Engineering characteristics and uses of duricrusts in Australia     

G. H. McNally 《Australian Journal of Earth Sciences》2013,60(6):535-547

The uses and shortcomings of duricrusts (ferricrete, calcrete and silcrete) in engineering construction (as used for road‐base, aggregate, foundation materials and aquifers) are reviewed. Australian production of these materials represents about one‐third of all unprocessed road‐base and they are especially important as pavement courses for lightly trafficked, low‐cost rural and outback roads. However, duricrusts are regarded as marginal materials at best because of their typically poor grading, particle unsoundness, high fines plasticity, and absorption of water and bitumen. These materials are used because they are available locally in areas that are otherwise lacking in hard rock materials, such as deeply weathered and sedimentary rock terrains. The weathering profiles of which they form part are characterized by high permeability (despite being clay‐rich), variable cementation, low compressibility and a tendency to become weaker with depth. Although the more indurated layers are unrippable, they are also difficult to blast. Pedogenic (nodular) duricrusts were formerly sought for natural road‐base, because they occur widely and require only rudimentary processing. However, well‐cemented groundwater (vadose) duricrusts are now the preferred deposits, even though they require crushing and screening. Ferricrete is the most widely exploited of the duricrusts for engineering purposes, especially in northern and southwestern Australia, although calcrete is important in South Australia and in the Murray Basin. Silcrete is only a minor source of aggregate and road‐base, mainly in western Queensland.  相似文献   

Silurian and Devonian systems     

Maxwell R. Banks  E. D. Gill  K. L. Burns 《Australian Journal of Earth Sciences》2013,60(2):177-187

The Ediacara mineral field is situated 30 km W of Beltana on the western margins of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia, and consists of silver‐lead and copper deposits in lower Cambrian carbonate rocks that contain anomalous base‐metal contents throughout the Adelaide Geosyncline. The lower Cambrian rocks, which consist of the basal Parachilna Formation and overlying Ajax Limestone, rest disconformably on the Precambrian, and at Ediacara occupy a shallow N‐S elongate syncline near the hinge zone of the Adelaide Geosyncline. The main primary ore minerals of the silver‐lead mineralization are galena and pyrite, with very minor chalcopyrite and sphalerite, and rare tetrahedrite and pearceite. The gangue consists mainly of silica (both chalcedony and quartz), with minor dolomite and rare barite. The mineralization is stratabound and occurs in conformable zones, the lowest of which commences about 30–50 m above the base of the Cambrian sequence. The host to the silver‐lead mineralization, the Ajax Limestone, can be subdivided into three units which represent a set of lithologies, structures and organic traces indicative of a shallow near‐shore carbonate environment. The silver‐lead mineralization is mainly present in sandy and laminated dolomites which were deposited in an environment ranging from sub‐tidal to bar and channel and tidal flat, respectively. Four types of mineralization have been recognized; disseminated sulphides of syngenetic and/or diagenetic origin and epigenetic concentrations along stylolites, in veins and as breccia fillings. Post‐depositional solution activity has affected a large proportion of the carbonate sequence. The effects of this activity range from stylolites through stylobreccias to solution collapse breccias. The epigenetic concentrations of mineralizations have apparently been formed by the remobilization of the disseminated sulphides during solution activity. The ore and gangue minerals of the epigenetic mineralization display both euhedral forms and distinct colloform banding, and framboidal textures have also been observed in both pyrite and galena. There is evidence of repeated episodic precipitation and no simple paragenetic sequence can be recognized. Fluid inclusions in silica and dolomite associated with the epigenetic mineralization have homogenization temperatures of 159 to 199°C and freezing temperatures that indicate the fluids to be saline brines containing NaCl with CaCl₂ and/or MgCl₂. Sulphur isotope analyses show a range of 8³⁴S values from ‐12.5 to +8.6 per mil, with no evidence of significant differences between the four types of mineralization. The data suggest deposition of the disseminated sulphides as a result of biological reduction of seawater sulphate in a system partially open with respect to sulphate supply. Subsequent remobilization of sulphides apparently involved little or no sulphur isotope fractionation. The Ediacara silver‐lead deposits have many features in common with Mississippi Valley‐type lead‐zinc deposits and appear to have similarities in terms of genesis, in that the epigenetic mineralization has been formed as a result of post‐depositional solution activity during diagenesis in a sedimentary basin. The scale of transport of the metals deposited as the epigenetic mineralization at Ediacara appears, however, to have been very much less than that of the metals in other Mississippi Valley‐type deposits.  相似文献   

新世纪以来铀矿地质遥感的科技进步与持续发展     

刘德长  赵英俊  杨旭 《国土资源遥感》2010,21(1):14-18

从采用新型遥感技术、引进航空成像光谱测量系统和开发后遥感应用技术等方面,论述了新世纪以来我国铀矿地质遥感所取得的科技进步,并对铀矿地质遥感的持续发展问题进行了探讨。  相似文献   

南澎列岛及邻近海域地质地貌与灾害地质分析   总被引：2，自引：1，他引：2  

詹文欢  张乔民  孙宗勋  唐诚  丘学林 《热带海洋学报》2002,21(1):11-17

南澎列岛及邻近海域是广东沿海灾害地质因素较集中和类型较齐全的地区之一。根据野外调查资料，简要地分析了区内地质地貌以及活动断裂、地震活动、地面沉降、滑坡、地裂和沙土液化等基本特征和分布规律，同时还对区内地质灾害进行了初步分析。  相似文献   

南沙群岛海区珊瑚礁灾害性地质分析   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

詹文欢  孙宗勋  张乔民  唐诚 《热带海洋学报》2002,21(2):58-65

珊瑚礁是一种特殊的岩土介质，有独特的灾害地质类型。珊瑚礁灾害地质研究是现代工程地质学的一个新课题。通过珊瑚礁的地质记录研究了内动力灾害地质类型（包括活动断裂、地震和火山活动等）、外动力灾害地质类型（包括海底槽谷与地形突变带、崩塌、滑坡、峰礁与埋藏礁、泥丘、埋藏负地貌等），同时还分析了人类活动对珊瑚礁发育的影响。  相似文献   

青岛胶州湾3.2级地震构造背景与控震断裂   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

栾光忠  刘红军  刘冬雁 《中国海洋大学学报(自然科学版)》2002,32(5):763-769

本文应用构造分析的方法 ,对青岛胶州湾 3.2级地震发生的地震地质背景和构造背景进行分析。结果表明 :胶州湾 3.2级地震主要受 NEE向郝官庄断裂和 NNW向大沽河断裂控制 ,并根据现代活动断裂的标志 ,对上述 2组断裂活动性特征作了阐述  相似文献   

福建深沪湾地学旅游资源及其科学价值评价     

方世明  李江风  李丹阳 《海洋科学》2006,30(3):35-40

在对福建深沪湾地学旅游资源进行综合、系统的考察基础上,对福建深沪湾旅游资源进行了系统的分析与统计研究,并对其中的地质遗迹景观和类型进行系统分类,着重对海底古森林、古牡蛎滩、红土台地、古人类活动遗迹发现点和海蚀地貌等核心地质景观进行了阐述,并对其科学意义进行了尝试性探讨。  相似文献   

Geodynamic Evolution of the Eastern Segment of the Azores-Gibraltar Zone: The Gorringe Bank and the Gulf of Cadiz Region     

Tortella  D.  Torne  M.  Pérez-Estáun  A. 《Marine Geophysical Researches》1997,19(3):211-230

Detailed structural interpretation of the recently acquired deep seismic multichannel profiles along the Iberian Atlantic Margins (IAM Project) provides new results on the geodynamic evolution of the eastern part of the Azores-Gibraltar plate boundary. Thrusting and folding of the oceanic basement and of Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary cover of the Gorringe Bank region are consistent with the N–S convergence of Iberia and Africa. Compressive structures in the Gorringe Bank region are spread over a wide area. Deformation under compression took place mainly in Tertiary times, as is evidenced by a basal unconformity and several discontinuities in Tertiary sediments, although some deformation has also been recorded in Quaternary sediments. The compressive structures in the Gulf of Cadiz are E–W oriented thrusts, folds and related diapiric structures. N–S oriented transpressive deformation is likely to occur in the western Portuguese platform. There is no continuity of structures from the oceanic to the continental domain, suggesting that deformation transfers from one side to the other through a transcurrent fault zone. The fault contact between the two domains is located in the ocean-continent transition zone.  相似文献   

Theoretical aspects of cap-rock and fault seals for single- and two-phase hydrocarbon columns   总被引：6，自引：0，他引：6  

N.L. Watts   《Marine and Petroleum Geology》1987,4(4)

Cap-rock seals can be divided genetically into those that fail by capillary leakage (membrane seals) and those whose capillary entry pressures are so high that seal failure preferentially occurs by fracturing and/or wedging open of faults (hydraulic seals). A given membrane seal can trap a larger oil column than gas column at shallow depths, but below a critical depth (interval), gas is more easily sealed than oil. This critical depth increases with lower API gravity, lower oil GOR and overpressured conditions (for the gas phase). These observations arise from a series of modelling studies of membrane sealing and can be conveniently represented using pressure/ depth (P/D) profiles through sealed hydrocarbon columns. P/D diagrams have been applied to the more complex situation of the membrane sealing of a gas cap underlain by an oil rim; at seal capacity, such a two-phase column will be always greater than if only oil or gas occurs below the seal.These conclusions contrast with those for hydraulic seals where the seal capacity to oil always exceeds that for gas. Moreover, a trapped two-phase column, at hydraulic seal capacity will be less than the maximum-allowed oil-only column, but more than the maximum gas-only column. Unlike membrane seals, hydraulic seal capacity should be directly related to cap-rock thickness, in addition to the magnitude of the minimum effective stress in the sealing layer and the degree of overpressure development in the sequence as a whole.Fault-related seals are effectively analogous to membrane cap-rocks which have been tilted to the angle of the fault plane. Consequently, all of the above conclusions derived for membrane cap-rocks apply to both sealing faults sensu stricto (fault plane itself seals) and juxtaposition faults (hydrocarbon trapped laterally against a juxtaposed sealing unit). The maximum-allowed two-phase column trapped by a sealing fault is greater than for equivalent oil-only and gas-only columns, but less than that predicted for a horizontal membrane cap-rock under similar conditions. Where a two-phase column is present on both sides of a sealing fault (which is at two-phase seal capacity), a deeper oil/water contact (OWC) in one fault block is associated with a deeper gas/oil contact (GOC) compared with the adjacent fault block. If the fault seal is discontinuous in the gas leg, however, the deeper OWC is accompanied by a shallower GOC, whereas a break in the fault seal in the oil leg results in a common OWC in both fault blocks, even though separate GOC's exist. Schematic P/D profiles are provided for each of the above situations from which a series of fundamental equations governing single- and two-phase cap-rock and fault seal capacities can be derived. These relationships may have significant implications for exploration prospect appraisal exercises where more meaningful estimates of differential seal capacities can be made.The membrane sealing theory developed herein assumes that all reservoirs and seals are water-wet and no hydrodynamic flow exists. The conclusions on membrane seal capacity place constraints on the migration efficiency of gas along low-permeabiligy paths at depth where fracturing, wedging open of faults and/or diffusion process may be more important. Contrary to previous assertions, it is speculated that leakage of hydrocarbons through membrane seals occurs in distinct pulses such that the seal is at or near the theoretically calculated seal capacity, once this has been initially attained.Finally, the developed seal theory and P/D profile concepts are applied to a series of development geological problems including the effects of differential depletion, and degree of aquifer support, on sealing fault leakage, and the evaluation of barriers to vertical cross-flow using RFT profiles through depleted reservoirs. It is shown that imbibition processes and dynamic effects related to active cross-flow across such barriers often preclude quantitative analysis and solution of these problems for which simulation studies are usually required.  相似文献   

人工神经网络在地质学判别分析中的应用     

孙效功  王硕儒 《中国海洋大学学报(自然科学版)》1994,(2)

将现代人工神经网络方法应用于地质学的判别分析，通过实例计算表明，无论是对于两组判别分析还是多组判别分析，人工神经网络方法都是切实可行的。  相似文献