An Attempt to Study Natural H2 Resources across an Oceanic Ridge Penetrating a Continent: The Asal–Ghoubbet Rift (Republic of Djibouti)

Dihydrogen (H2) is generated by fluid–rock interactions along mid-ocean ridges (MORs) and was not, until recently, considered as a resource. However, in the context of worldwide efforts to decarbonize the energy mix, clean hydrogen is now highly sought after, and the production of natural H2 is considered to be a powerful alternative to electrolysis. The Afar Rift System has many geological features in common with MORs and offers potential in terms of natural H2 resources. Here, we present data acquired during initial exploration in this region. H2 contents in soil and within fumaroles were measured along a 200 km section across the Asal–Ghoubbet rift and the various intervening grabens, extending from Obock to Lake Abhe. These newly acquired data have been synthesized with existing data, including those from the geothermal prospect area of the Asal–Ghoubbet rift zone. Our results demonstrate that basalt alteration with oxidation of iron-rich facies and simultaneous reduction in water is the likely the source of the hydrogen, although H2S reduction cannot be ruled out. However, H2 volumes at the surface within fumaroles were found to be low, reaching only a few percent. These values are considerably lower than those found in MORs. This discrepancy may be attributed to bias introduced by surface sampling; for example, microorganisms may be preferentially consuming H2 near the surface in this environment. However, the low H2 generation rates found in the study area could also be due to a lack of reactants, such as fayalite (i.e., owing to the presence of low-olivine basalts with predominantly magnesian olivines), or to the limited volume and slow circulation of water. In future, access to additional subsurface data acquired through the ongoing geothermal drilling campaign will bring new insight to help answer these questions.

Cultural and geological heritage in time elapsed during historical Kingdoms in Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia

Yogyakarta, Indonesia is known for its kingdom government system for all its living history; since 8-10th century Mataram Hindu-Buddhist temples to the present Muslim Ngayogyokarto Hadiningrat. Those stretch of history resulted in many artefacts and chronicles. A cultural imaginary line that linking Merapi Volcano in the north and the Indian Ocean in the south through the Yogyakarta Palace in the middle has a sacral geo-cultural heritage, explaining a prosperity gentle volcanic town, a beautiful scheme of the open panoramic features with several temples standing on the plain and mountainous landscapes in between the rest of earthquakes and the volcanic eruptions. Many temples were partly buried under volcanic materials, and some others show evidence of being shaken several times by earthquakes. Boulders of volcanic materials varying in size and shapes are present in the plain of Yogyakarta, near Cangkiringan, Ngemplak and Ngaglik. Landslides exposed many geological features, such as faults, rock formation and stratigraphy, and some unstable slopes. Cultural and geological heritages at Yogyakarta Region were created over the time.

Facies models of hydrocarbon-bearing formations of Podneytinskiy reservoir at Bovanenkovskoye and Kharasaveyskoye fields

Background. Significant part of hydrocarbons at Bovanenkovskoye and Kharasaveyskoye fields are contained in Podneytinskiy reservoir, and study of geological features of its productive strata is important for development planning for the fields in a whole. Aim. The paper reflects the results of integrating well and seismic data to characterize the formations of Podneytinskiy reservoir at Bovanenkovskoye and Kharasaveyskoye fields. Materials and methods. As part of the study, sedimentological description of core was analyzed, the core, well logging and seismic survey information were assessed, and the facies schemes were prepared. Results. As a result of the work, the reservoir architecture features and the distribution of reservoir properties of the target interval were revealed. It has been established that the considered formations of Podneytinskiy reservoir can be divided into two parts, the lower one is represented by deposits of predominantly deltaic origin, and the upper one is of continental and subcontinental genesis. The sedimentary conditions of rocks influenced the complexity of their architecture, so, in the formations referred to the lower part of the studied interval, the reservoirs, as a rule, are laterally continuous, in contrast to the deposits of the upper part of the section, which are typically characterized by extremely high lateral heterogeneity. Depositional conditions also influenced the reservoir properties of productive sediments. As a result of the work, it was revealed that the reservoirs of better quality are formed in fluvial and tidal channels, distributary channels and proximal parts of deltas, they have higher reservoir properties, are characterized by thicker sandstone interlayers and lower portion of carbonated interlayers in comparison with reservoirs formed in other conditions. Conclusions. The article provides quantitative characteristics of reservoir properties depending on sedimentary conditions. The results obtained form the basis for creation of geological models of Bovanenkovskoye and Kharasaveyskoye fields.

Developing Culturally Effective Strategies for Chinese to English Geotourism Translation by Corpus-Based Interdisciplinary Translation Analysis

As a new field of translation with its own special genre, geotourism has not yet been firmly established because geotourism translations are currently not of a sufficient professional standard. This situation does not provide geotourists with the genre’s full target of enjoyment, learning and engagement through science popularisation tourism activities. In order to better meet these three definitive purposes in geotourism, this study analyses the three basic categories of geotourism—geological features (GFs), geological processes (GPs) and cultural elements (CEs)—to determine effective strategies of geotourism translation from Chinese into English. Challenges in translation include scientific jargon, language style and cultural gaps. In this article, the advantages of Hu’s Eco-translatology theory are explained and used for minimising translation problems; and the corpus linguistics method, superior for quantitative and qualitative analysis, is utilised. As well, digital auxiliary tools Tmxmall (2014) and Sketch Engine (2003) were employed to facilitate corpus research. Through analysis, effective strategies in each of the key geotourism categories, GFs, GPs and CEs, were identified, shaped and recommended for future translators’ attention. In the results, literal translation, transliteration and free translation, addition and use of official UNESCO names were recommended to render GFs. Division and shift translation, literal translation and shift and division were recommended for GPs. Literal translation, transliteration and free translation and addition were recommended for CEs. Since this is an initial investigation in the genre of geotourism, this study has attempted to build a model platform for future study and wider research in geotourism translation and translation pedagogy for the improvement of geotourism translation quality.

Delineation of Banyumas Sub-Basins using Gravity Anomaly Based on Trend Surface Analysis Equation

A study using gravity methods in the Banyumas Basin, located in the southern part of Central Java, Indonesia had been conducted to generate a map for regional geological features in sub-volcanic basin related to petroleum system. This study used the first and second-order of Trend Surface Analysis (TSA) to separate gravity anomaly into regional and residual components. Matrix inversion is applied to obtain constants values for both the first and second-order of TSA. To interpret geological features related to oil and gas study, residual components are used for gravity anomaly. Residual anomaly is also compared for both first and second order of TSA with a regional geological map to validate the result. Residual anomaly from the second order of TSA showed a very comparable result to geological features, as shown in the regional geological map, compared to those of the first order of TSA. These results also showed a strong contrast of some important geological features such as the Gabon-Nusakambangan Formation outcrop, Karangbolong outcrop, and the eastern part of the south Serayu mountain arc. This study also displayed two potential subbasins i.e Citanduy and Majenang sub-Basin that might be a possible setting in which source rocks of the Banyumas Basin were deposited. From this study, it can be concluded that TSA showed a reliable result of separating gravity anomaly data set into regional and residual components.Keywords: Gravity anomaly, Banyumas Basin, petroleum system, trend surface analysis (TSA).

RESULTS OF VIBRATION MONITORING OF VIBRO-DRIVING AND VIBRO-EXTRACTION OF SHEET PILES

The geology of St. Petersburg is represented with a heavy layer of weak structurally unstable soils. Using of vibro-extraction and vibro-driving of sheet piles in such conditions requires a particularly responsible approach in order to predict the emerging dynamic effects and the zones of their influence on the surrounding buildings and structures. Therefore, the task of looking for possible patterns describing these processes is highly relevant. For this purpose, the authors have updated the map of engineering-geological zoning according to Zavarzin with use of more than 50 reports of engineering-geological surveys. On this map the sensitive to the high-frequency vibrations soil layers are identified. Also, more than 70 reports on vibration monitoring of vibration driving and vibration extraction of sheet piles in St. Petersburg have been analyzed. The influence on the value of vibration acceleration of the following factors has been investigated: the geological features of the site, the distance to the source of vibrations, the characteristics of the vibrating hammer (operating frequency, driving force) and sheet pile (length, cross section), the location of measurements (on the ground or on a structural element of the building). The result of the work is the diagrams that clearly show the presence or absence of a relationship between the studied parameters. The absence of dependencies for some of the investigated parameters may be caused by the factors which influence cannot be predicted. These factors are the occurrence of large friction forces in the joints of sheet piles; the presence of lenses of dense soils or boulders during sheet piles driving; violations of the technological process. The zone of the influence of high-frequency dynamic impact was identified as 25 meters, which is in good agreement with the results of in-situ monitoring.

SFE2D: A Hybrid Tool for Spatial and Spectral Feature Extraction

A crucial task for integrated geoscientific image (geo-image) interpretation is the relevant geological representation of multiple geo-images, which demands high-dimensional techniques for extracting latent geological features from high-dimensional geo-images. A standalone mathematical tool called SFE2D (spatiospectral feature extraction in two-dimension) is developed based on independent component analysis (ICA), continuous wavelet transform (CWT), k-means clustering segmentation, and RGB color processing that iteratively separates, extracts, clusters, and visualizes the highly correlated and overlapped geological features from multiple sources of geo-images. The SFE2D offers spatial feature extraction and wavelet-based spectral feature extraction for further extraction of frequency-dependent features. We show that the SFE2D is a robust tool for automated pattern recognition, fast pseudo-geological mapping, and detection of regions of interest with a wide range of applications in different scales, from regional geophysical surveys to the interpretation of microscopic images.

Analysis of Foundation Pit Design of Metro Station in Complex Environment

The complex engineering geological conditions and the surrounding environmental conditions of the existing subway lines and adjacent buildings have significantly deepened the difficulty of metro station foundation pit design and construction. Based on the foundation pit project of Luboyuan Station of Nanjing Metro Line 9, this study chooses a reasonable foundation pit support design scheme to carry out related research by analyzing the site geological environmental conditions. Through the analysis and evaluation of the engineering geological conditions of the engineering site, the engineering geological problems that may occur in the process of construction are given. According to the lithologic characteristics of the site strata, the hydrogeological conditions, and the features of the underground engineering structure, the design of the foundation pit supporting system is optimized and analyzed. The results show that making full use of the geological features of strata and adopting effective support methods can ensure the safety of foundation pit construction, reduce the cost of engineering description, and shorten the construction period, which can be used as a reference for similar projects and construction.