A dated cave sediment record of Pleistocene transgressions on Berry Head,Southwest England

Berry Head, a limestone headland in Torbay, southwest England, exhibits a series of subaerial marine erosion platforms and raised beaches spanning an altitude range of 97 m. Solution caves on the headland show preferred horizontal development at elevations that are correlated with the marine erosion platforms, and developed in a marine/freshwater mixing zone whose position was controlled by high sea-level still-stands. Corbridge Cave in Berry Head Quarry lies below the raised beaches in Torbay, and contains evidence of three marine transgressions in the form of fine-grained marine ponding deposits with a marine microfauna. Uranium-series dating of intercalated speleothems indicates that a transgression during oxygen isotope stage 5e reached an elevation of 5.8 m OD, while an earlier transgression (probably during stage 7) reached at least 7.2 m OD. These findings are used to constrain possible interpretations of the aminostratigraphy of raised beaches in Southwest Britain, and a correlation of the Unnamed Stage of Bowen, Sykes, Reeves, Miller, Andrews, Brew and Hare with oxygen isotope stage 5e is proposed.     

Quick-look assessments to identify optimal CO2 EOR storage sites

A newly developed, multistage quick-look methodology allows for the efficient screening of an unmanageably large number of reservoirs to generate a workable set of sites that closely match the requirements for optimal CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR) storage. The objective of the study is to quickly identify miscible CO₂ EOR candidates in areas that contain thousands of reservoirs and to estimate additional oil recovery and sequestration capacities of selected top options through dimensionless modeling and reservoir characterization. Quick-look assessments indicate that the CO₂ EOR resource potential along the US Gulf Coast is 4.7 billion barrels, and CO₂ sequestration capacity is 2.6 billion metric tons. In the first stage, oil reservoirs are screened and ranked in terms of technical and practical feasibility for miscible CO₂ EOR. The second stage provides quick estimates of CO₂ EOR potential and sequestration capacities. In the third stage, a dimensionless group model is applied to a selected set of sites to improve the estimates of oil recovery and storage potential using appropriate inputs for rock and fluid properties, disregarding reservoir architecture and sweep design. The fourth stage validates and refines the results by simulating flow in a model that describes the internal architecture and fluid distribution in the reservoir. The stated approach both saves time and allows more resources to be applied to the best candidate sites.     

西藏西南部拉昂错地幔橄榄岩的地球化学特征及其构造意义

拉昂错蛇绿岩位于西藏西南部雅鲁藏布缝合带(YZSZ)的西段,由地幔橄榄岩和侵入其中的基性岩墙组成.拉昂错地幔橄榄岩普遍发育碎斑结构及熔体注入和交代结构,尖晶石的Cr#值具有较广泛的变化(0.32～0.70),大多数样品富集LREE并伴随HFSE的明显增加,少数亏损LREE,前者部分熔融程度为15%～23%,后者为10%左右,这表明它们并不是地幔单阶段部分熔融的残余物,而是MORB型亏损橄榄岩在俯冲过程中再度部分熔融后熔体与残余地幔相互作用的产物,由于熔体不同程度的混合与交代,形成了各种再饱满程度不同的橄榄岩.对拉昂错地幔橄榄岩岩石学和地球化学特征的研究,为探讨YZSZ蛇绿岩带所代表的特提斯洋盆的形成和演化提供了新的证据.     

南海西南部新生代盆地类型及演化历史

南海西南部地区发育了多种类型的新生代沉积盆地，各种类型的盆地具有各自的结构特征和演化历史，走滑－周缘前陆盆地－曾母盆地发育了渐新－中中新统层系，晚中新统层系和上新－第四系层系第三套地层，曾母盆地经历了三个发育阶段，拉张剪切盆地－万安盆地发育下第三系－下渐新统层系，上渐新统一中中新统层系和上中新统一第四系层系三套地层，万安盆地经历了四个发育阶段。     

Does subterranean flow initiate mud banks off the southwest coast of India?

Coastal waters off the southwest coast of India draw special attention because of the occurrence of mud banks at certain locations during southwest monsoon period. The present study puts forward a hypothesis of a subterranean flow, which could be a plausible mechanism to initiate the mud banks. The subterranean flow is believed to be coupled with activated trending faults and originate from the adjacent watershed (Vembanad Lake) separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land where submerged porous lime shell beds are present. When the lake water injection occurs through the fault, the mud/clay gets excited by its thixotrophic properties (as the overlying water looses its electrolyte) and transforms into a flowing fluid. The lowering of salinity due to the introduction of fresh water keeps the mud suspension in the water column for longer duration, leading to the formation of mud banks. The idea of subterranean flow through lime shell beds initiating formation of mud banks may apply globally to any coastal regions hugged by wetlands and of similar geological conditions.     

Study on the connectivity of heavy oil reservoirs by ultraviolet spectrum technique in the western part of the QHD32-6 oilfield

As a new method, the ultraviolet spectrum technique is applied to studying the connectivity of biode-gradable heavy oil reservoirs. The similarity of crude oils can be judged according to the extinction coefficient （E） because aromatic hydrocarbons and non-hydrocarbons have conjugated bonds and obvious absorption in the ultraviolet range, and different materials have different characteristics and additives. The relationship diagram is made in terms of the extinction coefficients （E） of the samples by taking E as the Y-axis and wavelength as the X-axis. The connectivity of oil reservoirs is estimated according to the curve positions and characteristic fingerprints of the sampies. The connectivity of part of the reservoirs in the western part of the QHD32-6 oilfield was studied with this method. The results showed that the connectivity of samples from wells F7 and F8 in the Nm-2 oil reservoir zone is good, that of samples from wells F17 and F20 in the Nm-1 oil reservoir zone also is good, and that of samples from wells F17, F19, and F20 is poor.     

川西南周公山及邻区下二叠统碳酸盐岩成岩作用对储集性的影响

川西南周公山及邻区下二叠统的中-低孔、中-低渗碳酸盐岩储层的储集空间以次生成因的溶孔、溶洞和构造裂缝为主.研究认为,多世代方解石胶结、化学充填作用以及埋藏期的压实(溶)作用是孔隙很难得到保存的主要原因;同生-准同生期的混合水云化作用和表生期、埋藏期的流体溶蚀作用则产生了大量的次生溶孔、洞,使储层的孔渗性得到明显的改善;构造破裂作用可以产生新的储集空间,还影响各储集体之间及单一储集体内部空隙的连通.成岩相分为混合水云化-溶蚀-破裂相、溶蚀-胶结相和胶结-压实-压溶相.各种成岩作用的叠加形成了现今下二叠统油气储层的分布格局.     

Geologic Characteristics of Gas Reservoirs in West Sichuan Foreland Basin

The foreland basin in West Sichuan is a tectonic unit that has undergone multi-periods tectonic movements of Indosinian-Yanshanian-Himalayan. Since late Triassic, it has been in a passive subsidence environment controlled by basin margin mountain systems and by the compression with abundant sediment sources. With the complex geologic setting, the main geologic characteristics of natural gas reservoir are listed as following:(1)Source rocks are coal-bearing mud and shale series with high to over maturity, and long and progressive hydrocarbon generation-displacement period. The key accumulation period is middle-late Yanshanian epoch.(2)There are three gas-bearing systems vertically, each of which has different reservoir mechanism, main-controlled factors and distribution law, so the exploration thoughts and techniques are also different.(3)Undergoing multi-period generation-migration-accumulation, oil and gas have encountered multi-period modification or destruction, and gas accumulation overpass multiple tectonic periods. So the trap type is complicated and dominated by combination traps. Because the main accumulation period of natural gas is early and the reservoir encountered the modification of strong Himalayan movement, there is great difference in the fullness degree of gas reservoirs and complicated gas-water relation. (4) Reservoir is tight to very tight, but reservoirs of relatively high quality developed under the super tight setting. (5) The key techniques for oil and gas exploration in west Sichuan foreland basin are the prediction of relatively favorable reservoirs, fractures and gas bearing; and the key techniques for oil and gas development are how to improve the penetration rate, reservoir protection and modification.     

松辽盆地宋芳屯油田扶杨油层孔隙结构及其影响因素

通过镜下观察,宋芳屯油田扶杨油层孔隙类型较多,以粒间孔为主。细管压力曲线上看,曲线较陡,分选差,孔隙结构特征参数总体上较差,与孔隙度、渗透率有一定的关系,大的孔隙对渗透率的贡献最大。扶杨油层的孔隙结构较复杂主要由于成岩作用影响,压实作用使孔隙空间显著缩小,胶结作用和自生粘土矿物生长使孔隙进一步缩小和复杂化,后期的溶蚀作用使孔隙空间增加。     

Estimation for partially observed Markov processes

Many stochastic process models for environmental data sets assume a process of relatively simple structure which is in some sense partially observed. That is, there is an underlying process (X_n, n 0) or (X_t, t 0) for which the parameters are of interest and physically meaningful, and an observable process (Y_n, n 0) or (Y_t, t 0) which depends on the X process but not otherwise on those parameters. Examples are wide ranging: the Y process may be the X process with missing observations; the Y process may be the X process observed with a noise component; the X process might constitute a random environment for the Y process, as with hidden Markov models; the Y process might be a lower dimensional function or reduction of the X process. In principle, maximum likelihood estimation for the X process parameters can be carried out by some form of the EM algorithm applied to the Y process data. In the paper we review some current methods for exact and approximate maximum likelihood estimation. We illustrate some of the issues by considering how to estimate the parameters of a stochastic Nash cascade model for runoff. In the case of k reservoirs, the outputs of these reservoirs form a k dimensional vector Markov process, of which only the kth coordinate process is observed, usually at a discrete sample of time points.