Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 456-473).

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, School of Earth Sciences, 1991. / "1990". Bibliography: p. 596-630.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2007. / "May 2007" Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-151). Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2008]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Carbonate reservoirs hold more than 50 % of Earth’s remaining conventional hydrocarbon. However, recovery from these reservoirs is notoriously difficult due to the complex and multiple scales of porosity. This heterogeneity is a function of both the depositional environment and of subsequent diagenetic processes. This thesis examines the processes that have controlled the reservoir quality of three Early Cretaceous carbonate oil fields (A, B, and C), in particular the role of deposition, diagenesis and the timing of oil charge in controlling final properties. Results are then used to help provide a theoretical basis for the modelling and prediction of reservoir quality and to improve the calibration of basin models. Field A and B are stacked and highly compartmentalised giant oil fields in the U.A.E. that are dominated by muddy fabrics and have a highly variable porosity (0- 35 %) and permeability (0.01-830 mD). Although the depositional environment strongly determines the location of reservoirs extensive diagenesis, through cementation and dissolution, has greatly modified the porosity and permeability of the reservoirs. Bulk δ13C values obtained from the main pore occluding calcite and dolomite cements are similar to the δ13C values of bulk micrite for the reservoir interval in which they are now present. This suggests that the cements that are occluding the pore space in each stacked reservoir are locally sourced and implies that each reservoir behaves as a relatively closed system during cement precipitation. In-situ (SIMS) δ18OVPDB values were obtained for the complete calcite cementation history of multiple reservoirs in Field A and B. The δ18OVPDB values for the first (oldest) calcite cement zone in each reservoir can be related to the global δ18OVPDB marine curve during the Hauterivian-Aptian and to million-year scale major climatic cooling events. The δ18OVPDB values for successive cement zones then progressively decrease, which is related to successive precipitation as a result of increasing temperature during burial in a relatively closed system. In-situ (SIMS) δ18OVPDB data together with oil inclusion occurrence suggest that initial oil charge (from the Dukhan Formation), at ~ 55-45 Million years ago (Mya) in Field A, reduced the cementation rate in the oil reservoir and preserved porosity. Whereas in the coeval aquifer a large volume of cement precipitated, after oil entered the oil reservoir, that greatly reduced porosity. Furthermore, the most reduced δ18OVPDB and mMg/mCa values are obtained from the cements in the shallowest (youngest) reservoirs, suggesting that cementation ceased in the deepest reservoirs first. This can be related to hydrocarbon stopping cementation or to the complete occlusion of effective porosity in the older reservoirs prior to the younger. After calcite and dolomite cementation ceased in the reservoirs of Field A and B a large scale dissolution event has been identified which significantly enhanced porosity. This dissolution event is then followed by the precipitation of authigenic kaolinite. Basin modelling reveals that this dissolution event is likely to be related to the thermal maturation of sedimentary organic matter that is present within local intraformational seals and to the migration of organic acids prior to a second hydrocarbon charging event (at ~ 45 Mya). The aluminium, that is required for the formation of kaolinite, would then have been brought into the system by complexing with the organic compounds derived from this maturation event. Field C is an oil field located in offshore Brazil. The field is dominated by high energy facies that have porosities which range from 5 % to 39 %, and permeabilities from 0.1 mD to 8.1 D. The depositional poro-perm properties of the oil reservoir have undergone little diagenetic alteration; however, the aquifer is extensively cemented and the porosity is much reduced. All the cements identified, by both petrography and stable isotopic analyses, in the oil reservoir are early and are thought to have formed from a pore fluid similar to, or slightly evolved from, Early Cretaceous seawater. Basin modelling suggests that oil may have entered the field slightly after deposition (at ~105 Mya) and led to the preservation of high porosities and permeabilities in the oil reservoir by stopping cementation.

This study presents an integrated evaluation of the burial and thermal history of an exhumed (uplifted and eroded) basin, and investigates the implications for the evolution of reservoir quality of the Ordovician sandstone in the Illizi Basin, Algeria. Complementary techniques including sonic compaction analysis, apatite fission track analysis, thermal maturity analysis, fluid inclusion microthermometry, and sandstone petrography are integrated to provide calibration for burial and thermal history models and diagenetic forward modelling, in order to predict variations in sandstone reservoir quality across the study area. The Illizi Basin has been structurally modified due to multiple exhumation events, including the uplift of the Hoggar Massif, which resulted in exhumation of the flanking sedimentary basins over a distance of 1,500 km from north to south. This study presents new apatite fission track data and analyses that constrain the onset of major exhumation in the Illizi Basin to the Eocene with exhumation magnitudes estimated to be 1-1.4 km in the study area. The study area contains a multi trillion cubic foot gas-condensate accumulation within a large four way dip closure. Hydrocarbon generation occurred during two main phases in the Carboniferous and the Mesozoic, but ceased during Cenozoic exhumation. Due to the Cenozoic tilting of the Illizi Basin in response to the uplift of the Hoggar Massif to the south, the present-day structural trap is interpreted to have formed after the main hydrocarbon generation phases. Therefore, alternative charging mechanisms of this post-peak burial trap are required and explored. In addition, new fluid inclusion data provides evidence of a significant fluid flow event within the Illizi basin, triggered by Cenozoic exhumation. Brines hosted present-day in the Ordovician sandstone in the study area are shown to be genetically linked to Triassic-Liassic evaporites deposited over 400 km to the north. Overpressure dissipation during exhumation is proposed to be a potential driving mechanism for the late stage remobilization of deep brines. A major pre-drill risk in many North African Paleozoic plays relates to sandstone reservoir quality, largely due to extensive quartz diagenesis. The Ordovician reservoir in the study area is characterised through petrography and core analysis, and the impact of burial and thermal history on the reservoir quality is investigated through diagenetic forward modelling. Results indicate that facies and variations in thermal history are a major control on preserving reservoir quality. This study demonstrates the importance of integrating the burial and thermal history, depositional facies and diagenetic history during predictive reservoir quality studies, particularly in exhumed basins where the burial and exhumation history may be complex, and present-day depth or geometry is not indicative of the past. Methodologies and implications from this study could be applied to exhumed basins in general.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Seismic interpretation is always somewhat an uncertainty and questions on whether the horizons picked are properly correlated across faults and or the structures mapped are geologically or geometrically sensible always raise a concern as it provides the principal source of subsurface information used commonly in exploration by the oil and gas industry. In this study an attempt of delineating what are or not geological features has been done by validating the seismic structural interpretation using the restoration technique which also provided information about the extensional history of the study area. The seismic data, horizon and fault interpretation have been depth converted in 2DMove software followed by a sequential restoration and decompacting workflow. Simple shear was used as the restoration algorithm based on the deformation style of the basin (extensional basin). The seismic interpretation is valid and studies on tectonics interplay in basin development (gas field scale) during the Late-Jurassic- Early Cretaceous are based on the results of the four balanced cross-sections. They indicate that the Basin is not a simple extensional rift Basin but was rather formed through an alternation of extensional and compressional phases. The area understudy has undergone extension since rifting onset (break-up of Gondwana) with two intervening minor inversion episodes further NW and SE showing no significant shortening on the central part. A maximum extension is noted within the central part of the study area along the XL_1248 thus more accommodation space and subsequently thicker sediment accumulations are encountered in this region.

A key to understanding the origin and maintenance of the diversity of life is to understand how phenotypic and genetic variation is partitioned within and among populations. I characterize the spatial partitioning of phenotypic and genetic variation in an old Willamette Basin freshwater distribution of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and compare these results to younger populations. Phenotypic variation was measured using 14 phenotypic traits, and genetic variation was assessed using RADseq and Stacks software to identify tens of thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms. The major partitioning of phenotypic and genetic variation in Oregon is along a stereotypical transition from oceanic to freshwater that has been seen in younger systems. Phenotypic and genetic variation is significantly partitioned between basin populations, and the genetic variation is geographically structured. This work suggests that parallel divergence between oceanic and freshwater forms originated before the end of the last glacial maximum.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:33:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2004Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:45:22Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 carvalho_sm_dr_prud.pdf: 1565682 bytes, checksum: 7df069094fbd02bd9832a34402a065d6 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Os estudos de Bacias Hidrográficas, como unidade de gestão, estavam inicialmente voltados aos recursos hídricos, mas hoje contemplam também uma gama de aspectos, entre os quais a conservação do solo, o aumento da produtividade, a exploração econômica, as potencialidades turísticas e as relações sociais. A Bacia do Rio Quebra-Perna, objeto desta pesquisa, ocupa a porção leste do município de Ponta Grossa, na região dos Campos Gerais do Paraná e abriga, simultaneamente, inúmeros sítios naturais de importância local, regional e nacional além de intensa atividade agrícola, silvicultura, pecuária e remanescentes de vegetação nativa. Com o objetivo de diagnosticar os diversos aspectos físicos, bióticos e o uso da terra, visando a elaboração de diretrizes e estratégias de ação para um futuro processo de gestão, foi utilizada a metodologia do Diagnóstico Físico-Conservacionista , adaptada para o Brasil por Beltrame (1994). A metodologia permite, a partir de uma setorização da Bacia, a avaliação de sete parâmetros identificando o estado ambiental da mesma. Os resultados obtidos são unidades de risco de erosão (entre 0 e 100) por setor, sendo que na Bacia do Quebra-Perna os setores A e B apresentaram 33,9 unidades e o setor C 30,1 unidades de risco. / The studies of Hydrographic Basins, as units of management, were first turned to hydro resources, but today, they also contemplate a wider range of aspects, such as, soil conservation, increase of productivity, economic exploitation, tourist potentialities and social relations. The Quebra-Perna River Basin, object of this research, occupies the est side of the outskirts of Ponta Grossa, in the Campos Gerais region, in Paraná, and shelters, simultaneously, several natural sites of local, regional and national importance, besides intense agricultural activity, cattle ranch and remaining native vegetation. The methodology of the Physical-Conservationist Diagnostic, adapted for Brazil by Beltrame (1994), was used with the objective of diagnosing the diverse physical and biotic aspects, as well as the land manipulation, aiming the elaboration of guidelines and action strategies for a future management process. From a section division of the Basin, that methodology allows an evaluation of seven parameters that identify its environment situation. The results obtained are: erosion risk units (between 0 and 100) per sector, being that in the Quebra-Perna Basin, sectors A and B have presented 33,9 of them, and sector C has presented 30,1 risk units.

Orientador: Marisa Saenz Leme / Banca: Wilma Peres Costa / Banca: Denise Aparecida Soares de Moura / Resumo: Os recrutamentos militares foram uma realidade na Capitania de São Paulo, desde o século XVIII. Os conflitos na Bacia do Prata, na busca de delimitar as fronteiras da América portuguesa e espanhola, exigiram a organização de uma estrutura militar no Brasil. Para sediar essa estrutura foi escolhida a referida Capitania. A união de interesses, de segmentos da elite paulista e da Coroa portuguesa, possibilitou a consolidação da militarização da Capitania ao longo da segunda metade do século XVIII. Todavia, a dinamização da economia e da sociedade paulista, a partir das últimas décadas do século XVIII e início do XIX, entrou em conflito com a militarização ali desenvolvida. O presente trabalho buscou analisar as diferenças entre os recrutamentos realizados em São Paulo nesses dois momentos, focando as relações entre a sociedade e o Estado na organização e manutenção da estrutura militar. / Abstract: The military recruitment had been a reality in São Paulo, since the 18th century. The conflicts at the Silver Drainage Basin, in search to delimit the Portuguese and Spanish America borders, they had demanded to orgazine the military structure in Brazil. Hosting this structure São Paulo Captainship was chosen. The union of interests, segments of São Paulo’s elite and the Portuguese Crown, made it possible the militarization of Captainship consolidation throughout the second half of 18th century. However, the joining of the economy and the paulista society, from the last decades from the 18th and beginning of 19th century, it got in conflict with the militarization developed there. The current paper searched to analyze the differences between the recruitment fulfilled in São Paulo at these two moments, focusing the relations between the society and the State over the organization and maintenance of the military structure. / Mestre