Deep subsurface evaporites are common terrestrial deep subsurface environments found globally. These deposits are known to host communities of halophilic organisms, some of which have been suggested to be millions of years old. The discovery of evaporite minerals on Mars has led to these environments becoming of interest to astrobiology, particularly because the subsurface of Mars represents the best chance of finding more clement conditions conducive to life. Despite this interest, deep subsurface evaporites remain poorly understood and we have little insight into how different salts shape the Earth's biosphere, much of which is underground. This thesis addresses several knowledge gaps present in the literature by sampling a selection of brine seeps and rock salt samples taken from Boulby Potash Mine, UK. The origin and evolution of the brines is determined with geochemical techniques, showing the majority to have been sourced from an aquifer above where they were intersected in the mine. These brines appear to have taken a variety of pathways through the subsurface leading to the presence of a range of different ions dissolved within them. The majority are Na/Cl dominated, whilst one is K/Cl dominated. One brine appears to have a different origin and probably interacted with dolomite becoming very concentrated in Mg. This variety in brine origins and migration pathways has impacted the habitability of the brines. Physicochemical measurements for chaotropicity, water activity and ionic strength, combined with culturing experiments suggest brines from the Sherwood Sandstone were habitable, but the brine from a distinct unknown source was uninhabitable. DNA was successfully extracted from three of the habitable brines and their metagenomes sequenced. These revealed communities largely functionally and phylogenetically similar to surface near saturation brines, indicating that the structure of the communities present in saturated Na/Cl brines are controlled almost exclusively by these ions rather than any other environmental difference between the surface and subsurface. Organisms were also taken from these brines and culturing experiments carried out to determine if any carbon sources were present in ancient salt that might promote growth in the absence of other carbon sources. Controls showed that the geochemical changes to the growth media induced by solving the salts, particularly sylvinite, were responsible for the increases in growth observed, indicating certain salt minerals effectively fertilise the growth of halophiles. Culturing on hydrocarbon seeps collected in the mine suggested they may provide a carbon source periodically to some organisms within the deposit. Work was done to show the presence of dissimilatory sulphate and iron reducing halophiles. Overall this significantly advances our understanding of how salts shape the Earth's biosphere, particularly its deep subsurface component, and what functional capabilities life has to persist in these environments. This work provides a new window on the potential habitability of deep subsurface extraterrestrial environments and how we might go about investigating these environments for habitable conditions.

Hydrocarbon exploration involves drilling into or near salt deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, and the Middle East. Drilling these systems has proven to be quite dangerous, challenging, and expensive due to the pressure and stress perturbations that exist around the salt. My study focuses on characterizing the pressure and stress distribution at the Mad Dog field, which is a large oil field below an allochthonous salt body in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The Mad Dog field lies beneath the Sigsbee Escarpment, which represents the surface and seaward-most indicator of a mobile salt in Green Canyon blocks 781, 782, 825, and 826, 190 miles southwest of New Orleans in 4,500-6,500 feet of water. I characterize the pressure distribution within the Lower Miocene sandstone reservoir which has produced over 100 million barrels to date. I map the reservoir horizon using 3D seismic data and that the reservoir is a complex regional anticlinal structure that is separated by numerous normal faults that cause it to be segmented into compartments. The in-situ pore pressures show that the compartments are not in pressure communication across the field and that multiple aquifer phase pressures are present. The in-situ pore pressure measurements are used to characterize the pressure distribution in the Miocene sediments below the salt body and in front of the mobile salt body. These measurements show that between the upper Miocene to middle Miocene there is an absolute pressure decrease and between the middle to lower Miocene there is a large pressure increase. This pressure distribution is seen both within the Miocene sediments below salt and in front of salt. A porosity and effective stress relationship from shallow Pleistocene sediments was developed to predict the pressure behavior observed within the Miocene and compare the predicted pressure with in-situ pore pressure measurements. The mudstone pressure prediction overestimates the in-situ sand pore pressure. The mudstones bounding regional sandstone have a constant porosity throughout the field, suggesting that the vertical effective stress is constant. These observations can be used to estimate the mudstone pore pressure in a new well location. If the vertical effective stress in an offset well is known and given knowledge of the total vertical stress in the new well location, the mudstone pore pressure can be estimated. / text

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Thesis (doctoral)--Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-221).

Orientador: José Ricardo Pelaquim Mendes / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica e Instituto de Geociências / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-22T11:39:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Salmazo_Eduardo_M.pdf: 7818535 bytes, checksum: a2f7369fd589c6f6e85ce6c997e8c112 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Neste trabalho discute-se os desafios associados à atividade de perfuração de poços de petróleo através de formações afetadas pela presença de domos salinos. Domos salinos podem induzir grandes tensões nas formações subjacentes e adjacentes, impondo a necessidade de um planejamento específico para a perfuração e manutenção de poços de petróleo. Durante a perfuração, em frente à zonda de sal, há relatos de problemas de aprisionamento de coluna, dissolução de sal no fluido de perfuração, ocasionando a formação de batentes mecânicos e cavernas. Há ainda, nas formações que rodeiam um domo salino, devido à alterações no campo de tensões, problemas de instabilidade nas paredes do poço aberto e formação de zonas anormalmente prossurizadas. Após o revestimento do poço, há casos de colapso do revestimento. Para prever e mitigar os riscos associados à essa atividade é de fundamental importância o entendimento dos fenômenos físicos que o ocasionam. Com essa finalidade, foi feito um estudo à respeito de tais mecanismo físicos como fluência e instabilidade hidrodinâmica, mais especificamente a instabilidade de Rayleigh-Taylor. Desenvolveu-se, a partir de tal estudo, um modelo analítico para prever o desenvolvimento de um domo salino e discutiu-se a forma como este pode interferir em parâmetros importantes para a atividade de perfuração como, por exemplo, o campo de tensões nas formações adjacentes às camadas de sal / Abstract: In this present work are discussed the challenges associated with the drilling activities in oil wells through formations affected by the presence of salt domes. This geological structures can induce large stresses in the underlaying and adjacent formations, imposing the necessity of specific planning for drilling and maintenance of such oil wells. During drilling, facing the salt, there are reports of problems of stuck pipe, salt dissolution, forming mechanical stops and caves. There are still, in formations around a salt dome, due changes in the stress field, problems of well instability and abnormally pressure zones. After casing, there are cases of case collapse. To prevent and mitigate risks associated to this activity, is crucial understand the physical phenomena behind it. With such finality, was made an study related with such physical mechanisms, such hydrodynamic instability, specifically the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Was developed, from this study, an analytical model to predict the salt dome development and was discussed the way such it can interfer in important paramenters related to the drilling activity as, for exemple, the tension field in the formation around the salt dome / Mestrado / Explotação / Mestre em Ciências e Engenharia de Petróleo

Kondens i icke-uppvärmda byggnader är ett välkänt problem, men hur dessa byggnader bör hanteras är mindre känt. I Vanadislundens vattenreservoar installerades en avfuktnings anläggning med förväntan att kondensen som funnits i byggnaden i 100 år ska försvinna. Problemet som istället uppstod var saltutfällningar och saltsprängningar på insida yttervägg. Detta examensarbete är baserat på att ge en beskrivning av hur salt-sprängningar och utfällningar sker. Samt vad som händer då denna typ av byggnad avfuktas samt hur denna typ av byggnader bör hanteras.  Detta arbete gjordes dels genom att göra en litteraturstudie om fenomenet saltutfällningar och sprängningar, hur dessa uppstår och varför. Samt genom beräkningsprogrammet WUFI där olika situationer simulerades för att besvara frågeställningarna. Vid fall 1, då den relativa fuktigheten (RF) sattes till 90% gavs slutsatsen att inga problem bör uppstå med saltutfällningar eller sprängningar. Vid fall 2 då den relativa fuktigheten sattes till 70%, torrt inneklimat, gavs slutsatsen att problem kan uppstå.  Den generella slutsatsen som detta arbete resulterade var att denna typ av byggnad bör hanteras med stor omtanke och att avfukta denna typ av byggnad kan leda till stora problem. / Condensation in unheated buildings is a well-known problem, but how these buildings should be handled is less known. A dehumidification plant was installed in Vanadislunden's water reservoir with the expectation that the condensation that had existed in the building for 100 years would disappear. The problem that arose instead was salt deposits and salt explosions on the inside of the outer wall. This thesis is based on giving a description of how salt explosions and precipitations occur. And what happens when this type of building is dehumidified and how this type of building should be handled.This work was done partly by doing a literature study on the phenomenon of salt precipitation and explosions, how these occur and why. And through the calculation program WUFI where different situations were simulated to answer the questions. In case 1, when the relative humidity (RH) was set to 90%, it was concluded that no problems should arise with salt precipitation or explosions. In case 2 when the relative humidity was set to 70%, dry indoor climate, it was concluded that problems may arise.The general conclusion that this work resulted in was that this type of building should be handled with great care and that dehumidifying this type of building can lead to major problems.

L’utilisation des alliages de titane dans de nombreuses applications (transport, énergie, chimie,...) permet des gains de masse importants en tirant profit du rapport propriétés mécaniques/masse volumique qui est avantageux pour ce type de matériaux. L’utilisation de ces alliages dans des environnements à hautes températures (T>500°C) nécessite de se préoccuper de leur comportement et de comprendre les mécanismes de dégradation dans ces conditions sévères. Certains facteurs peuvent influencer le comportement des alliages de titane en oxydation, comme l’application de cycles de chauffage/refroidissement, la présence de vapeur d’eau ou la présence de sels, selon les conditions d’utilisation.Ce travail de thèse s’est attaché à comprendre les mécanismes d’oxydation d’un alliage de titane utilisé dans l’aéronautique : l’alliage Ti6242S. Il a été étudié à 560°C sous air, sous air humide et en présence de dépôts solides de sel(s) de type NaCl et/ou Na2SO4. Pour cela, des oxydations de longues durées avec et sans dépôts solides de sels ont été réalisées. Les résultats obtenus montrent que la présence de NaCl provoque une dégradation importante du comportement en oxydation des échantillons. La dissolution d’oxygène dans le métal observée sous air ne se produit plus en présence de dépôts de sels. En revanche, une oxydation interne de l’alliage a lieu et des fissures apparaissent dans la profondeur du substrat métallique. La dégradation du matériau est attribuée à la présence de dichlore et à la formation de chlorures métalliques volatiles. Un mécanisme réactionnel a été proposé afin d’expliquer l’effet néfaste des dépôts de NaCl. L’effet d’un dépôt de sels mixte NaCl/Na2SO4 sur l’oxydation de l’alliage Ti6242S est cependant moins marqué.L’évolution des propriétés mécaniques de l’alliage Ti6242S a également été étudiée après oxydation. Une simple oxydation de 100 h sous air provoque une diminution importante de la ductilité du matériau à cause de la zone de dissolution d’oxygène formée pendant l’oxydation. En présence d’un dépôt de NaCl et après 100h d’oxydation à 560°C, la perte de ductilité est encore plus importante et la rupture de l’éprouvette intervient dès la fin du domaine élastique. Dans ces conditions, la pièce perd une partie de sa section porteuse et la limite élastique et le module élastique du matériau restant sont fortement impactés. La présence d’un dépôt mixte NaCl/Na2SO4 pendant l’oxydation a un effet moins marqué sur les propriétés mécaniques du matériau, en accord avec la plus faible réactivité de l’alliage Ti6242S avec ce type de dépôt. Les mécanismes inhérents au changement de propriétés mécaniques sont expliqués dans le travail de thèse. / The use of titanium alloys in many applications (transport, energy, chemistry,...) allows significant weight savings in relation to the good mechanical properties/density ratio of these materials. Since titanium alloys are employed at high temperatures (T>500°C), their behavior in such conditions has to be studied in severe conditions in order to understand degradation mechanisms. Moreover, some specific conditions can be met during application, like thermal cycling, water vapour or presence of salts. These parameters are known to influence oxidation behavior of titanium alloys.In this thesis work, oxidation behavior of an aeronautics titanium alloy (Ti6242S) has been studied in air and moist air at 560°C. The effect of solid salt deposits (NaCl and/or Na2SO4) on the oxidation behavior of Ti6242S alloy has also been taken into account. Ti6242S samples were oxidized at 560°C for oxidation times up to 19 000 hours with or without solid salt deposits. NaCl deposit resulted in an important deterioration of Ti6242S alloy behavior at this temperature. Oxygen dissolution in the metal was no longer observed compared to ageing in air, but internal oxidation of the alloy could be evidenced, and cracks were observed deeply into the metallic substrate after oxidation. The corrosion resistance decrease in such conditions was attributed to the presence of chlorine and formation of volatile metallic chlorides due to the presence of NaCl. A degradation mechanism based on active oxidation of Ti6242S alloy exposed to NaCl salt was proposed. The second salt deposit tested consisted in a mixed NaCl/Na2SO4 salt deposit. The harmful effect of this salt deposit on the oxidation behavior of Ti6242S alloy was lower than that of a simple NaCl deposit.Mechanical properties of Ti6242S alloy exposed to solid salt deposits at 560°C were then studied. A simple oxidation in air for 100 hours without salt deposit resulted in an important loss of ductility of the tested samples due to the presence of oxygen solid solution into the metal. The same oxidation time caused an even more important loss of ductility for the samples covered by NaCl deposits. In this case, sample failure occurred at the end of the elastic deformation domain. Elastic modulus and yield strength were also strongly decreased. Mixed NaCl/Na2SO4 deposit exhibited a lower impact on the mechanical properties of the oxidized Ti6242S sample, in accordance with the lower reactivity of Ti6242S alloy with this type of salt deposit. Mechanisms explaining Ti6242S alloy mechanical behavior in such conditions were explained in this thesis work.