The Heidrun field is located in the Halten Terrace of the Mid-Norwegian Continental Shelf and is one of the first giant oil fields found on the Norwegian Sea. Modern 3D seismic reflection data acquired over the field, as well as well data were used to define the key structural and stratigraphic elements within the study area. The basic geologic history of the Heidrun field is typical of most North Sea plays, and includes Triassic rift sequences that are masked by the reactivation of bounding faults that were active during the Jurassic rift phase. This rifting phase was followed by deposition of marine black shales and subsequent carbonaceous shales during the Latest Jurassic to Earliest Cretaceous. The next sequence was characterized by the deposition of Paleocene-Eocene boundary tuffs, which were formed due to volcanism associated with a rifting event that separated Norway and Greenland. Finally, an Eocene to present passive margin marine sequence is dominant over the study area that is mainly composed by glacial deposits. Traditional reservoir intervals within the Heidrun field are located within the Jurassic age inter-rift sequence. However, most recently Cretaceous-age turbidites have been explored in the Norwegian and North Sea as possible targets with some success. These Cretaceous turbidites are traditionally found as basin floor fan deposits within rifted deeps along the Norwegian continental shelf and are believed to be sourced from localized erosion of Jurassic- age rifted highs. Data within our study area revealed the existence of a deep-water Cretaceous age wedge located within the downthrown hanging wall of several smaller half-grabens formed on the Halten Terrace. Seismic attribute extractions taken within this Cretaceous wedge show the presence of several elongate to lobate bodies that seem to cascade over fault-bounded terraces associated with the rifted structures. These high amplitude elongated bodies are interpreted as proximal sedimentary conduits that are time equivalent to the Cretaceous basin floor fans located in more distal portions of the basin to the west. Several wells penetrate the updip, tilted half-graben hanging walls which are believed to be sourcing these turbidite systems. These half graben fills have the potential to contain high quality Cretaceous sandstones that might represent a potential new reservoir interval within the Heidrun field. / text

A full-scale ASTM E 1321 Lateral ignition and Flame Transport (LIFT) apparatus was constructed and compared with a Reduced scale Ignition and Flame spread Test apparatus (RIFT) adaptation of the cone calorimeter in the vertical position. The objective was to find a low cost and simple alternative to the LIFT apparatus for measuring opposed flow flame spread. Ignition tests were conducted using the LIFT, RIFT and ISO 5657 ignitability apparatus and flame spread experiments were conducted in the LIFT and RIFT. Nine different types of timber based products were tested for ignition and flame spread, and Quintiere's flame spread model was applied to the results to obtain material properties, such as thermal inertia, flame spread parameter and the minimum heat flux required for flame spread. These materials included plywood, medium density fibreboard (MDF), hardboard, particle board flooring, Melamine (Melteca) covered MDF, New Zealand Rimu, and Beech and New Zealand grown Macrocarpa and Radiata (Monterey) Pine. Further limited tests were conducted on Melteca covered particle board, and a second brand of particle board. The materials in the RIFT were tried with and without preheating to equilibrium. In addition, a view factor for the RIFT was developed, based on earlier work for the cone calorimeter element. The view factor equation was experimentally tested against measured values, and the calculated value was consistently lower than the experimental values, with similar flux profile. The standard procedure is for the material to be preheated before ignition, so that the surface is at equilibrium. The spread of the flame front past points on the sample surface after ignition is recorded, and from the flame front velocity and the model by Quintiere, material specific properties can be derived. The lack of preheating was found to affect the final results, by reducing the flame spread velocity and increasing the scatter in the experimental results. The RIFT gives comparable results to the same materials tested in the LIFT and to the published literature. The results the flame spread parameter and the minimum flux for flame spread are usually higher for the RIFT against the same material in the LIFT. There proved to be an effective limit on suitable materials able to be successfully tested in the RIFT to those that have a minimum flux for flame spread of less than 7kW/m2, with this limitation is dictated by the flux profile along the sample, and the lower resolution dictated by the smaller size. It is approximately equivalent to a minimum ignition flux of 18kW/m2.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2009. / Vita. The entire thesis text is included in file. Title from title screen of thesis/dissertation PDF file (viewed April 29, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-131).

Th. 3e cycle--Struct. et évolution géol. des océans--Brest, 1979. / 108.

In this dissertation, I establish a theoretical and empirical critique of modern forms of environmentally sustainable technology. Theoretically, I critique the application of environmentally sustainable technologies in modern capitalist economies using the treadmill of production theory and metabolic rift theory. I also expand on these theories by developing an analytical concept – the displacement paradox. The displacement paradox refers to a counterintuitive phenomenon, where green technologies expand rather displace traditional production processes. Empirically, I assess the assumptions of the displacement paradox by analyzing the relationship between organic farming and agrochemical application, organic farming and greenhouse gas emissions, organic farming and water pollution, and alternatively fueled vehicles and total fuel consumption per vehicle. In each of these cases, I find that green technology (in the form of organic farming and alternatively fueled vehicles) is not displacing traditional production processes, and instead expanding alongside them. I argue that these findings are a result of the broader socioeconomic structure that green technology is produced under. Specifically, I contend that because current socioeconomic systems are established around traditional production processes, to substantially reduce environmental degradation, green technologies must operate as a social and technological counterforce to traditional production processes. Currently, the green technologies explored in this dissertation act as a technological alternatives to traditional production processes, making them commodities that sustain the current structure of social relations, as opposed to social and technological counterforces to environmentally hazardous forms of production. I conclude that in order for green technologies to successfully reduce environmental degradation, they must be established under social conditions that support their use over traditional production processes.

Bacias sedimentares distensionais estão entre as estruturas geológicas mais importantes e melhor estudadas, mas os modelos geológicos que associam tectônica, áreas de captação de drenagem, e distribuição e evolução de ambientes deposicionais ainda são qualitativos, apontando a falta de uma base estatística. Isso posto, é apresentado um estudo das características morfotectônicas de 25 bacias sedimentares distensionais e suas áreas de captação, representativas de cinco grandes províncias distencionais ativas: Rift do Leste Africano, Província Basin and Range, Rift Baikal, Graben do Reno e Sistema de Rift do Platô Tibetano. Os resultados mostram que as áreas de deformação total de cada bacia variam de 2.700 a 137.300 Km2, com 50% de bacias com áreas entre 8.500 e 33.600 Km2. A área com sedimentação ativa varia de 1.400 a 43.000 km2, e 50% destas estão entre 3.600 e 12.000 km2. Áreas de captação de drenagem apresentam um a variação muito maior, de 2.700 até 740.000 km2, 50% delas entre 15.000 e 112.000 km2. A relação entre área deformada e área de captação mostra uma clara divisão em duas classes, uma com bacias com área de captação com mais do dobro de tamanho da área deformada e outra composta por bacias com área de captação com tamanho até 10% maior que sua área deformada. Taxas de sedimentação aproximadas, calculadas a partir de dados coletados na literatura, variam de 0,05 até 0,49 m/Ka e a comparação deste dado com a área de captação não revela uma clara relação. 65% das zonas de transferência analisadas nas províncias distensionais estudadas apresentam drenagens, porém apenas 38% dos pontos de entrada de rios maiores, com parte de sua área de captação fora da área deformada, são associados a zonas de transferência. Esses dados contradizem modelos correntes no tocante à entrada de grandes rios na bacia sedimentar, que são responsáveis por grande parte do aporte sedimentar e não estão necessariamente ligados a estruturas deformacionais, como esperado. Sob outro ponto de vista, análises morfotectônicas das cinco áreas selecionadas revelaram o inesperado fato de que todas as bacias com grande área estão relacionadas a lagos profundos, independentemente da sua taxa de sedimentação ou tamanho da área de captação. Esta constatação sugere que talvez estes fatores não sejam o principal controle na formação de lagos profundos, mas que por outro lado a presença do próprio lago possa favorecer o desenvolvimento de um grande depocentro. De acordo com o modelo teórico proposto, a maior densidade do preenchimento sedimentar, quando comparada com a da água, pode por si só levar à divisão de depocentros e criar pequenas sub-bacias, através da ativação de planos de alto ângulo das falhas menores, cabendo às falhas lístricas mestras acomodar a distensão regional. Neste modelo, em bacias preenchidas com sedimento aluvial, o grande deslocamento das falhas antitéticas e sintéticas pode levar ao desenvolvimento de altos topográficos (associados à lapa das falhas) responsáveis por individualizar sub-bacias. A correlação entre lagos profundos e grandes depocentros também pode ser observada no Sistema de Rift Eocretáceo do leste da América do Sul, sugerindo que esta relação possa ser usada como ferramenta preditiva de fases famintas prolongadas em bacias sedimentares continentais, com implicações na previsão de rochas geradoras de hidrocarbonetos em bacias fósseis com base em dados geofísicos de sub-superfície. / Extensional sedimentary basins are among the most important and best studied geological structures, but geological models linking tectonics, drainage catchment and the distribution and evolution of depositional environments are still qualitative, lacking support from a statistical database. In order to addresses this problem we present and comprehensive study on the morphotectonic characteristics of 25 active extensional basins and their catchment areas, representative of five major active extensional provinces: the East African Rift System, the Basin and Range Province, the Baikal Rift, the Rhine Graben and the Tibetan Plateau Rift System. Our results show that the total areas of deformation of individual basins range from 2,700 km2 to 137,300 km2, with 50% of the basins having areas between 8,500 and 33,600 km2. The area with active sedimentation varies from 1,400 to 43,000 km2, and in 50% of the basins it is between 3,600 and 12,000 km2. Catchment areas of individual basins vary much more, from 2,700 to 740,000 km2, 50% of them measuring between 15,000 and 112,000 km2. The ratio of deformed area to catchment area for each basin shows a clear division into two natural classes, one composed of basins with a catchment more than twice the size of the deformed area, and another composed of basins with catchments less than 10% larger than the deformed area. Approximated long term sedimentation rates calculated from published data for several basins vary from 0,05 to 0,49 m/Ka, and the comparison of these rates with the catchment area of individual basins shows no clear relationship. 65% of the transfer zones in the studied extensional provinces show river channels but only 38% of the inlets of rivers with part of their catchment outside the deformed area are related to transfer zones. This contradicts current models, as most of the points of entrance of larger rivers, which are responsible for the greater part of the sediment input, are not clearly related to deformational structures. On the other hand, morphotectonic analysis of selected active extensional basins and their catchment areas from studied areas, lead to the recognition of the unexpected fact that the largest basins are those with deep lakes, regardless of sedimentation rate or relative size of catchment area, suggesting that maybe it is not the contribution of the area to the tridimensional accommodation that leads to the formation of a starved lake, but the other way round: an starved lake may favor the development of a large depocenter. According to our new theoretical model, the higher density of the sedimentary infill, when compared to that of water, can itself cause the division of a main depocenter into smaller sub-basins, through the activation of the steeper planes of minor faults, with the main listric faults accouting mostly for the regional extension. In basins filled with alluvial sediment through most of their evolution, the greater displacement of minor faults could lead to the development of foot-wall highs separating individual sub-basins. The correlation of deep lakes with larger depocenters is also observed in the Early Cretaceous Rift System of Eastern South America, suggesting that this relation can be used as a predictive model for the presence of long phases of sediment starvation in continental basins, with implications for the prediction of hydrocarbon source rocks based on geophysical subsurface data.

Two sets of cores were recovered from the southern Kenya Rift (Koora and Magadi basins) through the Hominid Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project and the Olorgesailie Drilling Project. These contain a detailed environmental Quaternary history with records of up to ~1 million years. This period correlates with much of the Olorgesailie Formation record of 1.2 Ma in the Olorgesailie Basin. The Magadi cores reached trachyte at ~ 194 and 133 m with this project focussed on the longer core, MAG14-2A, which includes limestone, zeolitic, laminated and massive clay and silt, massive mud, chert, trona, gravel and sand. The Koora Core (OLO12-1A) extended to depths of 166.14 m and contains laminated and massive diatomites, fine to coarse sands; lime and siliciclastic muds with pumice-rich gravels. The two cores are particularly important because they provide environmental records that help to fill erosional gaps in the history of the Olorgesailie Basin, which includes important evidence for changing hominin cultures and evolution. The high-resolution lacustrine-terrestrial stratigraphies of the two basins have shown how landscapes were transformed because of complex interactions between tectonic and climatic processes. Volcanism also had a significant impact, partially damming lakes at Olorgesailie. Diatoms are present in much of the Koora Basin sequence and large parts of the Magadi sediments. These are dominated by a variety of planktonic Aulacoseira, Cyclotella and Thalassiosira taxa in both basins. Species comprising these genera and other planktonic, benthonic and epiphytic taxa preserve a detailed record of lakes that fluctuated in depth, extent and chemistry. The data document the presence of freshwater and saline lakes as well as wetlands. Diatom transfer functions from the Koora and Magadi basins indicate that these water bodies fluctuated widely in conductivity between ~200 to >20,000 µs cm−1, with pH changing between about 7.5 and 11.5. The palaeolakes also periodically exceeded diatom tolerance limits and intermittently dried out. Pollen are generally lacking in the Koora basin sediments, but deposits in the Magadi core contain common pollen that document a wide range of habitats, including forests, woodlands and grasslands that could have supported the presence of hominins and their activities in the region. Fungal spore data support pollen inferences and indicate periods when large mammals might have been common. The microfossil record shows that there was a broad trend towards more arid conditions in the southern Kenya Rift after about 510 Ka, interrupted by periodic wetter conditions. A major episode of desiccation developed between about 450 Ka to 400 Ka that partially correlates with a period of mammal extinctions and a change from Acheulean to Middle Stone Age toolkits in the Olorgesailie Basin, suggesting that these changes might have been related to environmental conditions at that time.

The Main Ethiopian Rift is a part of the East African Rift, from where the African plate is being teared apart and separated from the Indian and the Arabian plate. Even though earthquakes in this area are relatively less frequent, the subsurface structure is a subject of big research interest, since information about the subsurface layers has considerable relevance when it comes to site amplication related to earthquakes. The aim of this project is to map and compare the subsurface structures of two sites located in the Ethiopian Rift, using seismic refraction technique. By looking at the first arrivals of artificial seismic waves on a designated site, the velocities as well as the thicknessof the subsurface layers can be obtained. The result showed that the both sites contained a low velocity structure which contained weathered material.

No description available.