The Kawerau hydrothermal system lies at the northern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, on the some 20 km south of the Bay of Plenty. The system, which is thought to have been active for at least 200,000 years, is situated over an area which has been volcanically active through time. Relatively recent local magmatism is found in the 800 m high, 3000-10,000 year old Mt. Edgecumbe dacite massif and the 200 m high Onepu Dome complex which lie adjacent to and within, respectively, the present day resistivity anomaly. Shallow reservoir fluids show evidence of steam heating as expressed by elevated bicarbonate and/or sulphate contents and mildly to strongly acidic pH, whereas the deep fluids are dominantly alkaline at their respective temperatures. The calculated base fluid composition is comprised of 2.5 wt% CO$/sb2$ and ca. 890 mg/kg Cl at 310$/sp/circ$C. Fluid inclusion studies show a largely stable, boiling point thermal regime through time, whereas oxygen stable isotope studies on hydrothermal carbonates prove the existence of one or more pulses of isotopically heavy fluids into the reservoir at some time(s) in the past. Hydrothermal alteration associated with these isotopic anomalies indicate strongly oxidising conditions relative to both alteration elsewhere in the reservoir and the present day reservoir redox conditions. Collectively, the data suggest a magmatic source for these transient, isotopically heavy fluids. The present day system is ore forming, as evident from both metal rich scales formed in the production silencers of the geothermal wells and open fracture reservoir mineralogy. Stockwork environments in the deep reservoir are host to both base and precious metals, and evidence indicates that boiling is the main depositional mechanism for these ore phases. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

The Kawerau hydrothermal system lies at the northern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, on the some 20 km south of the Bay of Plenty. The system, which is thought to have been active for at least 200,000 years, is situated over an area which has been volcanically active through time. Relatively recent local magmatism is found in the 800 m high, 3000-10,000 year old Mt. Edgecumbe dacite massif and the 200 m high Onepu Dome complex which lie adjacent to and within, respectively, the present day resistivity anomaly. Shallow reservoir fluids show evidence of steam heating as expressed by elevated bicarbonate and/or sulphate contents and mildly to strongly acidic pH, whereas the deep fluids are dominantly alkaline at their respective temperatures. The calculated base fluid composition is comprised of 2.5 wt% CO$/sb2$ and ca. 890 mg/kg Cl at 310$/sp/circ$C. Fluid inclusion studies show a largely stable, boiling point thermal regime through time, whereas oxygen stable isotope studies on hydrothermal carbonates prove the existence of one or more pulses of isotopically heavy fluids into the reservoir at some time(s) in the past. Hydrothermal alteration associated with these isotopic anomalies indicate strongly oxidising conditions relative to both alteration elsewhere in the reservoir and the present day reservoir redox conditions. Collectively, the data suggest a magmatic source for these transient, isotopically heavy fluids. The present day system is ore forming, as evident from both metal rich scales formed in the production silencers of the geothermal wells and open fracture reservoir mineralogy. Stockwork environments in the deep reservoir are host to both base and precious metals, and evidence indicates that boiling is the main depositional mechanism for these ore phases. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

The Kawerau hydrothermal system lies at the northern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, on the some 20 km south of the Bay of Plenty. The system, which is thought to have been active for at least 200,000 years, is situated over an area which has been volcanically active through time. Relatively recent local magmatism is found in the 800 m high, 3000-10,000 year old Mt. Edgecumbe dacite massif and the 200 m high Onepu Dome complex which lie adjacent to and within, respectively, the present day resistivity anomaly. Shallow reservoir fluids show evidence of steam heating as expressed by elevated bicarbonate and/or sulphate contents and mildly to strongly acidic pH, whereas the deep fluids are dominantly alkaline at their respective temperatures. The calculated base fluid composition is comprised of 2.5 wt% CO$/sb2$ and ca. 890 mg/kg Cl at 310$/sp/circ$C. Fluid inclusion studies show a largely stable, boiling point thermal regime through time, whereas oxygen stable isotope studies on hydrothermal carbonates prove the existence of one or more pulses of isotopically heavy fluids into the reservoir at some time(s) in the past. Hydrothermal alteration associated with these isotopic anomalies indicate strongly oxidising conditions relative to both alteration elsewhere in the reservoir and the present day reservoir redox conditions. Collectively, the data suggest a magmatic source for these transient, isotopically heavy fluids. The present day system is ore forming, as evident from both metal rich scales formed in the production silencers of the geothermal wells and open fracture reservoir mineralogy. Stockwork environments in the deep reservoir are host to both base and precious metals, and evidence indicates that boiling is the main depositional mechanism for these ore phases. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

The Kawerau hydrothermal system lies at the northern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, on the some 20 km south of the Bay of Plenty. The system, which is thought to have been active for at least 200,000 years, is situated over an area which has been volcanically active through time. Relatively recent local magmatism is found in the 800 m high, 3000-10,000 year old Mt. Edgecumbe dacite massif and the 200 m high Onepu Dome complex which lie adjacent to and within, respectively, the present day resistivity anomaly. Shallow reservoir fluids show evidence of steam heating as expressed by elevated bicarbonate and/or sulphate contents and mildly to strongly acidic pH, whereas the deep fluids are dominantly alkaline at their respective temperatures. The calculated base fluid composition is comprised of 2.5 wt% CO$/sb2$ and ca. 890 mg/kg Cl at 310$/sp/circ$C. Fluid inclusion studies show a largely stable, boiling point thermal regime through time, whereas oxygen stable isotope studies on hydrothermal carbonates prove the existence of one or more pulses of isotopically heavy fluids into the reservoir at some time(s) in the past. Hydrothermal alteration associated with these isotopic anomalies indicate strongly oxidising conditions relative to both alteration elsewhere in the reservoir and the present day reservoir redox conditions. Collectively, the data suggest a magmatic source for these transient, isotopically heavy fluids. The present day system is ore forming, as evident from both metal rich scales formed in the production silencers of the geothermal wells and open fracture reservoir mineralogy. Stockwork environments in the deep reservoir are host to both base and precious metals, and evidence indicates that boiling is the main depositional mechanism for these ore phases. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

The Kawerau hydrothermal system lies at the northern end of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, on the some 20 km south of the Bay of Plenty. The system, which is thought to have been active for at least 200,000 years, is situated over an area which has been volcanically active through time. Relatively recent local magmatism is found in the 800 m high, 3000-10,000 year old Mt. Edgecumbe dacite massif and the 200 m high Onepu Dome complex which lie adjacent to and within, respectively, the present day resistivity anomaly. Shallow reservoir fluids show evidence of steam heating as expressed by elevated bicarbonate and/or sulphate contents and mildly to strongly acidic pH, whereas the deep fluids are dominantly alkaline at their respective temperatures. The calculated base fluid composition is comprised of 2.5 wt% CO$/sb2$ and ca. 890 mg/kg Cl at 310$/sp/circ$C. Fluid inclusion studies show a largely stable, boiling point thermal regime through time, whereas oxygen stable isotope studies on hydrothermal carbonates prove the existence of one or more pulses of isotopically heavy fluids into the reservoir at some time(s) in the past. Hydrothermal alteration associated with these isotopic anomalies indicate strongly oxidising conditions relative to both alteration elsewhere in the reservoir and the present day reservoir redox conditions. Collectively, the data suggest a magmatic source for these transient, isotopically heavy fluids. The present day system is ore forming, as evident from both metal rich scales formed in the production silencers of the geothermal wells and open fracture reservoir mineralogy. Stockwork environments in the deep reservoir are host to both base and precious metals, and evidence indicates that boiling is the main depositional mechanism for these ore phases. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

Master of Science / Department of Geology / Matthew W. Totten / The source of the hydrocarbons in western Kansas has been an ongoing debate for many years. The highly organic-rich Anadarko basin, directly south of western Kansas, has been a very prolific producer for many years. This basin is the most widely accepted source of the oil in Kansas, as it is very deep and thermally mature. The main source rock in this area is the Woodford Shale, a very thick, very organic-rich unit which has been proven to produce many hydrocarbons. Several studies have been done on the oils that are presently in Kansas, suggesting that they can be traced back to the source of the Woodford Shale. The hydrocarbons in the Anadarko basin would have traveled several hundred miles, which would require that the migration mechanism be unusually efficient. An alternate explanation could be that one of the many organic black shales in western Kansas may have sourced this oil. This study examines formations of Cambrian to Permian ages which include organic shales interbedded with several known producing formations. Shales of these ages in other areas have produced thermally mature hydrocarbons, which indicate relatively high temperatures and pressures. Several models suggest that thermal maturity may be reached even with lower temperatures if burial times are longer. The shales in western Kansas were deposited in marine seas, and upon TOC testing, proved to be very organic-rich. Two sets of data were analyzed in this study, with the first from northwestern Kansas, and the second from southwestern Kansas. These two sets were analyzed for TOC, whole-rock analysis, and vitrinite reflectance. The shales analyzed from the first set proved to be thermally immature. Had they been subjected to higher temperatures, then they would have made excellent source rocks. The second set of shales analyzed also proved to be thermally immature with the exception of a few deeper shales, which are closer to being mature source rocks. These shales may have contributed to some of the hydrocarbons currently within Kansas.

Master of Science / Department of Geology / Saugata Datta / The incidence of high arsenic (As) and other oxyanions (e.g. Mn) has been examined in a ~410km[superscript]2 areas within the Bengal Delta between North and South Matlab, Bangladesh. The aim of this study was to examine the role of sediment geochemistry, coupled with microbial community studies and their relations with different colors and grain sizes of sediments, in determining evolved groundwater hydrochemistry within the aquifers in Matlab. Groundwaters are Ca–Mg–HCO[subscript]3- types in shallow aquifers, Mg-HCO[subscript]3- in the intermediate depths and Na-K-Cl rich in the deeper aquifers. Dissolved As concentration is high (~781μg/l) associated with shallow grey and dark grey sediments, whereas light grey sediments at intermediate depths contain lower As (<10 μg/l). Dissolved Fe[superscript]T on other hand in both sediment types (light grey and grey) shows good correlation with dissolved SO[subscript]4[superscript]2-. In plots of [delta]δ[superscript]18O vs [delta]δD, intermediate and deeper depth aquifer waters plot on the arrays for LMWL and GMWL, which indicates the principal recharge mechanism is likely to be from local precipitation within the shallow aquifers. Only the high As groundwaters deflect from the LMWL, indicating that recharge might be a mixture of precipitation and surficial discharges / infiltrations for these waters. Bulk extraction of sediments showed that grey and dark grey sediments from shallow depths have higher As concentrations (~31 mg/kg) and light grey sediments have comparatively less (~11mg/kg). Sequential extractions for sediment fractionations showed that most of the As was bound to amorphous and poorly crystalline hydrous oxides of Fe and Al phases. Synchrotron-aided bulk-XANES studies conducted on sediments revealed As and S speciation in the core samples at different depths indicating the occurrences of hotspots of As distributed randomly in light grey and grey sediments. As[superscript]3+ is the dominant species in Matlab sediments. More than 101 bacterial families were identified among the eight sediment samples from the South Matlab core and out of them fewer than six families comprised more than ~80% of total bacterial families. Our results indicate significant relationships between bacterial community structure, grain size fractionation, dissolved As concentration and sediment C, Mn, and Fe concentrations for these samples. Groundwater abstracted from these light grey sediments, in contrast to reduced greyish to dark greyish sediments, contain significantly lower amounts of dissolved As and can be a source of safe water for the future. Our work demonstrates that intermediate depth light grey sediments have geochemical and microbial features conducive with safe drinking water for the future.

Master of Science / Department of Geology / Matthew W. Totten / The Spivey-Grabs-Basil oil field is a highly developed field in south-central Kansas, having large variability in its production and in the Pineville Tripolite facies. The Pineville Tripolite is the primary producing formation of this field having major isopach variations, possibly influencing production. The hypothesis that the field is highly compartmentalized is from the varied production, isopach and structure of the field. This study investigated the Pineville Tripolite facies in the Spivey-Grabs-Basil Oil Field, with the Basil area the predominant focus, and its possible compartmentalization by looking at the gas chromatograms and their biomarker signatures. This field has had several studies investigating the geophysical attributes, depositional setting and large-scale compartmentalization. Post depositional sea-level changes and possibly syntectonics exposed the Reeds Spring to a sub-aerial environment where meteoric alteration created immense porosity and the Pineville Tripolite facies. Geochemical data shows evidence that this section of the field is sourced from both a marine shale and carbonate source at peak oil maturity, deposited in an anoxic environment. Biodegradation appears very slight, with most alterations transpiring in the alkane ranges only, leaving all other susceptible hydrocarbons unaltered. Compartments within the field are harder to identify when comparing geological data to oil data. Isopach data shows altered thickness of the Pineville Tripolite from well to well, as do Pineville structure values. The isopach and structural data point to possible areas for compartments, but it is from oil geochemical data that compartments become more visible. API gravities and GOR show motley values, but do indicate two significant areas of segregation. The deepest, most southern end of the study showed lighter gravity oils than the middle, suggesting possible fill and spill between the two. However, biomarker abundance indicates three possible compartments. The southern compartment has many more biomarker volumes than do the middle compartment, both divided by a reservoir pinch-out. The third most northeastern well has high biomarker abundance, but shows no geological separators from the other wells. Production from this field may be improved by investigating the biomarkers to allocate these compartments and possible barriers close to wells.

Master of Science / Department of Geology / Matthew W. Totten / Sands rich in volcanic ash have been encountered within the late Cenozoic sequence offshore Louisiana in the northern Gulf of Mexico. These beds are identified on well logs by their high radioactivity and low density. Paleontologic markers used to date these deposits give dates that are consistent with eruptions from the Snake River Plain (SRP) and Yellowstone calderas. Lead isotope ratios from the Gulf of Mexico samples are also consistent with the SRP-Yellowstone tuffs. The objective of this study was to compare the rare earth element (REE) and other trace element data from the GOM samples to determine whether they may be differentiated from one another, and also whether they compare to the SRP data. Well cuttings and sidewall core samples from sixteen wells known to contain volcanic ash were density separated using lithium metatungstate to isolate the low density volcanic glass from the remaining minerals. The concentrated ash was dissolved and analyzed using ICP-MS. Trace and REE variations were plotted by depositional age based upon paleontological markers. Variations in most trace elements are not useful criteria for discriminating ash by age. There is a wide spread in fairly mobile elements (i.e. Sr, Ba), suggesting that each ash bed has had a different diagenetic history. REE variations, in particular the magnitude of the Europium anomaly and the degree of fractionation between light and heavy REE, are good discriminates of each ash. A few anomalous samples plot within an older field, which might be explained by reworking of older ash into younger deposits. Direct correlation to SRP-Yellowstone eruptions is hindered by the lack of SRP samples analyzed using similar methods.

Master of Science / Department of Geology / Sambhudas Chaudhuri and Matthew Totten / The current model of hydrocarbon generation involves the thermogenic maturation of organic material as a consequence of burial. This process only considers energy generated from temperature increase due to burial. The majority of organic rich source beds contain high concentrations of radioactive elements, hence the energy produced from radioactive decay of these elements should be evaluated as well. Previous experiments show that α-particle bombardment can result in the generation of hydrocarbons from oleic acid. This study investigates the effects of γ-rays in a natural petroleum generating system. In order to determine the effects of γ-rays, experiments were conducted using cesium-137 as the γ-ray source at the KSU nuclear facilities to irradiate crude oil and organic material commonly found in petroleum systems. The samples were then analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Rock-Eval pyrolysis to determine changes in the samples. The FTIR results demonstrated that γ-radiation can cause the lengthening and/or shortening of hydrocarbon chains in crude oils, the dissociation of brine (H2O (aq)), the production of free radicals, and the production of various gases. These changes that come from γ-radiation hold the possibilities to distort the configuration of organic molecules, dissociate molecular bonds, and trigger oxidation-reduction reactions, all of which could provide an important step to the onset of dissociation necessary to create hydrocarbons in petroleum systems. Further understanding the effects of γ-radiation in hydrocarbons systems could lead to more information about the radiolytic processes that take place. This could eventually lead to further understanding of oil generation in organic-rich source beds.