Gas generation and expulsion characteristics of Middle–Upper Triassic source rocks,eastern Kuqa Depression,Tarim Basin,China: implications for shale gas resource potential

Frontier exploration in the Kuqa Depression, western China, has identified the continuous tight-sand gas accumulation in the Lower Cretaceous and Lower Jurassic as a major unconventional gas pool. However, assessment of the shale gas resource in the Kuqa Depression is new. The shale succession in the Middle–Upper Triassic comprises the Taliqike Formation (T₃t), the Huangshanjie Formation (T₃h) and the middle–upper Karamay Formation (T_2–3k), with an average accumulated thickness of 260 m. The high-quality shale is dominated by type III kerogen with high maturity and an average original total organic carbon (TOC) of about 2.68 wt%. An improved hydrocarbon generation and expulsion model was applied to this self-contained source–reservoir system to reveal the gas generation and expulsion (intensity, efficiency and volume) characteristics of Middle–Upper Triassic source rocks. The maximum volume of shale gas in the source rocks was obtained by determining the difference between generation and expulsion volumes. The results indicate that source rocks reached the hydrocarbon expulsion threshold of 1.1% VR and the hydrocarbon generation and expulsion reached their peak at 1.0% VR and 1.28% VR, with the maximum rate of 56 mg HC/0.1% TOC and 62.8 mg HC/0.1% TOC, respectively. The volumes of gas generation and expulsion from Middle–Upper Triassic source rocks were 12.02 × 10¹² m³ and 5.98 × 10¹² m³, respectively, with the residual volume of 6.04 × 10¹² m³, giving an average gas expulsion efficiency of 44.38% and retention efficiency of 55.62%. Based on the gas generation and expulsion characteristics, the predicted shale gas potential volume is 6.04 × 10¹² m³, indicating a significant shale gas resource in the Middle–Upper Triassic in the eastern Kuqa Depression.     

Response of detrital zircon and monazite,and their U–Pb isotopic systems,to regional metamorphism and host‐rock partial melting,Cooma Complex,southeastern Australia

Progressive Early Silurian low‐pressure greenschist to granulite facies regional metamorphism of Ordovician flysch at Cooma, southeastern Australia, had different effects on detrital zircon and monazite and their U–Pb isotopic systems. Monazite began to dissolve at lower amphibolite facies, virtually disappearing by upper amphibolite facies, above which it began to regrow, becoming most coarsely grained in migmatite leucosome and the anatectic Cooma Granodiorite. Detrital monazite U–Pb ages survived through mid‐amphibolite facies, but not to higher grade. Monazite in the migmatite and granodiorite records only metamorphism and granite genesis at 432.8 ± 3.5 Ma. Detrital zircon was unaffected by metamorphism until the inception of partial melting, when platelets of new zircon precipitated in preferred orientations on the surface of the grains. These amalgamated to wholly enclose the grains in new growth, characterised by the development of {211} crystal faces, in the migmatite and granodiorite. New growth, although maximum in the leucosome, was best dated in the granodiorite at 435.2 ± 6.3 Ma. The combined best estimate for the age of metamorphism and granite genesis is 433.4 ± 3.1 Ma. Detrital zircon U–Pb ages were preserved unmodified throughout metamorphism and magma genesis and indicate derivation of the Cooma Granodiorite from Lower Palaeozoic source rocks with the same protolith as the Ordovician sediments, not Precambrian basement. Cooling of the metamorphic complex was relatively slow (average ～12°C/10⁶y from ～730 to ～170°C), more consistent with the unroofing of a regional thermal high than cooling of an igneous intrusion. The ages of detrital zircon and monazite from the Ordovician flysch (dominantly composite populations 600–500 Ma and 1.2–0.9 Ga old) indicate its derivation from a source remote from the Australian craton.     

Accounting for sparsely observed rainfall space—time variability in a rainfall—runoff model of a semiarid Tunisian basin/Prise en compte d'observations peu denses de la variabilité spatiotemporelle de la pluie dans une modélisation pluie—débit d'un bassin semi-aride Tunisien

Abstract

The management of water excesses and deficits is a major task in semiarid Mediterranean regions, where the variability of rainfall inputs is high at different time and space scales. Thus intense hydrometeorological events, which generate both potential resource and hazards, are of major interest. A simple method is proposed, with the example of the Skhira basin (192 km²) in central Tunisia, to account for the event space–time variability of rainfall in a rainfall–runoff model, in order to check its influence on the shape, magnitude and timing of resulting hydrographs. The transfer function used is a geomorphology-based unit hydrograph with an explicit territorial significance. Simulations made for highly variable events show the relevance of this method, seen as the first step of a downward approach, and its robustness with respect to the quality and the density of rainfall data.     

Genetic and ore-forming ages of the Fe–P–(Ti) oxide deposits associated with mafic–ultramafic–carbonatite complexes in the Kuluketage block,NW China

Abstract

During the past 50 years, many geological and ore-deposit investigations have led to the discovery of the Fe–P–(Ti)-oxide deposits associated with mafic–ultramafic–carbonatite complexes in the Kuluketage block, northeastern Tarim Craton. In this paper, we discuss the genetic and ore-forming ages, tectonic setting, and the genesis of these deposits (Kawuliuke, Qieganbulake and Duosike). LA-ICP-MS zircon U–Pb dating yielded a weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages of 811?±?5?Ma, 811?±?4?Ma, and 840?±?5?Ma for Kawuliuke ore-bearing pyroxenite, Qieganbulake gabbro and Duosike ore-bearing pyroxenite, respectively. The CL images of the Kawuliuke apatite grains show core–rim structure, suggesting multi-phase crystallisation, whereas the apatite grains from Qieganbulake and Dusike deposits do not show any core–rim texture, suggesting a single-stage crystallisation. LA-ICP-MS apatite ²⁰⁷Pb-corrected U–Pb dating provided weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U ages of 814?±?21?Ma and 771?±?8?Ma for the Kawuliuke ores, and 810?±?7?Ma and 841?±?7?Ma for Qieganbulake and Duosike ores, respectively. The core–rim texture in apatite by CL imaging as well as two different ore-forming ages in the core and rim of the apatite indicate two metallogenic events for the Kawuliuke deposit. The first metallogenic period was magmatic in origin, and the second period was hydrothermal in origin. The initial ore-forming age of the Kawuliuke Fe–P–Ti mineralisation was ca 814?Ma and the second one was ca 771?Ma. On the other hand, the ore-forming ages of the Qieganbulake and Duosike deposits were ca 810?Ma and ca 841?Ma, respectively. Qieganbulake and Duosike deposits were of magmatic origin. Combined with previous geochronological data and the research on the tectonic background, we infer that the Kawuliuke, Qieganbulake and Duosike Fe–P–(Ti)-oxide deposits were formed in a subduction-related tectonic setting and were the product of subduction-related magmatism.     

Wildfire preparedness,community cohesion and social–ecological systems

The consequences of wildfires are felt in susceptible communities around the globe on an annual basis. Climate change predictions in places like the south-east of Australia and western United States suggest that wildfires may become more frequent and more intense with global climate change. Compounding this issue is progressive urban development at the peri-urban fringe (wildland–urban interface), where continued infrastructure development and demographic changes are likely to expose more people and property to this potentially disastrous natural hazard. Preparing well in advance of the wildfire season is seen as a fundamental behaviour that can both reduce community wildfire vulnerability and increase hazard resilience – it is an important element of adaptive capacity that allows people to coexist with the hazardous environment in which they live. We use household interviews and surveys to build and test a substantive model that illustrates how social cohesion influences the decision to prepare for wildfire. We demonstrate that social cohesion, particularly community characteristics like ‘sense of community’ and ‘collective problem solving’, are community-based resources that support both the adoption of mechanical preparations, and the development of cognitive abilities and capacities that reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience to wildfire. We use the results of this work to highlight opportunities to transfer techniques and approaches from natural hazards research to climate change adaptation research to explore how the impacts attributed to the social components of social–ecological systems can be mitigated more effectively.     

Measurements of solar occulation: the error in a naive retrieval if the constituent's concentration changes

The stratospheric concentrations of many minor constituents change rapidly at sunrise or sunset. If this happens, there is an inherent error when retrieving the vertical profiles of the constituents from measurements of their absorption of sunlight. For retrievals of NO at sunset the error can be estimated from in-situ measurements alone, without appeal to a model of stratospheric photochemistry. Below 20 km this error can approach 100% so that the retrieved NO is zero. But at 40 km, and at 25 km when the absorption is strong and Lorentzian, it can be less than 20%. Precise calculations of the error, even if small, require model calculations of the sunset and sunrise changes. With a model, we have calculated the error for NO, NO₂, OH and ClO.     

Application of wavelet transformation to determine wavelengths and phase velocities of gravity waves observed by lidar measurements

During the last two decades, important advances have been made in the investigation of gravity waves. However, more efforts are needed to study certain aspects of gravity waves. In the real atmosphere, gravity waves occur with different properties at different altitudes and, most often, simultaneously. In this case, when there is more than one dominant wave, the determination of gravity wave characteristics, such as the vertical wavelength and the phase velocity, is difficult. The interpretation of temperature perturbation plots versus the altitude and time as well as the application of the Fourier spectral analysis can produce errors.Exact knowledge of the wave characteristics is important both for determination of other characteristics, for example, the horizontal wave components, and for study of wave climatology. The wavelet analysis of vertical temperature profiles allows one to examine the wave's location in space. Up to now, gravity waves have been studied mainly by continuous wavelet transformation to determine dominant waves. We apply wavelet analysis to a time series of temperature profiles, observed by the ALOMAR ozone lidar at Andoya, Norway, and by the U. Bonn lidar system at ESRANGE, Sweden, both for determination of the dominant waves and for specifying the vertical wavelengths and the vertical component of the phase velocities. For this purpose, the wavelet amplitude spectra and the wavelet phase spectra are filtered and Hovmöller diagrams for dominant wavelengths are constructed. The advantage of this type of diagrams is that they give clear evidence for the localization of the dominant waves in space and time and for the development of their phase fronts.     

NO2 total column evolution during the 1989 spring at Antarctica Peninsula

Ground-based visible differential absorption spectrometry during twilight has been used for NO₂ total column observations at the Antarctica Peninsula, Marambio Base (64S, 56W), during the austral spring of 1989 (9 September to 25 November).Results show moderate NO₂ vertical column levels of 1.5 to 2.5×10¹⁵ molec cm^-2 in the morning and 2 to 3×10¹⁵ molec cm^-2 in the evening until middle October, highly modulated by planetary wave activity. From that date until the end of the period, a steady increase occurs which is associated with the rising of lower stratosphere temperature as the vortex weakens, reaching values of 5×10¹⁵ molec cm^-2 in late November, with small a.m.-p.m. differences. NO₂ is found to be positively correlated to both total ozone and 50 hPa temperature during the entire spring. However, when analyzing the departures from linear trends, a highly negative correlation has been observed from day 301 onwards.     

滇黔桂卡林型金矿区水系沉积物和岩石金含量与时空分布

为研究滇黔桂卡林型金矿区水系沉积物和岩石中金的地球化学时空分布及其与金矿规模的对应关系,系统收集了该区1:20万区域化探全国扫面计划水系沉积物和全国地球化学基准计划岩石金的地球化学数据,绘制了水系沉积物和岩石金的地球化学分布图。滇黔桂卡林型金矿区以水系沉积物金地球化学异常面积大于1000 km^2为准,共圈定5处金的地球化学省,这些金的地球化学省同时也是矿床大规模产出的部位。区内右江盆地水系沉积物金背景值(1.94×10^–9)高于扬子克拉通(1.68×10^9),其内以泥岩、页岩、砂岩、灰岩为代表的容矿岩石金背景值(0.51×10^–9)也高于扬子克拉通(0.39×10^–9)。研究区不同构造单元及沉积相中水系沉积物金背景值受岩石金背景值的制约。金的地球化学省是地壳演化过程中不均匀分布的高金背景岩石、金矿化作用及金矿床次生风化作用相互叠加的结果。该研究有助于有效判断异常成因、识别成矿作用存在,对研究金的区域成矿规律和聚焦找矿靶区具有重要意义。     

Direct Observations of Atmospheric Transport and Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange from High-Precision Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide Profile Measurements

The balloon-borne Aircore campaign was conducted in Inner Mongolia,China,on June 13 and 14 2018,which detected carbon dioxide(CO_2) and carbon monoxide(CO) profiles from surface to 24 km,showing strong positive and negative correlations between 8 km and 10 km on 13 and 14 June,respectively.Backward trajectories,meteorological analyses,and CO_2 horizontal distributions were combined to interpret this phenomenon.The results indicated that the source region experienced a stratospheric intrusion and exhibited a large horizontal CO_2 gradient;namely,lower CO concentrations corresponded to higher CO_2 concentrations and vice versa.The laminar structure with multiple origins resulted in the highly negative correlation between CO_2 and CO in the upper troposphere on 14 June.The contribution of stratospheric air mass to the upper troposphere and that of tropospheric air mass to the lower stratosphere were 26.7% and24.3%,respectively,based on a mass balance approach.Another interesting phenomenon is that CO_2 and CO concentrations increased substantially at approximately 8 km on 13 June.An analysis based on the backward trajectory implied that the air mass possibly came from anthropogenic sources.The slope of CO_2/CO representing the anthropogenic sources was 87.3 ppm ppm~(-1).In addition,the CO_2 profile showed that there was a large CO_2 gradient of 4 ppm km-1 within the boundary layer on 13 June,and this gradient disappeared on 14 June.