Inverse groundwater modelling in the Willunga Basin,South Australia

A new inverse technique for modelling groundwater flow, based on a functional minimization technique, has been used to calibrate a groundwater flow model of a subregion of the Port Willunga aquifer within the Willunga Basin in South Australia. The Willunga Basin is the location of extensive viticulture, irrigated primarily by groundwater, the levels and quality of which have declined significantly over the last 40 years. The new method is able to generate estimates of transmissivity, storativity and groundwater recharge over the whole subregion as a time-varying continuous surface; previous methods estimate local discrete parameter values at specific times. The new method has also been shown to produce accurate head values for the subregion and very good estimates of groundwater recharge. Its ultimate goal will be to provide a new and invaluable tool for significantly improved groundwater resource management. Supported in part by US National Science Foundation grants, DMS-0107492 and DMS-0079478.     

Palynofacies and sea-level changes in the Upper Cretaceous of the Vocontian Basin, southeast France

Upper Cretaceous platform carbonates of the Vocontian Basin (southeastern France) have been investigated in a cross-section from the proximal deposits exposed in the lower Rhône Valley to the distal part of the basin in the Southern Subalpine Ranges north of Nice. The stratigraphic interval studied in detail spans the uppermost Turonian and Coniacian.Palynofacies patterns were used to detect eustatic signals at a third-order scale and are the tool for correlation of proximal and distal platform deposits. The organic constituents observed in the studied samples have been grouped into a continental fraction, including higher plant debris (phytoclasts) and sporomorphs, and a marine fraction with dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, prasinophytes, and foraminiferal test linings. The main factors influencing the stratigraphic and spatial distribution of land-derived, allochthonous, and marine, relatively autochthonous, organic particles are the proximity of land, the organic productivity, the degree of biodegradation and the hydrodynamic conditions of the depositional system. Palynofacies parameters used for the sequence stratigraphic interpretation are: (1) the ratio of continental to marine constituents (CONT/MAR ratio); (2) the ratio of opaque to translucent phytoclasts (OP/TR ratio); (3) the phytoclast particle size and shape; and (4) the relative proportion and species diversity of marine plankton. Ternary diagrams illustrating significant proximality changes were used to decipher transgressive-regressive trends within the succession.High amounts of translucent phytoclasts and decreasing values of the CONT/MAR ratio occur during the phase of relative sea-level rise in the upper Turonian. The stratigraphic interval of maximum flooding around the Turonian/Coniacian boundary is marked by the highest abundance and species diversity of dinoflagellate cysts, and by high percentages of opaque, equidimensional particles within the phytoclast group. The OP/TR ratio is still high within the lower Coniacian representing the early highstand deposits, whereas the relative abundance of marine constituents is again decreasing. Sedimentary organic matter of the upper Coniacian is dominated by large, blade-shaped, mainly opaque phytoclasts, which are a characteristic palynofacies signature of late highstand deposits.The present study demonstrates the high potential of palynofacies analysis in high-resolution stratigraphy and correlation of sedimentary series of shallow epeiric seas.     

Flexural isostasy in the Bolivian Andes: Chaco foreland basin development

The Chaco foreland basin was initiated during the late Oligocene as a result of thrusting in the Eastern Cordillera in response to Nazca–South America plate convergence. Foreland basins are the result of the flexural isostatic response of an elastic plate to orogenic and/or thrust sheet loading. We carried out flexural modelling along a W–E profile (21.4°S) to investigate Chaco foreland basin development using new information on ages of foreland basin strata, elastic and sedimentary thicknesses and structural histories. It was possible to reproduce present-day elevation, gravity anomaly, Moho depth, elastic thicknesses, foreland sedimentary thicknesses and the basin geometry. Our model predicted the basin geometry and sedimentary thicknesses for different evolutionary stages. Measured thicknesses and previously proposed depozones were compared with our predictions. Our results shed more light on the Chaco foreland basin evolution and suggest that an apparent decrease in elastic thickness beneath the Eastern Cordillera and the Interandean Zone could have occurred between 14 and 6 Ma.     

内蒙古巴彦浩特盆地及其南缘上石炭统太原组烃源岩有机地球化学

内蒙古巴彦浩特盆地广泛发育上石炭统太原组煤系烃源岩.在野外地质勘查、典型剖面实测、样品采集及实验分析基础上,开展了有机质丰度、有机质类型、有机质成熟度等有机地球化学特征分析与研究,初步对其生烃潜力进行评价.结果表明：太原组烃源岩有机质丰度高,热演化程度属于成熟—高成熟演化阶段,具备较好的页岩气气源条件.通过多因素叠加分析的方法,圈定了页岩气成藏有利区3处,分别是北部的查干布拉格有利区、通古勒格淖尔嘎查－伊克尔嘎查苏木有利区和南部的下河沿－营盘水有利区.     

Application of PSO-LIBSVM in Recognition of Potassium Salt Deposits

The shortage of potassium salt seriously restricts the development of China's agriculture. Increasing the exploration and development of potash will help improve the self-sufficiency of potassium in China. With rich potassium salt resources, Sichuan basin is one of the most important research areas for potash exploration and development in China. Polyhalite is an important solid potassium salt mineral in Sichuan basin, often intercalated in rock minerals such as anhydrite, rock salt and dolomite. Aiming at the problem that conventional log interpretation methods are difficult to accurately identify polyhalites, this paper proposed a new Support Vector Machine (SVM) recognition method based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to classify polyhalites in Sichuan basin. Based on particle swarm optimization and support vector machine theory, combined with logging interpretation theory, the effective data sensitive to polyhalite logging response were selected as input samples to generate training sets and test sets randomly. The Radial Basis Function (RBF) parameters were optimized by particle swarm optimization, and the classification and prediction model of polyhalite was established. Compared with mud logging results, the recognition accuracy of SVM model based on particle swarm optimization reached 97.5758%, which is obviously better than that of SVM model optimized by cross validation method in recognition accuracy and speed. The results show that the model has broad application prospects in potash exploration in Sichuan basin.     

Famennian microbial reef facies, Napier and Oscar Ranges, Canning Basin, western Australia

Following the Frasnian–Famennian mass extinction, which eliminated most skeletal reef-building fauna, the early Famennian reefs of the Canning Basin were constructed primarily by reef-framework microbial communities. In the Napier and Oscar Ranges, the Famennian reef complexes had high-energy, reef-flat depositional environments on a reef-rimmed platform that transitioned into low-energy, deep-water reefs growing in excess of 50 m below sea level. High-energy, reef-flat depositional environments contain doming fenestral stromatolites that grade into porous thrombolites and are associated with coarse-grained sandstones and grainstones. The reef-margin subfacies contains mounds of microdigitate thrombolites, which are more delicate than the reef-flat thrombolites and locally contain abundant red algae, Girvanella, renalcids and sediment-filled tubes. Within the thrombolites, the red algae are in upright growth positions, suggesting that the thrombolites are largely composed of carbonate that precipitated in situ. Reefal-slope environments are dominated by Wetheredella and Rothpletzella with locally abundant Girvanella, renalcids and Uralinella. In reefal-slope strata, delicate fans and microdigitate stromatolites of Wetheredella and Rothpletzella are often oriented horizontal or diagonal to bedding and are interpreted as syndepositionally toppled over. Most mesoscale microbial community structures contain several species of microbial fossils, and no single microbial species appears to have controlled the morphology of the community structure. Therefore, the depositional environment must have determined the distribution and morphology of the stromatolites, thrombolites and other microbial community structures. The adaptability of microbial communities to various reef environments allowed them to fill ecological niches opportunistically after the Frasnian–Famennian mass extinction.     

中侏罗世漠河盆地南缘构造特征及地质意义

通过对漠河盆地南缘地层层序、构造特征等进行的实际地质调查,认为漠河盆地南部盖层主要为中侏罗统的河流相、河漫滩相、湖相沉积岩以及上侏罗统和白垩纪火山岩,盆地南部受拉张作用影响,正断层、铲形断裂发育,盆地南缘具断陷盆地特征,盆地形成时间较长.同时厘定出漠河盆地南部边界位于绣峰林场二支线附近.     

伊犁盆地扎吉斯坦北部西山窑组下段砂体发育特征与铀成矿的关系

本文初步研究了扎吉斯坦北部砂体的发育特征与铀成矿的关系。通过对研究区单井剖面、联井剖面以及平面上砂体发育情况的研究与分析,探讨砂体对铀矿体的控制与影响。研究表明,铀矿化发生、发育于砂体厚度相对稳定,粒度较粗,孔隙度、渗透率较好的地段。砂体构形变化的部位是成矿的有利部位,即砂体厚度由厚变薄的过渡地段有利于铀矿的富集。