The provenance,petrology and sedimentology of building stone in Bromyard,Herefordshire, UK

A multi-disciplinary study was undertaken of the Lower Old Red Sandstone building stones of Bromyard, Bromyard Downs and Bringsty Common, Herefordshire, UK, to trace their original quarry sources. 196 stone structures were recorded in detail and 3 broad lithological groups recognised. Combining old maps, archival sources, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and testimony of local residents, the historic quarries in the area have been mapped. Field studies of the geology of quarries and outcrops have established the area of origin of two distinctive coarse grained lithologies. Intraformational conglomerates have been demonstrated, with some confidence, to be derived from Bromyard itself. Coarse, pebbly, quartzose sandstones have been traced to Bringsty Common and shown to be used only in the church in Bromyard before the 20th century. The origins of fine grained sandstone are found to be more complex. Through a combination of fieldwork and archival research, Clater Park Quarry is indicated as the origin of high quality green sandstones in Bromyard. 15 samples of sandstone from the Bromyard Downs, have been petrographically analysed by point counting to determine their clastic and mineralogical proportions. Early results of this analysis are presented which show modal variation in lithics, feldspars and cements that may serve to link quarries to buildings. Finally, it is suggested that at least some of the diversity of stone present in Bromyard is the result of slight variation in depositional processes in the immediately underlying bedrock.     

Seismic inversion as a predictive tool for porosity and facies delineation in Paleocene fluvial/lacustrine reservoirs,Melut Basin,Sudan

The Melut Basin is a rift basin in the interior Sudan linked to the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Central and Western African Rift System. The Paleocene Yabus Formation is the main reservoir deposited in heterogeneous fluvial/lacustrine environment. Delineation of channel sandstone from shale is a challenge in reservoir exploration and development. We demonstrate a detailed 3D quantitative seismic interpretation approach that integrates petrophysical properties derived from well logs analysis. A porosity transform of acoustic impedance inversion provided a link between elastic and rock properties. Thus, we used seismic porosity to discriminate between different facies with appropriate validation by well logs. At the basin scale, the results revealed lateral and vertical facies heterogeneity in the Melut Basin. Good reservoir quality is observed in the Paleocene Yabus Formation. The sand facies indicated high porosity (20%) corresponding to low acoustic impedance (20000–24000 g ft/(cm3.s)). However, lower quality reservoir is observed in the Cretaceous Melut Formation. The porosity of sand/shale facies is low (5%), corresponding to high acoustic impedance (29000–34000 g ft/(cm3.s)). This suggests that the Yabus Sandstone is potentially forming a better reservoir quality than Melut Formation. At the reservoir scale, we evaluated the facies quality of Yabus Formation subsequences using petrophysical analysis. The subsequences YB1 to YB3, YB4 to YB7 and YB8 to YB10 showed relatively similar linear regressions, respectively. The subsequence of YB4 to YB7 is considered the best reservoir with higher porosity (25%). However, subsequence YB1 to YB3 showed lower reservoir quality with higher shale volume (30%). This attributed to floodplain shale deposits in this subsequence. Similarly, the high porosity (20%) recognized in deeper subsequences YB6 to YB9 is due to clean sand facies. We learnt a lesson that appropriate seismic preconditioning, exhaustive petrophysical analysis and well log validation are important keys for improved reservoir quality prediction results in fluvial/lacustrine basins.     

Permeability Upscaling Measured on a Block of Berea Sandstone: Results and Interpretation

To physically investigate permeability upscaling, over 13,000 permeability values were measured with four different sample supports (i.e., sample volumes) on a block of Berea Sandstone. At each sample support, spatially exhaustive permeability datasets were measured, subject to consistent flow geometry and boundary conditions, with a specially adapted minipermeameter test system. Here, we present and analyze a subset of the data consisting of 2304 permeability values collected from a single block face oriented normal to stratification. Results reveal a number of distinct and consistent trends (i.e., upscaling) relating changes in key summary statistics to an increasing sample support. Examples include the sample mean and semivariogram range that increase with increasing sample support and the sample variance that decreases. To help interpret the measured mean upscaling, we compared it to theoretical models that are only available for somewhat different flow geometries. The comparison suggests that the nonuniform flow imposed by the minipermeameter coupled with permeability anisotropy at the scale of the local support (i.e., smallest sample support for which data is available) are the primary controls on the measured upscaling. This work demonstrates, experimentally, that it is not always appropriate to treat the local-support permeability as an intrinsic feature of the porous medium, that is, independent of its conditions of measurement.     

微生物和有机质在512层间氧化带砂岩型铀矿成矿中的作用

微生物和有机质成矿作用的研究近年来在国外很活跃,而国同其在砂岩型铀矿形成中的作用研究 够深入,本文通过对微生物和有机质成矿作用的分析,探讨了共在５１２层间化带砂岩型铀矿成矿中的作用,以期对找矿有所帮助。     

Quality assessment of armourstone for a rubble mound breakwater (Sinop, Turkey)

Helald is a fishing town in the central Black Sea region where construction of a rubble mound breakwater is being planned. The construction of the breakwater requires good quality durable armourstone. Several laboratory tests are performed for the quality assessment of the two potential armourstone, namely, limestone and sandstone. The quality evaluation of the stones is done on the basis of CIRIA/CUR criteria, saturation coefficient, wet-to-dry strength ratio, and the rock durability index. The quality evaluations are then compared with the field performance of both rocks. Laboratory test results, durability assessments and field performance of the rocks indicate that the limestone is a good quality armourstone and it can be used for the breakwater construction. However, the sandstone is marginal to poor material with very poor field performance, and should not be used for the breakwater construction.     

Prediction of uniaxial compressive strength of sandstones using petrography-based models

The uniaxial compressive strength of intact rock is the main parameter used in almost all engineering projects. The uniaxial compressive strength test requires high quality core samples of regular geometry. The standard cores cannot always be extracted from weak, highly fractured, thinly bedded, foliated and/or block-in-matrix rocks. For this reason, the simple prediction models become attractive for engineering geologists. Although, the sandstone is one of the most abundant rock type, a general prediction model for the uniaxial compressive strength of sandstones does not exist in the literature. The main purposes of the study are to investigate the relationships between strength and petrographical properties of sandstones, to construct a database as large as possible, to perform a logical parameter selection routine, to discuss the key petrographical parameters governing the uniaxial compressive strength of sandstones and to develop a general prediction model for the uniaxial compressive strength of sandstones. During the analyses, a total of 138 cases including uniaxial compressive strength and petrographic properties were employed. Independent variables for the multiple prediction model were selected as quartz content, packing density and concavo–convex type grain contact. Using these independent variables, two different prediction models such as multiple regression and ANN were developed. Also, a routine for the selection of the best prediction model was proposed in the study. The constructed models were checked by using various prediction performance indices. Consequently, it is possible to say that the constructed models can be used for practical purposes.     

阴极发光分析在恢复砂岩碎屑长石含量中的应用——鄂尔多斯盆地上古生界和川西凹陷三叠系须家河组的研究

鄂尔多斯盆地山西组、太原组和四川盆地须家河组的砂岩都是中国重要的天然气储集层,其特征是具有极低的长石含量和广泛的方解石胶结作用。对这些地层的样品进行了阴极发光分析并很好地揭示了方解石胶结作用发生前的砂岩组构。研究表明：在这些含煤地层的砂岩中,至少有10%~20%的长石在埋藏成岩过程中被煤系地层的酸性流体所溶解,因而砂岩的高成分成熟度和较大的“粒间孔隙体积”都不是原生的。另外,残余长石的阴极发光性还表明：埋藏成岩过程中被溶解的长石主要是钾长石,说明在风化、搬运和埋藏成岩作用的早期阶段,钾长石是相对稳定的,更多的斜长石是在埋藏前或埋藏成岩作用的早期阶段被溶解的,因而钾长石应是碎屑岩埋藏成岩过程中对次生孔隙贡献最大的长石类型。