This thesis reviews heavy mineral separation techniques for red-bed heavy mineral provenance studies. It demonstrates the effectiveness of automated mineralogy for mineral comparisons and targeted mineral analysis, resulting in new provenance history conclusions for the Permo-Triassic of SW England. The methodology was developed to remove iron-oxide coatings from grains and provide optimal separation of heavy mineral concentrates in comparison to hydroseparation and panning. Step-wise methodology iterations were validated at each stage using the QEMSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by SCANing electron microscopy). The QEMSCAN works in a similar way to the SEM (scanning electron microscope) and electron-microprobe. Four EDS (energy dispersive spectroscopy) detectors measured X-rays, secondary electrons and back-scattered electrons from the sample. The software allocated these to defined geochemical SIP (species identification protocol) categories. The SIP was back-validated using the electron-microprobe, XRD (X-ray diffraction), microscopy and SEM. QEMSCAN was the primary analysis technique. The results included false colour mineral maps and semi-quantitative statistics for the SIP categories. This enabled targeted mineral analysis with supporting techniques. The methodology was applied to the Permo-Triassic of SW England. The QEMSCAN was able to pick up small scale and large scale heavy mineral provenance trends. Case study 1 showed regional heavy mineral trends and allowed lithological correlation of outliers. Case study 2 used heavy minerals to confirm contemporaneous structural evolution and the base of the Upper Permian in South Devon. Case study 3 allowed a re-evaluation of the base Triassic. Case study 4 targeted biotite minerals at Corbyn's Head. Case study 5 reviewed local vertical and horizontal trends in comparison to regional trends. This has significant oil and gas exploration implications as it gives confidence in correlating deposits over 10s km and can be applied to North Sea barren red-beds. Finally, some mineral firsts, including rammelsbergite and a topaz rhyolite were identified.

Humans have interacted with their surroundings for over one million years, and researchers have only recently been able to assess the geomorphic impacts indigenous peoples had on their landscapes prior to the onset of European colonialism. The history of human occupation of Australia is noteworthy in that Aboriginal Australians arrived ~50 ka and remained relatively isolated from the rest of the world until the AD 1788 when Europeans established a permanent settlement in Sydney, New South Wales. The southeastern Australian Tablelands landscape, west of Sydney, has seemingly undergone drastic geomorphic change since European arrival. The introduction of European grazing practices reportedly led to the occurrence of deep erosional incisions, gullies, into valley bottoms and hillslopes, releasing sediment, which is subsequently deposited over downstream wetland environments – swampy meadows. This sediment is often called post-settlement alluvium (PSA); however, the age and genesis of PSA in Australia are debated. Questions regarding the geomorphic features and processes in the Tablelands remain unanswered because few studies quantify the timing of gully incision, PSA deposition, or the pre-human rate of landscape change. Erosion rates inferred from concentrations of in situ 10Be measured in fluvial sediment (n = 11) and bedrock outcrops (n = 6) range from 2.9–11.9 mm/kyr and 5.2–13.8 mm/kyr, respectively. The two sample populations are statistically indistinguishable, suggesting no relief has been generated since 600–110 ka. The overall erosion rate in the Tablelands is 7.5 mm/kyr, equal to long-term denudation rates integrated since ~20 Ma. Aboriginal Australians have been present in the Tablelands for at least 30 kyr, ~12–26% of the cosmogenic integration time, yet widespread Aboriginal fire use did not measurably affect landscape erosion until ~5.5 ka, in sync with increased charcoal in the sediment record. Portable optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) reader data from poly-mineral and poly-grain size samples collected from gully wall profiles of PSA and swampy meadow sediment show that swampy meadow environments were buried by PSA and that PSA is alluvium derived from upstream gully erosion. No relationships between bulk OSL and sample grain size or mineralogy exist, and inferences about bulk sediment mineralogy or grain size cannot be determined from portable OSL reader data. Large variability in adjacent PSA sample replicates, however, reveals incomplete sediment bleaching conditions during PSA deposition during floods. Greater bleaching efficiency is inferred from the small variability of bulk OSL data in the uppermost 10s of cm of PSA profiles. Measured concentrations of meteoric 10Be and bulk OSL in two PSA deposits in Birchams Creek show that initial gully incision eroded into weathered sandstone regolith and not swampy meadow environments, as previously believed. Initial gully incision was shallow (<15 cm) and PSA filled ponds in the lower reaches of the catchment. Continued erosion upstream led to a second depositional episode of PSA before headward gully incision from the mouth of Birchams Creek eroded through PSA deposits. Headward erosion of this gully created the continuous gully present at the site today. Initial gully incision was likely the result of livestock trampling in valley bottoms during droughts, creating localised slopes greater than the critical slope threshold required to erode the valley bottom. OSL burial ages of six PSA deposits collected throughout the Tablelands range from 195.1 ± 17.8 to 90.4 ± 8.9 a, corresponding to AD 1800–1932. The OSL burial ages are younger than European arrival in the Tablelands, and the term, PSA, is redefined as post-European settlement alluvium in Australia, recognising the earlier settlement of the region by Aboriginal Australians whose land use did not lead to PSA deposition. PSA burial ages agree with existing quantitative and anecdotal gully incision data. Contrary to previous assertions that gully incision began asynchronously in the Tablelands, three periods of synchronous gully erosion in localised areas within the Tablelands are recognized: 185 a, 158 a, and 94 a (AD 1828, 1855, and 1919, respectively) – in the southern, northern, and central Goulburn Plains, respectively. The AD 1828 and AD 1919 periods of gully incision correspond to the transition from drought-dominated climate regimes to flood-dominated regimes, and the AD 1855 period of gullying corresponds to a flood-dominated regime. Gully incision in the Tablelands is thus a result of European-introduced grazing practices, which primed the landscape for further erosion and degradation during climatic shifts. PSA deposits in the southeastern Australian Tablelands are some of the most recent examples of anthropogenic sedimentation in human history. The earliest preserved examples of PSA-type sediments are ~8,000 years old and found throughout the world. The establishment of an onset date for the Anthropocene is currently debated, and I believe the oldest PSA and PSA-type sediments around the world can define this modern epoch.

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Cabonate-hosted hydrocarbon reservoirs will play an increasingly important role in the energy supply, as 60% of the world's remaining hydrocarbon resources are trapped within carbonate rocks. The properties of carbonates are controlled by deposition and diagenesis, which includes calcite cementation that begins immediately after deposition and may have a strong impact on subsequent diagenetic pathways. This thesis aims to understand the impact of early calcite cementation on reservoir properties through object-based modelling and Lattice Boltzmann ow simulation to obtain permeability. A Bayesian inference framework is also developed to quantify the ability of Lattice Boltzmann method to predict the permeability of porous media. Modelling focuses on the impact of carbonate grain type on properties of early cemented grainstones and on the examination of the theoretical changes to the morphology of the pore space. For that purpose process-based models of early cementation are developed in both 2D (Calcite2D) and 3D (Calcite3D, which also includes modelling of deposition). Both models assume the existence of two grain types: polycrystalline and monocrystalline, and two early calcite cement types specific to these grain types: isopachous and syntaxial, respectively. Of the many possible crystal forms that syntaxial cement can take, this thesis focuses on two common rhombohedral forms: a blocky form 01¯12 and an elongated form 40¯41. The results of the 2D and 3D modelling demonstrate the effect of competition of growing grains for the available pore space: the more monocrystalline grains present in the sample, the stronger this competition becomes and the lesser the impact of each individual grain on the resulting early calcite cement volume and porosity. The synthetic samples with syntaxial cements grown of the more elongated crystal form 40¯41 have lower porosity for the same monocrystalline grains content than synthetic samples grown following more blocky crystal form 01¯12. Moreover, permeability at a constant porosity is reduced for synthetic samples with the form 40¯41. Additionally, synthetic samples with form 40¯41 exhibit greater variability in the results as this rhombohedral form is more elongated and has the potential for producing a greater volume of cement. The results of the 2D study suggest that for samples at constant porosity the higher the proportion of monocrystalline grains are in the sample, the higher the permeability. The 3D study suggests that for samples with crystal form 01¯12 at constant porosity the permeability becomes lower as the proportion of monocrystalline grains increase, but this impact is relatively minor. In the case of samples with crystal form 40¯41 the results are inconclusive. This dependence of permeability on monocrystalline grains is weaker than in the 2D study, which is most probably a result of the bias of flow simulation in the 2D as well as of the treatment of the porous medium before the cement growth model is applied. The range of the permeability results in the 2D modelling may be artificially overly wide, which could lead to the dependence of permeability on sediment type being exaggerated. Poroperm results of the 2D modelling (10-8000mD) are in reasonable agreement with the data reported for grainstones in literature (0.1-5000mD) as well as for the plug data of the samples used in modelling (porosity 22 - 27%, permeability 200 - 3000mD), however permeability results at any given porosity have a wide range due to the bias inherent to the 2D flow modelling. Poroperm results in the 3D modelling (10 - 30, 000mD) exhibit permeabilities above the range of that reported in the literature or the plug data, but the reason for that is that the initial synthetic sediment deposit has very high permeability (58, 900mD). However, the trend in poroperm closely resembles those reported in carbonate rocks. As the modelling depends heavily on the use of Lattice Boltzmann method (flow simulation to obtain permeability results), a Bayesian inference framework is presented to quantify the predictive power of Lattice Boltzmann models. This calibration methodology is presented on the example of Fontainebleau sandstone. The framework enables a systematic parameter estimation of Lattice Boltzmann model parameters (in the scope of this work, the relaxation parameter τ ), for the currently used calibrations of Lattice Boltzmann based on Hagen-Poiseuille law. Our prediction of permeability using the Hagen-Poiseuille calibration suggests that this method for calibration is not optimal and in fact leads to substantial discrepancies with experimental measurements, especially for highly porous complex media such as carbonates. We proceed to recalibrate the Lattice Boltzmann model using permeability data from porous media, which results in a substantially different value of the optimal τ parameter than those used previously (0.654 here compared to 0.9). We augment our model introducing porosity-dependence, where we find that the optimal value for τ decreases for samples of higher porosity. In this new semi-empirical model one first identifies the porosity of the given medium, and on that basis chooses an appropriate Lattice Boltzmann relaxation parameter. These two approaches result in permeability predictions much closer to the experimental permeability data, with the porosity-dependent case being the better of the two. Validation of this calibration method with independent samples of the same rock type yields permeability predictions that fall close to the experimental data, and again the porosity-dependent model provides better results. We thus conclude that our calibration model is a powerful tool for accurate prediction of complex porous media permeability.

An area of about 900 square miles (2300 km² ) at the junction of the Kenya and Kavirondo Rift Valleys was studied and a map of it on a scale of 1 : 50,000 is presented. The fonmations present are alkaline lavas and tuffs ranging in age from 12 m.y. b.p. to recent and can be divided into a basanite to phonolite series older than 7 m.y. and a basalt to trachyte series younger than 7 m.y. The fonna.tions are grouped into four assemblages, each .consisting of rocks derived fr.om sources in about the same area. A series of trachytio ash flows about 4m.y. old, the Eldama Ravine Tuff; and two trachyte volcanoes, Londiani of 3 m.y. b.p. and Kilornbe of 2 m.y. b.p., together with their associated syenite bombs are described in detail. The structure of the area is dominated by the Equator and Mau Monoclines which form the western margin of the Kenya Rift Valley. Faults are relatively unimportant but show three distinct trends which can be related to structures in the basement. Chemical analysis was carried out on about 200 rocks, particularly concentrating on the Eldama Ravine Tuff and the Londiani and Kilambe Trachytes. This, with the petrography, showed that the. rocks within the ba.sa·ni te to phonolite series and the basalt to trachyte series are related in general but not in detail by fractional crystallisation. It is also shown that in the trachytic rocks Na, Fe, Y and the Lanthanides are very mobile.

Carbonate diagenesis encapsulates a wide range of water rock interactions that can occur within many environments and act to modify rock properties such as porosity, permeability, and mineralogical composition. These rock modification processes occur by the supply of reactant-laden fluids to areas where geochemical reactions are thermodynamically and kinetically favoured. As such, understanding the development of diagenesis requires an understanding of both palaeohydrology and geochemistry, both of which have their own complexities. However, within geological systems, both the conditions that control fluid migration and the distribution of thermodynamic conditions can change through time in response to external factors. Furthermore, they are often coupled, with rock modification exercising a control on fluid flow by altering the permeability of sediments. Numerical methods allow the coupling of multiple complex processes within a single mathematical formulation. As such, they are well suited to investigations into carbonate diagenesis, where multiple component subsystems interact. This thesis details the application of four separate types of numerical forward modelling to investigations of diagenesis within two Carboniferous carbonate platforms, the Derbyshire Platform (Northern England) and the Tengiz Platform (Western Kazakhstan). Investigations of Derbyshire Platform diagenesis are primarily concerned with explaining the presence of Pb-mineralisation and dolomitisation observed within the Dinantian carbonate succession. A coupled palaeohydrology and basin-development simulation and a series of geochemical simulations was used to investigate the potential for these products to form as a result of basin-derived fluids being driven into the platform by compaction. The results of these models suggest that this mechanism is appropriate for explaining Pb-mineralisation, but dolomitisation requires Mg concentrations within the basin-derived fluids that cannot be attained. Geothermal convection of seawater was thus proposed as an alternative hypothesis to explain the development of dolomitisation. This was tested using an advanced reactive transport model, capable of considering both platform growth and dolomitisation. The results of this suggests that significant dolomitisation may have occurred earlier on in the life of the Derbyshire Platform than has previously been recognised. An updated framework for the development of diagenesis in the Derbyshire Platform is proposed to incorporate these new insights. The Tengiz platform forms an important carbonate oil reservoir at the northeastern shore of the Caspian Sea. The effective exploitation of any reservoir lies in an understanding of its internal distributions of porosity and permeability. Within carbonate systems, this is critically controlled by the distribution of diagenetic products. A model of carbonate sedimentation and meteoric diagenesis is used to produce a framework of early diagenesis within a sequence stratigraphic context. The studies mentioned above provide a broad overview of the capabilities and applicability of forward numerical models to two data-limited systems. They reveal the potential for these methods to guide the ongoing assessment and development of our understanding of diagenetic systems and also help identify key questions for the progression of our understanding in the future.

Despite the economic importance of dolomitised Upper Cretaceous strata, little work has been conducted to further the understanding of the controls on dolomitisation during a green-house period with low marine Mg/Ca ratio. This study presents a multidisciplinary, multi-scale approach using field, petrographical and geochemical data to understand the mechanism of dolomitisation in North Africa and western Mediterranean in order to determine the controls on dolomitisation of Upper Cretaceous strata. Two field areas have been chosen that exhibit similar facies and are time equivalent, located along the Jeffara Escarpment in southern Tunisia and in the Iberian Range of central Spain. Both areas comprise facies deposited in mid-ramp, platform margin, lagoon, inter- and supra-tidal environments. Based on the distribution of facies, a sequence stratigraphic model was proposed for both areas which show similar changes in relative sea level. In the Iberian Basin there is strong evidence of a dramatic rearrangement in basin architecture resulting from tectonic activity during the Upper Cenomanian, whilst on the Jeffara Escarpment deposition took place on a passive margin. Both areas show evidence of warm, arid climates; even though the Iberian Range was in a more northerly palaeogeographic position, there was a rain shadow which affected facies distribution and dolomitisation. Planar dolomite fabrics, dull luminescence under cathodoluminescence, marine trace element concentrations and marine to slightly enriched oxygen isotope values suggest that dolomitisation occurred from mesosaline, marine fluids. Dolomitisation occurred from multiple fluxes of dolomitising fluids, controlled by high frequency changes in relative sea level. A cessation of dolomitisation only occurred during late transgressive systems tract of low order sea level cycles as a result of platform flooding. The Distribution of dolomitising fluids was partly controlled by pre-cursor limestone with low permeability horizons acting as aquicludes and permeable sandstones acting as aquifers. Changes in basin architecture caused reversals in flow of dolomitising fluids on the Iberian Range whilst increased subsidence caused cessation of dolomitisation due to rapid increase in relative sea level on the platform top. Dolomitisation occurred over a wider geographical area in the Jeffara Escarpment compared to the Iberian Range as a result of higher fluid salinity, larger brine pool and higher temperature of dolomitising fluids. The distribution of dolomitised strata of the circum-Tethys and across the Arabian Plate suggests that early reflux dolomitisation occurred within arid climate belts, and did not require hypersaline conditions, evidenced by evaporite distribution, as previously suggested. This study has important implications for the hydrocarbon industry by improving our ability to predict distribution, size and geometry of dolomitised strata essential for hydrocarbon exploration and field development. Furthermore this study has improved our understanding on the controls on dolomitisation during greenhouse periods with low Mg/Ca ratio of seawater and high frequency sea level changes.

This study investigates the ultrahigh pressure (UHP) metamorphic and metasomatic processes involved in the transient subduction-exhumation of continental crust to over 100km depths during a collisional orogeny and the implications for the evolution of the continental crust and crust-mantle interaction at depth. The study focuses on garnet websterites (orthopyroxene eclogites) and zoned, clinopyroxenite-garnetite veining features present in a range of eclogite-facies, crustal metamafic-ultramafic bodies hosted within the Western Gneiss Region (WGR), western Norway. The structural occurrences and textures of some of these crustal garnet websterites are seemingly unique to the WGR but little research has focused on their origin or from a metasomatic perspective. Based on field and petrographic observations, a metasomatic origin is attributed to vein-associated garnet websterites at Kolmannskog, Myrbærneset and Svartberget. A metamorphic origin is attributed to body domains at Nybø, Kolmannskog, Båtneset and Myrbærneset and a combined metamorphic-metasomatic origin is attributed to garnet websterite body domains at Årsheimneset and Remøysunde and inferred at Grytting and Eiksunddal. UHP P-T conditions are obtained from garnet websterites of ~3.7GPa, 740°C at Nybø, ~3.1GPa, 670°C at Grytting, ~3.5GPa, 700°C at Årsheimneset, ~3.6GPa, 815°C at Remøysunde, ~3.0GPa, 750°C at Kolmannskog and ~3.85GPa, 790°C at Svartberget. On this basis, it is proposed the Nordøyane UHP domain be extended eastwards to incorporate the Kolmannskog locality which lies outside its currently defined boundary. Constructed P-T paths suggest the northern Nordøyane UHP domain experienced ~100°C higher temperatures than the southern Nordfjord-Stadlandet UHP domain but experienced similar pressures implying a lower regional P-T gradient than previously established. P-T paths also suggest UHP, vein-forming metasomatism occurred prior to peak temperatures. U-Pb isotopic dating of zircon and monazites in garnetite vein cores dates UHP metasomatism at 414±5.6Ma at Årsheimneset and 410±2.6Ma at Svartberget. The fluid responsible for UHP metasomatism is considered to be a Si-Al-K-H2O-rich supercritical liquid produced in the surrounding country rock associated with the breakdown of phengite with a Na-LILE-LREE-HFSE-P enrichment signature. The major element composition of the fluid added to the Svartberget body is calculated to be 48-60% SiO¬2, 17-27% Al2O3, 3-11% K2O, <10% MgO, CaO and FeO, 3-6% Na2O, <4% P2O5¬, <1% TiO2 and MnO with an overall, undersaturated-saturated sialic, syenitic character hybridised through interaction with the garnet peridotite body margins. The continental fluid-mafic-ultramafic rock systems studied imply a zoned metasomatic unit forms at the interface between subducted continental crust and above mantle wedge at depths of ≥120-130km and along any fluid pathways penetrating into the mantle transferring abundant alkalis, water and trace elements into the mantle. Fluid-mantle interaction is proposed to form abundant biotite and amphibole and zones of garnet websterite, biotite websterite and biotite clinopyroxenite with lenses of eclogite and/or accessory phase (rutile, zircon, monazite, apatite, xenotime)-rich garnetite ±glimmerite selvages where residual fluids accumulate. Subcontinental mantle metasomatism may be associated with UHP, supercritical liquids derived from subducted, eclogite-facies, continental crust rather than oceanic crust as the continental crust is a greater source of the Si, alkalis, trace elements and water which characterise mantle metasomatism.

The Numidian Flysch Formation is a regionally extensive series of deep marine sandstones and mudstones which crop out in Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sicily, and southern mainland Italy. The formation is dated as Oligocene to mid Miocene and represents an approximately linear series of submarine fans characterised by a quartz rich petrofacies. Their unique regional extent is nearly twice the length of the Angolan margin although issues surrounding provenance and basin context have hampered understanding. The Numidian Flysch Formation was deposited into the Maghrebian Flysch Basin (MFB) which was a foreland basin remnant of the neo-Tethys ocean in the western portion of the present day Mediterranean Basin. The basin was bordered to the north by an active margin which consisted of a southward verging accretionary prism, underlain by European crustal blocks which rode above northwards subducting oceanic crust. To the south, the African margin formed a passive-margin to the basin.The huge amount of geophysical and outcrop data which is becoming increasingly available suggests that submarine slope systems are more complex than previously thought, including topographically complex slopes, a wide variety of density flow types, and flow transformations. This thesis aims to review the sedimentology of the Numidian Flysch Formation in Sicily and Tunisia in light of these developments. Constraining the provenance and basin context of the formation is therefore of paramount importance, and this is also addressed.Commonly used evidence for the provenance of Numidian Flysch sandstones include its quartz rich petrology, an Eburnian and Pan-African age detrital zircon suite, its structural position within the foreland fold and thrust belt, and complex palaeocurrent orientations. when reviewd in their entirety and placed in context of other basin successions, the Numidian Flysch is constrained to a depositional location in the south of the basin, with polycyclic sediment sourced from African basement. The Numidian Flysch Formation is therefore a 'passive margin' sequence as opposed to a flysch sensu stricto. The timing of Numidian Flysch deposition is also coincidental with uplift of the Atlas chain in North Africa, during a period of significantly wetter conditions. A switch from carbonate to clastic deposition results from these conditions, and the Numidian Flysch Formation is considered an offshore extension of this regional sedimentation.Characterisation of outcrops in Sicily and Tunisia shows remarkably similar lithofacies and depositional elements. Sinuous upper slope channel complexes are entrenched within slope deposits to a depth of 100 m and occur within channel systems up to 5.7 km in width. They are filled predominantly with massive ungraded sandstones interpreted to aggrade through quasi-steady turbidity currents, interbedded with normally graded turbidites. Channel elements are subseismic in scale, are nested within complexes and show sinuosity. Coupled with lateral offset stacking, this strongly affects the architecture and facies heterogeneity of channel complexes. When compared to globally reviewed data, the thickness of channel elements as shown through their frequency distribution also suggests a fundamental control upon the degree of slope incision which is as yet unconstrained.In lower slope settings, channel complexes stack aggradationally with a width of over 1000 m. They are also predominantly filled with massive sandstones in fining upwards cycles, and show heterogeneous margins and large scale slumping. In central Sicily, large channel complexes are overlain by a stacked lobe complex, in turn overlain by a channel lobe transition zone. This progression coupled with palaeocurrent variability suggests intraslope deformation strongly impacts transiting flows through changes in flow capacity. Salt tectonics, present in Algeria and Tunisia is a possible forcing mechanism.Taken in context, the sections in Sicily record a proximal to distal palaeogeographic trend which is reconstructed towards the north/northeast once well constrained tectonic rotations are taken into account. Given regional similarities, controls upon slope architecture are interpreted to be similar throughout the basin, and deposits in Sicily therefore provide a good analogue for the remainder of the basin. These results therefore allow for a better constrained fan architecture, along with the allogenic controls upon them. Given the continental extent of this formation, the Numidian Flysch Formation provides a unique opportunity to study controls upon fan architecture once provenance and intraslope topography is factored in.

The thesis aims for the surface treatment of materials using electron beam. It includes a literary research describing physical principle and properties of the electron beam. This research also presents possible influencing of the beam and describes the construction of the device that generates the beam. Various applications of the electron beam for the material treatment are presented in the second part of the paper. Within this thesis an experiment with the heat treatment of the steel surface by the electron beam has been realized. The experiment was aimed at creating a layer as deep as possible without melting the surface. The results and their evaluation are presented in the experimental part of the thesis. The attention is also paid to selected process parameters.