Eocene succession on the East Shetland Platform, North Sea

A sand-prone Middle Eocene sequence is recognized in three cored boreholes on the East Shetland Platform. Three lithostratigraphic divisions are recognized: Lower Sand Unit, Main Sand Unit and Upper Claystone Unit. The Lower Sand Unit is of fluvio-deltaic origin, occurring on the southern part of the East Shetland Platform. The Main Sand Unit represents the subsequent transgression of the delta. The unit comprises a set of highstand shelf systems tracts separated by glauconitic bands and reflected by palynological assemblage breaks. The presence of reworked palynofloras in sediments of late Middle Eocene age implies derivation of sediment from the north-west part of the East Shetland Platform. Although it is tempting to ascribe sea level changes to the sediment pattern, a tentative correlation with the Hampshire Basin only highlights the difficulties involved.     

鲁西南莱芜、蒙阴、平邑盆地早第三纪地层的划分和对比

鲁西南地区分布着近东西向大致平行排列的早第三纪盆地群。在蒙阴、莱芜盆地早第三纪沉积称为官庄组，在平邑盆地称为卞桥组。依据沉积物特征和沉积旋回都能分为下段、中段和上段。通过对哺乳动物、介形类、轮藻、腹足类和孢粉等化石的研究可确定中段的沉积时代为早始新世，通过对轮藻、介形类和哺乳类动物的研究能确定下段和上段分别为始新世早期和中期。在卞桥组中段和官庄组中段发现介形类Ｃｙｐｒｉｄｅａ属，该属起源于晚侏罗世或早白垩世，在早白垩世繁盛，晚白垩世逐渐衰落，灭绝于晚古新世或早始新世，在早始新世沉积中的发现，是迄今在我国发现的最高层位。     

Fractures in the low porosity and ultra-low permeability glutenite reservoirs: A case study of the late Eocene Hetaoyuan formation in the Anpeng Oilfield,Nanxiang Basin,China

The Naxiang Basin, located within the Qin-and-Dabie Mountains orogenic belt in central China, is a small intermountain faulted basin, in which the late Eocene Hetaoyuan Formation in the Anpeng Oilfield is the low porosity and ultra-low permeability glutenite reservoirs. The large-scale fractures are mainly developed in the thick-bedded conglomerates and gravel-bearing gritstones, the small-scale jointed-fractures bounded by layer are mainly developed in the medium-granular and fine sandstones between the conglomerates or gravel-bearing gritstones. There also developed three kinds of micro-fractures, namely intergranular fractures, intragranular fractures and transgranular fractures, in the tight glutenites. The fractures in the glutenite reservoirs are of chiefly high dip-angles. They assume chiefly the E-W strikes, next are the NE-SW and NW-SE strikes. On the log curve, fractures usually show such responses as a decrease of the deep and shallow lateral resistivities, an increase of the acoustic time difference, a reduction of the density, an increase of the compensation neutrons, an occurrence of middle and high gamma ray and an expansion of the calipers. Fractures make contributions to the low porosity and ultra-low permeability glutenite reservoirs by improving the permeability and then porosity. Micro-fractures are the important channels connecting intergranular and intragranular solution pores, thereby making better the connectivity within the tight glutenite reservoirs. The small- and medium-scale fractures serve as the flow channels within the layers of fine and medium-granular sandstones, while the large-scale fractures serve as the main flow channels for the whole reservoir. Under the impact of the present-day stress, the NE-SW fractures perpendicular to the minimum principal stress assume a tensile state and have good connectivity, large apertures and high permeability, and are the major direction for fluid flow, thereby providing a major basis for a further development.     

Petrography and geochemistry of Paleocene–Eocene limestones in the Ching-dar syncline, eastern Iran

The Ching-dar syncline is located to the west of the city of Birjand, in the east of han. The ca. 500 m thick studied section at the eastern flank of the syncline contains a sequence of almost continuous shallow- marine limestones that exhibit no major sedimentary breaks or evidence for volcanic activity. Skeletal grains consist of large benthic foraminifera and green algae whereas non-skeletal grains are mostly peloids and intraclasts. They were deposited on a shallow-marine carbonate ramp. The limestones have undergone extensive diagenetic processes with varying intensities, the most important of which are micritization, cementation, compaction （chemical and mechanical）, internal filling and stylolitization. Chemical analysis of the limestone samples revealed high calcium and low magnesium content. Major and minor element values were used to determine the original carbonate mineralogy of these lime- stones. Petrographic evidence and elemental values indicate that calcite was the original carbonate mineral in the limestones of the Ching-dar syncline. The elemental composition of the Ching-dar car- bonates also demonstrates that they have stabilized in a meteoric phreatic environment. Variation of Sr/ Ca vs. Mn values suggests that diagenetic alteration occurred in an open geochemical system.     

云南丽江古近纪风成沉积的发现及其气候意义

云南丽江地区宝相寺组(E₂b)下部(原美乐组)一直被认为是水成沉积,本文认为其属于风成沉积。宝相寺组下部巨厚砂岩的主体岩性为紫红色中细粒石英砂岩,不含泥质和云母等悬移质,大型高角度平板状交错层理发育,厚度巨大,风成沙丘前积层特征明显。石英砂的磨圆度高,在电子显微镜下普遍可见风成砂所特有的碟形撞击坑、新月型撞击坑及毛玻璃化表面等特征,可能为沙漠风成沙丘沉积。研究区古近纪以来的沉积特征表明,青藏高原东部的气候经历了一个由干旱到潮湿的重大转变。推测这种气候转变可能是始新世、渐新世之交全球变冷变干事件(EOGM)在青藏高原东部的沉积响应,也可能与青藏高原初次快速隆升及东亚古季风的开始形成有关。     

Tertiary remagnetization of normal polarity in Mesozoic marly limestones from SE France

The results of our new paleomagnetic investigations on 21 sites in the Cévennes and Lure regions as well as previous studies demonstrate that all Mesozoic marly limestones of SE France exhibit similar paleomagnetic behavior with remagnetization disputed in age. The studied areas have the particularity to have been folded before (Late Eocene), the Alpine folding (Oligo–Miocene). Samples (201 marly limestones) dated from Lower Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous have been demagnetized by thermal treatment. They all present a well-defined component with a normal polarity which was mostly obtained between 200 and 350 °C. Numerous arguments lead from pretectonic to syntectonic widespread remagnetization related to orogenic fluid circulation affecting the whole basin. An Eocene age (between 35 and 40 Ma) is obtained for this remagnetization thanks both to the comparison of the average inclination of all regional paleomagnetic studies (+54.9°/−1.5°) with the expected paleomagnetic inclination and the syntectonic character of remagnetization.     

潍北凹陷孔店组二段上亚段页岩气储层压裂可行性研究

始新统孔店组二段上亚段泥页岩是济阳坳陷潍北凹陷良好的页岩气储层,为了了解孔店组二段上亚段页岩气储层压裂可行性,在岩芯观察、有机地化分析、测井、扫描电镜分析、X衍射、岩石力学测试分析的基础上,对孔店组二段上亚段岩性特征、有机地化特征、地应力特征、裂隙发育特征、矿物含量特征、岩石力学特征、脆性指数等进行了研究。结果表明:潍北凹陷孔店组二段上亚段泥页岩发育厚度为40～160m,泥地比大于70%;有机碳含量一般为1%～3%,镜质体反射率为0. 78%～1. 04%,干酪根类型以Ⅱ1型为主,现场解析含气量平均值为1. 2m3/t;现今最大水平主应力方向为近东西向;泥岩中裂缝发育,微裂缝沿矿物间隙延伸,连通性较好;脆性矿物含量为43. 4%～65. 2%,以脆性矿物计算的岩石脆性指数为42. 5%～64. 7%,脆性很强,黏土矿物含量为34. 8%～56. 6%,不含水敏性较强的蒙脱石;岩石力学计算获取的岩石脆性指数在6%左右,显示脆性较差;综合分析认为潍北凹陷孔店组二段上亚段页岩气储层具有较好的可压性,利于人工压裂改造,但也存在一定风险。     

Clay mineralogy of an Eocene fluvial-lacustrine sequence in Xining Basin,Northwest China,and its paleoclimatic implications

The Eocene was marked by significant cooling during which the global climate was transformed from greenhouse to icehouse conditions. Notable coeval events were the India-Asia collision and the retreat of the Paratethys Sea in Asia. The Eocene section of the long and continuous sedimentary succession of the Xining Basin in Northwest China is characterized by red mudstones with intercalated gypsum and muddy-gypsiferous layers. In this study, we conducted a semi-quantitative analysis of the mineralogy of bulk samples and the clay fraction using X-ray diffraction, with the aim of characterizing the Eocene climatic evolution of the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau and inland Asia. We used a new pretreatment method to address the problem of extracting sufficient clay particles from the gypsum and gypsiferous layers. The bulk mineralogy is dominated by quartz, feldspar, calcite, gypsum and dolomite; and the clay mineralogy is dominated by illite, chlorite, and smectite(including irregular mixed-layer illite-smectite(I/S)). The variations of the clay mineral assemblages indicate the occurrence of alternations between warm humid conditions and hot dry conditions, with relatively high humidity during ～52–50,～41.5–39 and ～35–34 Ma. Comparison of the results with the timing of Tibetan Plateau uplift, transgressions and regressions of the Paratethys Sea, and the marine oxygen isotope record suggest that the Eocene climatic evolution of the study region was driven fundamentally by global climate change.     

苏北盆地高邮凹陷侵入岩形成时期及成因机制探讨

通过对苏北盆地高邮凹陷的上、下两套侵入岩与断层的错断及其与构造运动强弱的关系、与油气成藏期的关系以及侵入岩的平面分布研究,提出了侵入岩的侵入时期为三垛期,而非盐城期。通过对晚白垩世以来苏北盆地各期构造运动及其伴生火山活动的分析,认为高邮凹陷侵入岩的成因主要由于晚始新世至渐新世末,该区发生了三垛运动,并发育一系列北东及北西向的断裂构造,导致了岩浆活动,并以侵入特征为主。     

Magnetostratigraphy of the Ouarzazate Basin: Implications for the timing of deformation and mountain building in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

Two magnetostratigraphic profiles (450 samples) have been carried out to constrain the age of synorogenic formations in the southern foreland of the High Atlas of Morocco. The Amekchoud profile covers the Aït Ouglif and Aït Kandoula alluvial formations that form the bulk of the Ouarzazate basin fill, indicating an age between the upper Langhian and the Messinian (Miocene). Data obtained in the previously unexplored Hadida formation profile covers the oldest terms of the foreland basin succession, but the low quality of the magnetic record only allows proposing a tentative age between the middle Lutetian and an undetermined middle to late Eocene. The correlation of the Amekchoud profile is based on the recognition of the long C5n chron (Tortonian) in the middle part of the section studied and a new vertebrate locality of upper Tortonian age found in the upper part. These results indicate a discontinuous record of foreland basin development in the southern Atlas domain from mid Eocene to late Miocene times, punctuated by an intermediate large hiatus of 20-25 ma (late Eocene to mid Miocene). Thrusting in the Sub-Atlas frontal thrust belt began before the Aït Ouglif and Kandoula formations, probably during the Oligocene, and extends up to recent times. The alternation of periods of deposition with others of no sedimentary record, which does not coincide with specific tectonic events, results probably from the interference of orogenic deformation and the mantle-related thermal uplift events that have been described for the Moroccan Atlas.