Division of Gas Accumulation System and Laws Controlling Distribution of Natural Gas in Typical Petroliferous Basins of China

Considering the existing problems of the petroleum system, this paper brings forward the concept of natural gas accumulation system and presents the dividing principles. Then detailed statistics on the accumulation factors of the 32 typical natural gas accumulation systems in China and studies on the laws controlling distribution of gas are collected. The research shows that the petroleum accumulation system is the basic unit controlling petroleum generation, migration and accumulation. Generating intensity, generating amount, accumulating efficiency and migration distance plays an important role in the distribution of natural gas. Through analysis on results of resources evaluation, discovered reserves and residual reserves, potential areas in middle-scaled petroliferous basins in China are forecasted in this paper. Ordos, Sichuan, Tarim and Qaidam basins are found out to be the main basins developing and enriching gas accumulation systems.     

The Quaternary evolution of the Gulf of Corinth, central Greece: coupling between surface processes and flow in the lower continental crust

The Gulf of Corinth in central Greece is an active normal fault zone with particularly clear evidence of isostatic footwall uplift, constrained by Quaternary marine terraces, and hanging-wall subsidence and sedimentation. It is bounded to the south by a Pliocene to Early Pleistocene sedimentary basin, which is now eroding into the Gulf. Previous work has suggested that the relief across this region has increased dramatically since the Early Pleistocene, due to the isostatic response to increased rates of footwall erosion and hanging-wall sedimentation. It is indeed assumed here that incision accompanying the draw-down of global sea-level at 0.9 Ma, during the first major Pleistocene glaciation, initiated the erosion of the basin south of the Gulf of Corinth and so abruptly increased the sedimentation rate in the Gulf. The resulting transient thermal and isostatic response to these changes is modelled, with the subsiding depocentre and eroding sediment source coupled by flow in the lower continental crust. The subsequent enhancement of relief, involving an increase in bathymetry from near zero to 900 m and 500 m of uplift of the eroding land surface in the sediment source, is shown to be a direct consequence of this change. The model is sensitive to the effective viscosity of the lower crust, and can thus resolve this parameter by matching observations. A value of 6×10¹⁹ Pa s is indicated, suggesting a viscosity at the Moho no greater than 10¹⁸ Pa s. Similar transient topographic effects caused by increased rates of sedimentation and erosion are likely to be widespread within the geological record, suggesting that this coupling process involving flow in the weak lower crust may be of major geological and geomorphological importance.     

Stability of earthquake moment tensor inversions: effect of the double-couple constraint

We show that spurious large non-double-couple components can be obtained in inversions for the full deviatoric moment tensor for shallow crustal earthquakes due to inaccurate Earth models. The traditional “best double-couple” solution does not in general provide an optimal estimate of a double-couple mechanism, and is only reliable when the non-double-couple component of the full deviatoric solution is small. The inverse problem for the moment tensors of the 1998 Antarctic Plate and 2000 Wharton Basin strike-slip earthquakes is shown in each case to have two well-fitting minima in the misfit function of pure double-couple solutions. Such pairs of solutions are most likely to exist for earthquakes which are close either to vertical strike-slip or to dip-slip on a fault plane dipping at 45°. It is shown theoretically that these pairs of solutions arise from the combination of the pure double-couple constraint and the instability of two elements of the moment tensor. No significant non-double-couple component is found for the shallow thrusting 1996 Biak, Indonesia earthquake.     

Agricultural land use in the coastal area of the Alexander von Humboldt National Park, Cuba and its implication for conservation and sustainability

In the Alexander von Humboldt National Park in eastern Cuba many endemic animals and plants are found in various different natural habitats, which are considered to be the most important ones for in-situ conservation in the entire Insular Caribbean. In some areas of the National Park agriculture is practised. Thus, the objective of this study was to document and analyse the different land use activities and their consequences for local resource management and conservation of biodiversity in two village areas. A particular question was: what has changed since the foundation of the National Park in 1996? As time series data for land use and aerial photographs were not available for this part of Cuba, a qualitative evaluation was carried out. For this, six different land use units were mapped in 2001 and additional information gathered for areas with special interest related to sustainable land use and resource conservation. Although most parts of the study area are influenced to various degrees by human impact, the different types of land use seem presently not to have a crucial or detrimental impact on the land resources of the Alexander von Humboldt National Park. However, exploitation of the natural resources in certain areas could be improved with different management options to reach sustainability as well as to meet the conservation objectives of the National Park. This includes reduced or abandoned agricultural use of steep slopes to reduce erosion risk as well as a facilitated regeneration of natural vegetation in many parts of the study area to be able to conserve the high valuable biodiversity of the Park. Environmental education seems to have played an important and successful role since the foundation of the Park in 1996. Since then, cropping on steep slopes as well as illegal logging and poaching could be reduced.     

Milan: The city of constant renewal

Traditional models of urban development are no longer adequate to describe current metropolitan transformations. These are now at the centre of a debate concerning management and administration. In Italy, delays in resolving problems of urban and metropolitan government, despite the legal framework provided by Law 142/90, have weighed heavily on the larger urban areas of the country: Rome, Naples, Milan, which have not been able to tackle the issue of metropolitan government. Recent legislation, while not providing a pre-defined institutional solution, allows separate administrative districts to collectively establish metropolitan institutions of `variable geometry'. The Milan urban area is not one city, but a system of mutually-dependent cities, linked to each other and the rest of the world by a transport network still requiring much investment. The vitality of its economic structure (especially its small firms) is held back by seriously inadequate infrastructure and low external economic efficiency. The provincial capital may boast `historic centrality' but the most interesting potential for development is to be found on the periphery and in the administrative districts immediately surrounding it, in the recovery of derelict industrial areas and dormitory towns established in the 1950s and 1960s, especially to the north. Recovery of derelict areas, green areas, and better transport links within the urban area and with the outside world are the key elements in the reorganization of `Greater Milan'. In this situation of rapid transformation the most appropriate political strategies involve negotiated planning. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

内蒙古北山重点成矿远景区主要地质特征与矿产资源潜力评价方向

本文根据北山地区区域地质背景、成矿地质条件及矿产分布特征,对北山地区初步划分出几个重点成矿远景区,建议作为今后进行区域固体矿产资源潜力评价的方向。     

华北地台北缘成矿带大青山绿岩型金矿地质特征

本文详细阐述了大青山地区绿岩型金矿的地质特征和找矿标志,指出金矿化带赋存在二道洼群大理岩与其它岩层的接触部位,同时受韧性剪切带控制,在大理岩褶曲部位或下层位有利于形成较富矿体。该类型金矿的发现,大大地拓展了在大青山地区的找矿空间。     

在"数字国土工程"中我区地学数据库建设的现状及发展趋势

近年来,在国土资源部的高度重视下,我区相继建立了一系列地学数据库。这些地学数据库的建立不仅为地矿行业提供了基础性数据,也加速了"数字国土工程"和国土资源信息化建设的步伐。随着信息技术的高速发展,利用地理信息系统(GIS)将各类地学数据有机地结合起来,形成地学数据应用与管理系统,最终通过网络服务于社会,必将是各类地学数据发展的必然趋势。     

川滇黔桂76种元素地球化学图编制中分析方法与分析质量研究(一) 不同实验室产生地球化学图的相似性——以Ag、Cs、Ga、Ge为例

编制中国76种元素地球化学图将使我们首次了解元素周期表上除氢、氧及惰性气体之外所有元素在中国大陆表层的分布,川滇黔桂76种元素地球化学图的编制是这一研究项目的试点。本文以不同实验室取得的Ag、Cs、Ga、Ge分析数据为例,探索、衡量不同实验室地球化学图相似性的方法,以优选实验室进行川滇黔桂4省区约4000件组合样76种元素的大规模分析工作。     

Variation in element release rate from different mineral size fractions from the B horizon of a granitic podzol

Far-from-equilibrium batch dissolution experiments were carried out on the 2000–500, 500–250, 250–53 and 53–2 μm size fractions of the mineral component of the B horizon of a granitic iron humus podzol after removal of organic matter and secondary precipitates. The different size fractions were mineralogically and chemically similar, the main minerals present being quartz, alkali and plagioclase feldspar, biotite and chlorite. Specific surface area increased with decreasing grain size. The measured element release rates decreased in the order 53–2>>>2000–500>500–250>250–53 μm. Surface area normalised element release rates from the 2000–500, 500–250 and 250–53 μm size fractions (0.6–77×10⁻¹⁴ mol/m²/s) were intermediate between literature reported surface area normalised dissolution rates for monomineralic powders of feldspar (0.1–0.01×10⁻¹⁴ mol/m²/s) and sheet silicates (100×10⁻¹⁴ mol/m²/s) dissolving under similar conditions. Element release rates from the 53–2 μm fraction (400–3000×10⁻¹⁴ mol/m²/s) were a factor of 4–30 larger than literature reported values for sheet silicates. The large element release rate of the 53–2 μm fraction means that, despite the small mass fraction of 53–2 μm sized particles present in the soil, dissolution of this fraction is the most important for element release into the soil. A theoretical model predicted similar (within a factor of <2) bulk element release rates for all the mineral powders if observed thicknesses of sheet silicate grains were used as input parameters. Decreasing element release rates with decreasing grain size were only predicted if the thickness of sheet silicates in the powders was held constant. A significantly larger release rate for the 53–2 μm fraction relative to the other size fractions was only predicted if either surface roughness was set several orders of magnitude higher for sheet silicates and several orders of magnitude lower for quartz and feldspars in the 53–2 μm fraction compared to the other size fractions or if the sheet silicate thickness input in the 53–2 μm fraction was set unrealistically low. It is therefore hypothesised that the reason for the unpredicted large release rate from the 52–3 μm size fraction is due to one or more of the following reasons: (1) the greater reactivity of the smaller particles due to surface free energy effects, (2) the lack of proportionality between the BET surface area used to normalise the release rates and the actual reactive surface area of the grains and, (3) the presence of traces quantities of reactive minerals which were undetected in the 53–2 μm fraction but were entirely absent in the coarser fractions.