Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Explosive Dust Test Vessel Comparison Using Pulverized Pittsburgh Coal, Jacob Miller, Jay Schafler, Phillip R. Mulligan, Robert Eades, Kyle A. Perry, Catherine E. Johnson

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Explosions of coal dust are a major safety concern within the coal mining industry. The explosion and subsequent fires caused by coal dust can result in significant property damage, loss of life in underground coal mines and damage to coal processing facilities. The United States Bureau of Mines conducted research on coal dust explosions until 1996 when it was dissolved. In the following years, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) developed a test standard, ASTM E1226, to provide a standard test method characterizing the “explosibility” of particulate solids of combustible materials suspended in air. The research presented herein …

Characteristics Of The Mantle Flow System Beneath The Indochina Peninsula Revealed By Teleseismic Shear Wave Splitting Analysis, Youqiang Yu, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Ting Yang, Mei Xue, Khanh Phon Le, Jinyao Gao

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Numerous geoscientific investigations have been conducted on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau and adjacent areas for understanding crustal and mantle deformation associated with the indentation of the Indian Plate into Eurasia. A number of key issues, such as the causes of a sudden change of fast polarization orientations from N-S to almost E-W at approximately 26°N revealed by shear wave splitting (SWS) studies, and the geodynamic implications of the transition still remain enigmatic, partially due to the lack of sufficient SWS measurements on the Indochina Peninsula. Here we employ the SWS technique to systematically illuminate upper mantle anisotropy beneath the Indochina …

Spectral Analysis Of Surface Waves To Detect Subsurface Voids, Payman Hajiani, Neil Lennart Anderson, J. David Rogers

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Systems and methods for detecting a subsurface cavity. A source applies a force to ground under inspection and a plurality of sensors coupled to the ground detect resulting surface waves. A processor is configured to extract phase and frequency components of the acquired seismic data, identify a phase shift in surface waves in the ground under inspection based on the extracted phase and frequency components, and determine one or more physical characteristics of a subsurface cavity based on the identified phase shift

Improving The Total Organic Carbon Estimation Of The Eagle Ford Shale With Density Logs By Considering The Effect Of Pyrite, Shuxian Jiang, Mehdi Mokhtari, David M. Borrok, Jim Lee

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Pyrite is a common mineral with a higher density than most other minerals in the Eagle Ford Shale formation. Hence, if pyrite is not considered in the total organic carbon (TOC) estimation, based on density logs, it may lead to errors. In order to improve the accuracy of the TOC estimation, we propose an updated TOC estimation method that incorporates the concentration of pyrite and organic porosity. More than 15 m of Eagle Ford Shale samples were analyzed using Rock-Eval pyrolysis, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). TOC, elemental concentration, and mineralogical data were analyzed for a better understanding …

Platy Galena From The Viburnum Trend, Southeast Missouri: Character, Mine Distribution, Paragenetic Position, Trace Element Content, Nature Of Twinning, And Conditions Of Formation, Richard D. Hagni

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Viburnum Trend of southeast Missouri is one of the world’s largest producers of lead. The lead occurs as galena, predominantly in two crystallographic forms, octahedrons and cubes. Many studies have shown that octahedral galena is paragentically early, the more abundant of the two crystal forms, and is commonly modified in the cube. Those studies also have shown that the cubic form is paragenetically later, less abundant than the octahedrons, and may exhibit minor octahedral modifications. Viburnum Trend galena crystals that exhibit a platy form have received almost no study. The reason for their lack of study is the rarity …

Reprocessing Of The 2 Hz P-P Data From The Blackfoot 3c-2d Survey With Special Reference To Multicomponent Seismic Processing, Onur Akturk

Masters Theses

"The 3C-2D multicomponent seismic survey was acquired in the Blackfoot Field, which is located 15 km southeast of Strathmore, Alberta. The 2 Hz vertical component data were reprocessed to better image the target reservoir, the Glauconitic sand formation at approximately 1150 ms. The zone of the major reflector at about 1550 ms was also taken into consideration to determine the better seismic section for further processing. The main characteristics of the converted wave processing, such as common conversion point (CCP), asymptotic binning, gamma ratios, receiver statics, rotation of the data, positive/negative offsets, and anisotropy, were also summarized in this study. …

3d Seismic Imaging Of Submarine Stratovolcanic And Salt Structures Beneath The Taranaki Basin, New Zealand And The Gulf Of Mexico, Ersin Erdem Unkaracalar

Masters Theses

"The relationship of submarine stratovolcanic and salt structures with overlying sediments creates a significant role in the petroleum system due to the emplacement and burial of volcano and salt. This study characterizes the spatial and temporal distribution of structural and stratigraphic features associated with submarine stratovolcano and salt body to provide insights for elements and processes of petroleum geology related to regional tectonics.

The stratovolcanic and salt structures are clearly identified on seismic sections. However, distortion of ray paths passing through the salt and turning seismic waves prevents accurate identification of steep flanks of salt. The seismic response to a …

Conical Folds -- An Artifact Of Using Simple Geometric Shapes To Describe A Complex Geologic Structure, Avery Joseph Welker

Masters Theses

"Accurate representation of the 3D shapes of natural folds is essential to characterization of the dynamic models for fold formation. Geometrical analysis of folds commonly relies upon analyzing patterns defined by the variation in the orientation of poles to planar surfaces deformed by a shortening event when plotted using graphical calculators (e.g., stereogram, polar tangent diagrams) to interpret the shape of folds. Stereograms for which orientation data define small circles are classified as non-cylindrical regular folds and are interpreted as "conical folds," where the shape of the fold is represented by a cone that terminates at a point. Utilizing similar …

Crustal Structure Beneath The Eastern Margin Of The Tibetan Plateau And Adjacent Areas From Receiver Function Stacking And Gravity Modeling, Yunxin Peng

Doctoral Dissertations

"To provide constraints on the mechanisms responsible for the uplift and crustal thickening of the eastern Tibetan Plateau, the thickness and Vp/Vs values of the Moho beneath 153 seismic stations are obtained by stacking P-to-S converted phases from the Moho and gravity modeling. The resulting crustal thickness generally decreases from the northwest to the south-east, from about 60 km in the Bayan Har Block to 30 km in the Sichuan Basin. The crustal Vp/Vs measurements in the Qinling Orogenic Belt, Bayan Har Block, Chuxiong Basin, and Yangtze Platform indicate an overall intermediate to felsic crustal composition. With a relatively thick …

3d Seismic Attribute Analysis And Machine Learning For Reservoir Characterization In Taranaki Basin, New Zealand, Aamer Alhakeem

Doctoral Dissertations

"The Kapuni group within the Taranaki Basin in New Zealand is a potential petroleum reservoir. The objective of the study includes building a sequential approach to identify different geological features and facies sequences within the strata, through visualizing the targeted formations by interpreting and correlating the regional geological data, 3D seismic, and well data by following a sequential workflow. First, seismic interpretation is performed targeting the Kapuni group formations, mainly, the Mangahewa C-sand and Kaimiro D-sand. Synthetic seismograms and well ties are conducted for structural maps, horizon slices, isopach, and velocity maps. Well log and morphological analyses are performed for …

Paleogene-Early Neogene Palynomorphs From The Eastern Equatorial Atlantic And Southeastern Florida, Usa: Biostratigraphy And Paleoenvironmental Implications, Walaa K. Awad

Doctoral Dissertations

"The transition from greenhouse conditions (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, PETM) to icehouse conditions (Early Oligocene) is not well documented in tropical-subtropical regions. One hundred and five samples from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 959 (Hole 959A and Hole 959D) in the Cote d'Ivoire-Ghana Transform Margin, Alo-1 Well in the northern Niger Delta (Anambra) Basin, Nigeria, and W-17001 in southeastern Florida were studied for their palynological contents. Dinoflagellate cysts were mainly utilized for age refinement and to detect subtle changes in paleoenvironment and paleoclimate during the Paleocene-Early Eocene (ODP Hole 959D and Alo-1 Well) and Late Eocene-Early Miocene (ODP Hole 959A and …

Lithospheric Layering And Thickness Beneath The Contiguous United States, Lin Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

"The Upper Mississippi Embayment (UME), where the seismically active New Madrid Seismic Zone resides, experienced two phases of subsidence commencing in the Late Precambrian and Cretaceous, respectively. To provide new constraints on models proposed for the mechanisms responsible for the subsidence, we computed and stacked P-to-S receiver functions recorded by 49 USArray and other seismic stations located in the UME and the adjacent Ozark Uplift and modeled Bouguer gravity anomaly data. The inferred thickness, density, and Vp/Vs of the upper and lower crustal layers suggest that the UME is characterized by a mafic and high-density upper crustal layer of ∼30 …

Application Of Seismic Attributes For 3-D Seismic Visualization Contributed In Structural And Stratigraphic Interpretation Of The Tangahoe And Farewell Formations In The Kupe Field, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand, Housam Hussein Grabeel

Masters Theses

"Taranaki Basin is a mainly offshore basin covering an area of approximately 100,000 km², elongated across the western margin of New Zealand's north island. However, the modern limit of the basin is extended toward the deep water to cover about 330,000 km². The basin is divided by tectonic activities into northern and southern grabens. The southern region has become the most extensively researched district in recent years as its prime lithology and structural trap distributions provide numerous hydrocarbon fields. One such field is the Kupe Field (256 km²), which lies on a northerly-plunging, reverse-faulted, …