Laboratory Studies Of The Acoustic Properties Of Samples From The Salton Sea Scientific Drilling Project And Their Relation To Microstructure And Field Measurements

Compressional and shear wave velocities were measured at confining pressures up to 200 MPa for twelve core samples from the depth interval of 600 to 2600 m in the California State 2-14 borehole. Samples were selected to represent the various lithologies, including clean, heavily cemented sandstones, altered, impermeable claystones, and several intermediate siltstones. Velocities measured at ultrasonic frequencies in the laboratory correspond closely with velocities determined from acoustic waveform logs and vertical seismic profiles. The samples exhibit P-wave velocities around 3.5 km/sec at depths above 1250 m, but increase to nearly 5.0 km/sec at 1300 m in depth. Further increases with depth result in compressional wave velocity increasing to nearly 6.0 km/sec. These increases in velocities are related to systematic variations in lithology, microstructure and hydrothermal alteration of originally clay-rich sediments. Scanning electron microscope observations of core samples confirm that local core velocities are determined by the combined effects of pore size distributions, and the proportion of clays and alteration minerals such as epidote present in the form of pore fillings and veins.United States. Dept. of the Interior. Geological Survey (Grant 14-08-001A-0328)Elf-Aquitaine (Postdoctoral Fellowship

Transplacental transmission of bluetongue virus 8 in cattle, UK.

To determine whether transplacental transmission could explain overwintering of bluetongue virus in the United Kingdom, we studied calves born to dams naturally infected during pregnancy in 2007-08. Approximately 33% were infected transplacentally; some had compromised health. In all infected calves, viral load decreased after birth; no evidence of persistent infection was found

Emergence of bluetongue serotypes in Europe, part 2: the occurrence of a BTV-11 strain in Belgium.

&lt;p&gt;An EDTA-blood sample from a cow without clinical signs, which gave early birth to a newborn calf that died soon after delivery, was shown to be positive for bluetongue virus (BTV)-RNA using a group-specific real-time RT-PCR (RT-qPCR). In-house serotype-specific RT-qPCR assays for bluetongue virus serotype 1 (BTV-1), -6 and -8 all gave negative results. Subsequent assays were carried out using conventional (gel-based) RT-PCR primers for all 25 BTV serotypes and only two primer sets, both specific for BTV-11, gave bands of the expected size. The cDNAs generated were sequenced and comparisons of the genome segment 2 sequence with that of the modified &#039;live&#039; vaccine strain of BTV-11 from South Africa showed 100% identity. A survey of all ruminants in a 1-km area around the first positive farm using a BTV-11 serotype-specific RT-qPCR revealed five other holdings with in total nine BTV-11 positive animals. A cross-sectional monitoring of dairy cattle in Belgium showed an overall prevalence of 3.8% on herd level and 0.2% on animal level. A BTV-11 has been introduced into the Belgian cattle herd during the 2008 vector season. The source of the infection and the way by which the virus was introduced are unknown.&lt;/p&gt;</p