diagenesis and hydrocarbon accumulation brent sandstone jurassic bergen high area north sea diagenesis of brent group sandstones in the bergen high area was studied and related to the history of hydrocarbon maturation and pore fluid environment calcite and kaolinite are low temperature diagenetic precipitates that formed as meteoric pore water entered the brent at the end of brent deposition and later during late cimmerian erosion a major period of feldspar dissolution associated with quartz and illite cementation occurred at huldra field precipitation of diagenetic illite in brent sandstones was closely linked with hydrocarbon maturation in the adjacent viking graben and accumulation of generated fluids in traps at structural highs at huldra field illite k ar ages suggest onset of illite diagenesis in the latest cretaceous initial reservoiring of hydroca bons during the latest paleocene to early eocene 58 ma and filling of the reservoir by early oligocene 38 ma pore water character during illite diagenesis interpreted from oxygen isotope and quartz overgrowth fluid inclusion data was warmer than predicted by burial history analysis and one and a half to two times seawater salinity the incursion of saline isotopically evolved fluids at huldra suggests replacement of paleometeoric water by basin compaction fluid illite k ar ages from veslefrikk field indicate a minimum age of hydrocarbon accumulation at about 30 ma modern pore water chemistry in the brent at veslefrikk is unlike the suggested water chemistry at huldra and indicates that migrating compaction water did not completely displace older fresh connate water this sugge ts that hydrocarbons migrated into veslefrikk as a discrete phase without great volumes of associated compaction water

diagenesis associated with cooling during burial an example from lower cretaceous reservoir sandstones sirt basin libya fluid inclusions in quartz and dolomite cements were used to determine temperature timing origin and function of fluids in the diagenetic evolution of the lower cretaceous upper sarir sandstone sirt basin libya transmitted light backscattered electron and scanning electron microscope sem cathodoluminescence analyses were carried out to determine the paragenesis in quartz overgrowths fluid inclusions along the grain overgrowth boundary yield homogenization temperatures from 130 to 141 degreesc and salinities between seawater and freshwater aqueous fluid inclusions in later quartz overgrowths have homogenization temperatures from 114 to 129 degreesc and salinities between 18 and 21 wt nacl equivalent fluid inclusions in dolomite have variable homogenization temperatures 120 141 degreesc and high salinities 20 22 wt nacl equivalent this trend in homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions is interpreted as the result of quartz cement precipitation in the presence of hot low salinity connate fluids connected with an increased heat flow related to regional rifting later quartz overgrowths precipitated during regional cooling concurrent with the end of the rifting and after invasion of saline fluids possibly brought in from adjacent areas or refluxed downward during or after times of evaporite deposition this diagenetic history linked to a decreasing heat flow could be common in other aborted rift basins which are important targets for oil exploration

diagenesis in north sea hpht clastic reservoirs consequences for porosity and overpressure prediction upper jurassic clastic reservoirs of the fulmar formation in the central north sea possess anomalously high porosities for their present day depth of burial reservoirs with the highest overpressures have the highest porosities possess less macroquartz cement and have significant secondary porosity quartz cementation in hpht high pressure high temperature reservoirs has been inhibited by a combination of factors high overpressure limited fluid movement presence of early grain coating cements high pore fluid salinity and possibly petroleum migration secondary porosity has contributed to reservoir quality with an average of 4vol extra porosity created quantitative prediction of porosity would require an improved depositional model for the fulmar accurate thermal and pressure modelling and detailed knowledge of field filling and leakage histories theoretical calculations indicate that diagenetic reactions occurring in the fulmar formation smectite illitisation and quartz cementation did not generate significant overpressure because seal permeabilities were too high and the rate of volume increase associated with the reactions too small therefore diagenetic reactions can effectively be ignored when modelling overpressure generation in the central north sea although cementation will affect rock permeability and rates of fluid dissipation

a planktic foraminiferal transfer function for the southern south atlantic ocean abstract quantitative analysis of planktic foraminiferal assemblages in 81 surface sediment samples from 20 s subtropical gyre to 55 s antarctic zone in the south atlantic ocean documents a close relationship between species distribution and austral summer surface water temperature a data set including the abundance pattern of 25 taxa and morphotypes was used to establish a transfer function based on the definition of five factors altogether these factors account for 97 of the total variance of the original data and their geographic distribution is closely linked to sea surface temperatures the transfer function f81 25 5 allows reconstruction of late quaternary summer surface water temperatures in the boundary region between the antarctic cold and subtropical warm water realm 0 5 to 26 0 c the statistical error for modern data is 1 3 c

petroleum accumulation in the deeply buried reservoirs in the northern dongying depression bohai bay basin china new insights from fluid inclusions natural gas geochemistry and 1 d basin modeling abstract the deeply buried reservoirs dbrs from the lijin shengtuo and minfeng areas in the northern dongying depression of the bohai bay basin china exhibit various petroleum types black oil gas condensates and pressure systems normal pressure overpressure with high reservoir temperatures 154 185 c the pressure volume temperature composition pvtx evolution of petroleum and the processes of petroleum accumulation were reconstructed using integrated data from fluid inclusions stable carbon isotope data of natural gas and one dimensional basin modeling to trace the petroleum accumulation histories the results suggest that 1 the gas condensates in the lijin area originated from the thermal cracking of highly mature kerogen in deeper formations two episodes of gas condensate charging which were evidenced by the trapping of non fluorescent gas condensate inclusions occurred between 29 25 5 ma and 8 6 5 0 ma with strong overpressure pressure coefficient pc 1 68 1 70 resulting in the greatest contribution to the present day gas condensate accumulation 2 the early yellow fluorescent oil charge was responsible for the present day black oil accumulation in well t764 while the late blue white oil charge together with the latest kerogen cracked gas injection resulted in the present day volatile oil accumulation in well t765 and 3 the various fluorescent colors yellow blue white and blue and the degree of bubble filling fv 2 3 72 5 of the oil inclusions in the minfeng area show a wide range of thermal maturity api gravity ranges from 30 to 50 representing the charging of black oil to gas condensates the presence of abundant blue white fluorescent oil inclusions with high grain obtaining oil inclusion goi values 35 8 usually 5 in oil reservoirs indicate that a paleo oil accumulation with an approximate api gravity of 39 40 could have occurred before 25 ma and gas from oil cracking in deeper formations was injected into the paleo oil reservoir from 2 8 ma to 0 ma resulting in the present day gas condensate oil accumulation this oil and gas accumulation model results in three oil and gas distribution zones 1 normal oil reservoirs at relatively shallow depth 2 gas condensate reservoirs that originated from the mixture of oil cracking gas with a paleo oil reservoir at intermediate depth and 3 oil cracked gas reservoirs at deeper depth the retardation of organic matter maturation and oil cracking by high overpressure could have played an important role in the distribution of different origins of gas condensate accumulations in the lijin and minfeng areas the application of oil and gas accumulation models in this study is not limited to the dongying depression and can be applied to other overpressured rift basins

effect of dolomitization on isotopic records from neoproterozoic carbonates in southwestern mongolia abstract carbon isotope values from shallow marine carbonate rocks including those from many dolomitized successions are the primary lens through which we interpret the ancient carbon cycle carbon isotopes are typically regarded as being robust to alteration during dolomitization due to the high carbon content of the rock compared to the fluid however chemostratigraphic studies of the neoproterozoic tsagaan olom group in southwestern mongolia exhibit 3 12 differences in carbon isotopes between stratigraphically equivalent limestone and dolomitized successions to understand the origins of this geochemical variation we conducted detailed geological mapping petrographic isotopic 13c 18o 44 40ca and 26mg and fluid inclusion analyses of carbonates in the taishir ol and shuurgat formations of the tsagaan olom group stratigraphic and textural constraints distinguish fabric retentive early dolomitization dolomitization event 1 that occurred in the taishir and ol formations during and soon after deposition of the ca 635 ma marinoan cap dolomite of the ol formation and fabric destructive dolomitization that occurred after the deposition of the younger shuurgat formation dolomitization event 2 either prior to or during early cambrian foreland basin formation the dolomitizing fluids moved through porous stratigraphic units bound by impermeable shale of the khongor and zuun arts formations dolomitization homogenized the isotopic records of all neoproterozoic tsagaan olom group dolomites undolomitized successions show more extreme negative excursions from more positive background values the salinity and isotopic values of seawater the dolomitizing fluids and the original platform carbonate were estimated from fluid inclusion data and a numerical model of diagenetic dolomitization these results demonstrate that both early and late dolomitization can have a profound effect on carbon isotopic records of carbonates however with a multi isotope approach the original carbon isotopic composition of platform top carbonate can be distinguished from that of seawater and other dolomitizing fluids

reply to a discussion of evidence for resetting of fluid inclusion temperatures from quartz cements in oilfields by osborne and haszeldine 1993

cement stratigraphy of pennsylvanian holder formation sacramento mountains new mexico cyclic strata of the holder formation virgilian new mexico were deposited across a pennsylvanian shelf to basin transition during a time when sea level fluctuated over tens of meters cement stratigraphy studies indicate abundant calcite precipitation from low temperature fresh water within shelf shelf crest and shelf edge marine limestones freshwater cementation occurred during 15 periods of intraformational subaerial exposure these early cements are least abundant in basin and lagoon limestones the distribution of the early cement zones suggests that cementation was controlled by paleotopography stratigraphic position below subaerial exposure surfaces lithology and configuration of the paleoaquifer system distribution of early calcite cements provides new data for interpretation of cycles diagenetic systems and porosity evolution in petroleum reservoirs trace element analyses support a low temperature freshwater origin for the early cements cement stratigraphy studies fluid inclusion analyses and trace element analyses indicate a later cement that occluded remaining limestone porosity precipitated from a sodium and calcium rich brine at a temperature of about 100 c stratigraphic reconstruction dates this cementation as cretaceous or later fluorescent oil filled fluid inclusions were trapped along fractures in the late cement indicating oil migration during or after late stage cementation

synthetic fluid inclusions vii re equilibration of fluid inclusions in quartz during laboratory simulated metamorphic burial and uplift p t conditions inferred from fluid inclusions in metamorphic rocks often disagree with the values predicted from mineral equilibria calculations these observations suggest that inclusions formed during early stages of regional metamorphism continue to re equilibrate during burial and subsequent uplift in response to differential pressure p t conditions accompanying burial and uplift were experimentally simulated by initially forming pure h2o inclusions in quartz at elevated temperatures and pressures and then re equilibrating the inclusions in the presence of a 20 wt nacl solution such that final confining pressures ranged from 5 kbar above to 4 kbar below the initial internal pressure of the inclusions at the temperature of re equilibration in all samples re equilibrated at confining pressures below the internal pressure some inclusions were formed that had compositions of 20 wt nacl and densities in accord with the final p t conditions additionally some inclusions were observed to contain fluids of intermediate salinities between 0 and 20 wt nacl densities of these inclusions were also consistent with formation at the re equilibration p t conditions the remainder of the fluid inclusions observed in these samples contained pure h2o and their homogenization temperatures corresponded to densities intermediate between the initial and final p t conditions in short term experiments 7 days where the initial internal overpressure exceeded 1 kbar no inclusions were found that contained the original density and none were found to have totally re equilibrated instead most h2o inclusions re equilibrated until their internal pressures were between 750 and 1500 bars above the confining pressure regardless of the initial pressure differential in a long term experiment 52 days inclusions re equilibrated at a lower confining pressure than the initial internal pressure displayed homogenization temperatures corresponding to a range in final internal pressures between 0 kbar i e total re equilibration and 1 2 kbar above the confining pressure in experiments where the confining pressure during re equilibration exceeded the initial internal pressure densities of pure h2o inclusions increased to values intermediate between the initial and final p t conditions additionally these inclusions were generally surrounded by a three dimensional halo of smaller inclusions also of intermediate density resulting in a texture similar to that previously ascribed to decrepitation from internal overpressure in extreme cases where confining pressures were 4 5 kbar above the initial pressure the parent inclusion almost completely closed leaving only the three dimensional array of small 5 m inclusions the outline of which may be several times the volume of the original inclusion groups of such inclusions closely resemble textures commonly observed in medium to high grade metamorphic rocks inclusions containing 10 and 42 wt nacl solutions trapped at 600 c and 3 kbar were re equilibrated at 600 c and 1 kbar for 5 days in dry argon to evaluate the importance of h2o diffusion as a mechanism of lowering the inclusion bulk density salinities of re equilibrated inclusions obtained from freezing point depressions and halite dissolution temperatures indicate that original compositions were preserved density changes similar to those previously described were noted in these experiments in inclusions showing no visible microfractures therefore density variations observed in inclusions in this study re equilibrated under rapid deformation conditions are considered to result from a change in the inclusion volume without significant loss of contents by diffusion or leakage

relationship between diagenesis and reservoir quality in sandstones of the garn formation haltenbanken mid norwegian continental shelf a quantitative model is proposed for the dependence of porosity and permeability on diagenesis in subarkosic arenites of the middle jurassic garn formation porosity variation is controlled by the combined effects of compaction and quartz cementation in general more porosity has been lost by compaction than by quartz cementation but compactional porosity loss appears to have occurred relatively early in the burial history before burial below 2 km below the sea floor thus progressive reduction of the total porosity with increasing burial below 2 km results mainly from quartz cementation permeability is a function of the abundance of intergranular macroporosity which is interpreted to be a measure of effective porosity at depths less than 3 5 km below the sea fl or intergranular macroporosity generally comprises more than 50 percent of the total porosity but at greater depth as total porosity decreases below about 16 percent the ratio of effective to ineffective porosity drops below one this depth corresponds to the onset of extensive illitization and grain dissolution which results in major reorganization of the pore system generation of secondary porosity by feldspar dissolution appears not to have been beneficial to reservoir quality in the garn formation but it is regarded as an intrinsic part of the overall process of porosity destruction with increasing diagenesis

an integrated thermal and isotopic study of the diagenesis of the brent group alwyn south u k north sea abstract the petrography fluid inclusion thermometry and isotope geochemistry of diagenetic cements are used to reconstruct the pore fluid history of the middle jurassic brent group reservoir sandstones in the alwyn south area of the u k north sea the study focuses on a relatively limited area of three adjacent reservoir compartments at successively higher structural levels the cement assemblage of kaolinite quartz and illite has resulted in severe deterioration of otherwise good reservoir quality early precipitation of vermiform and late blocky kaolinite was succeeded by a period of relatively intense illite precipitation temperature estimates for kaolinite precipitation of 80 c and 18o of 15 3 suggest co existing fluids of 18o 3 quartz cementation overlapped both kaolinite and illite formation fluid inclusion data indicate that quartz cementation took place at temperatures of 109 7 c pore fluid salinities were 4 wt nacl with a h2o o isotopic composition of 1 o 0 5 smow the fluids which precipitated coexisting illite were compositionally homogeneous with equilibrium 18o water compositions of 0 5 smow illite sd values range from 33 to 50 smow these fluid inclusion and isotopic data suggest that both quartz and illite were precipitated from pore waters with a uniform marine signature this is consistent with the predominantly marine to paralic depositional context of the brent group in alywn south illite precipitation was followed by hydrocarbon emplacement between the middle eocene and lower oligocene

origin and consequences of cyclic ice rafting in the northeast atlantic ocean during the past 130 000 years deep sea sediment cores recovered from the northeast atlantic ocean were examined in order to elucidate the influence of the earth s orbital parameters on major ice rafting analyses of coarse grained ice rafted debris and planktonic foraminifers revealed a strong reaction to the precession signal since 130 000 yr b p dropstone layers have been deposited each half period of a precessional cycle 11 000 1000 yr ice rafting occurs during times of winter minimum summer maximum insolation and summer minimum winter maximum insolation in the first case high summer insolation forces meltwater discharge from the ice sheets into the polar seas which subsequently enhances formation of sea ice during the winter in the second case growth of continental ice enhances iceberg production which also leads to a salinity reduction of surface seawater both situations result in a southward penetration of polar water thus the marine record of dropstones documents ice rafting not only during weichselian stades but also during cold events within interstades the regularity of ice rafting yields a useful framework to calibrate and elucidate climatic changes not only in the region of the north atlantic ocean but also in remote areas such as the pacific ocean and the antarctic

rapid changes of glacial climate simulated in a coupled climate model abrupt changes in climate termed dansgaard oeschger and heinrich events have punctuated the last glacial period approximately 100 10 kyr ago but not the holocene the past 10 kyr here we use an intermediate complexity climate model to investigate the stability of glacial climate and we find that only one mode of atlantic ocean circulation is stable a cold mode with deep water formation in the atlantic ocean south of iceland however a warm circulation mode similar to the present day atlantic ocean is only marginally unstable and temporary transitions to this warm mode can easily be triggered this leads to abrupt warm events in the model which share many characteristics of the observed dansgaard oeschger events for a large freshwater input such as a large release of icebergs the model s deep water formation is temporarily switched off causing no strong cooling in greenland but warming in antarctica as is observed for heinrich events our stability analysis provides an explanation why glacial climate is much more variable than holocene climate

petrographic and geochemical evidence for origin of paleospeleothems new mexico implications for the application of fluid inclusions to studies of diagenesis abstract solution pockets in the mississippian lake valley formation of new mexico occur below the sub pennsylvanian unconformity large masses of columnar calcite spar form within the solution pockets the calcite shows fine growth banding stalagmitic and stalaclitic fabrics coarse detrital inclusions and truncation of crystal terminations indicating a vadose zone or speleothem origin for the spar the calcite is twinned and cross cut by both stylolites and forroan calcite filled fractures indicating deeper burial after precipitation near the surface the mean 13c of 7 29 and 18o of 3 06 pdb of the speleothem calcite defines the light carbon end member of an inverted j shaped curve of isotopic compositions of pre pennsylvanian components in the host limestone the isotopic relationship between speleothems and pre pennsylvanian components suggests a pre pennsylvanian age for the speleothems the isotopic composition and low magnesium content of speleothem calcite reflects precipitation from meteoric water altered little by stabilization of components of the host rock primary fluid inclusions are either one phase all liquid which indicate calcite precipitation below about 40 50 c or two phase with variable ratios of vapor to liquid the two phase inclusions formed by high temperature reequilibration of low temperature fluid inclusions and entrapment of air and water in the vadose zone the petrographic characteristics and one atmosphere pressure of some of the fluid inclusions suggest precipitation of speleothems in the vadose zone some secondary fluid inclusions are two phase with rather consistent ratios of vapor to liquid these inclusions indicate a late history of relatively high temperatures of the primary fluid inclusions 74 of the two phase population have been refilled with brines of deeper burial and 26 retain fresh water for the one phase fluid inclusions 100 are fresh water therefore the one phase all liquid inclusions in partially reequilibrated low temperature fluid inclusion populations should be viewed as reliable indicators of temperature and salinity of cement precipitation in this and other diagenetic studies

340 000 year centennial scale marine record of southern hemisphere climatic oscillation in order to investigate rapid climatic changes at mid southern latitudes we have developed centennial scale paleoceanographic records from the southwest pacific that enable detailed comparison with antarctic ice core records these records suggest close coupling of mid southern latitudes with antarctic climate during deglacial and interglacial periods glacial sections display higher variability than is seen in antarctic ice cores which implies climatic decoupling between mid and high southern latitudes due to enhanced circum antarctic circulation structural and temporal similarity with the greenland ice core record is evident in glacial sections and suggests a degree of interhemispheric synchroneity not predicted from bipolar ice core correlations

improving past sea surface temperature estimates based on planktonic fossil faunas a new method of past sea surface temperature sst reconstruction based on the modern analog technique prell 1985 and on the indirect approach bartlein et al 1986 has been developed the revised analog method ram applied to planktonic foraminifera this technique leads to significant improvements in modern sst reconstruction with respect to former methods our estimates are characterized by much lower residuals and a better coverage of the observed sst range moreover the error of ram estimates of past ssts is lower than that associated with former reconstructions particularly at middle and high latitudes in low latitudes cold season ssts reconstructed by ram during glacials are 1 3 c lower than previously estimated our results tend thus to reconcile paleoestimates of glacial temperatures based on planktonic microfossils and on continental data in the tropics

fluid inclusion technique for determining maximum temperature in calcite and its comparison to the vitrinite reflectance geothermometer theory laboratory experiments and empirical observation suggest that many aqueous fluid inclusions in calcite reequilibrate during overheating and therefore some homogenization temperatures t h record a temperature close to the maximum reached by the rock this characteristic suggests that aqueous fluid inclusions in calcite can be used to establish maximum temperature t peak to test this hypothesis we have compiled fluid inclusion t peak mean random vitrinite reflectance r m and present day t peak from 46 diverse geologic systems that have been at t peak from 10 4 to 10 6 yr present t peak ranged from 65 to 345 c t h modes and means ranged from 59 to 350 c and r m data ranged from 0 4 to 4 6 spanning the temperature and thermal maturity range associated with burial diagenesis hydrothermal alteration and low grade metamorphism plots of t h and t peak data for systems thought to be currently at maximum temperature demonstrate close agreement between t h and present t peak in sedimentary basins although caution should be applied the relation suggests that t h of aqueous fluid inclusions in calcite may be a useful measure of maximum temperature this study also compares t h to mean random vitrinite reflectance r m to offer further support for the use of t h as a measure of t peak and to provide a better understanding of r m t h correlates well with r m and results in a curve similar to r m vs t peak calibrations determined by other workers the strong correlation correlation coefficient r 0 93 between t peak and r m in these systems suggests that maximum temperature is the major control on thermal maturation

iceberg discharges into the north atlantic on millennial time scales during the last glaciation high resolution studies of north atlantic deep sea cores demonstrate that prominent increases in iceberg calving recurred at intervals of 2000 to 3000 years much more frequently than the 7000 to 10 000 year pacing of massive ice discharges associated with heinrich events the calving cycles correlate with warm cold oscillations called dansgaard oeschger events in greenland ice cores each cycle records synchronous discharges of ice from different sources and the cycles are decoupled from sea surface temperatures these findings point to a mechanism operating within the atmosphere that caused rapid oscillations in air temperatures above greenland and in calving from more than one ice sheet

quartz veins record vertical flow at a graben edge fulmar oil field central north sea the fulmar oil field lies at the faulted western margin of the central graben in the central north sea chalcedony and quartz and later dolomite occur as diagenetic cements in veins within the upper jurassic fulmar formation quartz in one particular vein contains primary aqueous fluid inclusions with homogenization temperatures ranging from 85 degrees to 140 degrees c with a mean of 117 degrees c the measured d18o of the authigenic quartz ranges from 25 1 to 27 1o oo smow the d18o of the water from which most of the quartz precipitated is calculated to have been around 8o oo which is significantly more positive than the measured present day formation water d18o of 4o oo quartz and chalcedony cements in the vein are postdated texturally by dolomite that has a d18o of 23 5o oo smow high salinities are recorded in the fluid inclusions in the quartz the majority ranging from 15 to 19 wt nacl equivalent also the quartz contains inclusions of anhydrite high salinity aqueous inclusions combined with anhydrite inclusions in the quartz and the 18o enriched calculated water composition suggest that the quartz precipitated from an evaporite influenced fluid the same fluid contributed mg for dolomite precipitation more deeply buried sections including the permian zechstein evaporites underlying the fulmar field are the most obvious source of an 18o enriched saline fluid mineralization of the vein resulted from cross formational flow of warm fluids from depth through the zechstein and into the jurassic succession over vertical distances of 600 2000 m fluids most probably migrated up faults and fractures during episodes of salt movement or overpressure release

paleo sea surface temperature calculations in the equatorial east atlantic from mg ca ratios in planktic foraminifera a comparison to sea surface temperature estimates from u37k oxygen isotopes and foraminiferal transfer function we present two 270 kyr paleo sea surface temperature sst records from the equatorial divergence and the south equatorial current derived from mg ca ratios in the planktic foraminifer globigerinoides sacculifer the present study suggests that the magnesium signature of g sacculifer provides a seasonal sst estimate from the upper 50 m of the water column generated during upwelling in austral low latitude fall winter common to both down core records is a glacial interglacial amplitude of 3 3 5 c for the last climatic changes and lower holocene and glacial oxygen isotope stage 2 temperatures compared with interglacial stage 5 5 and glacial stage 6 temperatures respectively the comparison to published sst estimates from alkenones oxygen isotopes and foraminiferal transfer function from the same core material pinpoints discrepancies and conformities between methods

pore fluid evolution in the kimmeridge clay formation of the uk outer moray firth implications for sandstone diagenesis abstract carbonate concretions in upper jurassic kimmeridge clay formation from three overpressured wells provide a detailed record of pore fluid evolution in the outer moray firth northern central graben the concretions contain multiple generations of septarian cements with morphologies ranging from simple cracks to complex fractures discrepancy exists between diagenetic studies which indicate these concretions formed during the initial 1 1 5 km of burial and palaeotemperature predictions based on a thermal history calibrated from the vitrinite reflectance kinetic model which indicate formation at much greater depths of between 1 5 and 2 5 km modelling undertaken for this study indicate that the concretions formed during the initial stages of burial under high heat flows fitting the early diagenetic model for their formation these conclusions have important implications for understanding the cementation of adjacent sandstone reservoirs where cement sequences have similar mineralogy and isotopic compositions with precipitation in the same temperature range from mudrock derived pore fluids early cementation of these sandstones is implied by analogy with the mudrock concretions

reequilibration of fluid inclusions in low temperature calcium carbonate cement calcium carbonate cements precipitated in low temperature near surface vadose environments contain fluid inclusions of variable vapor to liquid ratios that yield variable homogenization temperatures cements precipitated in low temperature phreatic environments contain one phase all liquid fluid inclusions neomorphism of unstable calcium carbonate phases may cause reequilibration of fluid inclusions stable calcium carbonate cements of low temperature origin which have been deeply buried contain fluid inclusions of variable homogenization temperature and variable salt composition most inclusion fluids are not representative of the fluids present during cement growth and are more indicative of burial pore fluids therefore low temperature fluid inclusions probably reequilibrate with burial fluids during progressive burial reequilibration is likely caused by high internal pressures in inclusions which result in hydrofracturing the resulting fluid inclusions population could contain a nearly complete record of burial fluids in which a particular rock has been bathed

evidence for resetting of fluid inclusion temperatures from quartz cements in oilfields abstract quartz is a major pore occluding cement in north sea oilfield reservoir sandstones fluid inclusions yield homogenization temperatures t h which have been thought to represent growth temperatures for the host quartz however early diagenetic inclusions from the detrital grain overgrowth boundary yield excessively high palaeotemperatures which do not match the growth temperatures calculated from the depth of cementation the temperatures of these inclusions increase with present day depth of burial and approach present day reservoir temperatures this suggests that the inclusions have begun to reset towards present day pressure temperature conditions the t h of the inclusions hence represent burial temperatures rather than growth temperatures for the quartz experimental studies indicate that the amount of resetting undergone by an inclusion varies depending on its size shape and fluid composition a relationship between inclusion t h and these variables has been observed in inclusions from deeply buried quartz cements in the north sea

reservoir architecture and diagenesis in downthrown fault block plays the lowlander prospect of block 14 20b witch ground graben outer moray firth uk north sea

patterns of ice rafted detritus in the glacial north atlantic 40 55 n the observation by heinrich 1988 that during the last glacial period much of the input of ice rafted detritus to the north atlantic sediments may have occurred as a succession of catastrophic events rekindled interest on the history of the northern ice sheets over the last glacial period in this paper we present a rapid method to study the distribution of these events both in space and time using whole core low field magnetic susceptibility we report on approximately 20 cores covering the last 150 to 250 kyr well defined patterns of ice rafted detritus appear during periods of large continental ice sheet extent although these are not always associated within their maxima most of the events may be traced across the north atlantic ocean for the six most recent heinrich layers hl two distinct patterns exist hl1 hl2 hl4 hl5 are distributed along the northern boundary of the glacial polar front over most of the north atlantic between 40 and 50 n hl3 is more restricted to the central and eastern part of the northern atlantic the nd sr isotopic composition of the material constituting different heinrich events indicates the different provenance of the two patterns hl3 has a typical scandinavia arctic icelandic young crust signature and the others have a large component of northern quebec and northern west greenland old crust material these isotopic results obtained on core su 9008 from the north american basin are in agreement with the study by jantschik and huon 1992 who used k ar dating of silt and clay size fractions of an eastern basin core me 68 89 these data confirm the large spatial scale of these events and the enormous amount of ice rafted detritus they represent

diagenesis of the sherwood sandstone group in the southern east irish sea basin blocks 110 13 110 14 and 110 15 constraints from preliminary isotopic and fluid inclusion studies

suborbital timescale variability of north atlantic deep water during the past 200 000 years we generated 200 kyr long proxy records of surface and deepwater variability from a subpolar north atlantic core v29 202 enabling us to assess the linkage between surface and deepwater changes on suborbital timescales in particular we used a benthic 13c record to evaluate the deep water response to dansgaard oeschger temperature oscillations and to heinrich events times of massive iceberg delivery to the north atlantic we found that the reduction of north atlantic deep water nadw production was generally associated with cold or dropping sea surface temperatures ssts as indicated by planktonic foraminiferal assemblages the nadw contribution to the site did not drop appreciably during heinrich events h4 through h2 probably because these events followed intervals of prolonged surface cooling already characterized by low rates of nadw production by contrast nadw reduction appears to have been synchronous with h5 sst rise associated with both dansgaard oeschger oscillations and heinrich events was usually accompanied by increasing nadw strength in a few cases the nadw recovery appeared to lag the sst rise however the apparent delay is most likely an artefact of the sedimentary record low concentrations of benthic foraminifera as a result of low benthic foraminiferal abundances during stage 6 the stage 6 benthic foraminiferal 13c record is of lower resolution than the younger part of the record the stage 6 proxy records for surface hydrography nevertheless reveal millennial scale oscillations similar to those seen in stage 3 the available 13c data suggest that nadw weakened in association with the cold portions of stage 6 sst oscillations we also sought to confirm a recent study which concluded that there was little nadw variability during the peak of the last interglaciation marine oxygen isotope substage 5e eemian isotope stage 5 was marked by a trend of increasing benthic 13c in v29 202 rising 13c through isotope stage 5 is also seen in tropical surface water records and at some deep atlantic sites and may reflect the common derivation of these water masses variations of 0 5 superimposed on this rising 13c trend within substage 5e in v29 202 are so far not evident in tropical feed waters and may therefore indicate that nadw production was weaker during the late than mid eemian an electronic supplement of this material may be obtained on a diskette or anonymous ftp from kosmos agu org login to agu s ftp account using anonymous as the username and guest as the password go to the right directory by typing cd apend type ls to see what files are available type get and the name of the file to get it finally type quit to leave the system paper 95pa02089 suborbital timescale variability of north atlantic deep water during the past 200 000 years by d w oppo and s j lehman diskette may be ordered from american geophysical union 2000 florida avenue n w washington dc 20009 15 00 payment must accompany order

identification of magnetite in lunar regolith breccia 60016 evidence for oxidized conditions at the lunar surface lunar regolith breccias are temporal archives of magmatic and impact bombardment processes on the moon apollo 16 sample 60016 is an ancient feldspathic regolith breccia that was converted from a soil to a rock at 3 8 ga the breccia contains a small 70 50 m rock fragment composed dominantly of an fe oxide phase with disseminated domains of troilite fragments of plagioclase an95 97 pyroxene en74 75 fs21 22 wo3 4 and olivine fo66 67 are distributed in and adjacent to the fe oxide the silicate minerals have lunar compositions that are similar to anorthosites mineral chemistry synchrotron x ray absorption near edge spectroscopy xanes and x ray diffraction xrd studies demonstrate that the oxide phase is magnetite with an estimated fe3 fe ratio of 0 45 the presence of magnetite in 60016 indicates that oxygen fugacity during formation was equilibrated at or above the fe magnetite or wustite magnetite oxygen buffer this discovery provides direct evidence for oxidised conditions on the moon thermodynamic modelling shows that magnetite could have been formed from oxidisation driven mineral replacement of fe metal or desulphurisation from fe sulphides troilite at low temperatures 570 c in equilibrium with h2o steam liquid or co2 gas oxidising conditions may have arisen from vapour transport during degassing of a magmatic source region or from a hybrid endogenic exogenic process when gases were released during an impacting asteroid or comet impact

comparison of foraminiferal coccolithophorid and radiolarian paleotemperature equations assemblage coherency and estimate concordancy the imbrie kipp method of paleotemperature estimation is rigorously tested by comparing atlantic temperature equations independently derived from the microfossils of three biotic groups the foraminifera coccolithophorida and radiolaria this method consists of two steps factor analysis of the modern sea bed data of the individual groups which resolves discrete biogeographic assemblages and regression analysis of the modern assemblage data with observed sea surface temperature data to obtain paleotemperature equations assemblage biogeography shows a simple subdivision into warm low latitude and cold high latitude for all biotic groups between biotic groups there is greater similarity among high latitude assemblages than low latitude ones correlating the assemblage data with observed sea surface temperatures to produce temperature distribution patterns shows differences of less than 2 c in their optimum and critical temperatures regression analysis produced accurate temperature equations for each biotic group all with standard errors of estimate of less than or equal to 2 c multiple correlation coefficients were all greater than 0 970 applying these equations to two multiple biotic data sets the modern and ice age sea bed data and comparing their temperature estimates using the standard error pooled shows over 87 concordancy for both data sets unlike the modern data the discordancy among temperature estimates of the ice age data shows a distinct geographic distribution its cause is believed to be oceanographic a difference in the water mass structure between the modern and ice age ocean

geothermometry and geobarometry of overpressured lower paleozoic gas shales in the jiaoshiba field central china insight from fluid inclusions in fracture cements the wufeng longmaxi organic rich shales host the largest shale gas fields of china this study examines sealed fractures within core samples of the wufeng longmaxi shales in the jiaoshiba shale gas field in order to understand the development of overpressures in terms of magnitude timing and burial in wufeng longmaxi shales and thus the causes of present day overpressure in these paleozoic shale formations as well as in all gas shales quartz and calcite fracture cements from the wufeng longmaxi shale intervals in four wells at depth intervals between 2253 89 m and 3046 60 m were investigated and the fluid composition temperature and pressure during natural fracture cementation determined using an integrated approach consisting of petrography raman spectroscopy and microthermometry many crystals in fracture cements were found to contain methane inclusions only and aqueous two phase inclusions were consistently observed alongside methane inclusions in all cement samples indicating that fluid inclusions trapped during fracture cementation are saturated with a methane hydrocarbon fluid homogenization temperatures of methane saturated aqueous inclusions provide trends in trapping temperatures that th values concentrate in the range of 198 5 c 229 9 c 196 2 c 221 7 c for quartz and calcite respectively pore fluid pressures of 91 8 139 4 mpa for methane inclusions calculated using the raman shift of c h symmetric stretching v1 band of methane and equations of state for supercritical methane indicate fluid inclusions trapped at near lithostatic pressures high trapping temperature and overpressure conditions in fluid inclusions represent a state of temperature and overpressure of wufeng longmaxi shales at maximum burial and the early stage of the yanshanian uplift which can provide a key evidence for understanding the formation and evolution of overpressure our results demonstrate that the main cause of present day overpressure in shale gas deposits is actually the preservation of moderate high overpressure developed as a result of gas generation at maximum burial depths

synthetic fluid inclusions vi quantitative evaluation of the decrepitation behaviour of fluid inclusions in quartz at one atmosphere confining pressure the decrepitation behaviour of fluid inclusions in quartz at one atmosphere confining pressure has been evaluated using pure h2o synthetic inclusions formed by healing fractures in natural quartz three different modes of non elastic deformation referred to as stretching leakage or partial decrepitation and total decrepitation have been observed the internal pressure required to initiate non elastic deformation is inversely related to inclusion size according to the equation internal pressure kbar 4 26 d 0 423 where d is the inclusion diameter in microns regularly shaped inclusions require a higher internal pressure to initiate non elastic deformation than do irregularly shaped inclusions of similar size heating inclusions through the quartz inversion results in mechanical instability in the quartz crystal and leads to mass decrepitation of inclusions owing to structural mismatches generated by pressure gradients in the quartz around each inclusion long term heating experiments 2 years suggest that the internal pressure required to initiate non elastic deformation does not decrease significantly with time and indicates that short lived thermal fluctuations in natural systems should not alter the inclusion density and homogenization temperature inclusions that do exhibit decreased density higher homogenization temperature are however always accompanied by a change in shape from irregular to that of a negative crystal observations of this study are consistent with elasticity theory related to fracture generation and propagation around inclusions in minerals these results indicate that an inclusion will not be influenced by a neighbouring inclusion or other defect in the host phase as long as the distance between the two is 2 4 diameters of the larger of the two inclusions

a fluid inclusion study of quartz cemented sandstones from offshore mid norway possible evidence for continued quartz cementation during oil emplacement abstract jurassic sandstones from the oil zone in a well from the haltenbanken area offshore mid norway contain both aqueous and hydrocarbon fluid inclusions within quartz overgrowths homogenization temperatures for the inclusions range from 92 c up to the present formation temperature of approximately 118 c since the inclusions mostly are located at the boundaries between quartz clasts and quartz overgrowths the homogenization temperatures indicate that quartz cementation started at temperatures slightly below 92 c poikilotopic ferroan calcite cement usually predates formation of quartz overgrowths and most calcite cement must be precipitated at temperatures below 90 c although in one calcite cemented zone ferroan calcite encloses quartz overgrowths with inclusions trapped at temperatures of up to 105 c none of the examined hydrocarbon inclusions homogenized below 102 c and this suggests that oil started entering the reservoir at temperatures of around 100 c the burial history of the examined sandstones indicates that temperatures of 100 c were not reached before the late pliocene and that filling of the reservoir has taken place during the last few million years homogenization temperatures approximately equal to present formation temperature suggest that quartz cementation may still be in progress and that emplacement of oil did not necessarily stop precipitation of quartz cement possible continued quartz cementation after oil filled the reservoir could be explained by dissolution of quartz at stylolites and grain contacts as transport of dissolved quartz from these sources might possibly take place by diffusion through irreducible water

experimental stretching of fluid inclusions in calcite implications for diagenetic studies homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions trapped in calcite crystals may change with increased heating beyond the homogenization temperature fluid inclusions trapped in calcite during basin subsidence will tend to yield homogenization temperatures approaching maximum burial temperatures diagenetic studies that depend on these data will be biased coarse crystalline calcite containing saline fluid inclusions was used to examine the influence of increased temperatures and pressures on measured homogenization temperatures stepped heating experiments were conducted at 1 atm over a temperature range of 90 to 245 c along with hydrothermal experiments at confining pressures of 173 and 691 bar and temperatures of 160 250 and 350 c in all cases significant increases in the homogenization temperatures of the inclusion population were recorded presumably stresses generated during heating of the fluid inclusions exceeded the combined strength of the calcite crystal and the external pore pressure and thus caused fluid inclusion stretching size is a secondary factor that controls fluid inclusion reequilibration

surface ocean temperatures in the north east atlantic during the last 500 000 years evidence from foraminiferal census data changes in north atlantic sea surface temperature sst are regarded as a key element of the climate during the quaternary however there are relatively few long term records providing quantitative sst estimates from this region using planktic foraminiferal derived ssts together with changes on species level and iceberg rafted debris the last 500 ka were studied pronounced sst changes as determined from the last glacial interglacial cycle characterize most colder periods peak interglacial temperatures were found for marine isotope stages mis 1 5e and 11 the latter two being the warmest the warm substages within mis 7 and 9 are marked by enhanced dissimilarity coefficients indicating that ssts obtained for these times appear to be overestimated this is corroborated by differences within the species assemblage which show enhanced cold water components it is therefore concluded that detailed analysis down to species level is a crucial prerequisite to better reconstructions of sst

oxygen isotope microanalysis by secondary ion mass spectrometry suggests continuous 300 million year history of calcite cementation and dolomitization in the devonian bakken formation calcite cementation and dolomitization are key diagenetic processes in many sedimentary systems unravelling detailed histories and timescales of cementation and replacement is however often compromised by the limited spatial resolution of many analytical techniques in some cases multiple grains are co analyzed so that diagenetic histories are blurred and reaction periods are difficult to establish in this study we have used 10 micrometer resolution in situ secondary ion mass spectrometry to determine the oxygen isotope composition of 197 individual 10 50 micrometer size crystals of dolomite and calcite from six samples in a single core of upper devonian middle bakken member siltstones and sandstones the major tight oil formation of the williston basin usa this amount of data places important constraints on the range of temperatures and times that carbonate cementation and replacement occurred petrographic data show that microcrystalline calcite cement is an early phase and combined with mineralogical data suggest that much of the dolomite replaces calcite over spatial scales of less than a centimeter analyses of individual calcite crystals have a range of 5 for 18o in the group of crystals and for the group of individual dolomite crystals 10 these sub centimeter ranges are as great as those observed in previous studies of carbonate cements sampled over many meters and remind us that previous low resolution studies may have inadvertently analyzed mixed phases there is no relationship between dolomite texture and isotopic composition at this spatial scale microscale backscattered electron imagery and scanning electron microscopy cathodoluminescence zoning is seen but cannot be resolved with a 10 micrometer spot size assuming since it is an early cement that calcite precipitated from seawater 18o 1 5 it formed at ca 15 40 c mainly at the lower temperatures present day formation waters in devonian rocks in this region have oxygen isotope compositions of 7 8 vsmow using these values as a likely dolomitizing fluid we suggest that dolomitization occurred continuously between 40 and 140 c over 150 200 million years most likely in a fluid with a high mg ca ratio resulting from gypsum formation in local evaporites we suggest that this exceptionally low rate of dolomitization was controlled by the low rate of supply of mg in a very sluggish flow regime dolomitization is incomplete because of a limited supply of mg

distribution of planktic foraminifera at the ice margin in the arctic fram strait planktic foraminifera were collected in net tows 63 m along two east west transects at 78 and 80 n in the fram strait northern nordic seas at five concurrent depth intervals in the upper 200 m of the water column in the ice free zone absolute abundances in the upper 200 m of the water column up to 500 individuals m3 were obtained along the ice margin the absolute abundances reached up to 1250 ind m3 while in the ice covered areas not more than 50 ind m3 have been found surprisingly these strong variations in abundance are not accompanied by significant changes in faunal assemblages between the ice free and the ice covered regions neogloboquadrina pachyderma is the dominant species in most samples making up to 60 of the total faunal assemblage globigerina quinqueloba contributes 38 and all other species combined make up only 2 of the total fauna both absolute and relative abundances of the collected foraminifera are strongly dependent on the mesh size used using smaller mesh sizes provides a wider species spectrum which is of special interest for paleoceanographic reconstructions in the nordic seas where fossil assemblages 150 m often consist of only one species the specific hydrographic conditions in the fram strait with warm atlantic waters underlying cold polar surface waters result in a rather atypical depth distribution of the planktic foraminifera all species seem to prefer the temperate atlantic waters between 50 m and 200 m thus the species composition as well as geochemical tracers do not reflect the surface ocean conditions which again has potentially interesting implications for paleoceanographic reconstructions

the climate in western europe during the last glacial interglacial cycle derived from pollen and insect remains using the pollen sequence of la grande pile xx france we review problems with the application of transfer functions in paleoclimatic reconstructions one of them is to find modern analogues for the herbaceous vegetation of the cold periods we propose a method to distinguish between steppes and tundra vegetations for which the moderns are only partial analogues of the glacial periods another method to solve these problems is based on constraining by insect remains the two methods provide coherent reconstructions the results are also compared with other paleodata there is a good correlation with the six cold heinrich events between 70 and 15 ka b p a cooling event during the eemian period marked by high percentages of taxas at about 125 ka b p needs still to be correlated with high resolution ocean and ice cores

sea surface temperature variability in the north atlantic during the last two glacial interglacial cycles comparison of faunal oxygen isotopic and mg ca derived records climate variability in the northeast atlantic was investigated on glacial interglacial and millennial time scales during the last 200 000 years using sea surface temperature sst records derived from planktonic foraminiferal diversities and from mg ca measurements on globigerina bulloides paleoceanographical interpretations are supported by species composition analyses benthic and planktonic isotopic data as well as records of iceberg rafted debris ird differences of climate development are recognized for both interglacial and glacial periods temperature estimates indicate slightly warmer conditions up to 2 c during marine oxygen isotope stage mis 5e than during the holocene in contrast to the last glaciation when the sst minimum coincided with a minimum in solar insolation immediately before termination i during the penultimate glaciation a long sst minimum occurred at times of intermediate solar insolation well preceding the onset of termination ii this discrepancy between two glacial terminations may be explained by an inherently different orbital configuration characteristic for each glacial interval despite these differences between the two glacial trends the superimposed shorter lived climatic events reveal the same order of principal steps implying their common causal nature a direct comparison of faunal ssts with those retrieved from mg ca analysis shows that mg ca derived temperatures follow the general glacial interglacial trend however the latter appear to be largely overestimated supported by 18o data in g bulloides which show little response to millennial scale variability there seems to be a need for species dependent calibration experiments that also consider the different oceanographic settings this particular species can live in

late quaternary deep sea ostracodes in the polar and subpolar north atlantic paleoecological and paleoenvironmental implications two sediment cores from the northern north atlantic one from the iceland plateau and one from the rockall plateau were investigated in order to examine the response of deep sea benthic ostracodes to climate related environmental changes since marine isotope stage mis 7 ostracode fauna was divided into three factor assemblages by using q mode factor analyses and diversity was calculated using the shannon wiener index the iceland plateau revealed an interglacial assemblage dominated by henryhowella a transitional assemblage dominated by eucythere and a background assemblage that consists of the common taxa krithe and cytheropteron the presence of henryhowella is linked to conditions that prevailed during the peak interglacial periods mis 5e and 1 characterized by increased food supply well oxygenated bottom water and lateral advection the presence of eucythere mainly during the interstadial periods appears to be related to slightly increased food supply whereas the background assemblage is considered to be opportunistic and able to cope with decreased food supply as interpreted for glacial times on the rockall plateau the opportunistic background assemblage consisting mainly of krithe argilloecia and cytheropteron shows no obvious relation to climate changes the interglacial assemblage consists of several taxa dominated by pelecocythere but as on the iceland plateau it also contains henryhowella the third assemblage is the glacial assemblage that consists of a variety of taxa several of which are known from the modern arctic ocean and the greenland sea shelf thus this assemblage indicates glacial conditions on the rockall plateau that are comparable to those found in the present day arctic ocean diversity calculations revealed higher ostracode diversities in glacial than in interglacial episodes in both cores and particularly high diversities during periods of increased input of iceberg rafted debris ird in the rockall plateau core both cores reveal lower surface water productivity during the glacial compared to the interglacial periods and particularly low productivity during the ird events as inferred from carbonate contents we assume therefore that ostracode diversity in the study areas is negatively correlated with food flux

new evidence for the origin of quartz cements in hydrocarbon reservoirs revealed by oxygen isotope microanalyses quartz cements degrade hydrocarbon reservoir quality by choking off fluid flow paths therefore it is important to understand the sources and timing of quartz cementation we present in situ microanalyses of oxygen isotope ratios in quartz cements from a jurassic hydrocarbon reservoir located offshore norway showing systematic variations that reveal the isotopic history of the pore fluids that precipitated the quartz earliest quartz cements have 18o values of 20 26 subsequent cements drop in 18o value as low as 13 but then increase back to 23 with increasing cement thickness this isotopic trend was observed in multiple overgrowths with temperatures constrained by fluid inclusions and the burial history of the reservoir the isotopic composition of porewaters can be estimated from the measured isotopic ratios in quartz cement results indicate that 97 of the quartz cement precipitated from negative 18o waters originally meteoric that were gradually modified by burial diagenetic reactions as temperatures increased precipitation began in the middle to late cretaceous however the rate of quartz precipitation increased dramatically in the last 3 5 ma as the reservoir was rapidly buried the data show that quartz precipitation is a continuous process during burial and that silica is derived locally from silicate reactions occurring within the sandstone reservoir the isotopic data do not record evidence of episodic cementation from convection driven hot basinal fluids

a 1 0 myr record of glacial north atlantic intermediate water variability from odp site 982 in the northeast atlantic changes in the intermediate water structure of the north atlantic were reconstructed using benthic foraminiferal 13c at ocean drilling program odp site 982 for the past 1 0 myr during most terminations of the late pleistocene melting of icebergs and low salinity surface waters caused production of glacial north atlantic intermediate water to cease resulting in decreased ventilation of the middepth north atlantic poor ventilation of intermediate water masses lasted well into some interglacial stages until upper north atlantic deep water nadw production resumed under full interglacial conditions the magnitude of benthic 13c minima and ice rafted debris maxima at terminations at site 982 generally match the degree of glacial suppression of nadw inferred from site 607 these processes may be related and controlled by the spatial and seasonal extent of sea ice cover during glaciations in the nordic seas

the role of ocean atmosphere reorganizations in glacial cycles abstract a case is made that glacial to interglacial transitions involve major reorganizations of the ocean atmosphere system such reorganizations constitute jumps between stable modes of operation which cause changes in the greenhouse gas content and albedo of the atmosphere only in this way can the rapidity of glacial terminations the hemispheric synchroneity and symmetry of mountain glaciation and the large polar air temperature and dustiness variations be accounted for if these reorganizations are driven in some fashion by orbitally induced seasonal insolation changes then the connection between insolation and climate is most likely through impacts of fresh water transport on the ocean s salinity distribution

millennial scale sea surface temperature variability in the western tropical north atlantic from planktonic foraminiferal census counts planktonic foraminiferal census counts are used to construct high resolution sea surface temperature sst and subsurface thermocline temperature records at a core site in the tobago basin lesser antilles the record is used to document climatic variability at this tropical site in comparison to middle and high latitude sites and to test current concepts of cross equatorial heat transports as a major player in interhemispheric climate variability temperatures are estimated using transfer function and modern analog techniques glacial maximum cooling of 2 5 3 c is indicated maximum cooling by 4 c is inferred for isotope stage 3 the sst record displays millennial scale variability with temperature jumps of up to 3 c and closely tracks the structure of ice core dansgaard oeschger cycles sst variations in part of the record run opposite to the sst evolution at high northern latitude sites pointing to thermohaline circulation and marine heat transport as an important factor driving sst in the tropical and high latitude atlantic both on orbital and suborbital timescales

deformation by solution deposition and re equilibration of fluid inclusions in crystals depending on temperature internal pressure and stress abstract changes of shape and density of fluid inclusions in crystals were demonstrated when these crystals were subjected to temperatures and internal pressures greater than those of their growth experimental relations have been established between the rate of length change of the inclusions and the different parameters of the experiment nature of the crystal temperature and internal pressure state of stress on the crystal geometric characters of the inclusion length width orientation of the inclusion with respect to the optical axes of host mineral it is essentially the effect of the variation of surface energy with the curvature around the cavity which causes a mass transfer of the host crystal by diffusion through the fluid under pressure the rate of length change is limited by the rate of dissolution at the median part of elongate inclusions this change of shape and density is known to occur in naturally deformed crystals an example of such a behaviour is given which allowed us to use the inclusions as markers of the conditions of temperature and pressure subsequent to the growth of crystal

irregular glacial interstadials recorded in a new greenland ice core the greenland ice sheet offers the most favourable conditions in the northern hemisphere for obtaining high resolution continuous time series of climate related parameters profiles of 18o 16o ratio along three previous deep greenland ice cores1 3 seemed to reveal irregular but well defined episodes of relatively mild climate conditions interstadials during the mid and late parts of the last glaciation but there has been some doubt as to whether the shifts in oxygen isotope ratio were genuine representations of changes in climate rather than artefacts due to disturbed stratification here we present results from a new deep ice core drilled at the summit of the greenland ice sheet where the depositional environ ment and the flow pattern of the ice are close to ideal for core recovery and analysis the results reproduce the previous findings to such a degree that the existence of the interstadial episodes can no longer be in doubt according to a preliminary timescale based on stratigraphic studies the interstadials lasted from 500 to 2 000 years and their irregular occurrence suggests complexity in the behaviour of the north atlantic ocean circulation

quantitative interpretation of fossil pollen spectra dissimilarity coefficients and the method of modern analogs abstract dissimilarity coefficients measure the difference between multivariate samples and provide a quantitative aid to the identification of modern analogs for fossil pollen samples how eight coefficients responded to differences among modern pollen samples from eastern north america was tested these coefficients represent three different classes 1 unweighted coefficients that are most strongly influenced by large valued pollen types 2 equal weight coefficients that weight all pollen types equally but can be too sensitive to variations among rare types and 3 signal0to noise coefficients that are intermediate in their weighting of pollen types the studies with modern pollen allowed definition of critical values for each coefficient which when not exceeded indicate that two pollen samples originate from the same vegetation region dissimilarity coefficients were used to compare modern and fossil pollen samples and modern samples so similar to fossil samples were found that most of three late quaternary pollen diagrams could be reconstructed by substituting modern samples for fossil samples when the coefficients indicated that the fossil spectra had no modern analogs then the reconstructed diagrams did not match all aspects of the originals no modern analogs existed for samples from before 9300 yr b p at kirchner marsh minnesota and from before 11 000 yr b p at wintergreen lake michigan but modern analogs existed for almost all holocene samples from these two sites and brandreth bog new york

provenance of icebergs during heinrich event 3 and the contrast to their sources during other heinrich episodes the sources of ice rafted debris ird from heinrich layer 3 h 3 in the north atlantic were studied by means of pb isotopic analyses of single and multiple grain samples of ice rafted feldspars from core v28 82 49 27 n 22 16 w pb ratios of h 3 grains point to multiple continental sources and are similar to the isotopic composition of the background sediment this similarity as well as previous observations about the age and the sr and nd isotopic composition of the fine fraction of h 3 in cores of the same area are all consistent with the hypothesis that in the eastern north atlantic along the latitude band of maximum ird deposition 40 50 n h 3 is a product of foraminifera dissolution and or low productivity in contrast analyses of composite samples of h 1 h 2 h 4 and h 5 plot in 206pb 204pb versus 206pb 204pb coordinates along the churchill province line supporting the premise that the hudson strait was the major pathway of iceberg drainage during these four events since an advance of the laurentide ice sheet during h 3 is demonstrated by increases in detrital carbonate at the level of h 3 in cores from the western north atlantic the results obtained here suggest that if indeed that advance took place the iceberg discharge melted mostly in the western basin

charge history of co2 in lishui sag east china sea basin evidence from quantitative raman analysis of co2 bearing fluid inclusions abstract the accumulation of carbon dioxide in natural gas reservoirs is common and co2 gas fields have been widely discovered in the world in the last decades three co2 pools were discovered in lishui sag east china sea basin geochemical proxies indicate that co2 in these gas reservoirs is dominated by mantle source volcano degassing although three volcanic events occurred in the formation of these reservoirs the co2 charging period is not clear in this study pure co2 co2 rich and h2o rich fluid inclusions were found in healed micro fractures and overgrowth zones of quartz in the reservoir of lishui sag the composition and density of two h2o rich inclusions two co2 rich inclusions and twenty three pure co2 inclusions were determined by raman quantitative analysis the burial depth of co2 fluid inclusion assemblages fia can be determined by the trapping pressure constrained from raman quantitative analysis and thermodynamic models the combination of c he isotope analyses pt entrapment conditions of co2 bearing inclusions feature of fault activity and simulation of burial history permits to assign periods of co2 fluid activity the low density 0 15 g cm 3 co2 gas inclusions recorded an early period of co2 activity eruption to be related with the late paleocene volcanic event the mid density 0 45 g cm 3 and high density 0 75 g cm 3 co2 inclusions were assigned to the miocene volcanic event and to a later co2 charging event during pliocene

quartz cementation history of sandstones revealed by high resolution sims oxygen isotope analysis abstract evaluating the timing and origin of quartz cement is central to understanding how porosity is lost in sandstones during burial kinetic models of quartz cementation have been calibrated using large scale datasets but have never been tested at the microscopic level at which cement forms here we use high precision in situ oxygen isotope analyses on sandstone from the jurassic ness formation from the north sea to reveal the growth history of single quartz overgrowths to a resolution of 2 m measured 18o cement range from 28 to 20 v smow in early to late cement and are consistent with quartz cementation models that propose the bulk of quartz precipitates as a continuous process beginning at 60 70 c quantitative x ray diffraction analyses and clay mineralogical analysis of interbedded shales are inconsistent with a silica source from shale implying that silica for the cement is sourced internally to the sand these isotope data are broadly consistent with predictive conceptual quartz cementation models and provide a critical link from micron scale measurements to basin scale predictions and observations

new insights into the glacial latitudinal temperature gradients in the north atlantic results from uk 37 sea surface temperatures and terrigenous inputs abstract sea surface temperatures sst and input of continental materials have been reconstructed from the study of the long chain alkenones and n alkanes respectively in a core located in the western side of the mid atlantic ridge md952037 37 05 n 32 02 w 2630 m depth both the long and short term variability recorded by the temperatures and the planktonic 18o are basically the same over the last 280 kyr showing a clear glacial interglacial evolution comparison with core su90 08 located only 6 north and directly influenced by the cold polar waters associated with the polar front during glacial times revealed different climatic conditions during glacial periods at both locations whereas core md952037 recorded similar sst values during the last two glacial periods ca 14 15 c the northern core displayed colder conditions during isotopic stage 2 8 10 c than in stage 6 13 15 c these results indicate the existence of a well developed steep north south gradient between 37 and 43 n during the last glacial period but not during stage 6 which suggests a southern expansion of the polar front during the last glacial maximum

dating diagenesis in a petroleum basin a new fluid inclusion method the final porosity and permeability of sandstone petroleum reservoirs is greatly affected by the diagenetic growth of minerals after deposition for example a sand may be deposited with a porosity of 25 and a permeability of 5 000 mdarcy md 1 diagenetic growth of quartz around detrital sand grains may leave a rock with only 10 porosity and later growth of clays may partly fill these remaining pores and block inter pore connections reducing permeability to 100 md ref 2 if the depth and timing of such diagenetic alteration can be measured and the extent of diagenesis estimated then prediction of the diagenetic state of undrilled sandstones may become possible and diagenesis related more closely to the timing of hydrocarbon migration and the formation of hydrocarbon traps we present an example of a new method for estimating the date of quartz diagenesis using a combination of techniques from thin section petrography fluid inclusion thermometry organic geochemical thermometry and sedimentary basin stratigraphic analysis these results suggest that quartz in the beatrice oilfield was precipitated from moving and cooling pore fluids at a temperature between 68 c and 94 c in the late jurassic

fluid inclusion constraints on temperatures of petroleum migration from authigenic quartz in bitumen veins abstract solid bitumens in fracture systems commonly contain microscopic crystals of authigenic quartz which were precipitated coevally with the bitumen early in the paragenesis of the fracture fillings the quartz contains primary fluid inclusions both aqueous and hydrocarbon yielding homogenization temperatures particularly in the range 95 130 c indicating minimum temperatures of entrapment during petroleum migration volumes of up to 50 entrained quartz and a predominance of aqueous inclusions indicate that the petroleum fluid had a substantial aqueous component

evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250 kyr ice core record recent results1 2 from two ice cores drilled in central greenland have revealed large abrupt climate changes of at least regional extent during the late stages of the last glaciation suggesting that climate in the north atlantic region is able to reorganize itself rapidly perhaps even within a few decades here we present a detailed stable isotope record for the full length of the greenland ice core project summit ice core extending over the past 250 kyr according to a calculated timescale we find that climate instability was not confined to the last glaciation but appears also to have been marked during the last interglacial as explored more fully in a companion paper3 and during the previous saale holstein glacial cycle this is in contrast with the extreme stability of the holocene suggesting that recent climate stability may be the exception rather than the rule the last interglacial seems to have lasted longer than is implied by the deep sea specmap record4 in agreement with other land based observations5 6 we suggest that climate instability in the early part of the last interglacial may have delayed the melting of the saalean ice sheets in america and eurasia perhaps accounting for this discrepancy

ch4 accumulation characteristics and relationship with deep co2 fluid in lishui sag east china sea basin abstract co accumulation of carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon gas is common and widely existing in oil and gas basins such two natural pools are located in lishui sag east china sea shelf basin as a favorable prospecting area for exploration co2 gas derived from inorganic mantle sources and co2 accumulation times have been investigated in this study petrographic observation shows pure ch4 ch4 rich h2o rich and hybrid ch4 co2 fluid inclusions exist in healed micro fractures and overgrowths of quartz mineral in palaeocene reservoirs of lishui sag the pressure temperature time composition pvt x properties of ch4 bearing inclusions were obtained by raman quantitative analysis and thermodynamic models these results provide important constraints on the p t entrapment conditions and predict relative accumulation time of ch4 fluid combination of carbon isotope analyses inclusion petrography microthermometry pt entrapment conditions of ch4 bearing inclusions hydrocarbon generation and simulation of burial history permit to assign periods of ch4 fluid activity and its sequence with co2 fluid methane charging time occurs during two stages in ls a low density ch4 fluid 0 10 g cm3 or lower were trapped during late oligocene 30 20 ma and high density 0 115 g cm3 during a pliocene 8 1 ma ch4 accumulation event co2 fluid accumulation miocene 21 4 ma displaced the methane gas trapped in the early stage pliocene ch4 fluid partial displaced miocene co2 fluid in well b only high density 0 144 0 153 g cm3 recorded a late oligocene to early miocene 36 19 ma ch4 accumulation event pliocene 5 3 ma co2 fluid displaced early ch4 fluid micro thermometry composition of fluid inclusion features of reservoir thermal maturity reflect hydrothermal fluid vertical migration and the existence of supercritical co2 extraction

evidence for massive discharges of icebergs into the north atlantic ocean during the last glacial period sediments in the north atlantic ocean contain a series of layers that are rich in ice rafted debris and unusually poor in foraminifera1 here we present evidence that the most recent six of these heinrich layers deposited between 14 000 and 70 000 years ago record marked decreases in sea surface temperature and salinity decreases in the flux of planktonic foraminifera to the sediments and short lived massive discharges of icebergs originating in eastern canada the path of the icebergs clearly marked by the presence of ice rafted detrital carbonate can be traced for more than 3 000 km a remarkable distance attesting to extreme cooling of surface waters and enormous amounts of drifting ice the cause of these extreme events is puzzling they may reflect repeated rapid advances of the laurentide ice sheet perhaps associated with reductions in air temperatures yet temperature records from greenland ice cores appear to exhibit only a weak corresponding signal moreover the 5 10 000 yr intervals between the events are inconsistent with milankovitch orbital periodicities raising the question of what the ultimate cause of the postulated cooling may have been

diagenesis and reservoir quality prediction the modern concept of diagenesis was introduced by walther one hundred years ago to encompass the postdepositional processes that affect sediments from deposition to low grade metamorphism since walther 1893 diagenetic studies have been concerned with an extraordinary variety of chemical and physical interactions each of which has the potential to significantly affect the final composition and texture of a sedimentary rock the issues to which those studies have been applied are equally varied and include 1 improved techniques to predict the producibility of hydrocarbon reservoirs 2 improved techniques to predict subsurface fluid pressures 3 better constraints on the timing of fluid flow events 4 reconstruction of global climate change and 5 evaluation of groundwater contamination commercial applications of diagenetic studies have traditionally focused on the producibility of hydrocarbon reservoirs as such a review of this topic serves as an effective illustration of how basic research has been commercialized and a useful focus for the following dicussion however it is worth noting that decreased industrial research funding coupled with increased government funding for environmental research have recently resulted in a gradual evolution of diagenetic publications away from the producibility of hydrocarbon reservoirs toward the producibility of uncontaminated groundwater and other environmental issues despite the shift in emphasis many of the basic research issues remain unchanged whether one is focused on deep hydrocarbon reservoirs or shallow aquifers

late quaternary high resolution biomarker and other sedimentary climate proxies in a northeast atlantic core we studied variations in terrigenous input and sea surface temperature over the last 208 ka using a multiproxy approach involving direct comparison of terrigenous and marine molecular biomarker foraminiferal abundance and other sedimentological data for the same horizons in a single northeast atlantic core core t88 9p 48 23 n 25 05 w 3193 m water depth 790 cm core length with a well resolved 18o stratigraphy the abundances of three land derived long chain compound classes the n alkanes c27 c29 and c31 the n alkanoic acids c24 c26 and c28 and the n alkanols c24 c26 and c28 show glacial interglacial related changes in the past 208 ka which generally parallel the weight percent noncarbonate the abundances of these three compound classes are higher in glacial than in interglacial sediments such changes are consistent with the expected higher dust inputs during glaciations as well as enhanced advection of particulate matter in current systems ice rafted debris heinrich events may also contribute to the terrigenous biomarker record the sea surface temperature sst signals derived from the alkenone unsaturation index uk 37 give an average sst during interglacial periods of 13 c which is about 3 4 c higher than the average glacial sst estimate the uk 37 derived sst values dropped markedly in some heinrich layers while sometimes leading the onset of the layer the percent neogloboquadrina pachyderma s which is another frequently used qualitative temperature proxy generally shows maxima coinciding with the layers our results show that most heinrich layers were produced during times of intensely cold waters in the eastern north atlantic they demonstrate that sufficient alkenones are present in the sediments for alkenone stratigraphy to be used as a tool for the assessment of short term variations in sea surface temperatures even in these oligotrophic north atlantic waters

microspectrofluorimetric and microthermometric evidence for variability in hydrocarbon fluid inclusions in quartz overgrowths implications for inclusion trapping in the alwyn north field north sea abstract hydrocarbon inclusions trapped in quartz cement from alwyn north field sandstones of well 3 9a 6 north sea have been analyzed using microthermometric and microspectrofluorimetric methods they are two phased with consistent gas oil ratios and mainly occur along the detrital grain overgrowth boundary their homogenization temperatures vary from 60 to 129 c with a great variability within a single fluid inclusion assemblage up to 40 c the fluorescence colour of the hydrocarbon inclusions has been characterized using a microspectrofluorimeter which allows the analysis of very small inclusions 1 7 m with good reproducibility hydrocarbon inclusions display large variations in their fluorescence colour converted in chromaticity coordinates even within a single fluid inclusion assemblage moreover they are concentrically distributed within the detrital grain overgrowth interface according to the relationship between api gravity and fluorescence colour established with reference to crude oils from alwyn north field this observation is interpreted as representing compositional variations such compositional variability in a single fluid inclusion assemblage could result from either the progressive entrapment of oils in which api gravity evolves through time and or the fractionation of hydrocarbons at the time of trapping

investigation of oil pool formation from the homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions and biomarkers in reservoir rocks a genetic model for the deng 2 oil pool in the jiyuan depression abstract the jiyuan depression is a frontier area for oil and gas exploration in henan province china in recent years oil was discovered in the deng 2 well in the lower tertiary though the tectonics and petroleum geology of the depression are very complex a series of experiments on fluid inclusions in the oil bearing sandstones from the deng 2 well were made that included measurement of the homogenization temperatures of gas liquid inclusions and gc ms analysis of biomarkers either in the sandstone pores or in the fluid inclusions the deng 2 oil reservoir was formed at about 78 c corresponding to a burial depth of about 2200 m the present burial depth is about 700 m because of erosion and fault block uplift in oligocene time although oil in the sandstone pores is now heavily biodegraded the biomarkers in the inclusions show slight biodegradation representing a watering and biodegradation process that did not occur before formation of the deng 2 oil pool having investigated the structural evolution of the deng 2 trap it is concluded that the oil discovered in the tertiary reservoir of deng 2 well migrated from mesozoic reservoirs through active faults around the deng 2 trap as the oil migrated from the mesozoic to the tertiary reservoir the deng 2 trap was uplifted close to the depth of active biodegradation subsurface temperature lower than 80 c and to a burial depth shallower than 2250 m from the thermal gradient of 3 1 c 100 m so that the oil in the inclusions shows a slight biodegradation because of the continuous uplift of the deng 2 trap during the tertiary and quaternary the reservoired oil has been more heavily biodegraded compared to that in the inclusions