This is the first book that attempts to broadly integrate the most recent knowledge in the fields of hydrate nucleation and growth in permafrost regions and marine sediments. Gas hydrate reactant supply, growth models, and implications for pore fill by natural gas hydrate are discussed for both seawater precursors in marine sediments and for permafrost hydrate. These models for forming hydrate concentrations that will constitute targets for exploration are discussed, along with exploration methods. Thermodynamic models for the controlled conversion of hydrate to natural gas, which can be recovered using conventional industry practices, suggest that a number of different types of hydrate occurrence are likely to be practical sources of hydrate natural gas. Current progress in the various aspects of commercial development of hydrate gas deposits are discussed, along with the principal extractive issues that have yet to be resolved.

Audience

The book will be of interest to petroleum geologists, earth scientists (marine geology and geophysics), government departments and institutions concerned with energy resources.

CD-ROM included

A CD-ROM is included containing additional figures, and a selection of high quality color images which are printed in black and white in the book itself.

The coalbed methane (CBM) reserve in China ranks third in the world with a total resource of 36.8x1012 m3. Exploitation of CBM has an important practical significance to ensure the long-term rapid development of China natural gas industry. Therefore, in 2002, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China set up a national 973 program to study CBM system and resolve problems of CBM exploration and exploitation in China. All the main research results and new insights from the program are presented in this book. The book is divided into 11 chapters. The first chapter mainly introduces the present situation of CBM exploration and development in China and abroad. Chapters 2 through 9 illustrate the geological theory and prospect evaluation methods. Then chapters 10 and 11 discuss CBM recovery mechanisms and technology. The book systematically describes the origin, storage, accumulation and emission of CBM in China, and also proposes new methods and technologies on resource evaluation, prospect prediction, seismic interpretation and enhanced recovery. The book will appeal to geologists, lecturers and students who are involved in the CBM industry and connected with coal and conventional hydrocarbon resources research.

This book provides a brief geology, tectonic structure and metallogeny of Mongolia, central part of the giant Central Asian Orogenic Belt, and broad overview of major metallic (copper, gold, rare metals and rare earths, iron, lead and zinc, silver and platinum group), non-metallic (phosphorite and fluorspar) and fuel (uranium and coal) mineral deposits and occurrences, covering their tectonic position, metallogeny and deposit types, geological characteristics and origin, including newly found deposits and occurrences based on authors research data and a large information obtained during geological exploration work. The book is intended for professional economic geologists, for earth science students and practicing geologists.

The significance of manganese ores is very weil known in cast iron and steel production, as weil as in various types of chemical raw material and agricultural fertilizers. The world industry development in recent years requires their increased production in the vicinity of the metallurgical centers in different regions of the world; high grade manganese and associated metalores are needed. Analysis of the world production and consumption of manganese ores by industrial countries indicates convincingly that the highest commercial value belongs to the ores associated with the supergene zone (National Minerals Advi- sory Board, 1981; Coffman and Palencia, 1984; Doncoisne, 1985; Iones, 1990, 1991; Manganese, 1990; McMichael, 1989). The remarkable property of manganese, in contrast to many other types of mineral resources, is that the ore accumulations of this metal are distributed in the wide geochrono- logical interval from the Archean to the present time; these ores are deposited in basins and supergene environments of different types from lakes, internal seas to pelagic and abyssal regions of the World ocean, as weIl as different types of weathering crusts and karst. At the same time the manganese accumulations and features of their mineral and chemical compositions are relatively sensitive indicators, reflecting facies and geodynamic condi- tions of their formation. These properties aid the investigation of the Earth's evolution processes.

The brilliantly told and gripping story of the most familiar - yet, amazingly, still poorly understood - substance in the universe: Water. The extent to which water remains a scientific mystery is extraordinary, despite its prevalence and central importance on Earth. Whether one considers its role in biology, its place in the physical world (where it refuses to obey the usual rules of liquids) or its deceptively simple structure, there is still no complete answer to the question: what is water? Philip Ball's book explains what, exactly, we do and do not know about the strange character of this most essential and ubiquitous of substances. H20 begins by transporting its readers back to the Big Bang and the formation of galaxies to witness the birth of water's constituent elements: hydrogen and oxygen. It then explains how the primeval oceans were formed four billion years ago; where water is to be found on other planets; why ice floats when most solids sink; why, despite being highly corrosive, water is good for us; why there are at least fifteen kinds of ice and perhaps two kinds of liquid water; how scientists have consistently misunderstood water for centuries; and why wars have been waged over it. Philip Ball's gloriously offbeat and intelligent book conducts us on a journey through the history of science, folklore, the wilder scientific fringes, cutting-edge physics, biology and ecology, to give a fascinating new perspective on life and the substance that sustains it. After reading this book, drinking a glass of water will never be the same again.

This book illustrates the advantages of the application of ground mechanic concepts to hard rock mining. It examines the ground stability for various mine layouts using specific case histories. The book deals with ground support, reinforcement, and stabilization of mining structures.

This book discusses how sediments compact with depth and applications of the compaction trends. Porosity reduction in sediment conveniently indicates the degree of sediments compacted after deposition. Published empirical curves- the compaction curves- are depth-wise porosity variation through which change in pore spaces from sediment surface to deeper depths e.g. up to 6 km can be delineated. Porosity is derived from well logs. Compaction curves, referred to as the Normal Porosity Profile of shales, sandstones and shale bearing sandstones of different models are reviewed along with the different mechanical and chemical compaction processes. These compaction models reveals how porosity reduces depth-wise and the probable reason for anomalous zones. Deviation from these normal compaction trends may indicate abnormal pressure scenarios: either over- or under pressure. We highlight global examples of abnormal pressure scenarios along with the different primary- and secondary mechanisms. Well logs and cores being the direct measurements of porosity, well log is the only cost-effective way to determine porosity of subsurface rocks. Certain well logs can detect overpressure and the preference of one log above the other helps reduce the uncertainty. Apart from delineation of under-compacted zones by comparing the modeled- with the actual compaction, porosity data can also estimate erosion.

Underground Excavations in Rock deals with the geotechnical aspects of the design of underground openings for mining and civil engineering processes.

The book presents high-quality research papers from the Seventh International Conference on Solid Waste Management (IconSWM 2017), held at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Hyderabad on December 15-17, 2017. The conference, an official side event of the high-level Intergovernmental Eighth Regional 3R Forum in Asia and the Pacific, aimed to generate scientific inputs into the policy consultation of the Forum co-organized by the UNCRD/UNDESA, MoEFCC India, MOUD India and MOEJ, Japan. Presenting research on solid waste management from more than 30 countries, the book is divided into three volumes and addresses various issues related to innovation and implementation in sustainable waste management, segregation, collection, transportation of waste, treatment technology, policy and strategies, energy recovery, life cycle analysis, climate change, research and business opportunities.

This book provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the applications of chemostratigraphy. The first chapter of the book offers an introduction to the technique. This is followed by a chapter detailing sample preparation and analytical techniques. Chapter 3 focuses on the techniques utilised to establish the mineralogical affinities of elements, while the general principles of how to build a chemostratigraphic scheme are covered in Chapter 4. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 provide information on the applications of chemostratigraphy to clastic, carbonate and unconventional reservoirs respectively, and various case studies are presented. Wellsite applications, a discussion and conclusion section form the latter part of the book. The book will appeal to graduate and post graduate students of geology and professionals working in the hydrocarbon sector as a key reference text in chemostratigraphy.

The book introduces essential concept of mineral exploration, mine evaluation and resource assessment of the discovered mineral deposit to students, beginners and professionals. The book is divided into nine chapters which will help the readers to incorporate the concepts of search for mineral deposits and understand the chances of success. The book discusses the fundamental details like composition of earth and mineral resources, formation of rock and mineral deposits, and the attempt to search for ore deposits to advance applications of remote sensing in mineral exploration. It also covers the details on how to conduct system of survey, evaluation, and how to arrive at a decision to open and carryout further exploration in the operating mine. The book shall be of great interest to geologists and mining community.

This thesis presents an important step towards a deeper understanding of naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs (NFCRs). It demonstrates the various kinds of discontinuities using geological evidence, mathematical kinematics model and computed tomography and uses this as a basis for proposing a new classification for NFCRs. Additionally, this study takes advantage of rock mechanics theory to illustrate how natural fractures can collapse due to fluid flow and pressure changes in the fractured media. The explanations and mathematical modeling developed in this dissertation can be used as diagnostic tools to predict fluid velocity, fluid flow, tectonic fracture collapse, pressure behavior during reservoir depleting, considering stress-sensitive and non-stress-sensitive, with nonlinear terms in the diffusivity equation applied to NFCRs. Furthermore, the book presents the description of real reservoirs with their field data as the principal goal in the mathematical description of the realistic phenomenology of NFCRs.

This volume contains contributions on advances in geosynthetics engineering. Soil reinforcement is a very useful technique to construct several cost-effective soil structures in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. The most commonly used reinforcement materials are galvanised steel strips, geosynthetics in the form of woven geotextiles, geogrids and geocomposites, and fibres from natural and waste products. In recent years, there have been advances in the area of soil reinforcement, especially in the utilization of the technique in field projects. The researchers have also been working to understand the behaviour of reinforced soil considering the field challenges of reinforced soil structures. The volume is based on the best contributions to the 2nd GeoMEast International Congress and Exhibition on Sustainable Civil Infrastructures, Egypt 2018 - The official international congress of the Soil-Structure Interaction Group in Egypt (SSIGE).

This edited volume on challenges in structural and bridge engineering brings together contributions to this important area of engineering research. The volume presents findings and case studies on fundamental and applied aspects of structural engineering, applied to buildings, bridges and infrastructures in general, and heritage patrimony. The scope of the volume focuses on the application of advanced experimental and numerical techniques and new technologies to the built environment. The volume is based on the best contributions to the 2nd GeoMEast International Congress and Exhibition on Sustainable Civil Infrastructures, Egypt 2018 - The official international congress of the Soil-Structure Interaction Group in Egypt (SSIGE).

This volume comprises a set of high-quality, refereed papers that address the different aspects related to the geotechnical and structural design and construction of deep excavations, tunnels and underground space facilities as well as the effect of their construction on the surroundings. The papers cover planning, design, modeling, monitoring and construction aspects of these essential structures. The utilization of underground space using tunneling and deep excavations has become much needed to support the increasing needs of urban environments and to allow for functional extensions and sustainable developments in heavily congested areas. Recently, more utilities and transportation transit systems have been relocated underground because of scarcity of surface space. The growing interest in the use of underground space has necessitated commensurate advancements in related fields (geotechnical engineering, engineering geology and structural engineering), design tools, construction techniques and analytical and interpretation methods. The volume is based on the best contributions to the 2nd GeoMEast International Congress and Exhibition on Sustainable Civil Infrastructures, Egypt 2018 - The official international congress of the Soil-Structure Interaction Group in Egypt (SSIGE).

This volume brings together scientific experts in different areas that contribute to the railway track and transportation engineering challenges, evaluate the state-of-the-art, identify the shortcomings and opportunities for research and promote the interaction with the industry. In particular, scientific topics that are addressed in this volume include railway ballasted track degradation/settlement problems and stabilization/reinforcement technologies, switches and crossings and related derailments causes, train-induced vibrations and mitigation measures, operations, management and performance of ground transportation, and traffic congestion and safety procedures. The volume is based on the best contributions to the 2nd GeoMEast International Congress and Exhibition on Sustainable Civil Infrastructures, Egypt 2018 - The official international congress of the Soil-Structure Interaction Group in Egypt (SSIGE).

This book presents a geostatistical framework for data integration into subsurface Earth modeling. It offers extensive geostatistical background information, including detailed descriptions of the main geostatistical tools traditionally used in Earth related sciences to infer the spatial distribution of a given property of interest. This framework is then directly linked with applications in the oil and gas industry and how it can be used as the basis to simultaneously integrate geophysical data (e.g. seismic reflection data) and well-log data into reservoir modeling and characterization. All of the cutting-edge methodologies presented here are first approached from a theoretical point of view and then supplemented by sample applications from real case studies involving different geological scenarios and different challenges. The book offers a valuable resource for students who are interested in learning more about the fascinating world of geostatistics and reservoir modeling and characterization. It offers them a deeper understanding of the main geostatistical concepts and how geostatistics can be used to achieve better data integration and reservoir modeling.

This book presents challenges in transportation engineering, recent developments and advancements in technologies, and design and construction using sustainable materials. The articles presented in this volume focus on fundamental investigations on various aspects of civil engineering materials and structures. The scope of this volume is the application of findings for solving problems in geotechnical, pavement, and transportation engineering using emerging techniques. Papers were selected from the 5th GeoChina International Conference 2018 on Civil Infrastructures Confronting Severe Weathers and Climate Changes Conference, held on July 23 to 25, 2018 in HangZhou, China.

This book highlights various aspects of shale gas production and discusses the associated problems, which have greatly influenced the current situation on the global gas market. It focuses on issues such as production technologies, environmental protection, and the impacts of shale gas production on human beings. Further, it investigates the role of shale gas in the development and implementation of foreign policy of many nations that welcomed the possibility to produce this hydrocarbon in their own countries. Taking into consideration the information published by world energy research centers, the prospects of shale gas production in different regions of the world are examined in detail. Given its coverage and scope, the book will greatly benefit specialists in the areas of hydrocarbon production, international relations and foreign policy, world economics and technologies, ecology and environmental protection.

This book deals with the attempts made by the scientists, researchers and practitioners to address different emerging issues in transportation and geotechnical engineering. Papers focus on the following: (i) polymer-based dust suppressant,(ii) cement concrete materials, (iii) pavement preservation techniques, (iv) frost front in a cold-region circular tunnel, (v) metro station in non-cemented soil, (vi) seismic-liquefaction, (vii) mechanical responses of asphalt pavement at bridge approach, (viii) warm mix asphalt, and (ix) behavior of pile foundation. This volume is useful for the researchers and practitioners who work in the area transportation and geotechincal engineering. Papers were selected from the 5th GeoChina International Conference 2018 - Civil Infrastructures Confronting Severe Weathers and Climate Changes: From Failure to Sustainability, held on July 23 to 25, 2018 in HangZhou, China.

This book concisely describes the architecture of the oil and gas pipelines in the Black-Caspian Seas Region and analyzes the status quo and perspectives of oil and gas production in this region. The authors present numerous projects, each of which has made a substantial contribution to the development of pipeline transport and transit in this part of the world, and discuss them in detail. The topics covered include: the region's geographic characteristics; the region's hydrocarbon potential; Russian and EU policy on pipeline transport; Kazakhstan's pipeline policy; Chinese pipeline projects; the Bulgarian gas transmission system; environmental risks in the production and transportation of hydrocarbons; satellite monitoring; and subsea leak detection. This volume offers a valuable resource for politicians, specialists in the oil and gas business, decision-makers, and environmentalists alike.

This book provides practical morphological information, together with detailed illustrations and concise texts explaining each entry. The book details the morphological characters of each organism, providing fundamental information for palaeontologists and palaeobiologists alike. Each chapter starts with a brief introduction and goes on to describe the organism's morphology in detail, followed by a brief note on classification and lastly illustrated examples of stratigraphically important organisms through time along with their major distinguishing characters. The book includes over 3000 clearly labelled, hand-drawn and classroom-friendly illustrations of over 1200 species.

This book describes the Aguablanca Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide deposit, the first, and to date only, mineralization of this type in southwestern (SW) Europe. Since its discovery in 1993, this ore deposit has attracted the attention of the resource geology community due to its unusual geodynamic context, namely an active plate margin. The book focuses on the key features of the deposit and reports on the ore-forming processes that were most important for its formation.

The region of the Sao Francisco river valley in eastern Brazil encompasses two main components of the geologic framework of the South American continent: the Sao Francisco craton and its marginal orogenic belts. Cratons, as the oldest, differentiated and relatively stable pieces of the continental lithosphere, preserve a substantial part of the Earth's memory. Orogenic belts, on the other hand, record collisional processes that occurred during a limited time span. Because of their topographic relief, mountain belts developed along craton margins provide however access to rock successions not exposed in the low lands of the adjacent cratons. The combination of geologic information obtained in cratonic domains and their marginal orogenic belts thus form the basis for deciphering substantial periods of Earth's history. Corresponding to the most intensively studied portion of the Precambrian nucleus of the South American plate, the Sao Francisco craton and its margins host a rock record that spans from the Paleoarchean to the Cenozoic. Precambrian sedimentary successions that witness ancient Earth processes - many of them of global significance - are especially well preserved and exposed in this region. With all these attributes the Sao Francisco craton together with its fringing orogenic belts can be viewed as a 'continent within a continent' or a 'continent in miniature'.

This book offers a compact guide to geological core analysis, covering both theoretical and practical aspects of geological studies of reservoir cores. It equips the reader with the knowledge needed to precisely and accurately analyse cores. The book begins by providing a description of a coring plan, coring, and core sampling and continues with a sample preparation for geological analysis. It then goes on to explain how the samples are named, classified and integrated in order to understand the geological properties that dictate reservoir characteristics. Subsequently, porosity and permeability data derived from routine experiments are combined to define geological rock types and reduce reservoir heterogeneity. Sequence stratigraphy is introduced for reservoir zonation. Core log preparation is also covered, allowing reservoirs to be analysed even more accurately. As the study of core samples is the only way to accurately gauge reservoir properties, this book provides a useful guide for all geologists and engineers working with subsurface samples.