title: Widespread nearshore and shallow marine deposition within the Lower Jurassic Precipice Sandstone and Evergreen Formation in the Surat Basin, Australia

authors: La Croix, Andrew D.

subjects: Precipice Sandstone

abstract: In the Surat Basin of eastern Australia, the Lower Jurassic Precipice Sandstone and Evergreen Formation are a highly prospective reservoir-seal pair for notional future carbon capture and storage. However, the succession remains poorly constrained from a paleodepositional standpoint and this has impacted the capacity to construct predictive reservoir models. Here we integrate sedimentological, ichnological, and palynological data from ten cores located across a large region of the northern and central basin to produce conceptual depositional models for the interval. Our analysis shows that the Lower Jurassic Series consists of fifteen recurring sedimentary facies that are arranged into six facies associations – braidplain, lower delta plain, subaqueous delta, delta-influenced shoreface, tidally-influenced shoreline, and restricted marine shoals. The facies associations occur in the context of large scale fluvio-deltaic systems that occupied the basin. These results are supported by ichnological indications of marine and brackish-water, a coastal suite of palynomorphs, and marine palynomorphs including rare dinocysts, acritarchs, and copepod fragments. The very low abundance of marine palynomorphs are confined to the upper portion of the Evergreen Formation, and in combination with the sedimentology and ichnology suggest that marine influence increased through time as the basin was filled. The elucidation of marine-influenced deposition contravenes all but the most recent facies interpretations of the Precipice Sandstone and Evergreen Formation, and suggests that the paleogeography of the Mesozoic of eastern Australia needs to be reconsidered. Importantly, the nearshore and shallow marine depositional affinity has important implications for the size, orientation, and distribution of geobodies when building geologically-realistic static reservoir models for dynamic flow simulation.

text: Widespread nearshore and shallow marine deposition within the Lower Jurassic Precipice Sandstone and Evergreen Formation in the Surat Basin, Australia In the Surat Basin of eastern Australia, the Lower Jurassic Precipice Sandstone and Evergreen Formation are a highly prospective reservoir-seal pair for notional future carbon capture and storage. However, the succession remains poorly constrained from a paleodepositional standpoint and this has impacted the capacity to construct predictive reservoir models. Here we integrate sedimentological, ichnological, and palynological data from ten cores located across a large region of the northern and central basin to produce conceptual depositional models for the interval. Our analysis shows that the Lower Jurassic Series consists of fifteen recurring sedimentary facies that are arranged into six facies associations – braidplain, lower delta plain, subaqueous delta, delta-influenced shoreface, tidally-influenced shoreline, and restricted marine shoals. The facies associations occur in the context of large scale fluvio-deltaic systems that occupied the basin. These results are supported by ichnological indications of marine and brackish-water, a coastal suite of palynomorphs, and marine palynomorphs including rare dinocysts, acritarchs, and copepod fragments. The very low abundance of marine palynomorphs are confined to the upper portion of the Evergreen Formation, and in combination with the sedimentology and ichnology suggest that marine influence increased through time as the basin was filled. The elucidation of marine-influenced deposition contravenes all but the most recent facies interpretations of the Precipice Sandstone and Evergreen Formation, and suggests that the paleogeography of the Mesozoic of eastern Australia needs to be reconsidered. Importantly, the nearshore and shallow marine depositional affinity has important implications for the size, orientation, and distribution of geobodies when building geologically-realistic static reservoir models for dynamic flow simulation.

year: 2019

title: Synthesis, Structural, and Raman Investigation of Lanthanide Nitride Powders (Ln = La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Er, Lu)

authors: Kneisel, Kiersten

abstract: Lanthanide nitride (LnN) materials have garnered significant interest in recent years due to their promising potential as heterogeneous catalysts for green ammonia synthesis under low temperature and pressure reaction conditions. Here, we report on the synthesis of an extended series of lanthanide (Ln) nitride powders (Ln = lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, erbium, lutetium) and their structural and vibrational properties. Polycrystalline powders were fabricated using a ball milling mechanochemical process, and their structural properties were assessed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental lattice constants deduced from XRD and TEM were compared with density functional theory-based calculated lattice constants using the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof exchange-correlation functional. We show that the calculated lattice constants are within 1–1.5% of the experimental values for the majority of the LnN species─a notable increase in accuracy over prior computational approaches. The frequencies of Raman scattering from the LO(Γ) phonon are reported across the series and compare well with published thin-film data on a smaller selection of the series. As expected, there is a linear relationship between the LO(Γ) phonon frequency and atomic number. Finally, we demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy can be used to detect the presence of a nanoscale oxide layer on the surface of ErN powders.

text: Synthesis, Structural, and Raman Investigation of Lanthanide Nitride Powders (Ln = La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Er, Lu) Lanthanide nitride (LnN) materials have garnered significant interest in recent years due to their promising potential as heterogeneous catalysts for green ammonia synthesis under low temperature and pressure reaction conditions. Here, we report on the synthesis of an extended series of lanthanide (Ln) nitride powders (Ln = lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, erbium, lutetium) and their structural and vibrational properties. Polycrystalline powders were fabricated using a ball milling mechanochemical process, and their structural properties were assessed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The experimental lattice constants deduced from XRD and TEM were compared with density functional theory-based calculated lattice constants using the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof exchange-correlation functional. We show that the calculated lattice constants are within 1–1.5% of the experimental values for the majority of the LnN species─a notable increase in accuracy over prior computational approaches. The frequencies of Raman scattering from the LO(Γ) phonon are reported across the series and compare well with published thin-film data on a smaller selection of the series. As expected, there is a linear relationship between the LO(Γ) phonon frequency and atomic number. Finally, we demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy can be used to detect the presence of a nanoscale oxide layer on the surface of ErN powders.

year: 2024

title: Sustainability and Indigeneity

authors: Daya-Winterbottom, Trevor

abstract: In the lead up to the Rio Conference on Environment and Development 1992, New Zealand enshrined the concept of the sustainable management of natural and physical resources in statute law by enacting the Resource Management Act 1991. Implementing the concept of sustainable management in domestic law gave rise to a tension between anthropocentric and ecological approaches for implementing the statute that were not resolved by the Courts until 2014. However, the adoption of an ecological approach to implementing the statute did not assuage the desire for statutory reform unlocked by the previous debate. Most recently, the reform trajectory has resulted in Parliamentary scrutiny of an exposure draft Bill that replaces the concept of sustainable management with a new concept of the welfare and wellbeing of the environment rooted firmly in indigenous perspectives on earth governance, guardianship, and intergenerational equity. My paper will critically interrogate the implications of adopting the concept of the welfare and wellbeing of the environment for the future of sustainability, and what implications this approach could have for environmental law generally in the Anthropocene both comparatively and internationally.

text: Sustainability and Indigeneity In the lead up to the Rio Conference on Environment and Development 1992, New Zealand enshrined the concept of the sustainable management of natural and physical resources in statute law by enacting the Resource Management Act 1991. Implementing the concept of sustainable management in domestic law gave rise to a tension between anthropocentric and ecological approaches for implementing the statute that were not resolved by the Courts until 2014. However, the adoption of an ecological approach to implementing the statute did not assuage the desire for statutory reform unlocked by the previous debate. Most recently, the reform trajectory has resulted in Parliamentary scrutiny of an exposure draft Bill that replaces the concept of sustainable management with a new concept of the welfare and wellbeing of the environment rooted firmly in indigenous perspectives on earth governance, guardianship, and intergenerational equity. My paper will critically interrogate the implications of adopting the concept of the welfare and wellbeing of the environment for the future of sustainability, and what implications this approach could have for environmental law generally in the Anthropocene both comparatively and internationally.

year: 2022