperature. The modelled potential evaporation agrees well with the Priestley–Taylor formulation of evaporation under conditions of a non-limiting water supply. The actual evaporative heat flux is modelled by expressing actual/potential evaporation as a function of potential accumulated water deficit. Model evaporation agrees well with energy balance calculations using 7 years of measured data including wet and dry extremes. Water deficit is defined as the depth of water below reservoir capacity. Modelled water table changes concur with measurements taken over a 4 year period. When net radiation, temperature and precipitation measurements are available the water balance can be projected to longer time periods. Over a 30 year interval (1965–1994) the water balance of the sedge fen showed the following. During the growing season, there was an increase in precipitation, no change in temperature and a decrease in net radiation, evapotranspiration and water deficit. There was also a decrease in winter snow depths. The fen was brought back to reservoir capacity during final snowmelt every year but one. Summer rainfall was the most important single factor affecting the water balance and the ratio actual/potential evaporation emerged as a linear function of rainfall amount. A 2 × CO₂ climate warming scenario with an annual temperature increase of 4°C and no precipitation change indicates lesser snow amounts and a shorter snow cover period. A greater summer water deficit, triggered mainly by greater evaporation during the month of May, is partially alleviated by lesser evaporation magnitudes in July. The greater water deficit would be counterbalanced by a 23% increase in summer rainfall. On average, the fen's water reservoir would still be recharged after winter snowmelt but the ground would remain at reservoir capacity for a shorter time. The warming scenario with a 10% decline in summer rainfall would create a large increase in the longevity and severity of the water deficit and this would be particularly evident during drier years. The carbon budget and peat accumulation and breakdown rates are strongly affected by changes in the water balance. Some evidence implies that greater water deficits lead to an increase in net carbon emissions. This implies that the sedge peatland could lose biomass under such conditions. An example is given where increased water deficit results in large decreases in local wetland streamflow.     

Physical and chemical response of zircons to deformation

An investigation of U-Pb isotopic systematics in zircons from mylonitized Henderson Gneiss (Sinha and Glover 1978) revealed that selected zircon fractions from the mylonite zone suffered total loss of radiogenic Pb at 460 m.y. To further investigate the relationship between Pb loss, U gain, and grain size reduction associated with increasing strain in the shear zone, we have characterized the chemistry and morphology of zircons in the mylonitic rocks, using both electron microprobe analysis and scanning electron microscopy.SEM photographs of the zircons indicate that strain-correlated fracturing and size reduction of the zircons accompanied Pb loss throughout the mylonite zone. Stresses imposed by the expansion of initially U-rich, -damaged portions of the crystal resulted in microfracturing of the more brittle crystalline material proximal to the U-rich zones. During mylonitization, fractures propagated preferentially along these zones allowing metamorphic fluids to penetrate the easily-leached, -damaged portions of the zircons. Removal of 75% of the radiogenic Pb from zircons in the least-deformed zone of the mylonites may have occurred via this mechanism.Irregular, porous zircon overgrowths are also evident from the SEM photographs. Overgrowths are strongly enriched in U, Y and P with respect to the relict, Henderson Gneiss-derived cores, and tend to increase in volume from the protomylonite to the blastomylonite. Thus, the development of overgrowths on the zircons accounts for the U gain observed by Sinha and Glover (1978), and indicates that the transport of high field strength cations (e.g., Zr⁴⁺, Hf⁴⁺, U⁴⁺, etc.) occurred during prograde mylonitization at 460 m.y.A retrograde shearing event at 273 m.y. caused no further disturbance in the U-Pb isotopic systematics of the zircons. Pb retention by zircons during the later episode may have been the result of 1) the participation of H₂O-rich, relatively noncorrosive fluids and/or 2) the lack of further fracturing and size reduction in a strain gradient of lower magnitude than the prograde event.     

Massive sulfides in a sedimented rift valley, northern Juan de Fuca Ridge

A number of mounds each several hundred meters across and up to sixty meters high have been observed with SeaMARC II acoustic imagery and Seabeam bathymetry in the sediment-filled axial valley at the northern end of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The mounds are located a few kilometers west of the eastern valley-bounding normal fault scarp where the local sediment fill is approximately 300 m thick. All of the mounds are believed to be of hydrothermal origin, and one is associated with anomalously high heat flow in excess of 1 W m⁻². A piston core collected from that mound comprises coarse clastic sulfide units interbedded with sulfidic muds. Hydrothermal minerals present in the 2.3 m section include pyrrhotite, pyrite, marcasite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, iss (intermediate solid solution in the CuFeZnS system), chalcopyrrhotite, galena, talc, barite, and amorphous silica. Mineral fabrics of the clasts indicate that the material was precipitated at or near the sea floor by mixing of hot hydrothermal fluids with cold seawater. Low concentrations of Zn, Cu, Cd, and Ag relative to those found in unsedimented ridge hydrothermal deposits, and the presence of pyrrhotite as an early phase mineral indicates that the vent fluids have been modified by reaction with sediments beneath the mound. Rapid sedimentation in a rift valley is clearly conducive to the formation of large hydrothermal mineral deposits like those believed to be present within and beneath these mounds. The relatively impermeable sediment cover insulates the crust, inhibits groundwater recharge, promotes long-lived discharge at a restricted number of sites, provides a substrate for the efficient subsurface precipitation of minerals, and through continued sedimentation, protects surficial deposits from the corrosive effects of seawater. No reliable estimate of the bulk composition of the mounds can be made with existing data, but their size is comparable to major hydrothermal mineral deposits found on land; ancient settings in which many land deposits formed are in many ways similar to the one in which the features described here are currently forming.     

Natural analogues for the transuranic actinide elements: An investigation in Minas Gerais,Brazil

A highly weathered deposit of thorium and rare earth elements located near the summit of a hill in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, is being studied as an analogue for a radioactive waste repository that sometime in the distant future may be eroded to the surface or intruded by groundwater Thorium serves as an analogue for Pu⁴⁺, and La³⁺ as an analogue for Cm³⁺ and Am³⁺ The mobilization rate constants of the analogue elements by groundwater are so slow (of the order of 10⁻⁹ per year) as to suggest that essentially complete radioactive decay of the transuranic actinides would occur in place even under the relatively unfavorable conditions that exist at a site such as this     

Recent environmental changes inferred from the sediments of small lakes in Yellowstone's northern range (Engstromet al., 1991)

Sedimentation rate data of Engstromet al. (1991) were analyzed in relation to the elevation of the eight ponds studied. The ... asynchroneity of the stratigraphic changes among the lakes ... that they noted was transformed into a pattern of time-transgressive change of sedimentation rate with elevation. Sediment units representing increasing (and decreasing) sedimentation rate and accelerating (and decelerating) sediment accumulation were correlated from pond to pond, suggesting that the sediment-producing condition somehow moved upslope over time at a rate of 3.4 to >5 m yr^–1. Climatic data appear not to explain this monotonic pattern, but dendrochronological data and elk population numbers suggest that ungulate foraging patterns might. Engstromet al. (1991) concluded that ...the lake-sediment records in the northern range do not convincingly show systematic direct or indirect effects of ungulate grazing during the history of the Park. Reinterpretation of these sediment data suggests that detailed reanalysis might lead to a different conclusion.     

Variations in the distribution of magma in the lower crust and at the Moho beneath the East Pacific Rise at 9°-10°N

Measurements of the seafloor deformation under ocean waves (compliance) reveal an asymmetric lower crustal partial melt zone (shear velocity less than 1.8 km/s) beneath the East Pacific Rise axis between 9° and 10°N. At 9°48′N, the zone is less than 8 km wide and is centered beneath the rise axis. The zone shifts west of the rise axis as the rise approaches the westward-stepping 9°N overlapping spreading center discontinuity and is anomalously wide at the northern tip of the discontinuity. The ratio of the compliance determined shear velocity to the compressional velocities (estimated by seismic tomography) suggests that the melt is well-connected in high-aspect ratio cracks rather than in isolated sills. The shear and compressional velocities indicate less than 18% melt in the lower crust on average. The compliance measurements also reveal a separate lower crustal partial melt zone 10 km east of the rise axis at 9°48′N and isolated melt bodies near the Moho beneath four of the 39 measurement sites (three on-axis and one off-axis). The offset of the central melt zone from the rise axis correlates strongly with the offset of the overlying axial melt lens and the inferred center of mantle melting, but its shape appears to be controlled by crustal processes.     

Mapping river bathymetries: Evaluating topobathymetric LiDAR survey

Advances in topobathymetric LiDARs could enable rapid surveys at sub-meter resolution over entire stream networks. This is the first step to improving our knowledge of riverine systems, both their morphology and role in ecosystems. The Experimental Advanced Airborne Research LiDAR B (EAARL-B) system is one such topobathymetric sensor, capable of mapping both terrestrial and aquatic systems. Whereas the original EAARL was developed to survey littoral areas, the new version, EAARL-B, was also designed for riverine systems but has yet to be tested. Thus, we evaluated the ability of EAARL-B to map bathymetry and floodplain topography at sub-meter resolution in a mid-size gravel-bed river. We coupled the EAARL-B survey with highly accurate field surveys (0.03 m vertical accuracy and approximately 0.6 by 0.6 m resolution) of three morphologically distinct reaches, approximately 200 m long 15 m wide, of the Lemhi River (Idaho, USA). Both point-to-point and raster-to-raster comparisons between ground and EAARL-B surveyed elevations show that differences (ground minus EAARL-B surveyed elevations) over the entire submerged topography are small (root mean square error, RMSE, and median absolute error, M, of 0.11 m), and large differences (RMSE, between 0.15 and 0.38 m and similar M) are mainly present in areas with abrupt elevation changes and covered by dense overhanging vegetation. RMSEs are as low as 0.03 m over paved smooth surfaces, 0.07 m in submerged, gradually varying topography, and as large as 0.24 m along banks with and without dense, tall vegetation. EAARL-B performance is chiefly limited by point density in areas with strong elevation gradients and by LiDAR footprint size (0.2 m) in areas with topographic features of similar size as the LiDAR footprint. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.