Different Basins (different + basin)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Genetic pattern of the recent recovery of European otters in southern France

ECOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2008
Xavier Janssens
We investigated how landscape affects the population genetic structure and the dispersal of the elusive European otter Lutra lutra in a contemporary colonization context, over several generations and at the level of hydrographic basins. Our study area included 10 basins located in the Cévennes National Park (CNP), at the southern front of the natural otter recovery in France. Each basin comprised 50 to 300 km of permanent rivers that were surveyed for otter presence from 1991 to 2005. Faecal samples collected in 2004 and 2005 in this area were genotyped at 9 microsatellite loci, resulting in the identification of 70 genetically distinct individuals. Bayesian clustering methods were used to infer genetic structure of the populations and to compare recent gene flow to the observed colonization. At the regional level, we identified 2 distinct genetic clusters (NE and SW; FST=0.102) partially separated by ridges, suggesting that the CNP was recolonized by 2 genetically distinct otter populations. At the basin level, the genetic distance between groups of individuals in different basins was positively correlated to the mean slope separating these basins. The probable origins and directions of individual movements (i.e. migration between clusters and basin colonization inside clusters) were inferred from assignment tests. This approach shows that steep and dry lands can stop, impede or divert the dispersal of a mobile carnivore such as the otter. [source]


Leptodora kindti and Flexible Foraging Behaviour of Fish , Factors behind the Delayed Biomass Peak of Cladocerans in Lake Hiidenvesi

INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF HYDROBIOLOGY, Issue 1 2003
Laura Uusitalo
Abstract In the eutrophic L. Hiidenvesi, the spring biomass maximum of cladoceran zooplankton is missing and the highest biomass takes place in July,August. The factors behind the delayed biomass peak were studied in four different basins of the lake with concomitant data on cladocerans assemblages, density of the predatory cladoceran Leptodora kindti and food composition of fish. In all the basins, the abundance of Leptodora peaked in June, being highest (up to 800 ind. m,3) in the two most shallow basins (max depth < 4 m). The duration of the high population density was short and in July-August Leptodora density stayed below 200 ind. m,3, although the water temperature was still favourable. The collapse of the Leptodora population coincided with the change in the feeding habits of fish. In early summer, fish predation was targeted mainly on copepods and zoobenthos, while in high summer Leptodora was one of the main preys of perch, white bream and bleak. The biomass of herbivorous cladocerans was below 10 ,g C l,1 in June, and climbed to a maximum in August in the two most shallow basins (34 and 76 ,g C l,1), in July in the deepest basin (27 ,g C l,1), and in September in the intermediate basin (55 ,g C l,1). In the two most shallow basins, the death rate of the dominating cladoceran, Daphnia cristata, closely followed the food consumption rate by the Leptodora population. In the deeper basins, the agreement was not so close, smelts (Osmerus eperlanus) and chaoborids being important predators of herbivores. The duration of the period of high Leptodora density thus depended on the predation pressure by fish, while the increased fish predation on Leptodora in July,August allowed the elevation of the biomass of herbivorous cladocerans. [source]


PETROLEUM POTENTIAL, THERMAL MATURITY AND THE OIL WINDOW OF OIL SHALES AND COALS IN CENOZOIC RIFT BASINS, CENTRAL AND NORTHERN THAILAND

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGY, Issue 4 2006
H. I. Petersen
Oil shales and coals occur in Cenozoic rift basins in central and northern Thailand. Thermally immature outcrops of these rocks may constitute analogues for source rocks which have generated oil in several of these rift basins. A total of 56 oil shale and coal samples were collected from eight different basins and analysed in detail in this study. The samples were analysed for their content of total organic carbon (TOC) and elemental composition. Source rock quality was determined by Rock-Eval pyrolysis. Reflected light microscopy was used to analyse the organic matter (maceral) composition of the rocks, and the thermal maturity was determined by vitrinite reflectance (VR) measurements. In addition to the 56 samples, VR measurements were carried out in three wells from two oil-producing basins and VR gradients were constructed. Rock-Eval screening data from one of the wells is also presented. The oil shales were deposited in freshwater (to brackish) lakes with a high preservation potential (TOC contents up to 44.18 wt%). They contain abundant lamalginite and principally algal-derived fluorescing amorphous organic matter followed by liptodetrinite and telalginite (Botryococcus-type). Huminite may be present in subordinate amounts. The coals are completely dominated by huminite and were formed in freshwater mires. VR values from 0.38 to 0.47%Ro show that the exposed coals are thermally immature. VR values from the associated oil shales are suppressed by 0.11 to 0.28%Ro. The oil shales have H/C ratios >1.43, and Hydrogen Index (HI) values are generally >400 mg HC/g TOC and may reach 704 mg HC/ gTOC. In general, the coals have H/C ratios between about 0.80 and 0.90, and the HI values vary considerably from approximately 50 to 300 mg HC/gTOC. The HImax of the coals, which represent the true source rock potential, range from ,160 to 310 mg HC/g TOC indicating a potential for oil/gas and oil generation. The steep VR curves from the oil-producing basins reflect high geothermal gradients of ,62°C/km and ,92°C/km. The depth to the top oil window for the oil shales at a VR of ,0.70%Ro is determined to be between ,1100 m and 1800 m depending on the geothermal gradient. The kerogen composition of the oil shales and the high geothermal gradients result in narrow oil windows, possibly spanning only ,300 to 400 m in the warmest basins. The effective oil window of the coals is estimated to start from ,0.82 to 0.98%Ro and burial depths of ,1300 to 1400 m (,92°C/km) and ,2100 to 2300 m (,62°C/km) are necessary for efficient oil expulsion to occur. [source]


THE PALEOCENE SANDY SIRI FAIRWAY: AN EFFICIENT "PIPELINE" DRAINING THE PROLIFIC CENTRAL GRABEN?

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGY, Issue 1 2006
S.E. Ohm
A new petroleum charge model is presented for the sand-dominated Paleocene channel system known as the Siri Fairway in the Central Graben of the North Sea. The Siri Fairway is located in the platform area along the Danish - Norwegian border and extends from the Norwegian palaeo shelf into the Tail-End Graben and Sřgne Basin. The nearest known expelling source rocks are located in the Central Graben. The discovery of the Siri oilfield and later the Cecilie and the Nini fields proves that petroleum has migrated through these Paleocene sandstones for up to 70 km, which is a considerable distance in the North Sea. If the Siri Fairway has acted as a "pipeline" for petroleum migrating from the Graben to the platform area, the chemical composition of the hydrocarbons discovered in the Graben and within the Fairway itself should be similar in terms of maturity and organic facies signature. This study shows this not to be the case. The Graben oils have a mature signature, whereas the oils from the Siri field have an early mature signature and are mixed with biogenic gas generated in situ. The biogenic gas "signature", which was inherited from gas which accumulated in the trap before the arrival of the oil charge, should have disappeared if petroleum had continuously been introduced to the Fairway. It therefore appears that hydrocarbon charging to the Fairway ceased for some reason before the source rocks in the Graben entered the main oil window; the Siri Fairway therefore represents an aborted migration route, and limited charging of the Paleocene sandstone deposits in the platform has occurred. The chemical composition of the oils from the Siri field indicates that the Fairway was charged from two different basins with different subsidence histories. The Siri-2 trap is thus interpreted to have been filled with the same oil as that found in Siri-1 and Siri-3, but this oil was later partly displaced by oil generated in a shallower sub-basin. The sandstones in the Siri Fairway were deposited as turbidites and/or gravity slides in the Late Paleocene, and consist of stacked interfingering sandstone lobes which are encased to varying degrees in fine-grained sediments. Although long distance migration through the sandstones has been proved to occur, connectivity between individual sandlobes may be problematic. The number of dry wells drilled in the Fairway and the early-mature character of the analysed oils, together with the general absence of more mature later petroleum, indicate that migration routes in this region are limited and difficult to predict. [source]