Experimental study of sand transport and deposition in a high-velocity surge

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth and Planetary Science, 1981.Microfiche copy available in Archives and Science. Film reel in Science Library.Bibliography: leaves 79-80.by Peter John Vrolijk.M.S

Clay smear: Review of mechanisms and applications

AbstractClay smear is a collection of fault processes and resulting fault structures that form when normal faults deform layered sedimentary sections. These elusive structures have attracted deep interest from researchers interested in subsurface fluid flow, particularly in the oil and gas industry. In the four decades since the association between clay-smear structures and oil and gas accumulations was introduced, there has been extensive research into the fault processes that create clay smear and the resulting effects of that clay smear on fluid flow. We undertake a critical review of the literature associated with outcrop studies, laboratory and numerical modeling, and subsurface field studies of clay smear and propose a comprehensive summary that encompasses all of these elements. Important fault processes that contribute to clay smear are defined in the context of the ratio of rock strength and in situ effective stresses, the geometric evolution of fault systems, and the composition of the faulted section. We find that although there has been progress in all avenues pursued, progress has been uneven, and the processes that disrupt clay smears are mostly overlooked. We highlight those research areas that we think will yield the greatest benefit and suggest that taking these emerging results within a more process-based framework presented here will lead to a new generation of clay smear models

Using a Ladder of Seeps with computer decision processes to explore for and evaluate cold seeps on the Costa Rica active margin

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Vrolijk, P., Summa, L., Ayton, B., Nomikou, P., Huepers, A., Kinnaman, F., Sylva, S., Valentine, D., & Camilli, R. Using a Ladder of Seeps with computer decision processes to explore for and evaluate cold seeps on the Costa Rica active margin. Frontiers in Earth Science, 9, (2021): 601019, https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.601019.Natural seeps occur at the seafloor as loci of fluid flow where the flux of chemical compounds into the ocean supports unique biologic communities and provides access to proxy samples of deep subsurface processes. Cold seeps accomplish this with minimal heat flux. While individual expertize is applied to locate seeps, such knowledge is nowhere consolidated in the literature, nor are there explicit approaches for identifying specific seep types to address discrete scientific questions. Moreover, autonomous exploration for seeps lacks any clear framework for efficient seep identification and classification. To address these shortcomings, we developed a Ladder of Seeps applied within new decision-assistance algorithms (Spock) to assist in seep exploration on the Costa Rica margin during the R/V Falkor 181210 cruise in December, 2018. This Ladder of Seeps [derived from analogous astrobiology criteria proposed by Neveu et al. (2018)] was used to help guide human and computer decision processes for ROV mission planning. The Ladder of Seeps provides a methodical query structure to identify what information is required to confirm a seep either: 1) supports seafloor life under extreme conditions, 2) supports that community with active seepage (possible fluid sample), or 3) taps fluids that reflect deep, subsurface geologic processes, but the top rung may be modified to address other scientific questions. Moreover, this framework allows us to identify higher likelihood seep targets based on existing incomplete or easily acquired data, including MBES (Multi-beam echo sounder) water column data. The Ladder of Seeps framework is based on information about the instruments used to collect seep information (e.g., are seeps detectable by the instrument with little chance of false positives?) and contextual criteria about the environment in which the data are collected (e.g., temporal variability of seep flux). Finally, the assembled data are considered in light of a Last-Resort interpretation, which is only satisfied once all other plausible data interpretations are excluded by observation. When coupled with decision-making algorithms that incorporate expert opinion with data acquired during the Costa Rica experiment, the Ladder of Seeps proved useful for identifying seeps with deep-sourced fluids, as evidenced by results of geochemistry analyses performed following the expedition.Support for this research was provided through NASA PSTAR Grant #NNX16AL08G and National Science Foundation Navigating the New Arctic grant #1839063. Use of the R/V Falkor and ROV SuBastian were provided through a grant from the Schmidt Ocean Institute. The AUG Nemesis and the Aurora in-situ mass spectrometer was provided through in-kind support from Teledyne Webb Research and Navistry Corp, respectively

Ondernemers en de actoren in hun omgeving in beweging: Zoektocht naar rode draden in agrarische transitieprocessen

With the aid of a theoretically-based analysis of four historical and four current change processes - or transition case studies - in agriculture, we have made a study of how farmers and their associated actors move towards a sustainable agriculture. The change processes always appear to need the same 'conditions' in order to be successful and also appear always to encounter the same types of obstacles. It may be concluded from this that better advance anticipation of obstacles' hanging above the heads' of people involved in change needs to be possible, so that the envisaged change processes can proceed more easily. It remains a fact, however, that every change process also encounters unmanageable, unpredictable obstacles.Farm Management,

The dating of shallow faults in the Earth's crust

Direct dating of ductile shear zones and calculation of uplift/exhumation rates can be done using various radiometric dating techniques. But radiometric dating of shallow crustal faulting, which occurs in the crust's brittle regime, has remained difficult(1-4) because the low temperatures typical of shallow crusted faults prevent the complete syntectonic mineral recrystallization that occurs in deeper faults. Both old (detrital) and newly grown (authigenic) fine-grained phyllosilicates are thus preserved in shallow fault zones and therefore their radiometric ages reflect a mixture of both mineral populations. Also, the loss of Ar-39 during neutron irradiation in dating of clay minerals can produce erroneously old ages. Here we present a method of characterizing the clay populations in fault gouge, using X-ray modelling, combined with sample encapsulation, and show how it can be used to date near-surface fault activity reliably. We examine fault gouge from the Lewis thrust of the southern Canadian Rockies, which we determine to be similar to 52 Myr old. This result requires the western North America stress regime to have changed from contraction to extension in only a few million years during the Eocene. We also estimate the uplift/exhumation age and sedimentary source of these rocks to be similar to 172 Myr.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62567/1/412172a0.pd

Relations between mud volcanoes, thrust deformation, slope sedimentation, and gas hydrate, offshore north Panama

SeaMARC II swath-mapping and migrated seismic reflection data show a high concentration of mud volcanoes in the primary sediment depocentre along the lower slope of a thrust belt, offshore north Panama. The mud volcanoes are 0.4-2.0 km wide, Sonar reflectivity (backscattering), sediment cores, and seismic stratigraphic relations indicate that the depocentre contains thick sequences of basinal turbidites which are ponded between the anticlinal ridges. The ridges are composed of the deformed turbidites of the Colombian basin and exhibit a strong bottom-simulating reflector (BSR), apparently associated with a gas hydrate layer. Based on the concentration of mud volcanoes along the crests of the anticlinal ridges in the depocentre and the structural position of the BSR, we suggest that folding along the deformation front, sediment ponding leading to differential loading, methane migration and accumulation in the anticlines, and gas hydrate formation are important factors in the development of mud volcanoes in this region.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/28727/1/0000553.pd

Release of mineral-bound water prior to subduction tied to shallow seismogenic slip off Sumatra

Plate-boundary fault rupture during the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman subduction earthquake extended closer to the trench than expected, increasing earthquake and tsunami size. International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 362 sampled incoming sediments offshore northern Sumatra, revealing recent release of fresh water within the deep sediments. Thermal modeling links this freshening to amorphous silica dehydration driven by rapid burial-induced temperature increases in the past 9 million years. Complete dehydration of silicates is expected before plate subduction, contrasting with prevailing models for subduction seismogenesis calling for fluid production during subduction. Shallow slip offshore Sumatra appears driven by diagenetic strengthening of deeply buried fault-forming sediments, contrasting with weakening proposed for the shallow Tohoku-Oki 2011 rupture, but our results are applicable to other thickly sedimented subduction zones including those with limited earthquake records