comparative studies of organic matter petrography of the late palaeozoic black shales from southwestern poland abstract there are at least two sapropelic units associated with late palaeozoic black shales in central europe the older unit of late carboniferous age is the lower part of the anthracosia shales in the intrasudetic basin and the younger one is the well known zechstein kupferschiefer in both the foresudetic monocline and the northsudetic basin the first unit is of lacustrine origin while the second one represents deposition in a shallow marine depositional environment both units contain high amounts of organic matter thus being typical black shales the organic matter dispersed in these shales was studied petrographically in general the vitrinite reflectance of the shales studied indicates variable but moderate organic matter maturity 0 68 1 25 equivalent to the oil window detailed microscopic studies of the organic material dispersed in the lower unit of the anthracosia shales showed that liptinite especially alginite is the most abundant component secondary altered organic matter i e solid hydrocarbons rarely occurs organic components together with mineral matter constitute a lacustrine sapropelic association a humic terrestrial association and an intermediary association the character and predominance of alginite and lacustrine sapropelic association are indicative of an open lacustrine depositional environment in general this organic composition is typical of type i kerogen microscopic analysis of the kupferschiefer revealed a mixture of liptinite vitrinite and inertinite macerals and other organic components such as amorphous sapropelic mass asm and solid bitumens the most common organic components are liptinite macerals bituminite and alginite predominate and are diagnostic macerals of this unit the amount of bituminite locally exceeds 85 vol other liptinite macerals such as sporinite and liptodetrinite are present in significantly lower amounts one exception being asm which may be present in higher amounts humic constituents vitrinite and inertinite are rare present in small amounts in the kupferschiefer beds the organic matter composition points to type ii kerogen for this unit

effects of large floods on sediment transport and reach morphology in the cobble bed sainte marguerite river abstract sediment transport rates were estimated for two flood events on the cobble bed sainte marguerite river in the saguenay region canada morphologic methods were used to derive one set of estimates and a combination of the meyer peter and muller equation with a dimensionless sediment transport ratio after dietrich et al nature 340 1989 215 was used to derive another set of estimates both sets of estimates give consistent results for the first event which had a decade scale return period and for the second event which was the largest flood on record and had a century scale return period the transport occurring during the second event was an order of magnitude greater than that occurring during the first event despite this disparity in the transport intensity of the two events the channel morphology remained qualitatively similar the observed degree of channel stability is attributed to a change of channel pattern and the initiation of bed degradation following channel rectification in the 1960s

facies and rank of the permian kupferschiefer from the lower rhine basin and nw germany abstract the kupferschiefer of the lower rhine basin and of nw germany is a typical black shale containing c org values between 0 5 and 9 1 on average it contains 4 c org in coal petrographic terms the organic matter of the kupferschiefer is characterized by well preserved liptinite as sporinite especially derived from the pollen grains of conifers in the area of the lower rhine basin and as alginite towards the centre of the kupferschiefer sea the high content of bituminite in all of the samples shows that the main source of organic matter is derived from plancton and bacteria vitrinite and inertinite are rare the rank of the organic matter in the sediment varies between the lignite stage lower rhine basin and the bituminous coal stage nw germany geochemical investigations have shown that residual heat from the krefeld high was active until the lower zechstein this has caused a change in the chemical composition of the organic matter but did not express itself in the optical parameters inhomogeneities of the organic matter in low rank and bituminization in higher rank materials influence the vitrinite reflectance fluorescence measurements are more sensitive in sapropelic sediments and oil shales than vitrinite reflectance it is evident that the red green ration is more reliable in view of diagenesis studies than the lambda max of the fluorescence spectra geochemical parameters are partly much more sensitive towards thermal stress as compared to vitrinite reflectance e g metalloporphyrin concentrations decrease with increasing temperatures the parameter covers a temperature range from ca 40 c to 80 c the weighted average mass of the vanadyl cycloalkano porphyrins is suitable to characterize the influence of temperature on the kupferschiefer between ca 40 c and 150 c summing up the kupferschiefer of the lower rhine basin in nw germany is a sidiment very well suited for parallel petrographic and organic geochemical research the results of this might be also of interest in the field of oil prospecting

hydraulic validation of two dimensional simulations of braided river flow with spatially continuous adcp data 1 gravel bed braided rivers are characterized by shallow branching flow across low relief complex and mobile bed topography these conditions present a major challenge for the application of higher dimensional hydraulic models the predictions of which are nevertheless vital to inform flood risk and ecosystem management this paper demonstrates how high resolution topographic survey and hydraulic monitoring at a density commensurate with model discretization can be used to advance hydrodynamic simulations in braided rivers specifically we detail applications of the shallow water model delft3d to the rees river new zealand at two nested scales a 300 m braid bar unit and a 2 5 km reach in each case terrestrial laser scanning was used to parameterize the topographic boundary condition at hitherto unprecedented resolution and accuracy dense observations of depth and velocity acquired from a mobile acoustic doppler current profiler adcp along with low altitude aerial photography were then used to create a data rich framework for model calibration and testing at a range of discharges calibration focused on the estimation of spatially uniform roughness and horizontal eddy viscosity h through comparison of predictions with distributed hydraulic data results revealed strong sensitivity to h which influenced cross channel velocity and localization of high shear zones the high resolution bed topography partially accounts for form resistance and the recovered roughness was found to scale by 1 2 1 4 d84 grain diameter model performance was good for a range of flows with minimal bias and tight error distributions suggesting that acceptable predictions can be achieved with spatially uniform roughness and h

geostatistical analysis of ground survey elevation data to elucidate spatial and temporal river channel change a digital elevation model dem of a fluvial environment represented landform surface variability well and provided a medium for monitoring morphological change over time elevation was measured above an arbitrary datum using a ground based three dimensional tacheometric survey in two reaches of the river nent uk in july 1998 october 1998 after flood conditions and june 1999 a detailed geostatistical analysis of the elevation data was used to model the spatial variation of elevation and to produce dems in each reach and for each survey period maps of the difference in elevation were produced and volumetric change was calculated for each reach and each survey period the parameters of variogram models were used to describe the morphological character of each reach and to elucidate the linkages between process and the form of channel change operating at different spatial and temporal scales the analysis of channel change on the river nent shows the potential of geostatistics for investigating the magnitude and frequency of geomorphic work in other rivers a flood modified the channel features but low magnitude and high frequency flows rationalized the morphology in spite of relatively small amounts of net flux the channel features changed as a consequence of the reworking of existing material the blocking of chute entrances and redirection of the channel had a considerable effect on the behaviour of the channel such small changes suggested that the distributary system was sensitive to variation in sediment regime plots of the kriging variances against sampling intervals were used to quantify the temporal variation in sampling redundancy ranging between 11 per cent and 93 per cent these curves illustrated the importance of bespoke sampling designs to reduce sampling effort by incorporating anisotropic variation in space and geomorphic information on flow regime variation in the nugget parameter of the variogram models was interpreted as sampling inaccuracy caused by variability in particle size and is believed to be important for future work on surface roughness copyright 2003 john wiley sons ltd

the development of an automated correction procedure for digital photogrammetry for the study of wide shallow gravel bed rivers this paper develops an automated correction procedure for dealing with point errors associated with through water photogrammetry for application in the study of clear water shallow gravel bed rivers the procedure involves combining digital photogrammetry and image analysis techniques to i correct for the effects of refraction at an air water interface and ii eliminate and reinterpolate points where the bed has not been seen the correction procedure was applied to raw digital elevation models dems generated using digital photogrammetry from 1 3000 scale aerial photography of a small reach of the north ashburton river new zealand the accuracy of corrected and uncorrected dems is evaluated using an independent data set a measure of geomorphological usefulness as well as dem external reliability is obtained from calculations of water depth distributions and mean bed level results show that digital photogrammetry used in conjunction with image analysis techniques can successfully be used for extracting high resolution dems of gravel river beds in exposed areas errors are small and random tending to cancel out over large numbers of points where water is shallow and following correction point elevation errors are statistically no different from those for exposed zones in deeper water despite an improvement following application of the correction procedure elevation errors scale with water depth the geomorphological potential of photogrammetric survey of large gravel river beds is demonstrated by the ease and accuracy of calculations of water depth distribution important for the assessment of a river s ecological and recreational characteristics and mean bed level important for the calculation of reach scale sediment volumes copyright 2000 john wiley sons ltd

quantifying submerged fluvial topography using hyperspatial resolution uas imagery and structure from motion photogrammetry quantifying the topography of rivers and their associated bedforms has been a fundamental concern of fluvial geomorphology for decades such data acquired at high temporal and spatial resolutions are increasingly in demand for process oriented investigations of flow hydraulics sediment dynamics and in stream habitat in these riverine environments the most challenging region for topographic measurement is the wetted submerged channel generally dry bed topography and submerged bathymetry are measured using different methods and technology this adds to the costs logistical challenges and data processing requirements of comprehensive river surveys however some technologies are capable of measuring the submerged topography through water photogrammetry and bathymetric lidar are capable of reasonably accurate measurements of channel beds in clear water whilst the cost of bathymetric lidar remains high and its resolution relatively coarse the recent developments in photogrammetry using structure from motion sfm algorithms promise a fundamental shift in the accessibility of topographic data for a wide range of settings here we present results demonstrating the potential of so called sfm photogrammetry for quantifying both exposed and submerged fluvial topography at the mesohabitat scale we show that imagery acquired from a rotary winged unmanned aerial system uas can be processed in order to produce digital elevation models dems with hyperspatial resolutions c 0 02 m for two different river systems over channel lengths of 50 100 m errors in submerged areas range from 0 016 m to 0 089 m which can be reduced to between 0 008 m and 0 053 m with the application of a simple refraction correction this work therefore demonstrates the potential of uas platforms and sfm photogrammetry as a single technique for surveying fluvial topography at the mesoscale defined as lengths of channel from c 10 m to a few hundred metres this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

very high spatial resolution imagery for channel bathymetry and topography from an unmanned mapping controlled platform the increasing availability of aerial photography and satellite imagery offers new possibilities for characterizing river morphology the precision of new very high resolution vhr images allows smaller scale objects within river corridors to be studied high survey frequencies provide increased opportunities for the monitoring of river restoration following this evolution in platform technology a small radio controlled motorized vehicle flying at low altitude was used to study both channel water depth and gravel bar geometry the vhr imagery provided by this equipment allowed both channel bathymetry and a high accuracy photogrammetric digital elevation model dem to be realized using case studies from the ain and the drome rivers in france the accuracy of the results is presented and the various challenges associated with the new platform are discussed one significant issue is that due to the low elevation of the survey the coverage of a target area is usually based on several photographs which leads to variations in illumination conditions that stem from atmospheric changes the images were processed to minimize this source of error but a number of issues have yet to be resolved bathymetric models with r2 values between 0 59 and 0 90 were created in spite of the lack of channel bed homogeneity at the various sites the gravel bar was also effectively mapped and the photogrammetrically predicted dem provided a 5 10 cm pixel resolution with a vertical precision between 2 and 40 cm according to the position within the image this paper shows that despite unstable image acquisition unmanned radio controlled platforms provide significant advantages for the study of river processes offering a flexible very high resolution data source for both channel bathymetry and gravel bar topography copyright 2007 john wiley sons ltd

hyperscale terrain modelling of braided rivers fusing mobile terrestrial laser scanning and optical bathymetric mapping quantifying the morphology of braided rivers is a key task for understanding braided river behaviour in the last decade developments in geomatics technologies and associated data processing methods have transformed the production of precise reach scale topographic datasets nevertheless generating accurate digital elevation models dems remains a demanding task particularly in fluvial systems this paper identifies a threefold set of challenges associated with surveying these dynamic landforms complex relief inundated shallow channels and high rates of sediment transport and terms these challenges the morphological wetted channel and mobility problems respectively in an attempt to confront these issues directly this paper presents a novel survey methodology that combines mobile terrestrial laser scanning and non metric aerial photography with data reduction and surface modelling techniques to render dems from the resulting very high resolution datasets the approach is used to generate and model a precise dense topographic dataset for a 2 5 km reach of the braided rees river new zealand data were acquired rapidly between high flow events and incorporate over 5 x 109 raw survey observations with point densities of 1600 pts m 2 on exposed bar and channel surfaces a detailed error analysis of the resulting sub metre resolution is described to quantify dem quality across the entire surface model this reveals unparalleled low vertical errors for such a large and complex surface model between 0 03 and 0 12 m in exposed and inundated areas of the model respectively copyright 2013 john wiley sons ltd

uas based remote sensing of fluvial change following an extreme flood event the effects of large floods on river morphology are variable and poorly understood in this study we apply multi temporal datasets collected with small unmanned aircraft systems uass to analyze three dimensional morphodynamic changes associated with an extreme flood event that occurred from 19 to 23 june 2013 on the elbow river alberta we documented reach scale spatial patterns of erosion and deposition using high resolution 4 5 cm pixel orthoimagery and digital elevation models dems produced from photogrammetry significant bank erosion and channel widening occurred with an average elevation change of 0 24 m the channel pattern was reorganized and overall elevation variation increased as the channel adjusted to full mobilization of most of the bed surface sediments to test the extent to which geomorphic changes can be predicted from initial conditions we compared shear stresses from a two dimensional hydrodynamic model of peak discharge to critical shear stresses for bed surface sediment sizes we found no relation between modeled normalized shear stresses and patterns of scour and fill confirming the complex nature of sediment mobilization and flux in high magnitude events however comparing modeled peak flows through the pre and post flood topography showed that the flood resulted in an adjustment that contributes to overall stability with lower percentages of bed area below thresholds for full mobility in the post flood geomorphic configuration overall this work highlights the potential of uas based remote sensing for measuring three dimensional changes in fluvial settings and provides a detailed analysis of potential relationships between flood forces and geomorphic change copyright 2015 john wiley sons ltd

multicomponent ocean bottom cable data in gas hydrate investigation offshore of norway 1 a multicomponent seismic ocean bottom cable obc line from the northern flank of the storegga slide offshore of norway is the first obc line ever acquired over a gas hydrate related bottom simulating reflector bsr the seismic data are of very good quality and display strong p s converted wave reflections for the whole sediment column all p s reflections follow the sediment layers and are therefore interpreted to be caused by increased shear modulus and density due to sediment compaction no p s reflections are associated with the bsr along this line indicating that the gas hydrate bearing sediments at the base of the hydrate stability zone are not stiff enough to increase the shear modulus of the sediments to produce p s converted wave reflections seismic interpretation and seismic stratigraphic modeling suggest that the bsr in this area is a contrast in compressional wave velocity only mainly caused by small amounts of free gas confined to dipping sediment layers beneath the bsr gas hydrate saturation above the bsr tentatively estimated to be about 1 1 5 of the sediment pore space is most likely too low to distinguish between different models for microscale gas hydrate distribution

organic petrography and geochemical characterization of the upper cretaceous second white specks and upper belle fourche alloformations west central alberta analysis of local maturity anomalies abstract the second white specks is an enigmatic unconventional shale play in the western canada foreland basin wcfb this play has an inconsistent production performance that has impacted exploration and production risk preventing extensive development in this contribution geochemical properties are studied with the purpose to identify possible geochemical factors that could contribute to the production variability of this unconventional petroleum system the studied succession consists of the second white specks sws and upper belle fourche ubf alloformations which are part of the sws shale play organic petrology and rock eval pyrolysis were combined to characterize the organic matter om and assess om richness thermal maturity and hydrocarbon generation potential in the foredeep section of the basin the results show that the om richness and hydrocarbon generation potential in this area is good and comparison with other studies show that they do not exhibit major lateral variations the kerogen is marine type ii and is dominated by liptinite vitrinite inertinite macerals and solid bitumen alginite and bituminite are the most abundant macerals altered bituminite provides evidence of anaerobic bacteria degradation there is a modest contribution of inertinite that may be responsible for a dilution effect of the pyrolyzable carbon the thermal maturity indicators in this study such as vitrinite reflectance tmax and alginite uv fluorescence color indicate that the controls on thermal maturity and hydrocarbon generation are not well understood there are lateral short scale variations or maturity anomalies that require further investigation to reduce the exploration risk

catchment scale mapping of surface grain size in gravel bed rivers using airborne digital imagery 1 this study develops and assesses two methods for estimating median surface grain sizes using digital image processing from centimeter resolution airborne imagery digital images with ground resolutions of 3 cm and 10 cm were combined with field calibration measurements to establish predictive relationships for grain size as a function of both local image texture and local image semivariance independently acquired grain size data were then used to assess the algorithm performance results showed that for the 3 cm imagery both local image semivariance and texture are highly sensitive to median grain size with semivariance being a better predictor than image texture however in the case of 10 cm imagery sensitivity of image semivariance and texture to grain size was poor and this scale of imagery was found to be unsuitable for grain size estimation this study therefore demonstrates that local image properties in very high resolution digital imagery allow for automated grain size measurement using image processing and remote sensing methods

graphitization of organic matter and fluid deposited graphite in palaeoproterozoic birimian black shales of the kaya goren greenstone belt burkina faso west africa palaeoproterozoic black shales form an essential part of the birimian volcanosedimentary belt in burkina faso west africa the mean rmax values and the atomic h c values of the bulk carbonaceous matter bcm together with rock structures and mineral assemblages indicate that these carbon rich rocks were metamorphosed to sub greenschist and low grade greenschist facies x ray diffraction reveals that the 002 graphite peak width in half maximum fwhm ranges from 0 43 to 0 71 2 in sub greenschist facies and from 0 27 to 0 41 2 in greenschist facies rocks but the d 002 values in both groups of rocks are approximately the same 3 35 a the bcm of individual samples is composed of particles with very variable shape reflectance and raman spectra type i particles that predominate in sub greenschist facies are fine grained irregular or elongate bodies 1 to 3 m in size their maximum reflectance rmax ranges between 2 5 and 8 2 and raman parameters r1 and r2 range from 0 5 to 1 4 and 0 5 to 0 8 respectively type ii particles are lath shaped up to 40 m large bodies commonly arranged parallel to white mica flakes the number of these particles increases from sub greenschist to greenschist facies maximum reflectance varies between 6 and 11 2 and r1 and r2 raman parameters range from 0 05 to 0 7 and from 0 1 to 0 5 respectively type iii particles occur in hydrothermally altered and sheared rocks these are nodular aggregates composed of grains up to 10 m in size this type of particles has very high reflectance rmax 11 15 and its raman spectra indicate a very high degree of structural ordering corresponding to well ordered graphite type i particles represent original organic matter in the metasediments type ii particles are believed to have been formed either in situ by solid state transformation of type i particles or by crystallization from metamorphic fluids gradual graphitization of the type i organic particles and the growth of lath shaped type ii particles from a fluid phase is assumed to have taken place under the peak metamorphic conditions associated with the burial of birimian sediments during thrust tectonism progressive tectonic accretion and crustal thickening during the d1 event of the eburnean orogeny the growth of equant high reflectance postkinematic nodular aggregates of type iii particles is ascribed to the reduction of co2 rich fluids during a hydrothermal event associated with late eburnean d2 exhumation and strike slip movements type i carbonaceous particles were only slightly affected by high temperature low pressure contact metamorphism during intrusion of late eburnean magmatic bodies whereas formation of type ii or iii particles was not recorded in contact metamorphosed rocks at all

morphodynamic signatures of braiding mechanisms as expressed through change in sediment storage in a gravel bed river previous flume based research on braided channels has revealed four classic mechanisms that produce braiding central bar development chute cutoff lobe dissection and transverse bar conversion the importance of these braiding mechanisms relative to other morphodynamic mechanisms in shaping braided rivers has not yet been investigated in the field here we exploit repeat topographic surveys of the braided river feshie uk to explore the morphodynamic signatures of different mechanisms of change in sediment storage our results indicate that when combined the four classic braiding mechanisms do indeed account for the majority of volumetric change in storage in the study reach 61 total chute cutoff traditionally thought of as an erosional braiding mechanism appears to be the most common braiding mechanism in the study river but was more the result of deposition during the construction of diagonal bars than it was the erosion of the chute three of the four classic mechanisms appeared to be largely net aggradational in nature whereas secondary mechanisms including bank erosion channel incision and bar sculpting were primarily net erosional although the role of readily erodible banks in facilitating braiding is often conceptualized we show that bank erosion is as or more important a mechanism in changes in sediment storage than most of the braiding mechanisms and is the most important secondary mechanism 17 of total change the results of this study provide one of the first field tests of the relative importance of braiding mechanisms observed in flume settings

effects of riparian vegetation on topographic change during a large flood event rio puerco new mexico usa 1 the spatial distribution of riparian vegetation can strongly influence the geomorphic evolution of dryland rivers during large floods we present the results of an airborne lidar differencing study that quantifies the topographic change that occurred along a 12 km reach of the lower rio puerco new mexico during an extreme event in 2006 extensive erosion of the channel banks took place immediately upstream of the study area where tamarisk and sandbar willow had been removed within the densely vegetated study reach we measure a net volumetric change of 578 050 490 000 m3 with 88 3 of the total aggradation occurring along the floodplain and channel and 76 7 of the erosion focusing on the vertical valley walls the sediment derived from the devegetated reach deposited within the first 3 6 km of the study area with depth decaying exponentially with distance downstream elsewhere floodplain sediments were primarily sourced from the erosion of valley walls superimposed on this pattern are the effects of vegetation and valley morphology on sediment transport sediment thickness is seen to be uniform among sandbar willows and highly variable within tamarisk groves these reach scale patterns of sedimentation observed in the lidar differencing likely reflect complex interactions of vegetation flow and sediment at the scale of patches to individual plants

spatio temporal patterns of channel changes in response to a major flood event the case of the magra river central northern italy on october 25th 2011 the magra river central northern italy was affected by a significant flood event with an estimated return interval ranging from 30 to 200 years this study investigates the morphological responses of the magra river to this major flood event with the aims of i documenting the channel changes which occurred in response to the flood ii analysing this response within the context of the historical trend of width changes iii investigating the possible factors controlling the spatial pattern and the intensity of the observed changes significant channel widening was documented along the entire length studied about 34 km ranging from 3 to 90 of the pre flood channel width braided reaches were characterized by the most severe planimetric changes although characterized by high rates of change these variations are however amply included in the historical range of channel width variability over approximately the last 150 years from 1877 to present day and are comparable with though generally lower than the channel width of the 1950s statistical analyses simple and multiple regressions between the observed changes in channel width and a series of selected morphological and hydraulic controlling factors showed no robust correlations to explain the spatial pattern and the variability of channel adjustments instead major adjustments occurred along reaches characterized by the confluence of those streams draining the sub catchments where the storm was concentrated copyright 2014 john wiley sons ltd

thresholds and the spatial variability of flood power during extreme floods abstract analysis of the effects of extreme events on overall landscape form has shifted geomorphic attention away from a focus on the magnitude and frequency relationship of discharge to a focus on flood power this paper analyzes the variation in flood power both at a station and downstream in a basin of differing lithologies and discusses the geologic and geomorphic controls on flood power design floods ranging from the 2 year discharge tothe 500 year discharge are routed trough a drainage basin and channel boundary shear stress and unit stream power are calculated using hec 2 along 21 cross valley transects because of the strong lithologic control on valley width and channel slope an irregular downstream pattern of flood power emerges which reflects primarily the pattern in valley width narrow valleys correspond to a greater percent of channel conveyance during large magnitude floods and increasing rates of depth increases thus maximizing flood power in these zones the opposite occurs in anomalously wide valleys where flood power is minimized a downstream spatial pattern emerges reflecting both local and general controls for a given probability event flood power varies at least threefold within the basin with a maximum occuring in a specific downstream section holding flood power constant produces an extremely wide range in flow probabilities in order to establish a link between critical flood power magnitude and flow frequency minimum flood powers are developed from an analysis of previous work on catastrophic flooding for humid alluvial channels these minimum thresholds tentatively correspond to 100 n m2 or 300 w m2 for shear stress and unit stream power respectively discharges required to attain these critical flood powers vary from events roughly twice the 100 year flood to a maximum of roughly 18 times the discharge of the 100 year flood

upper limits for vitrinite and bituminite reflectance as coalification parameters abstract reflectance versus depth diagrams for vitrinite from carboniferous beds and for bituminite from the late permian kupferschiefer in northern germany led to the conclusion that there may exist upper limits for the applicability of reflectance as a maturity parameter at 6 r r and 8 r max for vitrinite or 4 r r and 5 r max for bituminite the vitrinite threshold values may mark the end of the diagenesis anchimetamorphism field and the boundary between meta anthracite and semi graphite

petrographic classification of oil shales abstract oil shales are a diverse group of rocks that contain mineral matter and organic matter the organic matter is derived from terrestrial lacustrine and marine organisms the maceral nomeclature system of the international committee for coal petrology used widely in coal petrography and petroleum source rock studies is suitable for describing the organic matter in oil shales provided the terminology for organic matter derived from algal precursors is divided into two submacerals telalginite and lamalginite macerals of the liptinite group including alginite are volumetrically important constituents of oil shales and are the major source of the shale oil that is formed during pyrolysis liptinite is easily characterized and quantified using fluorescence mode microscopy and thus the type and abundance of liptinite can be used as a basis for a petrographic classification of oil shales oil shales are grouped using the environmental of deposition as the discriminatory criterion into the three primary divisions of terrestrial lacustrine and marine oil shales type and abundance of liptinite is then used to subdivide these three groups into cannel coal torbanite lamosite further subdivided into rundle type lamosite and green river type lamosite marinite tasmanite and kuckersite

making riverscapes real abstract the structure and function of rivers have long been characterized either by 1 qualitative models such as the river continuum concept or serial discontinuity concept which paint broad descriptive portraits of how river habitats and communities vary or 2 quantitative models such as downstream hydraulic geometry which rely on a limited number of measurements spread widely throughout a river basin in contrast authors such as fausch et al 2002 and wiens 2002 proposed applying existing quantitative spatially comprehensive ecology and landscape ecology methods to rivers this new framework for river sciences which preserves variability and spatial relationships is called a riverine landscape or a riverscape application of this riverscape concept requires information on the spatial distribution of organism scale habitats throughout entire river systems this article examines the ways in which recent technical and methodological developments can allow us to quantitatively implement and realize the riverscape concept using 3 cm true color aerial photos and 5 m resolution elevation data from the river tromie scotland we apply the newly developed fluvial information system which integrates a suite of cutting edge high resolution remote sensing methods in a spatially explicit framework this new integrated approach allows for the extraction of primary fluvial variables such as width depth particle size and elevation from these first order variables we derive second order geomorphic and hydraulic variables including velocity stream power froude number and shear stress channel slope can be approximated from available topographic data based on these first and second order variables we produce riverscape metrics that begin to explore how geomorphic structures may influence river habitats including connectivity patchiness of habitat and habitat distributions the results show a complex interplay of geomorphic variable and habitat patchiness that is not predicted by existing fluvial theory riverscapes thus challenge the existing understanding of how rivers structure themselves and will force development of new paradigms

carbon isotope composition of lower palaeozoic kerogen effects of maturation abstract the carbon isotope composition of type i kerogen from a marine organic rich black shale deposit of late cambrian age the alum shale formation of southern scandinavia varies from 28 to 30 pdb the thermal maturity is rated by hi oi index t max pi and vitrinite reflectance values and published conodont alteration data the results range from immature conditions with regard to oil generation in central sweden to overmature and submetamorphic conditions in southern sweden denmark and norway in the immature areas the shale is found to be extremely hydrogen rich and oil prone hydrocarbon potential up to 85 kg per ton rock the observed 13 variations are not correlated with maturity it is therefore concluded that thermal maturation processes have no influence on the isotopic composition of a purely marine kerogen the observed range in lower palaeozoic 13 kerogen values 27 to 31 is in accordance with published results from other sedimentary basins

algal bloom episodes and the formation of bituminite and micrinite in hydrocarbon source rocks evidence from the devonian and mississippian northern williston basin canada organic petrology incident light microscopy of middle devonian inter reef laminates and devonian mississippian epicontinental black shales williston basin canada indicates that algal bloom episodes and consequential bacterial activity played a significant role in the accumulation of amorphous bituminite iii rich organic microfacies corpohuminite like algal akinete cells produced by filamentous algae during algal bloom periods are persistent maceral inclusions within the potential hydrocarbon source rock intervals these cells ro mean range 0 24 0 90 are regarded as positive indicators of stressful palaeoenvironmental conditions unicellular tasmanites and leiosphaeridia marine alginite and variably degraded alginite remnants ghosts within the amorphous kerogen may be products of cell lysis photo oxidation and microbial alteration these processes are characteristic of algal bloom periods minute ca 1 m spheroidal and coccoidal bacteria like macerals are dispersed throughout the bituminite iii network attesting to the importance of microbial activity within the water column and sediment during and after organic matter accumulation dispersed granules laminations and replacement textures of micrinite like macerals within bituminite iii are interpreted as remnants of microbial alteration rather than a residual product of thermal maturation and hydrocarbon generation

sediment supply and the development of the coarse surface layer in gravel bedded rivers the bed surface of most gravel rivers is considerably coarser than the sub surface or the gravel load transported over it a phenomenon affecting river dynamics morphology and ecology the coarse surface layer often called an armour or pavement has been attributed to an inherent tendency for small grains to settle between larger ones during active transport of all sizes1 2 and to selective erosion or trapping of finer particles when the coarse grains are relatively immobile3 4 where bedload supply is cut off below dams selective erosion causes coarsening5 6 using a simple quantitative model we propose that surface coarsening develops in gravel bedded rivers when local bedload supply from upstream is less than the ability of the flow to transport that load we present laboratory results which support this hypothesis and show that supply reduction causes changes in bedforms and progressive confinement of active bedload transport to a narrow band of finer bed surface bordered by a coarse less active bed it may therefore be possible to relate the degree of river bed surface coarsening to sediment supply resulting from land use

solid bitumen bituminite and thermal maturity of the upper jurassic lower cretaceous chia gara formation kirkuk oil field zagros fold belt kurdistan iraq abstract the upper jurassic lower cretaceous chia gara formation a proven marine source rock characterised by predominance of amorphous organic matter aom is known from few outcrops in ne iraq and a number of exploration wells in the zagros fold belt this study presents comprehensive organic petrographic and mineralogical investigations of the dispersed organic matter and rock forming minerals of the tithonian berriasian chia gara formation intersected by the kirkuk well k 109 drilled in the giant kirkuk oil field ne iraq the organic petrographic analyses including incident light microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy clsm were applied to carbonate source rocks with low to moderate organic carbon contents our data demonstrate the predominance of bituminite and solid bitumen among the examined dispersed organic matter followed by oil exudates and oil globule inclusions as well as the presence of minor contributions of alginite i e tasmanites and leiospheridia liptodetrinite and vitrinite based on optical characteristics and clsm spectral fluorescence measurements examinations of bituminite point towards the presence of bituminite type iii the bituminite type iii encloses dark orange fluorescent amorphous components suggesting a genetic relationship either with liptodetrinite and or with solid bitumen the qualitative assessment of solid bitumen reveals several dissimilar forms identified in the analysed samples the photometric and spectral fluorescence measurements point to distinct reflectance values ranging between 0 19 and 0 43 sbrr and lambda max values extending from 515 nm to 590 nm respectively the corresponding results of the solid bitumen exhibit 1 a lack of a relationship with depth and 2 suggest its poor property as a reliable maturity indicator for the examined samples the presence of oil exudates oil globule inclusions and their association with solid bitumen suggests a genetic relation with the examined residues of liquid hydrocarbon phase the performed thermal maturities assessments of dispersed organic matter point towards early mature to peak mature oil window with vitrinite reflectance values ranging between 0 52 vrr at 2801 m to 0 83 vrr at 3089 m depth mineralogical analyses revealed the predominance of calcite over dolomite in the examined limestone to marl lithofacies e g clear rimmed dolomite with localised intensive dolomitisation in the phyllosilicate rich matrix predominance of calcite and siderite is observed followed by zinc blende and pyrite the composition of organic matter in the examined chia gara formation with predominance of bituminite and solid bitumen makes the major marine source rock of iraq s cretaceous petroleum systems distinctive in terms of hydrocarbon generation and migration at an oil window stage as it provides suitable explanations for its generally low hydrogen index hi with only minor terrestrial input in addition the results presented herein can be helpful for future evaluation of thermal maturities and characterisation of optical appearances of dispersed organic matter in carbonates by incident light microscopy and especially by clsm during hydrocarbon prospecting

metamorphic evolution of a very low to low grade metamorphic core complex danubian window in the south carpathians the danubian window characterized by diagenetic to low greenschist facies conditions at a high thermal gradient is evidently of great interest for methodological studies because high metamorphic thermal gradient conditions during low grade metamorphism have received little attention so far the general increase in metamorphic grade from sw to ne in the danubian window is indicated by mineral parageneses studies as well as by illite kubler index ki measurements and organic matter reflectance omr for the first time this study distinguishes between metamorphic conditions related to jurassic ocean floor cretaceous nappe stacking post collisional accommodation and syn kinematic getic detachment metamorphism and cooling after oligocene exhumation the occurrence of the prehnite pumpellyite facies in the severin cosustea units in the southeastern area is the result of cretaceous metamorphism remnants of ocean floor metamorphism prevailed the highest pressure is constrained by the upper stability limit of prehnite to be at around 4 0 kbar the danubian units situated within the diagenetic zone were not below 200 8c due to epidote formation the ki omr and mineral data indicate diagenetic conditions assuming temperatures between 200 and 250 8c pressures between 1 8 and 2 6 kbar were calculated using kinetic and numerical maturity models orogenic collisional cretaceous peak pressure conditions of 4 0 1 0 kbar are found in the danubian nappes not altered by a subsequent syn detachment metamorphic overprint highest temperatures in chloritoid schists and epidote hornblende bearing mylonites have been inferred for samples from the northern border of the danubian window between 300 and 400 8c along a synto post detachment retrograde pressure path post dating the chloritoid formation the occurrence of clinozoisite chlorite quartz suggests temperatures 300 8c in the northwest while the association andalusite quartz and biotite muscovite indicates temperatures between 370 and 400 8c at 3 5 kbar in the northeast it is demonstrated that the slope of the regression lines between ki and omr data gives valuable qualitative information about the relative magnitudes of p and t the slope of the regression line for the danubian window samples indicates normal heat flow conditions during nappe stacking and hyperthermal conditions during the formation of the getic detachment high thermal gradient conditions can easily be explained by partly isothermal decompression during the getic detachment event the elevation of the geotherm being caused by crustal thinning and rapid exhumation of the danubian units probably also a higher heat flux prevailed at the end of the getic detachment at a time when the retrograde chloritoid decomposition reactions took place documenting late stage ht greenschist facies metamorphism from siegesmund s fugenschuh b froitzheim n eds tectonic aspects of the alpine dinaridecarpathian system geological society london special publications 298 281 315 doi 10 1144 sp298 14 0305 8719 08 15 00 the geological society of london 2008 location of the study area and

the use of multi temporal lidar to assess basin scale erosion and deposition following the catastrophic january 2011 lockyer flood se queensland australia advances in remote sensing and digital terrain processing now allow for a sophisticated analysis of spatial and temporal changes in erosion and deposition digital elevation models dems can now be constructed and differenced to produce dems of difference dod which are used to assess net landscape change for morphological budgeting to date this has been most effectively achieved in gravel bed rivers over relatively small spatial scales if the full potential of the technology is to be realised additional studies are required at larger scales and across a wider range of geomorphic features this study presents an assessment of the basin scale spatial patterns of erosion deposition and net morphological change that resulted from a catastrophic flood event in the lockyer creek catchment of se queensland seq in january 2011 multitemporal light detection and ranging lidar dems were used to construct a dod that was then combined with a one dimensional flow hydraulic model hec ras to delineate five major geomorphic landforms including inner channel area within channel benches macrochannel banks and floodplain the lidar uncertainties were quantified and applied together with a probabilistic representation of uncertainty thresholded at a conservative 95 confidence interval the elevation change distribution ecd for the 100 km2 study area indicates a magnitude of elevation change spanning almost 10 m but the mean elevation change of 0 04 m confirms that a large part of the landscape was characterised by relatively low magnitude changes over a large spatial area mean elevation changes varied by geomorphic feature and only two the within channel benches and macrochannel banks were net erosional with an estimated combined loss of 1 815 149 m3 of sediment the floodplain was the zone of major net deposition but mean elevation changes approached the defined critical limit of uncertainty areal and volumetric ecds for this extreme event provide a representative expression of the balance between erosion and deposition and importantly sediment redistribution which is extremely difficult to quantify using more traditional channel planform or cross sectional surveys the ability of lidar to make a rapid and accurate assessment of key geomorphic processes over large spatial scales contributes to our understanding of key processes and as demonstrated here to the assessment of major geomorphological hazards such as extreme flood events

reflectance of vitrinite like macerals as a thermal maturity index for cambrian ordovician alum shale southern scandinavia the middle cambrian to lower ordovician alum shale in southern scandinavia contains kerogen macerals resembling vitrinite the age of this rock unit excludes terrestrially derived vitrinite as an origin for these macerals nevertheless the vitrinite like macerals respond to heating in a way similar to that of suppressed vitrinite in younger shales this similarity is demonstrated both for the natural system where alum shale maturity ranges from immature to low grade metamorphic conditions and for hydrous pyrolysis experiments where an immature sample of alum shale was isothermally heated at temperatures ranging from 280 to 360 degrees c for 72 hr reflectance values from the naturally matured alum shale show an increase in standard deviations i e anisotropy with i creasing maturity and a negative relationship with atomic h c ratios of the total kerogen these relationships are similar to those observed in post ordovician vitrinites comparisons with other vitrinites subjected to hydrous pyrolysis indicate the vitrinite like macerals in the alum shale follow the suppressed vitrinite pathway rather than the coal vitrinite pathway the occurrence of vitrinite like macerals in the alum shale indicates that traditional vitrinite reflectance measurements are useful in evaluating thermal maturity of pre silurian rocks

organic petrographic investigations of the kupferschiefer in northern germany abstract results of an organic petrographic study of the kupferschiefer zechstein upper permian in northern germany are presented because vitrinite occurs only sporadically in this black shale the random reflectance r r of a relatively high reflecting vitrinite like variety of bituminite was measured as a maturity parameter and the problems connected with this procedure were investigated the main organic component is bituminite generally with an abundance of more than 90 sporomorphs and algae are relatively scarce inertinite is usually a trace component and vitrinite is present only in some samples taken close to the coast of the zechstein sea migrabitumen also occurs in small amounts in a few samples the range of the bituminite reflectance values is often considerable and depends on rank anisotropy particle size porosity and shearing interpretation of the reflectance values is made difficult by differences of up to 0 4 r r between layers within the kupferschiefer hydrothermal alteration may also be present the difference between the reflectance of the light and normal varieties of bituminite disappears between 0 9 and 1 2 r r bituminite behaves in a way very similarly to vitrinite during coalification their reflectance is identical between 2 and 4 r r below 2 r r the reflectance of bituminite is lower than that of vitrinite linear regression curves valid up to 4 r r were calculated for r max versus r r and for r r versus r max taking certain limitations into consideration bituminite reflectance may be used as a coalification parameter

a geostatistical framework for quantifying the reach scale spatial structure of river morphology 2 application to restored and natural channels abstract alluvial rivers are shaped by interactions between the bed topography the flow field and the movement of sediment to help refine our understanding of these connections between form and process i developed a geostatistical framework for quantifying the reach scale spatial structure of river morphology described in a companion paper in this study i applied this approach to a restored channel and three disparate reaches of a dynamic natural stream repeat topographic surveys of each site were used to examine relationships between channel change and the variability and organization of the topography for the restored river the development of point bars increased overall morphologic diversity primarily because of greater cross sectional asymmetry the three natural reaches experienced a variety of adjustments ranging from 1 gradual bar growth and bank erosion to 2 extensive deposition followed by channel abandonment and 3 chute cutoff and incision of a new channel in both the restored and natural streams geostatistical analysis which involved variogram modeling calculation of integral metrics and inspection of variogram maps provided an effective informative summary of the observed channel changes the use of dimensionless variables accounted for channel size highlighted differences in spatial structure and enabled a comparison among sites the restored reach had not yet achieved the same degree of heterogeneity as the more pristine channels emphasizing variability and spatial pattern via this geostatistical framework could yield insight on form process interactions and help to quantify geomorphic complexity and habitat heterogeneity in the applied context of river restoration

selective sorting and abrasion of river gravel ii applications most gravel rivers show a tendency for characteristic grain size to decrease in the downstream direction over scales of tens or hundreds of kilometers it has been surmised that this downstream fin