Ocean drilling: Digging in
A new ship and a wave of funding will let scientists drill where they have never been able to drill before, from near the North Pole to the rocks lying beneath Earth's crust. Rex Dalton and David Cyranoski report.
Pore-throat structures of the Permian Longtan Formation tight sandstones in the South Yellow Sea Basin, China: A case study from borehole CSDP-2
Abstract With good exploration prospects and proven source rocks in Permian, reservoir evaluation has become the main bottleneck hindering petroleum exploration in the South Yellow Sea Basin, China, where the pore-throat structures, which are particularly important for the reservoir quality of tight sandstones, have never been characterized. To solve this, tight sandstones taken from borehole CSDP-2 of the Permian Longtan (P2l) Formation were systemically investigated with high-precision pore-throat characterization methods. The results show that pore-throat structures of tight sandstones in the Longtan Formation can be classified into three categories with synthesis considerations of pore-throat type, size, and connectivity; these pore-throats are denoted lattice-like, tubular, and isolated, respectively. The lattice-like pore throats with relatively larger radii (>0.1 μm) and higher connectivity exhibit the best performance for reservoir quality, followed by tubular pore-throat structures, while isolated pore throats have almost no capacity to migrate or store fluids. In the formation mechanism of various pore-throat structures, both the plastic component content and complex diagenesis play a significant role. Strong compaction results in a loss of nearly half of the initial porosity (av. 49.81%) during the initial diagenetic stage. Then, clay mineral cements partially occlude pores and throats, which are the dominant factors in the transition of pore-throat structures from lattice-like to tubular. Silica and carbonate cementation are the key processes that fill the primary pore throats, secondary dissolution pores, and microfractures, leading to the formation of isolated pore-throat structures and low-porosity, ultra-low-permeability reservoirs. Feldspar dissolution cannot take place on a large scale due to the early densification of the sandstone, and it does not significantly improve the reservoir quality; it increases the porosity by less than 4.0%. This research provides constructive insights into the coupled evolution of pore-throat structures and diagenetic processes, which can aid in further understanding the formation mechanism of tight sandstones. In practice, this work also provides a scientific basis for identifying effective reservoirs, and promotes petroleum exploration in the South Yellow Sea Basin, China.
The Inca Occupation of the South Coast of Peru
like the others, however; it forks into several nearly parallel ravines of which the largest are Huayuri, Rio Grande-Palpa, Ingenio (called Collao in ancient times), Nasca proper (the ancient Caxamarca), Taruga, and Poroma. Due to peculiarities of the local topography, the irrigated areas in Ica and the ravines of Nasca are located inland, at the foot of the mountains, rather than at the mouths of the rivers as is more usual in Peruvian coastal valleys. No sharp natural or cultural boundary separates the valley of Chincha from the valleys of Cafiete (ancient Huarco and Runahuana), Asia, and Mala, the next valleys going up the coast to the northwest. At the other end of the area we are considering, however, there is a sharp break; beyond Yauca the Andean foothills reach out to the sea, natural conditions are quite different, and there are important differences in the archaeological picture as well. The historical sources which mention the south coast are not particularly helpful, except in so far as they provide us with a few dates. To begin with, no chronicler gives an explicit account of the political organization of the south coast at the time it came into contact with the Incas. It can, perhaps, be inferred from Cabello Balboa's statements about common policy toward the Inca invaders that there was some sort of political connection between the valleys of Mala, Cafiete, and Chincha, but the connection need have been no more than a temporary military alliance. Cabello makes no mention at all of Pisco. The valleys of Ica, Nasca, and 125