Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Turbidite Channel'

At the Castle Creek study area in east-central British Columbia a well-exposed section about 450 m wide and 30 m thick in the (Neoproterozoic) Isaac Formation was analyzed to document vertical and lateral changes in a succession of distinctively heterolithic strata. Strata are interpreted to have been deposited on a deep-marine levee that was sandwiched between its genetically related channel on one side and an erosional escarpment sculpted by an older (underlying) channel on the other. Flows that overspilled the channel (incident flow) eventually encountered the escarpment, which then set up a return flow oriented more or less opposite to the incident (from the channel) flow. This created an area of complex flow that became manifested in the sedimentary record as a highly tabular succession of intricately interstratified sand and mud overlain by an anomalously thick, plane-parallel interlaminated sand-mud unit capped finally by a claystone.

Le système turbiditique du Zambèze (Canal du Mozambique, Océan Indien occidental) est l'un des plus grands systèmes turbiditiques au monde et reste encore mal compris. L'acquisition récente de données bathymétriques multifaisceaux à haute résolution, de données de sismique réflexion haute et très haute résolution et de données sédimentologiques a permis d'étudier l'évolution de l'architecture et l'organisation des dépôts depuis l'Oligocène afin de comprendre les principaux facteurs de forçage qui contrôlent la sédimentation en eau profonde dans le Canal du Mozambique. Le système turbiditique du Zambèze est composé de deux systèmes de dépôt adjacents : l'éventail du Zambèze ("Zambezi Fan") et un éventail semi-confiné ("ponded fan") dans un bassin intermédiaire face à l'embouchure du Zambèze. Les résultats et les interprétations indiquent : (1) un important contrôle tectonique depuis le Miocène responsable d'une sur-incision profonde de la vallée du Zambèze et de débordements limités des courants turbiditiques ; (2) une influence importante des courants de fond qui induisent la rareté des turbidites fines, l'érosion des flancs des vallées et l'apparition généralisée de "sediment waves" ; (3) une faible activité turbiditique au cours des 700 derniers kyr qui ne montre, en outre, aucune relation avec les changements du niveau de la mer, l'activité turbiditique s'observant indépendamment des périodes glaciaires et interglaciaires ; (4) des pics de flux terrigènes corrélés aux maxima d'ensoleillement estival local, indiquant que la mousson est le contrôle majeur des apports de sédiments vers le système de dépôt marin profond ; (5) une évolution "on-off" du l'éventail du Zambèze qui démontre un déplacement du dépocentre de la partie distale de l'éventail vers le bassin intermédiaire proximal. Ces résultats soulignent la grande complexité du système turbiditique du Zambèze en raison de l'impact de facteurs de contrôles multiples
The Zambezi turbidite system (Mozambique Channel, Western Indian Ocean) is one of the largest turbidite systems in the world and yet still remains poorly understood. Newly acquired high-resolution multibeam bathymetry, seismic reflection and sedimentological data allowed to investigate the architecture evolution and depositional patterns since the Oligocene in order to understand the main forcing factors that control the deep sea sedimentation in the Mozambique Channel. It was found that the Zambezi turbidite system is composed of two adjacent depositional systems: the channelized Zambezi Fan and a semiconfined fan in the lntermediate Basin. Moreover, results and interpretations indicate: (1) important tectonic control since the Miocene that caused deep incision of the Zambezi Valley and limited overflow of turbidite currents; (2) an important influence of bottom-currents that induces scarcity of fine-grained turbidites, valley flanks erosion and widespread occurrence of sediment waves; (3) low turbidite activity for the last 700 kyr that shows no relationship with sea-level changes as turbidite activity occurred irrespective of glacial or interglacial periods; (4) peaks in terrigenous flux with maxima in local summer insolation, reflecting that monsoon controls the sediment inputs towards the deep marine depositional system; (5) an on-off evolution of the Zambezi Fan that demonstrates a depocenter shift from the distal Zambezi Fan to the proximal Intermediate Basin. All our findings underline the high complexity in depositional environments of the Zambezi turbidite system

The Numidian Flysch Formation is a regionally extensive series of deep marine sandstones and mudstones which crop out in Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sicily, and southern mainland Italy. The formation is dated as Oligocene to mid Miocene and represents an approximately linear series of submarine fans characterised by a quartz rich petrofacies. Their unique regional extent is nearly twice the length of the Angolan margin although issues surrounding provenance and basin context have hampered understanding. The Numidian Flysch Formation was deposited into the Maghrebian Flysch Basin (MFB) which was a foreland basin remnant of the neo-Tethys ocean in the western portion of the present day Mediterranean Basin. The basin was bordered to the north by an active margin which consisted of a southward verging accretionary prism, underlain by European crustal blocks which rode above northwards subducting oceanic crust. To the south, the African margin formed a passive-margin to the basin.The huge amount of geophysical and outcrop data which is becoming increasingly available suggests that submarine slope systems are more complex than previously thought, including topographically complex slopes, a wide variety of density flow types, and flow transformations. This thesis aims to review the sedimentology of the Numidian Flysch Formation in Sicily and Tunisia in light of these developments. Constraining the provenance and basin context of the formation is therefore of paramount importance, and this is also addressed.Commonly used evidence for the provenance of Numidian Flysch sandstones include its quartz rich petrology, an Eburnian and Pan-African age detrital zircon suite, its structural position within the foreland fold and thrust belt, and complex palaeocurrent orientations. when reviewd in their entirety and placed in context of other basin successions, the Numidian Flysch is constrained to a depositional location in the south of the basin, with polycyclic sediment sourced from African basement. The Numidian Flysch Formation is therefore a 'passive margin' sequence as opposed to a flysch sensu stricto. The timing of Numidian Flysch deposition is also coincidental with uplift of the Atlas chain in North Africa, during a period of significantly wetter conditions. A switch from carbonate to clastic deposition results from these conditions, and the Numidian Flysch Formation is considered an offshore extension of this regional sedimentation.Characterisation of outcrops in Sicily and Tunisia shows remarkably similar lithofacies and depositional elements. Sinuous upper slope channel complexes are entrenched within slope deposits to a depth of 100 m and occur within channel systems up to 5.7 km in width. They are filled predominantly with massive ungraded sandstones interpreted to aggrade through quasi-steady turbidity currents, interbedded with normally graded turbidites. Channel elements are subseismic in scale, are nested within complexes and show sinuosity. Coupled with lateral offset stacking, this strongly affects the architecture and facies heterogeneity of channel complexes. When compared to globally reviewed data, the thickness of channel elements as shown through their frequency distribution also suggests a fundamental control upon the degree of slope incision which is as yet unconstrained.In lower slope settings, channel complexes stack aggradationally with a width of over 1000 m. They are also predominantly filled with massive sandstones in fining upwards cycles, and show heterogeneous margins and large scale slumping. In central Sicily, large channel complexes are overlain by a stacked lobe complex, in turn overlain by a channel lobe transition zone. This progression coupled with palaeocurrent variability suggests intraslope deformation strongly impacts transiting flows through changes in flow capacity. Salt tectonics, present in Algeria and Tunisia is a possible forcing mechanism.Taken in context, the sections in Sicily record a proximal to distal palaeogeographic trend which is reconstructed towards the north/northeast once well constrained tectonic rotations are taken into account. Given regional similarities, controls upon slope architecture are interpreted to be similar throughout the basin, and deposits in Sicily therefore provide a good analogue for the remainder of the basin. These results therefore allow for a better constrained fan architecture, along with the allogenic controls upon them. Given the continental extent of this formation, the Numidian Flysch Formation provides a unique opportunity to study controls upon fan architecture once provenance and intraslope topography is factored in.

Architectures of submarine fans and turbidite systems are endowed by a high grade of complexity, inherited by the large variability of depositional flows characterising them. This complexity is reflected upon the superimposition of depositional elements (e.g., channels, levées, splays, etc.) giving rise to contrasting sedimentary facies and geometries at different scales. Thus, the understanding and prediction of their heterogeneity over space is essential to obtain reliable depositional models, which can be applied in the field of natural resources exploration. Despite heterogeneities of facies and architectures in turbidite deposits are largely studied, several questions regarding evolutionary controls still remain open due to the intricate interplay between autocyclic and allocyclic factors and the lack of roboust chronostratigraphic (i.e., time-related) constraints to be applied to turbidite systems evolution. This doctoral work focuses on two turbidite units, different for facies, architectures, age, and depositional setting. The work pursues the goal of complementing sedimentological data (collected with cm-scale resolution) with bio-chronostratigraphic data (both novel and collected from the literature) in order to provide a trustworthy estimation of the geological time in turbidite systems depositional models. In the first two chapters an overview on sediment gravity flows and their evolutionary models is provided, emphasising classical facies and depositional geometries. In chapter three, the sedimentary architecture and the controls on the evolution of a channel-levée complex from the Tachrift Turbidite System (Upper Miocene, Melloulou Fm., TazaGuercif Basin, NE Morocco) is addressed. The studied complex is spectacularly well exposed and then suitable for detailed sedimentological logging with cm-scale resolution. Results show a tripartite stratigraphic organisation of the complex, including: (i) a lowermost mud-prone interval with relatively small (a few hundred of metres across and metre-thick) and vertically stacked channels fills, (ii) a middle interval (ca. 4 m-thick and >1 km-wide) made of dominantly amalgamated sandstones with eastward-directed lateral accretion packages (LAPs), and (iii) an uppermost interval made of vertically aggraded channel fills with variously directed LAPs and well-developed levées. This organisation suggests that, after a relatively short phase of inception (lowermost interval), the channel underwent a prolonged lateral migration, prior to become aggradational (uppermost interval). Proportions of turbidite vs. hemipelagic deposits suggest that the migrational and aggradational phases straddle a lapse of reduced turbidite input to the studied section of the slope. It is suggested that the observed architectural style turnaround reflects the feedback of channel morphodynamics, sediment input, and along-dip channel depth profile. In chapter four, the Rupelian Monastero Fm. turbidite system (Tertiary Piedmont Basin, NW Italy) is addressed. This 1100 m-thick turbidite system was deposited adjacent to a coeval and heteropic fan delta system (i.e., the Savignone Conglomerates), upon a south-eastward dipping clastic ramp, and consists of an apparently monotonous succession of thin-bedded sandstone-mudstone couplets intercalated by erosive-based amalgamated bedsets made of sandstones and conglomerates. The unit was studied along the best exposed and most continuous section (Val di Grue-San Gaudenzio section) by cm-scale resolution sedimentological logging. Thesedimentological data were subsequently complemented with bio-magnetostratigraphic data (novel and from the literature) to refine the depositional model. In addition, seismic lines interpretation (in professional partnership with Eni S.p.A.) was used to constrain the Monastero Fm. depositional setting in the host basin. Results provide information about facies and architecture of the Monastero Fm. and insights for analogue systems: (i) the investigated stratigraphy is dominated for the 60% of section thickness by a muddy heterolithic background (with a density of 3 beds/m on average) alternated with conglomeratic channel fills and sandy lobes, (ii) the 65% of the studied section is composed of sedimentary bed repetitions interpreted as hyperpycnites, (iii) these repetitions cohexist with ‘classical’ turbidite facies indicating that the latter may represent the transformation of the former, (iv) bio-magnetostratigraphic data suggest an average accumulation rate of 400 m/Ma for the Monastero Fm., with an estimated return period of sedimentary gravity flows lower than a few thousand years, (v) seismic interpretations confirm the confined nature of the Monastero Fm. turbidite system. In conclusion, the new results of this doctoral work suggest that the use of magneto-biochronology can provide useful constraints for depositional age models, thus contributing to enhance our understanding of the time-scale and control factors of changes in sediment delivery to deep-water.

Deep-water strata of the Neoproterozoic Kaza Group and Isaac Formation (Cariboo Group) in the southern Canadian Cordillera (B.C.) were deposited in a passive-margin basin during the break-up of supercontinent Rodinia. At the Castle Creek and Mount Quanstrom study areas, a remarkably continuous stratigraphic interval throughout these units preserves a record of basin-floor overlain by strata deposited in the lowermost part of the slope. Although similar stratal intervals have been described from ancient and modern deep-marine settings, they still remain poorly understood. Three main stratal units are recognized within the study areas. The lower unit consists of three channel-lobe systems formed in the basin floor to slope transition. Uniquely, siliciclastic-dominated strata here consist of a variety of small- and few large-scale scour elements, indicating transport bypass along the channel-lobe transition zone, in addition to detached or attached depositional lobes composed mostly of distributary channels, fine-grained deposits, and uncommon splays, and a rare slope leveed channel complex. The middle unit is a siliciclastic-dominated succession of stacked, km-scale mass-transport deposits (i.e. debrites and slides), which indicates the more frequent emplacement of increasingly larger mass failures on a prograding slope, and are overlain by fine-grained, splay deposits that are successively overlain by channel, ponded and fine-grained deposits. In contrast, the upper unit is a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate slope succession of the first Isaac carbonate, a regional marker horizon that comprises mostly carbonate-rich and siliciclastic-rich fine-grained strata intercalated with channel and gully complexes that are mostly filled with coarser-grained strata. Abrupt changes in facies trends, stratal stacking patterns and depositional styles throughout these units are largely linked to long-term changes in relative sea level and its control on sediment supply, namely sediment caliber, volume and mineralogy. Notably, in the upper unit, small-scale changes in sediment source and supply are related to shorter sea-level variations superimposed on the long-term eustatic change.

This work consisted in the study and application of volumetric Deep Learning (DL) approach to seismic data provided by Eni S.p.A., with an industrial utility perspective. After a series of fruitful meetings with the Upstream & Technical Services team, we clearly defined the final objective of this approach: the automatic search for geological structures such as turbidite channel-bases, as potential regions of interest for the Oil & Gas industry. Therefore, we defined a workflow based on the training of volumetric DL models over seismic horizons containing channel bases providing “windrose” input patches, i.e. a planar approximation of a three-dimensional volume. All components and sources of criticality were systematically analyzed. For this purpose we studied: the effect of preprocessing, the contribution of the dataset augmentation, the sensitivity for the channel-base manual segmentation, the effect of the spatial expansion of the input patches. Evaluating both qualitatively and quantitatively through K-fold cross-validation. This work showed: how an appropriate preprocessing of the original data substantially helps DL models, how the dataset augmentation is fundamental for good model generalization given the poor representativity of the accessible examples compared to all possible configurations, how this DL approach is susceptible to the channel-base segmentation imposing to invest sufficient effort in the generation of reliable labels, how the size of input patches must be large enough to allow models to perceive around each voxel the structure concavity and the texture of any sediment infill. We conclude that the volumetric DL approach developed in this work has proved to be very promising.

PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO
COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DO PESSOAL DE ENSINO SUPERIOR
PROGRAMA DE EXCELENCIA ACADEMICA
O principal objetivo deste trabalho é preencher canais turbidíticos com alguma propriedade petrofísica, como a permeabilidade. Estes canais são geometricamente limitados por lobos turbidíticos, gerando a simulação de um sistema deposicional. Simulações numéricas são usadas para tentar ajustar a permeabilidade a um caso de referência por meio de uma função objetivo. Um simulador convencional de diferenças finitas foi usado para comparar os dados de referência com as simulações, obtendo resultados próximos.
The main objective of this work is to populate turbidite channels with some petrophysical property such as permeability. These channels are geometrically constrained by turbidite lobes creating a simulated depositional system. Numerical simulations are used to try to fit the permeability field to a reference case through an objective function. A conventional finite difference simulator was used to compare the reference data to the simulations, obtaining close results.

The evolution of landscapes and seascapes in time is the result of the constant interaction between flows and topography. Flows change topography, which in turn change the flow. This feedback causes evolution processes to be highly non-linear and complex. When full analytical derivations of the co-evolution of topography and flow are not possible without oversimplifications, as is the case in river bends, recent large topographical datasets and modern computers allow for correlations between horizontal (planview) and cross-sectional geometry of channels. Numerical analysis in the Mississippi and Trinity rivers indicate that the type of correlation between river radius of curvature and bankfull channel width depends on the migration behavior of the river. In other cases, channel topography may only have a second-order effect on its own evolution, as is the case for fully depositional turbidity currents, and the evolution of æolian field topography may only be a function of this topography. I show that in these situations, changes in topography may be decoupled from details of the flow field and modeled very easily with a good accuracy.

Ce travail présente une analyse de la morphologie et de la dynamique sédimentaire des systèmes turbiditiques actuels du Cap-Ferret et de Capbreton (sud du Golfe de Gascogne). La reconnaissance effectuée sur le système de Capbreton est la première à le considérer dans son ensemble. Ce travail se base sur des données acoustiques de subsurface (sondeur multifaisceaux, sondeur de sédiments Chirp) et de carottages issues de la campagne océanographique Sargass menée par l’Université de Bordeaux. L’analyse morpho-bathymétrique révèle l’organisation amont-aval des géométries sédimentaires dans ces systèmes et, couplée aux données sédimentaires, de préciser les processus de dépôts liés aux écoulements gravitaires. Le fonctionnement holocène du canyon de Capbreton montre des processus gravitaires haute fréquence, révélant son rôle de dépôt-centre pour le sud du golfe de Gascogne. Dans le système du Cap-Ferret, la zone de transition chenal-lobe a été investiguée à fine échelle, documentant ainsi des structures sédimentaires rarement identifiées avec ce niveau de détails dans les systèmes turbiditiques modernes. La dynamique sédimentaire de chacun de ces systèmes est soumise à des forçages auto-cycliques et glacio-eustatiques qui affectent chacun des systèmes de façons différentes. Ces informations ont permis de proposer un modèle régional de fonctionnement sédimentaire au cours des derniers 50 000 ans
This work presents an analysis of the morphology and sedimentary dynamic of the Cap-Ferret and Capbreton turbidite systems (south Bay of Biscay), containing the first recognition of the whole Capbreton turbidite system. The dataset comprises subsurface geophysical data (multibeam bathymetric and imagery, Chirp sub-bottom profiler) and piston cores, acquired during the oceanographic cruise Sargass conducted by the Bordeaux University. Studied by morpho-bathymetric analyses, the upstream-downstream evolution of the sedimentary bodies joined to the sedimentological data help to understand the active gravity processes of the systems. In the Capbreton system, a special focus is made on its Holocene gravity deposits occurring at high frequencies. In the Cap-Ferret system, the channel-lobe transition zone has been investigated at high resolution and revealed sedimentary structures poorly documented at this scale of details in recent turbidite systems. The glacio-eustatic and autocyclic forcing are expressed in different ways in each turbidite sytem. A regional sedimentary dynamic model is proposed for the last 50,000 years

Les développements d'algues benthiques dans les canaux de transport d'eau induisent d'importantes contraintes pour la gestion des canaux de distri bution d'eau. Les nuisances physiques et chimiques associées à ces développements nécessitent des stratégies de gestion alternatives. La thèse étudie des méthodes pour la gestion de ces populations algale basées sur le contrôle hydraulique du système: les chasses hydrauliques. Ces opérations consistent à détacher une partie de la biomasse algale fixée en augmentant les contraintes de cisaillement exercées par le courant sur ces algues fixées au substrat. Leur remise en suspension, entraînant un pic de turbidité, doit également être maîtrisée. L'approche proposée vise à caractériser et modéliser les processus de développement, de détachement et de transport des algues lors de ces chasses hydrauliques. Des suivis expérimentaux de la croissance sont réalisés en mésocosme (à l'échelle de canaux réduits). Les suivis de biomasse permettent de caler un modèle de croissance de la couverture algale intégrant l'effet de l'hydrodynamique et de la s ensibilité des algues aux perturbations hydrodynamiques. Des stratégies de chasses sont ensuite expérimentées sur deux canaux de distribution d'eau en zone méditérannéenne. Un modèle de la dynamique des algues fixées et en dérive en réponse à une chasse hydraulique est ensuite élaboré sur la base de ces expérimentations, et calé sur les nuages de turbidité observés. Finalement, un cadre méthodologique basé sur un modèle linéaire est proposé pour des applications à la gestion en temps réel d'une variable de qualité : la turbidité. Deux approches de contrôle sont présentées : la commande en boucle ouverte et la commande adaptative qui permet de recaler les paramètres inconnus comme la biomasse initiale
Algae developments in open-channel networks induce strong constraints for the network management. The physical and chemical nuisances linked to these developments require alternative management strategies. The thesis proposes an original method for these algae management based on the hydraulic control of the system using flushing-flows. These flushes consist in detaching a part of the fixed algae by increasing the hydraulic shear stress exerted on the biomass fixed on the substratum. The re-suspension of algae in the water column induces a turbidity peak which also has to be controlled. The proposed approach aims at characterizing and modelling the processes of algae development, detachment and transport during the flushes. Experimental monitoring of the growth phase is conducted in experimental flumes. The biomass samples are used to calibrate a model of algal growth which integrates the hydrodynamic effect and the algae sensitivity in the Med iterranean region. A model of the fixed and drift algae dynamics in response to a flush is then developed and calibrated on the observerd turbidity plumes. Finally, a control framework based on a linear model is proposed for the turbidity control during a flush. An open-loop control is first developed, then an adaptative feedback controller is tested to estimate unknown parameters such as initial biomass

Accurately predicting sediment delivery has been a long-standing problem in the field of water resource management. Many different watershed equations and models have been developed such as the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), the Geo-spatial interface for the Water Erosion Prediction Program (GeoWEPP) and many more, however, these models have not always been able to reliably predict in-stream sediment loads. In this study, two scales, watershed and site level, are used to understand where sediment transported in-stream is being produced. At the watershed scale, USLE was used to estimate sediment yield and then different factors such as connectivity topographic indices were applied as discount factors in an attempt to improve these estimates. The different parameters were then compared to turbidity to determine the level of accuracy of each method. It was found that USLE is not able to predict in-stream turbidity levels in the study area watersheds in Virginia and North Carolina. An implicit assumption of USLE is that runoff is produced on steeper slopes and that sediment production occurs on these hillslopes. However, it was found that flatter-sloped areas were highly correlated with in-stream turbidity. It was also found that in-channel and site-specific parameters such as bank height/slope and level of confinement at higher flows were more accurate predictors of in-stream sediment levels. Overall, turbidity and in-stream sediment levels are not well predicted by models that employ USLE. The distribution of runoff source areas, and channel/bank properties appear to be good predictors of sediment production at the watershed scale. These results indicate that sediment production and transport, as conceptualized by common models and equations, often associate sediment source areas with geomorphic and hydrologic processes in ways that are not consistent with the results of this study. Our results show that sediment is most likely being sourced from the channels and in stream areas.
Master of Science
Predicting how sediment moves through a watershed has been a long-standing problem in the field of water resource management. There are many equations and models that have been developed to calculated the amount of sediment that exits a watershed; such as the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), the Geo-spatial interface for the Water Erosion Prediction Program (GeoWEPP) and many more. However, these models have not always been reliable or accurate in their predictions. In this study, two scales, watershed and site level, are used to understand where sediment transported within streams is being produced. At the watershed scale, USLE was used to estimate sediment leaving a system and then different factors, with different approaches to the understanding of sediment movement, were applied as discount factors in an attempt to improve these estimates. The different values that were calculated were then compared to turbidity to determine the level of accuracy of each parameter. It was found that USLE is not able to predict in-stream turbidity levels in the study area watersheds in Virginia and North Carolina. An assumption of USLE is that runoff is produced on steeper slopes and that sediment erosion occurs on these steeper sloped areas. However, it was found that flatter-sloped areas were highly correlated with turbidity. It was also found that in-channel and site-specific parameters such as bank height/slope and the level of confinement at higher flows were more accurate predictors of turbidity. Overall, USLE and models that used USLE were not able to predict turbidity. The distribution of runoff source areas and channel/bank properties appear to be good predictors of turbidity at the watershed scale. These results indicate that sediment movement, as conceptualized by common models and equations, often associate sediment source areas with watershed level morphology and hydrology in ways that are not consistent with the results of this study. Our results show that sediment is most likely being produced from the channels and in stream areas.

The topic of this thesis is the study of deposits from ancient submarine channel systems in the Miocene Maraş Basin (southern Turkey). The results show four independent systems in the form of slope channel complexes in the stratigraphic sequence of the basin. The present study focuses particularly on the reconstruction of the sedimentary architecture and palaeo-flow interpretation of the deposits of two of these systems: the Alikayası and the Karışık Systems. The approach followed was the architectural analysis scheme. The data from maps, sketches and logs was organized following a hierarchy of bounding surfaces as well as by the grouping of canyon/channel-fills according to key sedimentary attributes. The resultant sedimentary architecture of the Alikayası System suggests a fundamental control by the propagation of a submarine fold-and-thrust belt. The sedimentary architecture of the Alikayası System does not agree with generic hierarchical models proposed for the description of slope channel complexes. On the other hand, the Karışık System is interpreted as an intraslope system, which was dominated by submarine landslides and developed small channel systems, resulting in sequences of mass transport deposits and channel-fills. The propagation of a fold-and-thrust belt also controlled the sedimentary architecture of the Karışık System. All the systems identified in the Maraş Basin are interpreted to have been part of submarine channel systems connected to the shelf, transferring coarse-grained clastic sediments (e.g. gravel and sand) from the coast to the marine deepwater environment.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2007.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 79 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-46).

Continental slope channels, which serve as the primary conduits for sediment transport into the deep marine, occasionally become sites of sediment deposition with excellent reservoir potential. Increasingly reported in the literature are subsurface channel fills exhibiting shingled seismic reflectors that are interpreted to have formed by lateral channel migration. In lower Isaac Formation channels inclined strata are observed but at a lateral scale that is far below industry-seismic detection. Distinctively these flat-based channels are filled with coarse-grained sandstone that transitions abruptly and obliquely upwards into thin, fine grained turbidites. Like rivers, lateral accretion in Isaac channels is interpreted to be the result of the interaction of inertial and pressure forces, but in highly turbulent, highly density-stratified turbidity currents. This resulted in the formation of two superimposed secondary circulation cells that caused enhanced erosion on the outer bank and preferential deposition of coarse-grained sediment along the inner bank.

Although levee deposits make up a significant part of modern and ancient deep-marine slope systems, details of their internal lithological composition and stratal architecture remain poorly documented. At the Castle Creek study area, strata of the Neoproterozoic Isaac Formation (Windermere Supergroup) crop out superbly in a kilometre-scale section through a sinuous deep-water channel-levee system (ICC3). Levee deposits near the outer bend of the channel consist of sandstone-rich (sandstone-to-mudstone ratio of 68:42), medium- to thick-bedded turbidites interstratified with thinly-bedded turbidites. Structureless sandstone (Ta), planar laminated sandstone (Tb), non-climbing ripple cross-stratified sandstone (Tc) and massive and laminated siltstone (Td) are common. Thick beds generally thicken and then thin and fine laterally over about 300 m. Thin-bedded strata, in contrast, thin and fine negligibly over similar distances. In the distal part of the outer-bend levee (up to 700 m laterally away from the channel) strata consist predominantly of thin-bedded Tcd turbidites with a much lower sandstone-to-mudstone ratio (35:65). On the opposite side of the channel, inner-bend levee deposits are mudstone-rich, locally as low as 15:85, and consist mostly of thin-bedded, Tcd turbidites, although thicker-bedded, Ta-d turbidites are more common in the lower part of the section. Lateral thinning and fining of beds is more rapid than their outer-bend counterpart. Levee deposits of ICC3 comprise three stacked decametre-scale upward-thinning and -fining successions. Each is interpreted to record a depositional history consisting of lateral channel migration, levee deposition, channel filling, and distal levee deposition. During the early stage of increasing levee relief it is proposed that the termini of individual beds progressively backstep towards the channel margin resulting in an overall lateral thinning of the stratal profile. This interpretation notably contrasts the common assumption that levee morphology is the result of the vertical stacking of beds that dip. In addition to field studies, laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the depositional threshold of non-climbing ripple cross-stratification, which is common in levee strata of ICC3. It was determined that non-climbing ripples form when bed aggradation rates are less than 0.015 cm/sec, and most probably in flows made up of poorly sorted sediment.

This thesis examines the interaction of pre-existing and evolving salt-related topography on the temporal and spatial evolution of depositional systems in deepwater. To achieve this, the thesis integrates stratigraphic and structural analysis of 3D seismic data from the Miocene record of the salt-influenced Lower Congo Basin, Offshore Angola. Observations at multiple scales ranging from the semi-regional (> 50 km) to local, kilometre-scale and covering timescales ranging from the entire Miocene (~ 18 Myr) to > 2 Myr are presented. At the semi-regional scale, results from this study shows that the progressive along-strike linkage of short (<10 km) fault segments and salt diapirs into through-going large scale (> 30 km) faults and elongated saltwalls results in long lived diversion and/or confinement of depositional system fairways. Axial confinement of fairways occurs where structural strike is parallel to sediment input, contrasting with ponding or diversion of deposits oriented at a high angle to structural strike. The orientation of the structures remains relatively static, which in combination with the fixed sediment entry points of the fairways results in recurrence of the major styles of interaction, and long term pinning of fairways throughout the Miocene. The development of large (10's of km) "sediment shadow" zones devoid of coarse clastics downdip of diverted and or confined sediment gravity flows is also observed through the Miocene. At the intraslope basin (10's of km) and sub-basin scale ( < 10 km), the role of confinement by salt-related structures on the temporal evolution and dip-and-strike variability of Late Miocene channelised-lobe complexes in an elongate intraslope basin was also investigated. At both of these scales, the morphology of the recieving basin geometry significantly influences the dimensions, planform morphology and vertical stacking patterns of channelised-lobe complexes. A transition from thick, radial shaped lobe-complexes which are aggradationally stacked and deposited via 'fill-and-spill' of sub-basins within an intraslope basin to thinner, elongate, laterally offset and compensationally stacked channelised-lobe complexes in the intraslope basin is observed. This transition occurs as the salt-related structural template evolves and confinement changes from the sub-basin scale to the intraslope basin scale. At the depositional element scale ( < 5 km), results from this study further shed light on the critical and hitherto neglected role of salt-related topography in controlling the location of channel to lobe transition zones in deepwater depositional systems. The location of the transition zones are documented from four case studies, with the transitions spatially controlled by salt-related reduction in gradient e.g. a break in slope downflow of monoclinal structures, and/or a reduction in lateral confinement of depositional fairways downflow of segment boundaries. Overall, the result of this thesis show the significant influence which evolving saltrelated topography exerts on the stratigraphic development, geometry and sediment routing patterns on salt-influenced continental margins. In particular the study highlights how variable the interaction between evolving salt-related topography and deepwater sedimentation is at a range of temporal and spatial scales.

L'étude des matières en suspension (MES) minérales est essentielle pour comprendre le fonctionnement des écosystèmes en Manche : les MES influencent la pénétration de la lumière dans la colonne d'eau, paramètre clé pour la production biologique, et sont susceptibles de transporter des polluants et nutriments. Lors de ce travail, la dynamique des MES minérales de surface en Manche est étudiée à l'aide de deux méthodes complémentaires : l'observation par satellite et la modélisation numérique tridimensionnelle. Dans un premier temps, les images satellite MODIS et MERIS, traitées par l'algorithme semi-analytique développé par l'IFREMER et représentant les MES non-algales de surface, sont analysées afin d'élaborer trois modèles statistiques permettant d'estimer la MES de surface en fonction de variables basiques telles que le coefficient de marée, la hauteur significative des vagues et la concentration moyenne en chlorophylle-a. Dans un deuxième temps, le modèle hydrosédimentaire multiclasse tridimensionnel ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System) est implémenté en Manche. Il prend en considération le forçage par la marée aux frontières ouvertes, la contrainte exercée par le vent à la surface de la mer, l'interaction houle-courant en couche limite de fond et l'hétérogénéité spatiale réaliste du lit sédimentaire. Les résultats du modèle statistique le plus sophistiqué sont également utilisés pour forcer la concentration en MES aux frontières ouvertes du domaine de calcul. Des tests de sensibilité sur les conditions limites montrent l'importance de considérer de manière réaliste les sédiments entrant en Manche par les frontières ouvertes lors de la modélisation numérique. L'influence de la biologie sur les MES minérales est testée en utilisant une formulation de la vitesse de chute et de la contrainte critique d'érosion variant saisonnièrement. Grâce à ces deux outils associés, les influences respectives de la marée, de la houle et de la biologie sur les MES minérales sont mises en avant et localisées en Manche. Le modèle numérique prédit que les MES de surface sont composées principalement de silts (>70%). Les silts en suspension en surface proviennent majoritairement du lit sédimentaire près des côtes en Manche orientale et des frontières ouvertes du domaine de calcul à l'ouest de la presqu'île du Cotentin et au large en Manche centrale et orientale. Les variations des MES de surface sont ensuite étudiées aux échelles des cycles de marée semi-diurnes, vive-eau/morte-eau et autour d'un épisode de houles. Enfin, l'évolution de la concentration de sédiments dans la zone de forte turbidité autour de l'île de Wight peut être analysée suivant les conditions hydrodynamiques afin d'évaluer les rôles respectifs des processus locaux d'érosion/dépot et d'advection dans la génération de ces turbidités remarquables.

Les chenaux sont des structures sédimentaires clefs dans le transport et le dépôt de sédiments depuis les continents jusqu'aux planchers océaniques. Leurs dépôts perméables permettent la circulation et le stockage de fluides. Comme illustré avec les systèmes turbiditiques, le remplissage de ces chenaux est très hétérogène. Son impact sur la connectivité des dépôts perméables est amplifié par les variations d'organisation spatiale des chenaux. Mais du fait de l'aspect lacunaire des données, l'architecture de ces structures souterraines n'est que partiellement connue. Dans ce cas, les simulations stochastiques permettent d'estimer les ressources et les incertitudes associées. De nombreuses méthodes ont été développées pour reproduire ces environnements. Elles soulèvent deux questions capitales : comment analyser et comparer la connectivité de simulations stochastiques ? Comment améliorer la représentation de la connectivité dans les simulations stochastiques de chenaux et réduire les incertitudes ? La première question nous a conduits à développer une méthode pour comparer objectivement des réalisations en se concentrant sur la connectivité. L'approche proposée s'appuie sur les composantes connexes des simulations, sur lesquelles sont calculés plusieurs indicateurs. Une représentation par positionnement multidimensionnel (MDS) facilite la comparaison des réalisations. Les observations faites grâce au MDS sont ensuite validées par une carte de chaleur et les indicateurs. L'application à un cas synthétique de complexes chenaux/levées montre les différences de connectivité entre des méthodes et des valeurs de paramètres différentes. En particulier, certaines méthodes sont loin de reproduire des objets avec une forme de chenaux. La seconde question amène deux principaux problèmes. Premièrement, il apparaît difficile de conditionner des objets très allongés, comme des chenaux, à des données de puits ou dérivées de données sismiques. Nous nous appuyons sur une grammaire formelle, le système de Lindenmayer, pour simuler stochastiquement des objets chenaux conditionnés. Des règles de croissance prédéfinies contrôlent la morphologie du chenal, de rectiligne à sinueuse. Cette morphologie conditionne les données au fur et à mesure de son développement grâce à des contraintes attractives ou répulsives. Ces contraintes assurent le conditionnement tout en préservant au mieux la morphologie. Deuxièmement, l'organisation spatiale des chenaux apparaît peu contrôlable. Nous proposons de traiter ce problème en intégrant les processus qui déterminent l'organisation des chenaux. Un premier chenal est simulé avec un système de Lindenmayer. Puis ce chenal migre à l'aide d'une simulation gaussienne séquentielle ou d'une simulation multipoints. Cette approche reproduit les relations complexes entre des chenaux successifs sans s'appuyer sur des modèles physiques partiellement validés et au paramétrage souvent contraignant. L'application de ces travaux à des cas synthétiques démontre le potentiel de ces approches. Elles ouvrent des perspectives intéressantes pour mieux prendre en compte la connectivité dans les simulations stochastiques de chenaux
Channels are the main sedimentary structures for sediment transportation and deposition from the continents to the ocean floor. The significant permeability of their deposits enables fluid circulation and storage. As illustrated with turbiditic systems, those channel fill is highly heterogeneous. Combined with the spatial organization of the channels, this impacts significantly the connectivity between the permeable deposits. The scarcity of the field data involves an incomplete knowledge of these subsurface reservoir architectures. In such environments, stochastic simulations are used to estimate the resources and give an insight on the associated uncertainties. Several methods have been developed to reproduce these complex environments. They raise two main concerns: how to analyze and compare the connectivity of a set of stochastic simulations? How to improve the representation of the connectivity within stochastic simulations of channels and reduce the uncertainties? The first concern leads to the development of a method to objectively compare realiza-tions in terms of connectivity. The proposed approach relies on the connected compo-nents of the simulations, on which several indicators are computed. A muldimensional scaling (MDS) representation facilitates the realization comparison. The observations on the MDS are then validated by the analysis of the heatmap and the indicators. The appli-cation to a synthetic case study highlights the difference of connectivity between several methods and parameter values to model channel/levee complexes. In particular, some methods are far from representing channel-shaped bodies. Two main issues derive from the second concern. The first issue is the difficulty to simulate a highly elongated object, here a channel, conditioned to well or seismic-derived data. We rely on a formal grammar, the Lindenmayer system, to stochastically simulate conditional channel objects. Predefined growth rules control the channel morphology to simulate straight to sinuous channels. That morphology conditions the data during its development thanks to attractive and repulsive constraints. Such constraints ensure the conditioning while preserving at best the channel morphology. The second issue arises from the limited control on the channel organization. This aspect is addressed by taking into account the evolution processes underlying channel organization. An initial channel is simulated with a Lindenmayer system. Then that channel migrates using sequential Gaussian simulation or multiple-point simulation. This process reproduces the complex relationships between successive channels without relying on partially validated physical models with an often constraining parameterization. The applications of those various works to synthetic cases highlight the potentiality of the approaches. They open up interesting prospects to better take into account the connectivity when stochastically simulating channels

Le bassin oriental de la Manche, correspondant à une mer épicontinentale à régime macrotidal, est soumis au développement croissant de l'activité d'extraction de granulats marins depuis plusieurs décennies. Des impacts sur le paysage sous-marin et sur l'écosystème sont conditionnés par les impacts physiques induits par l'extraction. Dans le cadre d'une gestion intégrée des zones côtières, une bonne connaissance des impacts, de leurs paramètres forçants et des potentiels de restauration est nécessaire. Pour cela deux sites d'extraction aux environnements physiques caractéristiques du bassin oriental de la Manche sont étudiés au large de Dieppe et en Baie de Seine. Sur ce dernier, l'extraction est menée dans un contexte expérimental et suivie durant 3 années, pendant et après extraction, sur un substrat sablograveleux. L'étude se concentre sur trois principaux impacts physiques : (i) un impact hydrologique, direct, lié à la remise en suspension de sédiment et formant un panache turbide à l'arrière de la drague, (ii) un impact morphosédimentaire, direct, généré lors de l'excavation de sédiment au droit de la zone d'extraction, et (iii) un impact morphosédimentaire indirect correspondant aux dépôts des particules du panache turbide à l'intérieur et autour de la zone d'extraction. Le panache turbide, pour lequel une stratégie d'étude est proposée, dure environ 2 à 3h avec une dynamique essentiellement passive et soumise à des phénomènes de dispersion, décantation et advection. Les concentrations, la granulométrie et la nature des matières en suspension du panache turbide sont surtout contrôlées par la nature du sédiment extrait et le débit d'aspiration de la DAM (Drague Aspiratrice en Marche). La hauteur d'eau et le régime de houle contrôlent le temps de disparition du panache et la remise en suspension des particules des panaches antérieurs déjà décantés. Les impacts au droit de la zone d'extraction sont concernés par des sillons ou dépressions dont les paramètres morphologiques dépendent du caractère intensif ou extensif de l'extraction. La nature des sédiments dans ces excavations est fonction de la variabilité sédimentaire verticale et du potentiel de comblement (flux sédimentaires). Au droit des zones de dépôts, l'impact morpho-sédimentaire est essentiellement marqué par une augmentation de la proportion des silts et des sables. L'extension des dépôts des sables moyens est potentiellement limitée à 250 m autour de l'extraction alors que celle des silts peut atteindre une distance de 6,5 km. La distance des dépôts est fonction de la dynamique du panache turbide, de la vitesse de chute des particules et des courants. Leur nature est liée à celle des particules remises en suspension par la surverse et par l'élinde sur le fond, donc par la nature du substrat et par la vitesse de la DAM. La restauration morphologique des zones excavées est estimée à 10,5 ans en Baie de Seine, confirmant ce qui est généralement admis dans la littérature pour ce type de fonds. Des recommandations pour les suivis de ces impacts et des outils de gestion (indices et lois de comportement) sont proposés pour appréhender ces effets et les comparer d'un site à l'autre

Les systèmes turbiditiques et fluviatiles présentent des similitudes, notamment dans leur morphologie (incisions, chenaux), mais de nombreuses différences sont notables, en ce qui concerne l’architecture des dépôts, et l’évolution spatio-temporelle de ces deux systèmes, pourtant génétiquement liés. La comparaison de ces systèmes porte sur l’interaction des différents processus physiques impliqués dans la mise en place et dans le fonctionnement de ces systèmes, et sur les architectures des dépôts préservés. Les systèmes continentaux et marins profonds sont caractérisés d’abord par les processus physiques conduisant à l’érosion, au transport puis au dépôt des particules sédimentaires. Ces processus sont contrôlés par divers forçages locaux ou globaux, façonnant ainsi leurs morphologies qui évolue dans l’espace (le long du profil amont-aval), et dans le temps. Ces systèmes sont génétiquement liés et l’approche « source-to-sink » comprends l’ensemble des processus continentaux et marins qui contribuent à la production, au transport et au dépôt des sédiments. La compréhension de ces facteurs de contrôles est essentielle pour comprendre et prédire la sédimentation enregistrée dans les bassins à différentes échelles. L’ensemble de ces paramètres est responsable de l’organisation interne des réservoirs sableux, et la compréhension de ces différents paramètres vont permettre de contraindre les modèles numériques, dont l’objectif est, selon l’échelle considérée (bassin ou réservoir), de prédire la distribution des faciès sédimentaires (réservoirs, roches mères, couvertures), ou de minimiser les risques lors de l’exploitation d’un réservoir
The turbiditic and fluvial systems have similarities, in particular in their morphology (incisions, channels), but many differences are notable, as regards the architecture of the deposits, and the spatio-temporal evolution of these two systems, yet genetically linked. The comparison of these systems concerns the interaction of the different physical processes involved in the origin and the behaviour of these systems, and on the architectures of the preserved deposits. Continental and deep sea systems are characterized primarily by the physical processes leading to the erosion, transport and subsequent deposition of sedimentary particles. These processes are controlled by various local or global forcing, thus shaping their morphologies that evolves in space (along the upstream-downstream profile), and over time. These systems are genetically linked and the "source-to-sink" approach includes all the continental and marine processes that contribute to sediment production, transport and deposition. Understanding these controlling factors is crucial in the understanding and the prediction of sedimentation recorded in basins, at different scales. The allocyclic and the autocyclic controlling factors are responsible for the internal organization of the sandy reservoirs, and the understanding of these different parameters will make it possible to constrain the numerical models, whose objective is, according to the scale considered (basin scale or reservoir scale), to predict the distribution of sedimentary facies (reservoirs, source rocks, seals), or to minimize the risks when producing a reservoir

En Haute-Normandie, où l'essentiel de la ressource en eau potable provient de la Nappe de la Craie, les captages d'eau sont souvent affectés par des phénomènes de turbidité, induisant un risque sanitaire considérable pour les populations, en période de fortes pluie. Ce phénomène est lié à la nature karstique de l'aquifère de la Craie. Les forages réalisés en plaine alluviale de la vallée de Seine sont moins atteints par la turbidité. Nous étudions les modalités du transport des particules depuis un point d'engouffrement sur le plateau (perte) jusqu'à un exutoire naturel (source karstique), et un exutoire artificiel en plaine alluviale (forage AEP). La recherche développée dans cette thèse consiste d'une part en l'élaboration d'une méthodologie de mesure in situ de la charge solide en suspension, et d'autre part en une analyse théorique, axée sur l'expérimentation et la modélisation, du transport de particules (transport et dépôt) en milieu poreux à forte perméabilité. Dans tous les cas, une comparaison traceur dissous/particules est réalisée. Le transport de particules jusqu'à la source se fait sur un mode typiquement karstique. Les phénomènes de dépôt et de relargage apparaissent importants en regard du transfert direct. Le transit jusqu'au forage est caractérisé par un mode de transport différent, non karstique, que l'on attribue à l'influence de l'interface Craie/alluvions, celle-ci se comportant à l'échelle du terrain comme un milieu poreux piégeant une quantité importante de particules. Les expérimentations en laboratoire corroborent cette hypothèse.

Le champ captant de Radicatel est un AEP historique et majeur de la ville du Havre et de son agglomération (255 000 hab.). C'est un système karstique en rive droite de la Seine dont l'aval hydraulique (la Seine) a subi un étagement et une diffluence en réponse aux fluctuations du niveau de base lors du Pleistocène. Cette structure géomorphologique couplée à un contexte structural dominé par la faille Fécamp-Lillebonne détermine le fonctionnement hydrologique et la vulnérabilité du système. L'étude de ce système se réalise en trois temps : (i) l'analyse de l'influence de la variabilité climatique, (ii) l'étude du contexte structural aux échelles régionale, et locale et (iii) l'étude du fonctionnement hydrologique de trois sources (Moulin B, Bruisseresse et Four aux Veaux) grâce à un suivi haute fréquence de la turbidité et de la conductivité électrique. Cette analyse pluri-disciplinaire a permis de montrer le lien entre les variations des signaux hydro-sédimentaire (turbidité et enregistrement sédimentaire) et les variations de l'indice climatique NAO démontrant que les systèmes karstiques de Radicatel présente de très fortes connexions avec les eaux issues du ruissellement. A ce contrôle climatique s'ajoute un contrôle structural marqué par la présence d'une faille orientée N150 entre la source du Moulin B et la source de la Bruisseresse, de failles secondaires N50-60, ainsi que la morphologie singulière du toit de l'Albien. Ce contexte structural et hydrogéologique est le cadre d'un graben compartimenté siège d'un aquifère très puissant et karstifié. L'étude du fonctionnement hydrologique des trois sources par traitement du signal des données de turbidité et de conductivité électrique conforte l'existence d'un caractère commun propre à l'aquifère de la craie, et des fonctionnements propres à chaque source lié à l'influence locale du cadre morpho-tectonique local.

Theoretical part of the diploma thesis purveys information on drinking water and quality requirements, changes of drinking water quality during distribution and accumulation caused by disinfection, chemical processes, corrosion of constructional materials, incrusting solids, biofilms, nitrification of ammonia nitrogen, sediments in pipelines, elution of harmful matter. Attention was given to drinking water quality indicators which are associated with changes in drinking water distribution systems. In experimental part are studied changes of drinking water quality during distribution on the basis of selected drinking water quality indicators. There is specifically chemical oxygen demand, concentration of iron, manganese, ammonia ions, nitrites, nitrates, chloroform and chlorine. For periodical monitoring were selected suitable locality within the framework of Brno distribution system; for illustration were taken water samples from distribution systems of drinking water treatment plants Švařec, Vír, Štítary and Mostiště. For selected methods of analytical determination of above mentioned drinking water quality indicators are presented their characteristics. Obtained information on drinking water quality is mentioned in tabular and graphical form.

Les séismes sont à l'origine d'évènements sédimentaires gravitaires (turbidites) dont l'étude permet de reconstituer l'histoire mal connue de la paléosismicité des marges continentales. L'analyse d'une série de carottes de sédiments, collectées stratégiquement dans trois systèmes turbiditiques de la marge en subduction Hikurangi de Nouvelle-Zélande, permet d'établir les caractéristiques, les facteurs de contrôle et les mécanismes déclencheurs de la sédimentation gravitaire des derniers 18,000 ans. La succession sédimentaire comprend quatre lithofaciès et modes de dépôt : hémipélagite (sédimentation marine), turbidites (courants de turbidité), débrites (débris flows) et tephra (retombée de cendres volcaniques), dont l'organisation générale dépend de la morphologie de la marge et des fluctuations glacio-eustatiques. Les crues, les éruptions volcaniques et les " slope failures " sont les trois mécanismes déclencheurs des turbidites. Plus de 90% sont déclenchées par des " slope failures " en haut de pente (150 - 1,200 m) à la suite de séismes. L'adaptation d'un modèle empirique de stabilité de pente suggère que ces turbidites représentent l'enregistrement sédimentaire des ruptures répétées de trois failles actives, dont l'interplaque, et correspondent à des séismes de Mw≥7.3 avec un temps de retour de 150±50 ans. Parmi ces turbidites co-sismiques, 20 montrent une synchronicité de déclenchement sur l'ensemble de la marge et un volume important. Elles correspondent à des ruptures de la zone interplaque de Mw 7.5 - 8.4, dont les temps de retour montrent une phénomène de clustering où alternent les périodes actives à faible temps de retour (305 - 610 ans), et les périodes de quiescence à temps de retour élevé (1480 - 2650 ans). Ce calendrier paléosismique intégré aux modélisations en cours devrait permettre de mieux appréhender l'aléa sismique et les risques pour la population.

Grâce aux données de forages ODP du Leg 155, corrélées aux coupes sismiques haute résolution de la campagne Lobestory d'Ifremer, l'éventail géant de l'Amazone est devenu une zone privilégiée pour étudier l'évolution des systèmes chenaux-levées. Les travaux antérieurs ont montré que le processus d'avulsion est un des processus fondamentaux de la construction des édifices turbiditiques. Il aboutit au changement brutal de cours d'un chenal et à son abandon en aval du point d'avulsion. Ce processus et les phénomènes qui en découlent (courants non-confinés, rupture de profil d'équilibre du chenal, ...) ainsi que les conditions topographiques spécifiques sont à l'origine d'une distribution sédimentaire particulière, avec des dépôts grossiers (HARPs) en semelle des chenaux. Dans le travail présenté, les paquets de réflecteurs de fortes amplitudes (HARPs) situés à la base de ces systèmes fortement aggradant, ont pu être caractérisés lithologiquement comme une amalgamation de petits unités sableuses et chenalisées probablement mises en place par une succession de courants de turbiditié de haute densité et très sableux. Ces travaux ont été complétés par l'étude sismique et bathymétrique des premiers et derniers stades d'une avulsion, c.à.d. brêche de la levée chenal père et aggradation/progradation de levées après dépôts des HARPs, aux localisations spécifiques de l'éventail du Zaïre. Ces résultats permettent de proposer un modèle d'évolution pour un système chenal-levées depuis les premiers stades de l'avulsion qui lui a donné naissance.

In eastern Australia, the New England Fold Belt (NEFB) comprises an ancient convergent margin that was active from the Paleozoic until the late Mesozoic. Considerable effort has been expended in understanding the development of this margin over the past twenty years. However, proposed tectonic models for the orogen have either been too broad, ignoring contradictory local evidence, or too locally specific without paying attention to the 'big picture'. The research presented in this work addresses the issue of appropriate scale and depth of geological detail by studying the NEFB at the terrane-scale. Using one succession, the Silverwood Group of southeast Queensland, this work demonstrates that detailed sedimentological studies and basin analysis at the terrane-scale can help to refine hypotheses regarding the tectonic evolution of the NEFB. The Silverwood Group (Keinjan terrane), located approximately 140 km southwest of Brisbane, Australia, is a succession of arc-related basins that developed within an ancient intraoceanic island-arc during the mid-Cambrian to Late Devonian. From the base of the succession, the group consists of five formations totalling -9700 m. These include the Risdon Stud Formation (2500 m), Connolly Volcanics (2400 m), Bald Hill Formation (2450 m), Ormoral Volcanics (600 m) and the Bromley Hills Formation (1700 m). The Long Mountain Breccia Member (300m) is a separate unit which forms the lower part of the Bromley Hills Formation. The entire succession has been thrust west over the Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous Texas beds. Elsewhere, the Silverwood Group is unconformably overlain by and faulted against Early to Late Permian units including the Rokeby beds, Wallaby beds, Tunnel beds, Fitz Creek beds, Eight Mile Creek beds, Rhyolite Range beds and Condamine beds. Of these Permian units, all but the Condamine beds form part of the Wildash Succession. To the west, southwest and south, the Silverwood Group is intruded by the Late Triassic Herries and Stanthorpe Adamellites. All of these sequences and the two plutonic intrusives are unconformably overlain by the Jurassic sediments of the Marburg Sandstone. The Silverwood Group and Texas beds consist of various lithologies including grey, purple- grey, green and green-grey volcaniclastic conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones or mudstones, massive and laminated chert, polymict or monomict breccias, muddy breccias, muddy sandstones, and volcanic rocks. Volcanic rocks include various tholeiitic metabasites, dolerite, meta-andesites and infrequent metadacite. In the Silverwood Group, these volcanic rocks are often accompanied by mafic pyroclastic rocks (e.g. peperite and hyaloclastite). Facies analyses of these lithologies has led to the recognition of 19 deep-marine turbiditic and volcanic/volcaniclastic facies that were deposited by three main processes: i) gravity-flow processes (e.g. low- and high-density volcaniclastic turbidites and mass-flows), ii) chemical/biological processes (siliceous oozes- chert) and iii) direct initiation by volcanic processes (e.g. flows, hypabyssal intrusions and associated pyroclastic facies). For the Silverwood Group, the defined facies occur in distinct vertical associations that form recognisable 3rd and 4th-order architectural elements such as channel, levee, suprafan lobe, outer-fan, basin plain, mass transport complex, volcanic flows, syn-sedimentary sills and syn-sedimentary emergent cryptodomes. These architectural elements are represented in a series of deep-marine depositional environments including slope, shelf-edge failure, submarine-fan and subaqueous basaltic volcanoes. The Risdon Stud Formation and parts of the Connolly Volcanics were deposited along a 'normal' clastic or mud, mud/sand-rich and/or sand/mud-rich slope. Both upper and lower slope environments are represented and in both formations, the slope is speculated to have faced eastwards and prograded away from an active arc located west. Sediments from both successions accumulated at palaeodepths of 1200 to 2000 m. Although sediments from the upper part of the Bald Hill Formation were also deposited on a slope, these sequences have subsequently collapsed into the depocentre to form extensive slump deposits accompanied by olistoliths of older arc crust. The lower part of the Bald Hill Formation formed by similar processes, although the failure was far more extensive (>20 km along strike). This latter part of the formation is interpreted to be a major shelf-edge failure succession. Upper parts of the Bald Hill Formation also accumulated at palaeodepths of 1200 to 2000 m, but the deposition of these sediments occurred farthest from the shelf and at the greatest depth compared to the Risdon Stud Formation and Connolly Volcanics. Lower parts of the Bald Hill Formation were deposited at palaeodepths of approximately 1700 m. Subaqueous basaltic volcanoes are prominent in the Connolly Volcanics, Bald Hill Formation and Ormoral Volcanics. In the Bald Hill Formation, igneous rocks were emplaced into the shelf-edge failure succession as a series of syn-sedimentary sills and cryptodomes. These high-level hypabyssal rocks occasionally became emergent above the sediment-water interface, whereupon they were partially resedimented. In some parts of the Bald Hill Formation, the hypabyssal intrusions were blanketed by basin plain deposits that are contemporaneous with the slumps and olistoliths in the upper part of the formation. The intrusive rocks were emplaced at 1700 m palaeodepth. Unlike the Bald Hill Formation, the Ormoral Volcanics and lower parts of the Connolly Volcanics form thick accumulations of extrusive volcanic and pyroclastic rocks that built a significant volcanic pile. Volcanic and pyroclastic facies within these successions were deposited proximal to their source (0-10 km of vent). Extrusive rocks within the Ormoral Volcanics are thought to be derived from intrabasinal fissure-vents located at palaeodepths of 1700 to 3100 m. Igneous rocks from the Connolly Volcanics, Bald Hill Formation and Ormoral Volcanics have the petrological and geochemical characteristics of back-arc basin basalts (BAB) that were sourced from undepleted to slightly enriched Fertile MORB Mantle-wedge (FMM). The FMM material was variably enriched in trace elements by fluids derived from the subducting slab prior to emplacement of the igneous rocks. Immediately following emplacement, these rocks were hydrothermally metamorphosed under conditions of low-pressure and transitional low to high-temperature (200-300 °C). By contrast, igneous rocks within the Texas beds lack enrichment in subduction components and are characteristic of N-MORB. The Bromley Hills Formation is a sand-rich point-source submarine fan deposited at palaeodepths of 500 to 2000 m. The fan was initiated by a mass transport complex resulting from subaerial collapse of a basaltic-andesitic stratovolcano. The submarine fan is characterised by two repetitive stages of retrogressive sedimentation during which channel-levee elements (inner-fan channels) are overlain by suprafan lobe elements (mid-fan) and then by outer-fan deposits as sea-level rises within the depocentre. Both inner-fan channels and suprafan lobes show centralised stacking patterns with limited lateral migration that indicate the depocentre was laterally restricted during sedimentation (e.g. submarine ridges). The Bromley Hills Formation exhibits all the characteristics typical of an active margin fan that formed by a combination of tectonic stage initiation followed by eustatically controlled regressive deposition. Volcaniclastic sediments of the Silverwood Group range in composition from lithic to lithic- feldspathic wackes and arenites, although they are mainly lithic or feldspathic-lithic wackes and arenites. Many samples are tuffaceous (25-75% pyroclasts), particularly those from the Connolly Volcanics, Ormoral Volcanics and Bromley Hills Formation. Samples in the Bald Hills Formation and Texas beds can be classified as quartz-rich. The majority of the Silverwood Group was sourced from an undissected intraoceanic island-arc, although sediments within the Bald Hill Formation exhibit a provenance that is characteristic of uplift within the arc (recorded as a 'strike-slip continental arc' model). Epiclastic sediments from the Texas beds were sourced from a transitional to dissected continental arc. Formations of the Silverwood Group were mostly deposited in a series of intra-arc basins within an ancient intra-oceanic island arc, although the lowermost formation developed in a marginal basin (Risdon Stud Formation). All of the basins were located east of the active arc (behind the arc), keeping in mind the present location of the Group relative to the Texas-Coffs Harbour megafold. The entire succession formed during four-phases of arc-related basin development that coincide with major changes in the strain regime of the arc. From the base of the succession, these changes are: I) mid Cambrian to late Silurian marginal basin sedimentation- relative compression within the arc (Risdon Stud Formation), II) late Silurian to Early Devonian intra-arc rifting- relative extension within the arc (Connolly Volcanics), Ill) Early to early Middle Devonian basin collapse followed by intra-arc rifting- relative extension to compression (Bald Hill Formation and Ormoral Volcanics) and IV) early Middle to Late Devonian intra-arc submarine fan sedimentation- relative compression (Bromley Hills Formation). Comparing the Silverwood Group against equivalent terranes of Cambrian to Devonian age within the New England Fold Belt (NEFB) suggests that the Gamilaroi terrane, Calliope Volcanic Assemblage, Willowie Creek beds and Silverwood Group all formed as one intraoceanic island-arc during the Early to Late Devonian. Prior to this, significant differences in the sedimentological evolution of these terranes suggests that they occupied different positions relative to each other within the one arc. It is proposed that the NEFB formed as a result of dual west-directed subduction zones during the Cambrian to Middle Devonian period. During this time, a single intraoceanic island-arc located seaward of the Australian craton developed above a west-directed subduction zone. This arc was separated from the craton by a marginal sea. A second west-directed subduction zone was located beneath a continental arc developed on the Australian craton. Cambrian to Early Devonian terranes within and along the Peel Fault are proposed to form a part of the ancient subduction zone present beneath the intraoceanic island-arc (Weraerai and Djungati terranes). Collision of the intraoceanic island-arc occurred during the Late Devonian, at which point west-directed subduction occurred beneath the Australian craton and the accreted intraoceanic island-arc. Following collision, a new continental volcanic arc was established that was active during the Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous.

Well testing has long been used to determine the dynamic characteristics of a reservoir. However due to the increase in interest in exploring deep offshore reservoirs and the expense associated with performing well tests of sufficient duration, alternative methods for retrieving reservoir specific information from tests of limited duration are necessary. This thesis presents analysis of derivative plots from well tests in different locations along a heterogeneous channelized environment and the information that can be derived the shape of these plots. The viability of calibrating a multiple point proxy that captures the reservoir flow connectivity information contained in well test data is explored. Such a proxy can provide useful insight into the nature of reservoir heterogeneity in the vicinity of the well. The behavior of the log-log derivative plot gives invaluable information about the nature of the reservoir surrounding the penetrating wells. Based on the change in slope of the derivative plot one can tell if a flow conduit or a low permeability zone is close to the well. Proximity to these features is also indicated in the curvature of the derivative plot with the test plot showing increasing symmetry as flow boundaries are approached. This was found to be true in both systematic simulations as well as in real build up test data. The calibration of the multiple point permeability proxy also provides information about the connectivity of the reservoir. Single point statistics provide the best estimate for wells either inside a channel or very close to the channel boundary. This is because of the relative homogeneity of permeability values within the spatial template used for averaging. The further the well gets from the channel fewer high permeability blocks will be picked up by the template and thus multiple point models provide the best estimate for effective permeability, Keff. Three point models were found to be the most accurate when the template exhibited complex permeability transition from the mudstone to the channel facies.
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The structures along the Atwater Fold belt form important deep-water hydrocarbon traps in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of this study is to map and quantify the morphology, sedimentology and architecture of Plio-Pleistocene basin floor fan systems outboard of the Poseidon Minibasin, located along the Atwater deep-water fold belt (mid-Miocene to Pliocene), and apply that information to determine the temporal and spatial nature of the fill and its implications as a reservoir analog. The data set includes ~2200 km sq. of 3D seismic data, along with information from several wells. Wireline logs show the Tertiary age deposits outboard of the Sigsbee Escarpment to be several hundred feet thick, sharp-based, dominantly coarse-grained (sandy) but fining up cycles composed of sandy basin floor fans, mass transport complexes and leveed channels developed in a confined setting within deep-water “valleys.” The largest valley formed in five main stages: initiating from narrow channel incision, widening through lateral incision and sidewall slumping, straightening, and finally flooding and infilling. The valley system is ~20,000 feet across and ~ 1,400 feet deep, with what look like well-developed levees ranging from 700 to 1300 feet at their thickest point extending ~19000 feet away from the channel. This system is underlain by a ~700 foot thick mass transport complex and overlain by younger, low sinuosity leveed channel systems. Both of these systems appear to have been sourced by large submarine drainages, originating from a shelf edge sediment source system to feed the rugose slope with deep-water channel pathways uninhibited by salt wall inflation at the time of valley deposition. Major phases of salt thrusting along the southern edge of the Atwater were contemporaneous with the formation of these large, through-going valley system, which appear to be associated with the period of sheet thickening and development of monoclinal basinward dip related to rafted mini-basin docking. Well log signatures show evidence for armored clay drapes along the valley margins as well as a flattening of lateral accretion packages toward the distal end of the system. The flattening of these packages seems to signal proximity to the fan terminus, which would serve as an important indicator of spatial extent of plays in deep-water.
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The well-known clinoformal geometry of a basin-fill, with an alluvial to shelf segment, deep-water slope segment, and a basin floor segment, arises from the development of a wedge-shaped body of sediment at the basin-margin that has been termed a basin-margin wedge or a shelf-slope sedimentary prism. The basin-margin wedge characteristically has atopset-foreset clinoformal geometry, with its topset dominated by alluvial, coastal and shelfal processes, while its foreset is dominated by turbidite sedimentation. Tectonic configuration of the basin, sediment supply, and relative sea level variation are some of the major factors that control the development and growth of the basin-margin wedge. This dissertation documents two distinct stages of development of the basin-margin wedge at an Eocene active margin, and relates the observed variability in the nature of the shelf-margin, deep-water slope, and basin-floor deposits with these stages. The Tyee Basin in western Oregon was a forearc basin that was filled during late early Eocene and Middle Eocene under greenhouse climatic condition. The sedimentary succession of the Tyee Basin include continental, shallow-marine and deep-water sandstones that are well exposed in Coast Range area of Oregon. The variability observed within the thick and laterally extensive turbidite sandstones of the Tyee Basin led to contrasting depositional models for the Tyee basin in the past. Notably, the submarine ramp model, which provides an alternative model for deepwater coarse clastic deposition, was proposed based on the sedimentary succession of the Tyee Basin. Reconstruction of the clinoformal geometry of the Tyee Basin succession from detailed field data (more than 1000 outcrop locations) and subsurface data reveals two distinct stages of development of this active basin-margin. Each stage has a distinct style of clinoform development and a distinct character of associated sandy deepwater deposits. At the initial stage the basin-margin clinoforms appear to be small (< 250m clinoform height) and strongly progradational, with clinoform topset dominated by the feeder fluvial deposits. At this stage, sandy unconfined (not channelized) turbidite deposits accumulated on the Tyee deepwater slope and extended to the Tyee basin-floor. Large scale sediment conduits on the deepwater slope, in the form of slope channels or canyons, are notably absent in this stage. The second stage is characterized by larger clinoform height (> 500m), higher degree of topset aggradation with repeated fluvio-deltaic cycles on the shelf, and spectacular, sand-rich, well-organized turbidite channels and canyons on the slope. The slope channels active at this stage supplied coarse sediments to the basin-floor to form unusually thick basin-floor fans. The first infill stage represents the embryonic development of a basin-margin wedge on the Tyee continental margin, and could have some similarity with the previously mentioned submarine ramp model. But this was followed by a much longer period of basin-filling when repeated fluvial and shallow-marine cycles formed on the shelf and well-organized turbidite channels were active on the slope supplying sands to the Tyee Basin floor fans. It was concluded that the two stages of development of the basin-margin wedge in the Tyee Basin is controlled largely by the configuration of the basin, that is a result of the prominent topographic/bathymetric features in oceanic basement underlying the sedimentary succession of the Tyee Basin. Tectonically active hinterland and greenhouse climate may have contributed to a relatively high sediment supply to the basin. The relatively small-amplitude sea level variations expected under greenhouse climatic condition of the Early to Middle Eocene are likely to have relatively minor effect on the architecture of the basin-fill. The present work on Tyee Basin builds on earlier research on this basin, but now establishes a ground trothed clinoformal growth model, revises the existing interpretation of sediment transport direction during a major part of the basin-filling history, and demonstrates a two-stage evolution of margin accretion. The observations from the active Tyee Basin was compared and contrasted with a latest Pleistocene sediment wedge on the New Jersey outer shelf. This sediment wedge, developed under icehouse climatic condition, and on a passive margin, was studied using high resolution seismic data (CHIRP). In contrast to the sedimentary succession of the Tyee Basin, the depositional architecture of the sediment wedge on outer New Jersey shelf, which was interpreted as a set of falling stage deltaic clinothems, appears to be strongly controlled by eustatic sea level variation of latest Pleistocene.
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The evolution of landscapes and seascapes in time is the result of the constant interaction between flows and topography. Flows change topography, which in turn change the flow. This feedback causes evolution processes to be highly non-linear and complex. When full analytical derivations of the co-evolution of topography and flow are not possible without oversimplifications, as is the case in river bends, recent large topographical datasets and modern computers allow for correlations between horizontal (planview) and cross-sectional geometry of channels. Numerical analysis in the Mississippi and Trinity rivers indicate that the type of correlation between river radius of curvature and bankfull channel width depends on the migration behavior of the river. In other cases, channel topography may only have a second-order effect on its own evolution, as is the case for fully depositional turbidity currents, and the evolution of aeolian field topography may only be a function of this topography. I show that in these situations, changes in topography may be decoupled from details of the flow field and modeled very easily with a good accuracy.
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Submarine channels are important conduits for sediment in deep marine environments, and understanding their formation is critical to modeling basin fill processes. Most models describing channel evolution focus on turbidity currents as the erosive and constructive force in channel initiation. However, slope failure and slumping can be significant drivers of channelization, particularly in upper slope and ramp environments. Determining the relative roles of slumping and erosion by turbidity currents can provide important insight into the timing of channelization and the geometries of subsequent deposits. Samples were collected from Guadalupe Mountains National Park from two primary localities at Salt Flat Bench (Figure 2). Three vertical sections were measured at both locations. A total of 16 samples were collected for petrographic analysis and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) imaging. Spectacular outcrop quality makes the Middle Permian Brushy Canyon Formation in Guadalupe Mountains National Park an ideal location for the study of early channel evolution. A detailed facies analysis of fine-grained channel deposits was conducted in the Upper Brushy Canyon Formation in the Salt Flat Bench outcrops. After channelization, an interval of relative condensation dominated by hemipelagic settling of organic matter and silt was followed by an interval of incomplete sediment bypass by turbidity currents. This sequence of events suggests that sea level was at a relative highstand at the time of channel inception, whereas channel inception by turbidity currents is expected during a lowstand. Slumping rather than erosion by turbidity currents is the most likely mechanism to have initiated a channel at the study area. There is no evidence for the existence for high energy currents until after the interval of condensation. However, the action of weak contour currents during early channel evolution is observed in outcrop and microtextural features. Early carbonate cementation of channel-lining silts may have stabilized the slump surface with respect to erosion by later turbidity currents.

This dissertation examines how turbidity currents interact with submarine channels. Turbidity currents display exaggerated super-elevation at the outer banks of channel bends, because they have low excess densities relative to the ambient sea-water. Low-velocity zones form where flows separate from the inner banks. In a high-resolution seismic volume, I mapped 226 inclined surfaces associated with bank-attached bars in 16 channel bends of 2 buried sinuous channels. Position and geometries of bars indicate construction from suspended sediment in flow separation zones. Concave-bank benches, first identified in rivers where they are built from fully-suspended sediment deposited within flow separation zones in channel bends, comprise approximately 19% of this dataset. Bars have high median slopes (10°-11°) and occupy less than 30% of channel width. Associated channels migrated a median distance of less than 70% of the channel width and incised 20-30% of the channel depth. These bars are therefore interpreted to have formed during sediment bypass or weak erosion. I have analyzed the sedimentology and stratigraphy of a well-exposed channel complex, in the Permian Brushy Canyon Formation, west Texas. A steeply-inclined set of fine-grained sandstone beds (median dip=10°) at the margin of the channel complex is interpreted as deposits of a bank-attached bar. Beds are characterized by sub- to super-critically climbing ripple-lamination, planar stratification and trough cross-stratification. Paleo-transport directions are at high angles, 20-120°, to the dip azimuths of interpreted bar surfaces. Geometries of bounding surfaces, sedimentation styles and grain-size data were used to construct a facies model for suspension-dominated, bank-attached bars, built within flow-separation zones in submarine channels. I designed physical experiments to examine how erosional turbidity currents evolve channel- bend topography. Time-lapse bathymetry maps capture the evolution of raised benches tied to sedimentation within flow separation zones and erosion outside of separation zones. Erosional currents showed sensitivity to local conditions. The pattern of erosion was connected to roughness elements such as bend curvature and scours on the bed. Turbidity current run-up at the outside of bends produced a greater aerial extent of side-wall erosion than is commonly seen in incisional rivers.

Physical experiments are used to investigate the influence of the Coriolis forces on flow structures in channelized turbidity currents, and their implication for the evolution of straight and sinuous submarine channels. Initial tests were used to determine whether or not saline density currents are a good surrogate for particle-laden currents. Results imply that this assumption is valid when turbidity currents are weakly-depositional and have similar velocity and turbulence structures to saline density currents. Second, the controls of Coriolis forces on flow structures in straight channel sections are compared with two mathematical models: Ekman boundary layer dynamics and the theory of Komar [1969]. Ekman boundary layer dynamics prove to be a more suitable description of flow structures in rotating turbidity currents and should be used to derive flow parameters from submarine channels systems that are subjected to Coriolis forces. The significance of Coriolis forces for submarine channel systems were determined by evaluating the dimensionless Rossby number RoW. The Rossby number is defined as the ratio of the flow velocity, U, of a turbidity current to the channel width, W, and the rotation rate of the Earth represented by the Coriolis parameter, f. Coriolis forces are very significant for channel systems with RoW ≤ O(1). Third, the effect of Coriolis forces on the internal flow structure in sinuous submarine channels is considered. Since previous studies have only considered pressure gradient and centrifugal forces, the Coriolis force provides a crucial contribution to the lateral momentum balance in channel bends. In a curved channel, both the Rossby number RoW and the ratio of the channel curvature radius R to the channel width W, determine whether Coriolis forces affect the internal flow structure. The results demonstrate that Coriolis forces can cause a significant shift of the density interface and the downstream velocity core of channelized turbidity currents. The sediment transport regime in high-latitude channel systems, which have RoW << R/W, is therefore strongly influenced by Coriolis forces. Finally, these findings are incorporated into a conceptual model describing the evolution of submarine channels at different latitudes. For instance, the Northern Hemisphere channels have a distinctly higher right levee system and migrate predominantly to the left side and generally exhibit a low sinuosity. In contrast, low latitude channel systems have RoW >> R/W so that centrifugal forces are more dominant. This results in more sinuous submarine channel systems with varying levee asymmetries in subsequent channel bends. In conclusion, Coriolis forces are negligible around the equator but should be considered in high latitude systems, particularly when RoW ~ O(1) and RoW << R/W.

Construction sites are frequently cited as major sources of pollution that degrade the quality of surface water. The highly erodible topsoil is transported off site by stormwater runoff causing negative effects downstream. Research has shown that the small particles, which are the most susceptible to erosive forces, have more pollutants associated with them than larger soil particles. Currently, in the state of Florida, it is not permissible to discharge water to a receiving water body if the turbidity is more than 29 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTUs) above background or higher than background for an outstanding Florida water body. The removal of fine suspended sediment from water can be achieved by filtration, settling, and the use of chemical coagulants. Polyacrylamide (PAM), a coagulant, has been shown to be effective in removing fine suspended particles from water via coagulation and flocculation. The Stormwater Management Academy at the University of Central Florida has researched the use of PAM and collection mats in a treatment channel to meet state discharge requirements. In this study, turbid water using sediment from typical Florida soils was simulated and passed through a channel. The channel contained polymer blocks in a configuration previously determined to be the most effective. An important component of the treatment system is the floc collection. This research examined three types of collection mats, namely jute, coconut fiber and polypropylene mix to collect the flocs. This thesis presents the results of this investigation. The results for the sandy soil tests showed an average removal efficiency prior to the collection mat starting at 71% and decreasing to 44% at the end of the tests. The 20-foot coconut mat maintained an average removal efficiency of 90%. The turbidity due to silty-sandy soil was decreased with an average removal efficiency prior to the collection mat ranging from 50% to 65%. The average removal efficiency for the 20-foot coconut mat started at 85%and decreased to 60% during the tests. The turbidity due to crushed limestone showed an average removal efficiency prior to the collection mat ranging from 81% down to 69% over time. The average results from the 20-foot coconut mat ranged from 65% to 80%. Turbidity was tested on the samples under two conditions, a 30 second settling time and completely mixed. Statistical results show a significant decrease (?=0.05) in turbidity between the mixed and settled samples. Statistical analyses were performed on the collected data, which concluded that the capability of the mat to reduce turbidity can be repeated with a 95% confidence interval. The 20-foot length coconut mat had the highest turbidity removal efficiency for every soil type examined. Further statistical analysis showed that the achieved turbidity reduction was significantly different (?=0.05) for the various materials. It was observed that generally, each type of mat clogged during testing indicating that longer collection mats be used, possibly lining the entire channel. Recommendations from this study are to provide a settling area after the collection mats and line the entire length of the channel with the collection mat selected.
M.S.Env.E.
Masters
Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering
Engineering and Computer Science
Environmental Engineering

碩士
崑山科技大學
環境工程研究所
103
In recent years, extreme weather and climate events affect the world on a global scale, and the frequency and severity of natural disasters rises drastically. In the face of climate change and the uncertainty and risk of extreme events, if the passive rescue operational model can be changed to an aggressive assessment of data model for early warning, planning and predicting well in advance, we can hopefully reduce the losses from disasters. In this study, the turbidity diurnal variation of the Gaoping River Weir in the Gaoping River basin was monitored statistically by using yearly mean, yearly standard deviation, standard deviation, skewness and autocorrelation by performing time series analysis of the recorded data. Water turbidity at different time points before and after Typhoon Morakot was also observed to find out the signals when the monitor value reaches a certain critical transition (CT), and then identify that the phenomenon of CT is flickering. Dynamic characteristics of an impending CT by leading indicators of statistical analysis are also shown for verifying the evidence of abrupt state changes. The results of the present study may provide some reference for the related regulatory agencies in management of river basins and the early warning of deteriorating water quality, on the hopes of greatly reducing the impact of disasters.

The submarine geomorphology of Goletas Channel - Hardy Bay - Shusharti Bay is a record of environmental change, defined by sediment deposition since the late Pleistocene draped over glacially sculpted physiography. Sea level change, contiguous with waning ice extent at the termination of the Fraser Glaciation, triggered an oceanographic transition within Goletas Channel from a low energy closed embayment to a higher energy open channel environment. Morphologic evidence of lower sea level position is observed from sequence stratigraphy in Hardy Bay and suggests regression to 74 m below present. Stratigraphy also shows a correlation between sea level transgression and turbidity current flows in northwest Goletas Channel, and although triggering mechanisms remain elusive, they are likely related to reworking of glacial sediments concomitant to initial open channel conditions. Holocene sediment accumulation has been highest in southeast Goletas Channel, represented by mud with interstitial gas, and has been reworked by tidal currents into contourite structures. A combination of high-resolution multibeam bathymetry, seismic and core samples are used to study the geomorphology of the region.

Le bassin du NE de Java, situé en arrière de l'arc volcanique tertiaire, appartient à des domaines mobiles affectés à la fois de fortes subsidences, et de déplacements tangentiels. soumis à des mouvements de convergences de plaque. L'évolution verticale de la série tertiaire de ce bassin, replacée dans son contexte paléogéographique, est caractérisée par cinq mégaséquences commençant chacune par une phase transgressive, et couronnée par une phase régressive. L'étude sédimentologique, nettement axée sur les pro* blèmes des faciès turbiditiques de la Formation de Kerek dans la zone de Kendeng et sur les Sables de Ngrayong dans la zone de Rembang, a permis de retracer l'histoire spatiotemporelle de ces deux séries détritiques. La Formation de Kerek correspond à un flysch argilo marneux renfermant quelques corps grèso-conglomératique à géométrie chenalisée. Les variations latérales et verticales de la composition minéralogique et l'orientation des structures sédimentaires révèlent trois sources d'apport de matériel détritique: la plus importante est constituée essentiellement par des éléments volcaniques-basaltiques venant du Sud; la seconde, principalement terrigène et bioclastique vient du N. Ces deux sources ont alimenté l'essentiel de la zone de Kendeng depuis la région de Sumberlawang à l'Ouest jusqu'à la région de Miono à l'Est, et ont été favorisé par l'effondrement du bassin avec une migration possible de l'axe et la création de failles de compensation vers le Sud. La troisième source vient de l'Ouest et comporte soit des matériaux volcaniques soit des mélanges bioclastiques et des quartz non volcaniques grossiers; on la rencontre seulement dans la bordure ouest du bassin à la proximité de l'occident N 70°. Les Sables de Ngrayong correspond à un système deltaïque dont les dépôts (sables quartzeux et argiles ligniteuses) proviennent de reliefs encore inconnus situés au Nord. L'interaction de l'écoulement fluvial et de la marée régit cette sédimentation *dans un domaine marin de moyenne à haute énergie complexe et variable selon la position dans le bassin.

Produced water is the largest waste product by volume in the oil industry and its treatment in onshore or offshore fields poses bigger and different challenges than what water engineers are used to encounter. Process to achieve reuse quality of this water is very expensive with many technical hurdles to overcome making the optimization of the treatment steps necessary. Electrocoagulation (EC) generates coagulants in-situ responsible for destabilizing oil droplets, suspended particles, and common pollutant in produced water. Furthermore, EC is a very efficient technology compared with traditional primary treatments used in the oil & gas industry and has several advantages such as: no hazardous chemical handling (which diminishes the risk of accident and logistic costs), high efficiency potential concerning boron removal, potential small footprint and less sludge generation. In this research, the treatment of produced water using EC was investigated in a practical manner for the oilfield to aim for a cleaner effluent for further processing and help to achieve a reuse quality. For this, an EC cell was designed using different parameters normally used in the literature to fit this scenario. After preliminary tests, the treatment time was set to 3 seconds. Response surface method (RSM) was employed to optimize the operating conditions for TOC removal on a broad quality of synthetic produced water while varying: salinity, initial oil concentration and initial pH. TOC was chosen to be the main response because of its importance in legislation and sensibility on the method. Furthermore, turbidity removal, change of pH value after EC in water with lack of buffer capacity, aluminum concentration and preliminary tests involving boron removal and influence of hydrogen carbonate were also studied. Real produced water was treated with EC to assess the optimum conditions obtained by the RSM showing the results were closely related. Finally, an estimation of volume required and operating cost for EC in the different types of produced water was made to assess how realistic it is for onshore and offshore applications.:ERKLÄRUNG DES PROMOVENDEN I ACKNOLEDGEMENT III ABSTRACT V TABLE OF CONTENT VII LIST OF FIGURES IX LIST OF TABLES X LIST OF EQUATIONS XII ABBREVIATIONS XIV 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. PRODUCED WATER 6 2.1 Characterization of Oilfield Produced Water 6 2.2 Produced Water Management 10 2.2.1 Discharge and Regulations 10 2.2.2 Efforts on Reuse 11 2.2.3 Cost 14 3. PRODUCED WATER TREATMENT 17 3.1 Most Common Primary Treatment 17 3.1.1 Hydrocyclones 17 3.1.2 Flotation unit 18 3.2 Further Water Treatment Technologies 19 3.2.1 Membrane Process 19 3.2.1.1 Microfiltration 19 3.2.1.2 Ultrafiltration 21 3.2.1.3 Nanofiltration 23 3.2.1.4 Reverse Osmosis 24 3.2.1.5 Forward osmosis 24 3.2.2 Electrodialysis 25 3.2.3 Biological treatment 28 3.2.3.1 Aerobic and anaerobic process 28 3.2.3.2 Combining membrane and bio-reactor 29 3.2.4 Oxidative process 30 3.2.4.1 Oxidation process 30 3.2.4.2 Anodic oxidation 32 3.2.5 Thermal technology 34 3.2.5.1 Evaporation 34 3.2.5.2 Eutectic freeze crystallization 35 3.2.6 Adsorption and ion-exchange 36 3.3 Electrocoagulation 39 3.3.1 Colloidal Stability Theory 39 3.3.2 Theory of Electrocoagulation 40 3.3.3 Mechanism of Abatement of Impurities 44 3.3.4 Operational parameters and efficiency 49 4. MATERIALS AND METHODS 51 4.1 Analytical Techniques and Synthetic Solutions 51 4.1.1 Analytical Techniques 51 4.1.2 Synthetic Produced Water 51 4.2 Design of Experiment and Models 54 4.3 Experimental Protocol for EC 56 4 .4 Development of the new Electrocoagulation cell 57 4.5 Real Produced water 58 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 59 5.1 Designing EC Cell Process 59 5.1.1 Computational Fluid Dynamics for EC manufacturing 59 5.2 Preliminary Experiments 61 5.2.1 TOC Removal and Residence Time Determination 61 5.2.2 Aluminum Concentration 64 5.3 Models Quality and Range of Validity 66 5.3.1 TOC Removal 66 5.3.2 Turbidity Removal 69 5.3.3 Final pH value 71 5.3.4 Ionic Strength and Interpolation for Different Salinities 73 5.3.5 Partial Conclusions 76 5.4 Evolution of the Final pH Value 78 5.5 Operation Region for Effective Treatment of Produced Water with EC 80 5.5.1 Produced Water with Low Salinity 80 Organic Compounds Removal 80 Turbidity Removal 83 5.5.2 Produced Water with Medium Salinity 84 Organic Compounds Removal 84 Turbidity Removal 86 5.5.3 Produced Water with High Salinity 87 Organic Compounds Removal 87 5.6 Influence of Hydrogen Carbonate 90 5.7 Real Produced water 91 5.8 Boron Removal 93 5.9 Estimation of the Size for EC in Full scale 94 5.10 Produced Water with Very Low Salinity and EC 95 5.11 Estimation of Operation Cost 96 6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 98 6.1 Conclusion 98 6.2 Recommendations for Future Work 101 Scale up on EC for upstream 101 Further processing and reuse 101 Online optimization for EC 101 Recommendations for any research related to upstream produced water 101 BIBLIOGRAPHY 102 APPENDIX A 117 APPENDIX B 120