Use of deuterated water as a conservative artificial groundwater tracer

Conservative tracers are necessary to obtain groundwater transport velocities at the field scale. Deuterated water is an effective tracer for this purpose due to its similarity to water, chemical stability, non-reactivity, ease of handling and sampling, relatively neutral buoyancy, and reasonable price. Reliable detection limits of 0.1 mg deuterium/L may be obtained in field tests. A field example is presented in which deuterated water, bromide, and pentafluorobenzoic acid are used as groundwater tracers. Deuterated water appeared to be transported conservatively, producing almost identical breakthrough curves as that of other soluble tracers. Electronic Publication     

Correlation of hydraulic conductivity with stratigraphy in a fractured-dolomite aquifer, northeastern Wisconsin, USA

This study integrated surface and subsurface stratigraphic data with geophysical logs and hydrogeologic data in order to characterize the hydraulic properties of the Silurian dolomite in northeastern Wisconsin. Silurian stratigraphy consists of predictable alternations of characteristic facies associations. A vertical profile of hydraulic conductivity, obtained from short-interval packer tests in a core hole that penetrates a majority of the Silurian section, indicates that hydraulic conductivity ranges over five orders of magnitude (10^–1 to 10^–6 cm/s). Matrix conductivity is generally low and varies with texture; the finer-grained restricted-marine and transitional facies being less permeable than the coarser-grained open-marine facies. High-conductivity values are generally associated with bedding-plane fractures, and fracture frequency is greater in the restricted-marine facies. High-flow features in 16 wells were identified using fluid-temperature/resistivity and heat-pulse flowmeter logs. Natural-gamma logs were used to identify the stratigraphic position of flow features in each well and to correlate flow features to specific stratigraphic horizons. By combining stratigraphic, geophysical, and hydrogeologic data, 14 high-permeability zones within the Silurian aquifer have been identified and correlated in wells more than 16 km apart. These zones parallel bedding, appear most pronounced at contacts between contrasting lithologies, and are most abundant in restricted-marine lithologies. Electronic Publication     

High iridium concentration of alkaline rocks of Deccan and implications to K/T boundary

We report here an unusually high concentration of iridium in some alkali basalts and alkaline rocks of Deccan region having an age of about 65Ma, similar to the age of the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. The alkali basalts of Anjar, in the western periphery of Deccan province, have iridium concentration as high as 178pg/g whereas the alkaline rocks and basalts associated with the Amba Dongar carbonatite complex have concentrations ranging between 8 and 80 pg/g. Some of these values are more than an order of magnitude higher than the concentration in the tholeiitic basalts of Deccan, indicating the significance of alkaline magmatism in the iridium inventory at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. Despite higher concentration, their contribution to the global inventory of iridium in the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary clays remains small. The concentration of iridium in fluorites from Amba Dongar was found to be <30 pg/g indicating that iridium is not incorporated during their formation in hydrothermal activity.     

从岩相古地理论塔里木盆地西南地区石炭系油气潜景

石岩系是塔里木盆地西南地区重要的海相烃源岩和储集岩地层，油气潜力很大，但目前仅发现了1个气田、1个油田和2个油藏，勘探程度很低。本文在岩相古地理和地震地层学岩性岩相研究的基础上，对本区石炭系的烃源岩和储集岩的类型、分布及其与沉积环境的关系进行了研究，对盖层性质和分布，尤其对石炭系经过多次大的构造变动后所形成的油气潜景区进行了较深入的探讨，并指出4个有利的油气勘探地区，即巴楚隆起西端、玛扎塔克断裂带-海米-罗斯断裂带、麦盖提斜坡的北缘、南缘推覆体上盘。同时指出了各有利地区的勘探对策。     

塔里木盆地陆相烃源岩有机组分的分类及其岩石学特征

通过对塔里木盆地陆相烃源岩所作的详细有机岩石学研究，提出了适合该盆地的陆相烃源岩有机组分分类方案，并系统地阐述各有机组分的光性、成因及岩石学特性。     

新疆喀拉通克铜镍矿贵金属矿物定量研究

喀拉通克铜镍矿床产于漏斗状基性岩体中下部的橄榄苏长辉长岩相中,矿石类型分特富铜镍矿石(Ⅰ)、富铜贫镍矿石(Ⅱ)、贫铜贫镍矿石(Ⅲ)及富镍富铜矿石(Ⅳ).由于矿床物质成分复杂特别是金银铂钯矿物颗粒细、品位低、种类多,故首先在进行矿物定性研究的基础上,确定目的矿物的特殊富集流程.然后在人工重砂大样中富集目的矿物,并制成砂光薄片,有代表性的排定视域,引入电子探针-图象分析-计算机联机定量并辅以显微镜定量的综合方法对贵金属元素和矿物进行定量.联机方法是用电子探针以扫描方式提供颗粒电子象和元素X射线面分布象信号给出元素或共存元素的化学信息,对矿物颗粒进行分类,统计出个数及面积百分比.这种方法对微细杂矿物的定量工作颇有成效.     

Pore fluid pressure effects in anisotropic rocks: Mechanisms of induced seismicity and weak faults

Many observations and studies indicate that pore fluid pressure in the crustal rocks plays an important role in deformation, faulting, and earthquake processes. Conventional models of pore pressure effects often assume isotropic porous rocks and yield the nondeviatoric pressure effects which seem insufficient to explain diverse phenomena related to pore pressure variation, such as fluid-extraction induced seismicity and crustal weak faults. We derive the anisotropic effective stress law especially for transversely-isotropic and orthotropic rocks, and propose that the deviatoric effects of pore fluid pressure in anisotropic rocks not only affect rock effective strength but also cause variation of shear stresses. Such shear stress variations induced by either pore pressure buildup or pore pressure decline may lead to faulting instability and trigger earthquakes, and provide mechanisms for the failure of crustal weak faults with low level of shear stresses. We believe that the deviatoric effects of pore fluid pressure in anisotropic rocks are of wide application in studies of earthquake precursors and aftershocks, oil and gas reservoir characterization, enhanced oil recovery, and hydraulic fracturing.     

新疆尉犁县蛭石矿床成因及矿床模式探讨

本文通过新疆尉犁县蛭石矿床的研究指出,与蛭石成矿密切相关的云母岩是碱性超基性岩经同源高温气液多次反复交代所形成之蚀变岩。并证实,在热液阶段,不能直接形成蛭石矿,只有在风化作用阶段,金(黑)云母经水化之后才铲最终成矿。在搞清成矿地质背景、成矿机制、成矿过程的基础上,确定该蛭石矿床成因类型为:与碱性超基性岩有关的气化—高温热液交代—风化壳型蛭石矿床,并初步构想了该蛭石矿床之成矿模式。     

Silica-undersaturated sapphirine, spinel and kornerupine granulite facies rocks, NE Strangways Range, Central Australia

Small pods of silica-undersaturated Al-rich and Mg-rich granulite facies rocks containing sapphirine, pleonastic spinel, kornerupine, cordierite, orthopyroxene, corundum, sillimanite and gedrite are scattered throughout the NE Strangways Range, Central Australia. These are divided into four distinct rock types, namely orthopyroxene-rich aluminous granofels and metapelitic gneisses containing sapphirine, spinel or kornerupine. Two granulite facies metamorphic events are recognized, of which only the first (M1) is considered in this paper. Peak metamorphic mineral parageneses indicate that the M1 thermal maximum occurred at approximately 900–950 °C and 8–9 kbar. All samples are characterized by profuse and diverse coronitic and symplectic reaction textures. These are interpreted as evidence for the sequential crossing of the following reactions in the system FMAS: cordierite + spinel + corundum = sapphirine + sillimanite, cordierite + spinel = orthopyroxene + sapphirine + sillimanite, sapphirine + spinel + sillimanite = orthopyroxene + corundum, sapphirine + sillimanite = cordierite + orthopyroxene + corundum. Phase stability relationships in FMAS and MASH indicate an anticlockwise P–T path terminated by isobaric cooling. Such a path is exemplified by early low-P mineral parageneses containing spinel, corundum and gedrite and the occurrence of both prograde and retrograde corundum. Reaction textures preserve evidence for an increase in aH₂O and aB₂O₃ with progressive isobaric cooling. This hydrous retrogression resulted from crystallization of intimately associated M1 partial melt segregations. There is no evidence for voluminous magmatic accretion giving rise to the high M1 thermal gradient. The M1 P–T path may be the result of either lithospheric thinning after both crustal thickening and burial of the supracrustal terrane, or concomitant crustal thickening and mantle lithosphere thinning.