Late Weichselian glaciation history of the northern North Sea

Based on new data from the Fladen, Sleipner and Troll areas, combined with earlier published results, a glaciation curve for the Late Weichselian in the northern North Sea is constructed. The youngest date on marine sedimentation prior to the late Weichselian maximum ice extent is 29.4 ka BP. At this time the North Sea and probably large parts of southern Norway were deglaciated (corresponding to the Alesund interstadial in western Norway). In a period between 29.4 and c. 22 ka BP, the northern North Sea experienced its maximum Weichselian glaciation with a coalescing British and Scandinavian ice sheet. The first recorded marine inundation is found in the Fladen area where marine sedimentation started close to 22 ka BP. After this the ice fronts receded both to the east and west. The North Sea Plateau, and possibly parts of the Norwegian Trench, were ice-free close to 19.0 ka, and after this a short readvance occurred in this area. This event is correlated with the advance recorded at Dimlington, Yorkshire, and the corresponding climatostratigraphic unit is denoted the Dimlington Stadial (18.5 ka to 15.1 ka). The Norwegian Trench was deglaciated at 15.1 ka in the Troll area. The data from the North Sea, together with the results from Andwa, northern Norway (Vorren et al . 1988; Møller et al . 1992), suggest that the maximum extent of the last glaciation along the NW-European seaboard from the British Isles to northern Norway was prior to c . 22 ka BP.     

POROSITY AND PORE STRUCTURE FROM ACOUSTIC WELL LOGGING DATA1

Wyllie's time-average equation and subsequent refinements have been used for over 20 years to estimate the porosity of reservoir rocks from compressional (P)-wave velocity (or its reciprocal, transit time) recorded on a sonic log. This model, while simple, needs to be more convincingly explained in theory and improved in practice, particularly by making use of shear (S)-wave velocity. One of the most important, although often ignored, factors affecting elastic velocities in a rock is pore structure, which is also a controlling factor for transport properties of a rock. Now that S-wave information can be obtained from the sonic log, it may be used with P-waves to provide a better understanding of pore structure. A new acoustic velocities-to-porosity transform based on an elastic velocity model developed by Kuster and Toksöz is proposed. Employing an approximation to an equivalent pore aspect ratio spectrum, pore structure for reservoir rocks is taken into account, in addition to total pore volume. Equidimensional pores are approximated by spheres and rounded spheroids, while grain boundary pores and flat pores are approximated by low aspect ratio cracks. An equivalent pore aspect ratio spectrum is characterized by a power function which is determined by compressional-and shear-wave velocities, as well as by matrix and inclusion properties. As a result of this more sophisticated elastic model of porous rocks and a stricter theory of elastic wave propagation, the new method leads to a more satisfactory interpretation and fuller use of seismic and sonic log data. Calculations using the new transform on data for sedimentary rocks, obtained from published literature and laboratory measurements, are presented and compared at atmospheric pressure with those estimated from the time-average equation. Results demonstrate that, to compensate for additional complexity, the new method provides more detailed information on pore volume and pore structure of reservoir rocks. Examples are presented using a realistic self-consistent averaging scheme to consider interactions between pores, and the possibility of extending the method to complex lithologies and shaly rocks is discussed.     

Polymetamorphism, zircon growth and retention of early assemblages through the dynamic evolution of a continental arc in Fiordland, New Zealand

The Marguerite Amphibolite and associated rocks in northern Fiordland, New Zealand, contain evidence for retention of Carboniferous metamorphic assemblages through Cretaceous collision of an arc, emplacement of large volumes of mafic magma, high‐P metamorphism and then extensional exhumation. The amphibolite occurs as five dismembered aluminous meta‐gabbroic xenoliths up to 2 km wide that are enclosed within meta‐leucotonalite of the Lake Hankinson Complex. A first metamorphic event (M1) is manifest in the amphibolite as a pervasively lineated pargasite–anorthite–kyanite or corundum ± rutile assemblage, and as diffusion‐zoned garnet in pelitic schist xenoliths within the amphibolite. Thin zones of metasomatically Al‐enriched leucotonalite directly at the margins of each amphibolite xenolith indicate element redistribution during M1 and equilibration at 6.6 ± 0.8 kbar and 618 ± 25 °C. A second phase of recrystallization (M2) formed patchy and static margarite ± kyanite–staurolite–chlorite–plagioclase–epidote assemblages in the amphibolite, pseudomorphs of coronas in gabbronorite, and thin high‐grossular garnet rims in the pelitic schists. Conditions of M2, 8.8 ± 0.6 kbar and 643 ± 27 °C, are recorded from the rims of garnet in the pelitic schists. Cathodoluminescence imaging and simultaneous acquisition of U‐Th‐Pb isotopes and trace elements by depth‐profiling zircon grains from one pelitic schist reveals four stages of growth, two of which are metamorphic. The first metamorphic stage, dated as 340.2 ± 2.2 Ma, is correlated with M1 on the basis that the unusual zircon trace element compositions indicate growth from a metasomatic fluid derived from the surrounding amphibolite during penetrative deformation. A second phase of zircon overgrowth coupled with crosscutting relationships date M2 to between 119 and 117 Ma. The Early Carboniferous event has not previously been recognized in northern Fiordland, whereas the latter event, which has been identified in Early Cretaceous batholiths, their xenoliths, and rocks directly at batholith margins, is here shown to have also affected the country rock. However, the effects of M2 are fragmentary due to limited element mobility, lack of deformation, distance from a heat source and short residence time in the lower crust during peak P and T. It is possible that many parts of the Fiordland continental arc achieved high‐P conditions in the Early Cretaceous but retain earlier metamorphic or igneous assemblages.     

MATHEMATICAL MODELS FOR LIQUID-SOLID TWO-PHASE FLOW

I INTRODUCTIONTurbulence models for single-phase fluid flows have been developed and widely applied in mechanical,aeronautical, environmental and hydraulic engineering, and other fields. The closure techniques for theReynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations for various levels of models including the simple turbulencemodel, one-equation turbulence model, k-s turbulence model and turbulence stress/flux model have beenverified to be physically reasonable and have acceptable accuracy in app…     

Stable isotope analysis of consumer food webs indicates ecosystem recovery following prolonged drought in a subtropical estuarine lake

Assessing changes in food-web structure provides a useful monitoring tool for gauging the resilience of ecosystems in the face of climatic impacts. We consider the ecological resilience of a large estuarine lake (St Lucia Estuary, South Africa) in the wake of an extreme climatic event (prolonged drought). Using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, food-web structure was assessed at five sites across the estuary during the winter and spring of 2013. Sampling occurred approximately three years after heavy rains flooded the system and returned it to a relatively diluted state following an almost decade-long drought that decimated food webs in the upper parts of the estuary due to hypersalinity effects. Comparisons of niche width and variance of consumer food webs among sites revealed a general homogenisation of food webs across the entire system, contrasting with the spatial differentiation of food webs documented during the drought phase. Our results indicate that the estuary is able to maintain ecological resilience at the whole-system level in the face of an extreme drought. This is likely facilitated by source pools of species residing in the relatively stable lower estuary, which are able to rapidly recolonise areas denuded by drought in the upper estuary.