Raman spectra of carbonaceous materials in one of the world’s oldest sedimentary rock formations – the Strelley Pool Chert (Pilbara Craton, Western Australia) – are analysed to determine whether primary structural characteristics of organic molecules may have survived to the present day. We use Raman spectral parameters to identify variations in molecular structure of the carbon and determine w...

Introduction: Impact melted materials occur in two main forms in the Ries impact structure [1]: (1) as isolated bodies of reddish, vesicular, fine-grained impact melt rock; (2) as in dividual glass y particles or c lasts in melt-bearing breccias or suevites. The latter lithologies have been the subject of a considerable number of investigations over the past few decades. In contrast, no detaile...

Introduction: For nearly a decade, the international program of Mars exploration has been guided by a remarkably useful framework that describes how Mars' environmental conditions have evolved in the context of time-dependent changes in the mineralogy of rock and regolith deposits at the Martian surface [1]. Built on the basis of observations by the OMEGA spectrometer onboard ESA's Mars Express...

This paper presents a work-flow process to describe and characterize tight gas sands. The ultimate objective of this work-flow is to provide a consistent methodology to systematically integrate both large-scale geologic elements and small-scale rock petrology with the physical rock properties for low-permeability sandstone reservoirs. To that end, our work-flow integrates multiple data evaluati...

The NE Hungarian Darnó Hill is geologically complex; it is composed of an accretionary mélange complex, which contains Permian, Triassic and Jurassic sedimentary and magmatic blocks. The succession can easily be correlated with the NW Dinarides, using evidences of the different evolutionary stages of the Neotethyan Ocean (rifting, marginal basin opening, closure). Several ore indications are kn...

Periodic pressure measurements made during the depletion of oil fields and virgin pressure measurements through normallyand over-pressured sequences in sedimentary basins both demonstrate that changes in pore pressure and minimum horizontal stress (σh) are coupled to one another. Pore pressure/stress coupling is predicted by poroelastic theory. Data from the North Sea (Ekofisk Field) and Texas ...

Porosity and saturation are fundamental sedimentary properties that affect both seismic wave propagation and appraisal development and production of an oil field. Traditionally, these parameters have been estimated from seismic impedances and velocities using Biot-Gassman theory and/or or porosity-velocity relationships. However, when using theory to relate surface seismic attributes to reservo...

The diversity of microorganisms active within sedimentary rocks provides important controls on the geochemistry of many subsurface environments. In particular, biodegradation of organic matter in sedimentary rocks contributes to the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and other elements and strongly impacts the recovery and quality of fossil fuel resources. In this study, archaeal diversity was in...

The objective of this study was to experimentally determine the influence of pore structure on the transport and dissolution of trichloroethylene (TCE) in clay-rich saprolite. In order to simulate a "spill," pure-phase TCE containing a water-insoluble fluorescent dye was injected into two heterogeneous 24-cm-diameter by 37-cm-long undisturbed columns of water-saturated saprolite. TCE entry occu...