Role of hydrological regime and floodplain sediments in channel instability of the Bhagirathi River,Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta,India

Abstract

This research deals with the surface dynamics and key factors – hydrological regime, sediment load, and erodibility of floodplain facies – of frequent channel shifting, intensive meandering, and lateral instability of the Bhagirathi River in the western part of the Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta (GBD). At present, the floodplain of the Bhagirathi is categorized as a medium energy (specific stream power of 10–300 W m^?2), non-cohesive floodplain, which exhibits a mixed-load and a meandering channel, an entrenchment ratio >2.2, width–depth ratio >12, sinuosity >1.4, and channel slope <0.02. In the study area, since 1975, four meander cutoffs have been shaped at an average rate of one in every 9–10 years. In the active meander belt and sand-silt dominated floodplains of GBD, frequent shifting of the channel and meander migration escalate severe bank erosion (e.g. 2.5 × 10⁶ m³ of land lost between 1999 and 2004) throughout the year. Remote sensing based spatio-temporal analysis and stratigraphic analysis reveal that the impact of the Farakka barrage, completed in 1975, is not the sole factor of downstream channel oscillation; rather, hydrogeomorphic instability induced by the Ajay–Mayurakshi fluvial system and the erodibility of floodplain sediments control the channel dynamics of the study area.     

Unconsolidated sediment distribution patterns in the KwaZulu-Natal Bight,South Africa: the role of wave ravinement in separating relict versus active sediment populations

This paper examines the distribution of unconsolidated sediment in the KwaZulu-Natal Bight located along the east coast of South Africa. Results show that there is a general shelf-wide sediment distribution of coarser grain sizes between depths of 60 and 100?m, punctuated by a broad swathe of mud offshore of the Thukela River. Seasonal changes in sediment distribution patterns are small, being restricted to seaward fining on the inner shelf off the fluvial sources. Sediment distribution reflects a partitioning between sediment populations that are current- influenced and relict (palimpsest) populations associated with submerged shorelines. Wave ravinement during the deglacial transgression, the reworking of submerged shorelines during sea-level stillstands and, to a lesser extent, the Agulhas Current system, are the dominant controls on sediment distribution.     

“松科二井”用硬岩长寿命钻头的设计与应用

为提高“松科二井”在深井硬岩钻进中的寿命与效率,选用了高性能胎体材料、高强度焊接材料,并采用了合理的钻头结构与水路结构设计,研制的φ216/124 mm金刚石取心钻头在“松科二井”取得了良好的效果,本文介绍了适用于深井硬岩的金刚石钻头的设计及应用效果。     

基于稳态碎岩方式的PDC钻头设计分析研究

自从20世纪80年代PDC复合片研发成功以来,PDC钻头由于其钻进性能强和耐磨性能好,在世界许多国家的石油钻井和地质勘探中得到了广泛应用,取得了很好的效果。但是,如何进一步提高其在钻探工程中的技术经济指标是一个很迫切的问题。俄罗斯博士Скоромных В. В.教授等对此进行多年研究,提出了稳态破碎岩石方式的思想,即在轴载和扭矩切力形成的合力R与切削面成垂直角度条件下,切入深度h不变时形成的一种碎岩方式。并在此基础上提出了一些设计PDC钻头方面的建议。     

The terrestrial fauna of the Late Triassic Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry fissures,South Wales,UK and a new species of Clevosaurus (Lepidosauria: Rhynchocephalia)

Pant-y-ffynnon Quarry in South Wales yielded a rich cache of fossils in the early 1950s, including articulated specimens of new species (the small sauropodomorph dinosaur Pantydraco caducus and the crocodylomorph Terrestrisuchus gracilis), but no substantial study of the wider fauna of the Pant-y-ffynnon fissure systems has been published. Here, our overview of existing specimens, a few described but mostly undescribed, as well as freshly processed material, provides a comprehensive picture of the Pant-y-ffynnon palaeo-island of the Late Triassic. This was an island with a relatively impoverished fauna dominated by small clevosaurs (rhynchocephalians), including a new species, Clevosaurus cambrica, described here from a partially articulated specimen and isolated bones. The new species has a dental morphology that is intermediate between the Late Triassic Clevosaurus hudsoni, from Cromhall Quarry to the east, and the younger C. convallis from Pant Quarry to the west, suggesting adaptive radiation of clevosaurs in the palaeo-archipelago. The larger reptiles on the palaeo-island do not exceed 1.5?m in length, including a small carnivorous crocodylomorph, Terrestrisuchus, and a possible example of insular dwarfism in the basal dinosaur Pantydraco.     

Sedimentology of the continental end‐Permian extinction event in the Sydney Basin,eastern Australia

Upper Permian to Lower Triassic coastal plain successions of the Sydney Basin in eastern Australia have been investigated in outcrop and continuous drillcores. The purpose of the investigation is to provide an assessment of palaeoenvironmental change at high southern palaeolatitudes in a continental margin context for the late Permian (Lopingian), across the end‐Permian Extinction interval, and into the Early Triassic. These basins were affected by explosive volcanic eruptions during the late Permian and, to a much lesser extent, during the Early Triassic, allowing high‐resolution age determination on the numerous tuff horizons. Palaeobotanical and radiogenic isotope data indicate that the end‐Permian Extinction occurs at the top of the uppermost coal bed, and the Permo‐Triassic boundary either within an immediately overlying mudrock succession or within a succeeding channel sandstone body, depending on locality due to lateral variation. Late Permian depositional environments were initially (during the Wuchiapingian) shallow marine and deltaic, but coastal plain fluvial environments with extensive coal‐forming mires became progressively established during the early late Permian, reflected in numerous preserved coal seams. The fluvial style of coastal plain channel deposits varies geographically. However, apart from the loss of peat‐forming mires, no significant long‐term change in depositional style (grain size, sediment‐body architecture, or sediment dispersal direction) was noted across the end‐Permian Extinction (pinpointed by turnover of the palaeoflora). There is no evidence for immediate aridification across the boundary despite a loss of coal from these successions. Rather, the end‐Permian Extinction marks the base of a long‐term, progressive trend towards better‐drained alluvial conditions into the Early Triassic. Indeed, the floral turnover was immediately followed by a flooding event in basinal depocentres, following which fluvial systems similar to those active prior to the end‐Permian Extinction were re‐established. The age of the floral extinction is constrained to 252.54 ± 0.08 to 252.10 ± 0.06 Ma by a suite of new Chemical Abrasion Isotope Dilution Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry U‐Pb ages on zircon grains. Another new age indicates that the return to fluvial sedimentation similar to that before the end‐Permian Extinction occurred in the basal Triassic (prior to 251.51 ± 0.14 Ma). The character of the surface separating coal‐bearing pre‐end‐Permian Extinction from coal‐barren post‐end‐Permian Extinction strata varies across the basins. In basin‐central locations, the contact varies from disconformable, where a fluvial channel body has cut down to the level of the top coal, to conformable where the top coal is overlain by mudrocks and interbedded sandstone–siltstone facies. In basin‐marginal locations, however, the contact is a pronounced erosional disconformity with coarse‐grained alluvial facies overlying older Permian rocks. There is no evidence that the contact is everywhere a disconformity or unconformity.     

哈萨克斯坦科扎萨伊油田优快钻井技术

哈萨克斯坦科扎萨伊油田钻井地质环境复杂,储层位于盐下,钻遇的地层层系多,地层性质差异大,具多套压力系统。钻井过程中发生地层漏失、坍塌、掉块及盐膏层蠕变等复杂情况,严重影响了钻井时效和钻井安全。针对这些技术难题,开展了油田井身结构、井身质量、提速潜力、高效钻头等分析与优化,提出了预弯曲钻具高倾角地层井斜控制技术、混合钻头减震提速技术,以及PDC-孕镶块复合钻头高研磨性地层提速技术。现场应用取得了较好的效果,平均机械钻速提高50%以上,钻井周期缩短28%。     

白涧铁矿南区复杂地层钻探施工技术

邢台白涧铁矿南区地层岩石破碎、部分地层含角砾、胶结性差、漏失严重,钻探施工中存在掉块卡钻、缩径、坍塌、埋钻及孔内泥浆全部漏失等难题。通过优化钻孔结构、使用新工艺、新方法,合理选择钻进参数,采用绳索取心钻进配合预留技术套管,有效解决了上部煤系地层的坍塌问题;采用反丝套管的方法,极大地减轻了由于地层缩径、掉块引起的套管下不到位、起拔困难等风险;常规型绳索取心钻杆替代套管方法的采用,提高了含角砾、松散地层的穿过速度,减少了钻探工作量的报废,加快了施工进度;特别是高胎体双水口钻头的使用,提高了钻进效率,节约了钻探施工成本,项目得以如期完成。     

断陷湖盆缓坡带古河道定量恢复方法及油气地质意义：以霸县凹陷文安斜坡东营组为例

河流沉积砂体定量表征是油田高效勘探开发的重要基础。文章综合利用定量岩心分析、测井相分析、定量地震沉积学和三维地震剖面识别方法,对霸县凹陷文安斜坡东营组古河道砂体厚度,河道（带）宽度,（满岸）河道水深等河流参数进行了定量化计算。研究表明,文安斜坡东营组发育北部苏桥、中部文安和南部长丰镇三个物源输入口,河流呈NEE-SWW向分散于文安斜坡带,其中河道带宽度（w）为1.04~2.61 km,平均宽度（wcb）为1.71 km;主河道宽度（W）为15.2~179.6 m,平均宽度（Wc）为84.4 m;主河道沉积水深（D）为1.34~5.21 m,平均水深（Dc）为3.29 m;主河道满岸水深（Dmax）为2.35~9.15 m,平均满岸水深（Dmaxa）为5.77 m;主河道沉积厚度（H）为2.15~8.32 m,平均厚度（Hc）为5.25 m,河道长度（L）为18.5~28.2 km,平均河道带长度（Lcb）为25.1 km,流向（A）为40°~65°。确定文安斜坡东营组发育辫状河沉积,斜坡东侧中外带为主要的砂岩卸载区,河流以垂向挖掘性河流为主,侧向迁移为辅,河道砂岩平面呈“条—带”状。文安斜坡西侧内带以侧向迁移河流为主,下蚀作用为辅,河道砂岩呈“席—带”状。东营组河道砂岩具有“下生上储”的有利成藏条件,具有良好的岩性、构造—岩性圈闭（油气藏）勘探前景。     

MULTIVARIATE GEOMORPHIC ANALYSIS OF FOREST STREAMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ASSESSMENT OF LAND USE IMPACTS ON CHANNEL CONDITION

Multivariate statistical analyses of geomorphic variables from 23 forest stream reaches in southeast Alaska result in successful discrimination between pristine streams and those disturbed by land management, specifically timber harvesting and associated road building. Results of discriminant function analysis indicate that a three-variable model discriminates 10 disturbed from 13 undisturbed reaches with 90 per cent and 92 per cent correct classification respectively. These variables are the total number of pools per reach, the ratio of mean residual pool depth to mean bankfull depth, and the ratio of critical shear stress of the median surface grain size to bankfull shear stress. The last variable can be dropped without a decrease in rate of correct classification; however, the resulting two-variable model may be less robust. Analysis of the distribution of channel units, including pool types, can also be used to discriminate disturbed from undisturbed reaches and is particularly useful for assessment of aquatic habitat condition. However, channel unit classification and inventory can be subject to considerable error and observer bias. Abundance of pool-related large woody debris is highly correlated with pool frequency and is an important factor determining channel morphology. Results of this study yield a much needed, objective, geomorphic discrimination of pristine and disturbed channel conditions, providing a reference standard for channel assessment and restoration efforts.