Quaternary and Neogene Reservoirs of the Norwegian Continental Shelf and the Faroe-Shetland Basin

Glaciogenic reservoirs host important hydrocarbon resources across the globe. Examples such as the Peon and Aviat discoveries in the North Sea show that Quaternary and Neogene reservoirs can be prospective in the region. In this study, we interpret 2D and 3D reflection seismic data combined with borehole information to document unconventional play models from the shallow subsurface of the Norwegian Continental Shelf and the Faroe-Shetland Basin. These plays include (i) glacial sands in ice-marginal outwash fans, sealed by stiff subglacial tills (the Peon discovery), (ii) meltwater turbidites, (iii) contouritic fine-grained glacimarine sands sealed by gas hydrates, (iv) remobilized oozes above large evacuation craters which are sealed by megaslides and glacial muds, and (v) Neogene sand injectites. The hydrocarbon reservoirs are characterized by negative-polarity reflections with anomalously high amplitudes in the reflection seismic data as well as density and velocity decreases in the borehole data. Extensive new 3D reflection seismic data are crucial to correctly interpret glacial processes and distinguish shallow reservoirs from shallow seals. These data document a variety of play models with the potential for gas in large quantities and enable the identification of optimal drilling targets at stratigraphic levels which have so far been overlooked

The Translational Medicine Ontology and Knowledge Base: driving personalized medicine by bridging the gap between bench and bedside

Background: Translational medicine requires the integration of knowledge using heterogeneous data from health care to the life sciences. Here, we describe a collaborative effort to produce a prototype Translational Medicine Knowledge Base (TMKB) capable of answering questions relating to clinical practice and pharmaceutical drug discovery. Results: We developed the Translational Medicine Ontology (TMO) as a unifying ontology to integrate chemical, genomic and proteomic data with disease, treatment, and electronic health records. We demonstrate the use of Semantic Web technologies in the integration of patient and biomedical data, and reveal how such a knowledge base can aid physicians in providing tailored patient care and facilitate the recruitment of patients into active clinical trials. Thus, patients, physicians and researchers may explore the knowledge base to better understand therapeutic options, efficacy, and mechanisms of action. Conclusions: This work takes an important step in using Semantic Web technologies to facilitate integration of relevant, distributed, external sources and progress towards a computational platform to support personalized medicine. Availability: TMO can be downloaded from http://code.google.com/p/translationalmedicineontology and TMKB can be accessed at http://tm.semanticscience.org/sparql

Anvers-Hugo Trough palaeo-ice stream, Antarctic Peninsula: geomorphological evidence for the role of subglacial water in facilitating ice stream flow

We will present new multibeam bathymetry data that make the Anvers-Hugo Trough west of the Antarctic Peninsula one of the most completely surveyed palaeo-ice stream pathways in Antarctica. We interpret landforms revealed by these data as indicating that subglacial water availability played an important role in facilitating ice stream flow in the trough during late Quaternary glacial periods. Specifically, we observe a set of northward-shoaling valleys that are eroded into the upstream edge of a sedimentary basin, extend northwards from a zone containing landforms typical of erosion by subglacial water flow, and coincide spatially with the onset of mega-scale glacial lineations. Water was likely supplied to the ice stream bed episodically as a result of outbursts from a subglacial lake previously hypothesized to have been located in the Palmer Deep basin on the inner continental shelf. In a palaeo-ice stream confluence area, close juxtaposition of mega-scale glacial lineations with landforms that are characteristic of slow, dry-based ice flow, suggests that water availability was also an important control on the lateral extent of these palaeo-ice streams. These interpretations are consistent with the hypothesis that subglacial lakes or areas of elevated geothermal heat flux play a critical role in the onset of many large ice streams. The interpretations also have implications for the dynamic behaviour of the Anvers-Hugo Trough palaeo-ice stream and, potentially, of several other Antarctic palaeo-ice streams. Keywords: multibeam bathymetry, ice stream, subglacial water, landfor

On-going collaborative priority-setting for research activity: a method of capacity building to reduce the research-practice translational gap

Background: International policy suggests that collaborative priority setting (CPS) between researchers and end users of research should shape the research agenda, and can increase capacity to address the research-practice translational gap. There is limited research evidence to guide how this should be done to meet the needs of dynamic healthcare systems. One-off priority setting events and time-lag between decision and action prove problematic. This study illustrates the use of CPS in a UK research collaboration called Collaboration and Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC). Methods: Data were collected from a north of England CLAHRC through semi-structured interviews with 28 interviewees and a workshop of key stakeholders (n = 21) including academics, NHS clinicians, and managers. Documentary analysis of internal reports and CLAHRC annual reports for the first two and half years was also undertaken. These data were thematically coded. Results: Methods of CPS linked to the developmental phase of the CLAHRC. Early methods included pre-existing historical partnerships with on-going dialogue. Later, new platforms for on-going discussions were formed. Consensus techniques with staged project development were also used. All methods demonstrated actual or potential change in practice and services. Impact was enabled through the flexibility of research and implementation work streams; ‘matched’ funding arrangements to support alignment of priorities in partner organisations; the size of the collaboration offering a resource to meet project needs; and the length of the programme providing stability and long term relationships. Difficulties included tensions between being responsive to priorities and the possibility of ‘drift’ within project work, between academics and practice, and between service providers and commissioners in the health services. Providing protected ‘matched’ time proved difficult for some NHS managers, which put increasing work pressure on them. CPS is more time consuming than traditional approaches to project development. Conclusions: CPS can produce needs-led projects that are bedded in services using a variety of methods. Contributing factors for effective CPS include flexibility in use and type of available resources, flexible work plans, and responsive leadership. The CLAHRC model provides a translational infrastructure that enables CPS that can impact on healthcare systems

How rapidly can ice sheets retreat?

Landforms across the mid-Norwegian seafloor reveal that a former ice sheet retreated at up to 600 metres per day at the end of the last Ice Age. Pulses of similarly rapid retreat could soon be observed across flat-bedded areas of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.This work was funded by the Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Research Fund, Newcastle University (to C.L.B.) and the financial assistance (to F.D.W.C.) of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation

Glacial, fluvial and contour-current-derived sedimentation along the northern North Sea margin through the Quaternary

The thick sequence of Quaternary sediments preserved within the northern North Sea contains important information about the glacial history, palaeo-oceanographic conditions and slope stability of this region during the last 2.6 million years. The interplay between glacial, fluvial and contouritic processes can be determined from seismic stratigraphic studies. Here, seismic horizon, attribute and geomorphological interpretations of an extensive 2D seismic dataset (∼100,000 km2) and two 3D seismic cubes (∼18,400 km2) are integrated with lithological data from eight exploration wells to map sandy sedimentary units. Mapping of seismic horizons and facies reveals that, in addition to prograding glacial sediments derived from the Norwegian mainland, the Quaternary succession includes wedge-shaped units with prograding internal clinoforms building out from the East Shetland Platform, relatively flat-lying units of acoustically stratified sediments within the central northern North Sea, and aggrading to prograding units with low-amplitude internal reflections on the continental slope. The lowermost unit of Quaternary sediment is interpreted as an ∼800 km3 earliest Pleistocene (∼2.6 Ma) turbidite-contourite deposit, in which turbidites derived from a fluvial delta building out from the East Shetland Platform transition seaward into aggrading to prograding sediments of the Shetland Drift. The wedge-shaped units are intercalated with glacigenic sediments in the central northern North Sea, showing that the East Shetland Platform was a major source area for the delivery of coarse-grained sediments during the Early Pleistocene (∼2.6–0.8 Ma). The distribution of units of aggrading to prograding geometries suggests that contourites continued to develop on the continental slope, including on the North Sea trough-mouth fan, throughout the Quaternary. These interpretations constrain a new model for the Quaternary evolution of the northern North Sea that reconciles the development of the eastern and western sides of this margin, and shows the importance of fluvial-deltaic and contouritic sedimentation during periods of reduced glacigenic sediment input. Our model also provides a high-resolution analogue for the sedimentary architectures and seismic facies that can be produced by the interplay of down-slope and along-slope processes on other continental margins

Rapid, buoyancy-driven ice-sheet retreat of hundreds of metres per day.

Rates of ice-sheet grounding-line retreat can be quantified from the spacing of corrugation ridges on deglaciated regions of the seafloor1,2, providing a long-term context for the approximately 50-year satellite record of ice-sheet change3-5. However, the few existing examples of these landforms are restricted to small areas of the seafloor, limiting our understanding of future rates of grounding-line retreat and, hence, sea-level rise. Here we use bathymetric data to map more than 7,600 corrugation ridges across 30,000 km2 of the mid-Norwegian shelf. The spacing of the ridges shows that pulses of rapid grounding-line retreat, at rates ranging from 55 to 610 m day-1, occurred across low-gradient (±1°) ice-sheet beds during the last deglaciation. These values far exceed all previously reported rates of grounding-line retreat across the satellite3,4,6,7 and marine-geological1,2 records. The highest retreat rates were measured across the flattest areas of the former bed, suggesting that near-instantaneous ice-sheet ungrounding and retreat can occur where the grounding line approaches full buoyancy. Hydrostatic principles show that pulses of similarly rapid grounding-line retreat could occur across low-gradient Antarctic ice-sheet beds even under present-day climatic forcing. Ultimately, our results highlight the often-overlooked vulnerability of flat-bedded areas of ice sheets to pulses of extremely rapid, buoyancy-driven retreat.This work was funded by a Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Research Fund, Newcastle University (to CLB) and a Junior Research Fellowship, Peterhouse College, University of Cambridge (to AM). This document was also produced with the financial assistance (to FDWC and JAD) of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation

Glacial seismic geomorphology and Plio-Pleistocene ice sheet history offshore NW Europe

Plio-Pleistocene records of ice-rafted detritus suggest northwest European ice sheets regularly reached coastlines. However, these records provide limited insight on the frequency, extent, and dynamics of ice sheets delivering the detritus. Three-dimensional reflection seismic data of the northwest European glaciated margin have previously documented buried landforms that inform us on these uncertainties. This paper reviews and combines these existing records with new seismic geomorphological observations to catalogue landform occurrence along the European glaciated margin and considers how they relate to ice sheet history. The compilation shows Early Pleistocene ice sheets regularly advanced across the continental shelves. Early Pleistocene sea level reconstructions demonstrate lower magnitude fluctuations compared to the Middle-Late Pleistocene, and more extensive/frequent Early Pleistocene glaciation provides a possible mismatch with sea level reconstructions. This evidence is discussed with global records of glaciation to consider possible impacts on our wider understanding of Plio-Pleistocene climate changes, in particular how well Early Pleistocene sea level records capture ice sheet volume changes. Resolving such issues relies on how well landforms are dated, whether they can be correlated with other proxy datasets, and how accurately these proxies reconstruct the magnitudes of past climatic changes. Many questions about Pleistocene glaciation in Europe and elsewhere remain.<br/

Rapid, buoyancy-driven ice-sheet retreat of hundreds of metres per day

Rates of ice-sheet grounding-line retreat can be quantified from the spacing of corrugation ridges on deglaciated regions of the seafloor1,2, providing a long-term context for the approximately 50-year satellite record of ice-sheet change3,4,5. However, the few existing examples of these landforms are restricted to small areas of the seafloor, limiting our understanding of future rates of grounding-line retreat and, hence, sea-level rise. Here we use bathymetric data to map more than 7,600 corrugation ridges across 30,000 km2 of the mid-Norwegian shelf. The spacing of the ridges shows that pulses of rapid grounding-line retreat, at rates ranging from 55 to 610 m day−1, occurred across low-gradient (±1°) ice-sheet beds during the last deglaciation. These values far exceed all previously reported rates of grounding-line retreat across the satellite3,4,6,7 and marine-geological1,2 records. The highest retreat rates were measured across the flattest areas of the former bed, suggesting that near-instantaneous ice-sheet ungrounding and retreat can occur where the grounding line approaches full buoyancy. Hydrostatic principles show that pulses of similarly rapid grounding-line retreat could occur across low-gradient Antarctic ice-sheet beds even under present-day climatic forcing. Ultimately, our results highlight the often-overlooked vulnerability of flat-bedded areas of ice sheets to pulses of extremely rapid, buoyancy-driven retreat. </p