Characteristics and origins of coal cleat: A review

Cleats are natural opening-mode fractures in coal beds. They account for most of the permeability and much of the porosity of coalbed gas reservoirs and can have a significant effect on the success of engineering procedures such as cavity stimulations. Because permeability and stimulation success are commonly limiting factors in gas well performance, knowledge of cleat characteristics and origins is essential for successful exploration and production. Although the coal–cleat literature spans at least 160 years, mining issues have been the principal focus, and quantitative data are almost exclusively limited to orientation and spacing information. Few data are available on apertures, heights, lengths, connectivity, and the relation of cleat formation to diagenesis, characteristics that are critical to permeability. Moreover, recent studies of cleat orientation patterns and fracture style suggest that new investigations of even these well-studied parameters can yield insight into coal permeability. More effective predictions of cleat patterns will come from advances in understanding cleat origins. Although cleat formation has been speculatively attributed to diagenetic and/or tectonic processes, a viable mechanical process for creating cleats has yet to be demonstrated. Progress in this area may come from recent developments in fracture mechanics and in coal geochemistry.     

Low-frequency ambient-noise measurements in the South Fiji basin

The effect of wind speed on ambient noise has been measured in an experiment carried out in the South Fiji basin. The noise data in the band 15-250 Hz are well correlated with the variations in the local wind speed. The relationship between noise level N and wind speed ν is expressed by N=B+20n log ν. The constants B and n have been estimated by fitting the data using this model. The analysis indicates that there are two types of behavior: for ν>15 kn, a value of n=1.5 is obtained for the entire band, whereas for ν<15 kn, there is no correlation with wind speed observed in the data. The results suggest that there is a delay of 40-120 min for the effect of wind on the hydrophone noise level