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Tectonic Studies Of Southeastern North America: The Suwannee Basin, Brunswick Suture Zone, Osceola Arc, And Pangean Transcurrent Fault System, Susannah Katherine Boote

Theses and Dissertations

A series of exotic terranes with complex tectonostratigraphic relationships construct the North American margin and record information critical to understanding the evolution of the Appalachian orogen. The Coastal Plain cover remains a challenge in this region; however, synthesis of seismic reflection, seismic refraction, well, and aeromagnetic data allows for a substantially revised interpretation of the basement rocks and structures that comprise the pre-Mesozoic crust of southeastern North America. These data reveal: (1) a Neoproterozoic subduction zone and paired continental-margin arc are preserved in Gondwanan crust in southeastern North America, (2) the Gondwanan Suwannee Basin of Early to Mid-Paleozoic age is …

Alongshore Momentum Balance Over Shoreface-Connected Ridges, Fire Island, Ny, Conor Ofsthun

Theses and Dissertations

Bathymetric variations, such as shoreface-connected ridges (SFCRs), modify inner shelf circulation, altering the significance of and relationships between alongshore momentum balance terms. The inner shelf of Fire Island, NY provides a study site representative of SFCRs around the world. During the winter of 2014, hydrodynamic observations (~12 m depth) from 6 ADCPs, 3 SeaGauge pressure sensors, 2 tide gauges, and 2 meteorological buoys were collected over a region of the inner shelf spanning a full wavelength of one such SFCR. Analysis of the data, under westward wind forcing, revealed a predominantly alongshore circulation with localized offshore (onshore) current veering over …

Utilization Of Satellite-Derived Salinity For Enso Studies And Climate Indices, Caroline Mary Corbett

Theses and Dissertations

Conventionally, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is studied using sea surface temperature (SST) observations in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. Recently, sea surface salinity (SSS) in the equatorial Pacific has been studied in relation to the phases of ENSO. Previously, SSS was observed in the equatorial Pacific using the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) / Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TOA), the Argo float network, and Oceanic General Circulation Models (OGCM). The launch of NASA’s Aquarius Salinity Mission and ESA’s Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) opened a new era in which high resolution global near real-time SSS observations are readily available. …

Submarine Groundwater Discharge And The Configuration Of The Freshwater-Saltwater Interface At The Nearshore And Embayment Scales, Tyler Brandon Evans

Theses and Dissertations

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) rivals riverine discharge to the world’s oceans but remains poorly understood. Until the early 1990’s, geochemical budgets for the ocean were developed using material fluxes from rivers only. SGD has been shown to carry high concentrations of dissolved nutrients, metals and carbon. However, SGD is a difficult to measure, complex phenomenon driven by multiple physical processes. Groundwater flow and the resultant chemical exchange at the land-sea interface are heavily impacted by the hydrodynamic effects of mixing between variable-density fluids. In order to better understand SGD, investigations have focused on the configuration of the freshwater-saltwater interface in …

Three Dimensional Thermobaric Modeling Of A Gas Hydrate System, Amanda Quigley Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Seismic imaging is recognized as the most cost effective method for identifying the presence of gas hydrate resources. The base of the gas hydrate stability zone is recognized by the presence of regionally extensive bottom simulating reflectors (BSR). However, in some areas such as the Gulf of Mexico, regionally extensive BSRs are not found. In such cases, an understanding of the thermobaric conditions may be used to determine the location of gas hydrates and the base of the gas hydrate stability zone. The aim of this research is to combine seismic velocity analysis and thermal modeling to predict the base …

3d Seismic Depth Imaging And Velocity Model Building In Anisotropic Media: Serri Oil And Gas Field, Saudi Arabia, Ali Jomaah Alsalem

Theses and Dissertations

Seismic imaging is a significant element in hydrocarbon exploration to locate drilling prospects and it relies mainly on an accurate velocity model. Prestack depth migration (PreSDM) versus traditional post-stack time migration has become a common method for seismic velocity model building and imaging. This methodology accounts for seismic velocity anisotropy of the propagating waves in the subsurface with a higher level of accuracy in positioning the seismic events in their true positions in the subsurface.

In this thesis, we examine a 303 km2 of 3D seismic data acquired by Saudi Aramco in the Serri field of North-West Saudi Arabia. The …

Implications Of Hf-Nd Isotopes In West Philippine Basin Basalts For The Initiation And Early History Of The Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc, Benjamin D. Hocking

Theses and Dissertations

Drilling at Site U1438, located immediately west of Kyushu-Palau Ridge (KPR), the site of IBM subduction initiation, penetrated 1,460 m of volcaniclastic sedimentary rock and 150 m of underlying basement. Biostratigraphic controls indicate a probable age for the oldest sedimentary rocks at around 55 Ma. This is close to the 48-52 Ma time period of IBM subduction initiation, based on studies in the forearc. There, the first products of volcanism are tholeiitic basalts termed FAB (forearc basalt), which are more depleted than average MORB and show subtle indicators of geochemical enrichment due to subduction. Site U1438 basement basalts share many …

Delineation Of The Lower Permian Gas Sand Via Calibrated Avo And Pre-Stack Seismic Inversions In Majhol Field, Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Alhashel

Theses and Dissertations

The lower Permian formation in the central region of Saudi Arabia is a key hydrocarbon siliciclastic reservoir. However, in Majhol field, the reservoir properties vary laterally due to diagenesis and facies changes. Conventional seismic interpretation has failed to map the heterogeneities of the reservoir properties that control the gas production of this field. Therefore, there was an opportunity to employ more advanced quantitative seismic techniques to delineate the productive gas sand facies in the field.

The Majhol field was initially planned to be developed as an unconventional tight reservoir. Well-1 was drilled based on conventional seismic interpretation on the crest …