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Basin Model (basin + model)
Selected AbstractsEPA'S BASINS MODEL: GOOD SCIENCE OR SERENDIPITOUS MODELING?,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 3 2000Ray C. Whittemore ABSTRACT: Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Non-point Sources (BASINS) is a geographic-based watershed assessment tool developed by EPA's Office of Water to help states more efficiently target and evaluate water-bodies that are not meeting water quality standards. BASINS (EPA, 1996a, 1998) brings together data on water quality and quantity, land uses, point source loadings, and other related spatial data with supporting nonpoint and water quality models at a quicker and more effective pace. EPA developed BASINS, to better integrate point and nonpoint source water quality assessments for the Nation's 2100+ watersheds. In its zeal to achieve this endpoint, EPA has initiated a simplistic approach that was expected to grow through scientific enhancements as TMDL developers become more familiar with modeling requirements. BASINS builds upon federal databases of water quality conditions and point source loadings for numerous parameters where quality assurance is suspect in some cases. Its design allows comprehensive assessments and modeling in typical Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) computations. While the TMDL utility is the primary reason BASINS was developed, other longer-range water quality assessments will become possible as the Agency expands the suite of assessment models and databases in future releases. The simplistic approach to modeling and user-friendly tools gives rise, however, to technical and philosophical concerns related to default data usage. Seamless generation of model input files and the failure of some utilities to work properly suggest to NCASI that serious problems may still exist and prompts the need for a more rigorous peer-review. Furthermore, sustainable training becomes paramount, as some older modelers will be unfamiliar with Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and associated computer skills. Overall, however, BASINS was judged to be an excellent beginning tool to meet the complex environmental modeling needs in the 21st Century. [source] The Cretaceous volcanic succession around the Songliao Basin, NE China: relationship between volcanism and sedimentationGEOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2002Pujun Wang Abstract With volume ratio of 8:1:1.5 amongst acidic, intermediate and basaltic rocks, the Cretaceous volcanics around the Songliao Basin are a series of high-K or medium-K, peraluminous or metaluminous, calc-alkaline rocks, lacking typical basalts and peralkaline members of typical rift-related types. Their eruption ages range between 133 and 127,Ma, 124 and 122,Ma and 117 and 113,Ma respectively. They are high in total (Rare earth element) REE contents (96.1,326,ppm), enriched in LREE and depleted in HREE (LREE/HREE,=,4.6,13.8), with negative Eu and Ce anomalies (Eu/Eu*,=,0.04,0.88; Ce/Ce*,=,0.60,0.97). They have enriched large-ion lithophile elements (e.g. K, Ba, Th) and depleted high field strength elements (e.g. Nb, Ti and Y), suggesting a subduction-related tectonic setting. The volcanic activities migrated from south to north, forming a successively northward-stepping volcanic series and showing a feature significantly different from the overlying sedimentary sequence striking northeast. Thus, an overlap basin model was proposed. Accompanied by opening of the basin, the volcanogenic succession was formed at the block-faulting stage (131,113,Ma) owing to the closure of the Mongolia,Okhotsk ocean in the Jurassic and early Cretaceous, while the overlying sedimentary sequence was unconformably deposited at the spreading stage (Albian,Maastrichtian) owing to the oblique subduction of the Pacific plate under the Eurasian plate. The volcanic succession constitutes the lower unit of basin filling and is the forerunner of further basin spreading. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A RAPID METHOD OF QUANTIFYING THE RESOLUTION LIMITS OF HEAT-FLOW ESTIMATES IN BASIN MODELSJOURNAL OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGY, Issue 2 2008A. Beha Deterministic forward models are commonly used to quantify the processes accompanying basin evolution. Here, we describe a workflow for the rapid calibration of palaeo heat-flow behaviour. The method determines the heat-flow history which best matches the observed data, such as vitrinite reflectance, which is used to indicate the thermal maturity of a sedimentary rock. A limiting factor in determining the heat-flow history is the ability of the algorithm used in the software for the maturity calculation to resolve information inherent in the measured data. Thermal maturation is controlled by the temperature gradient in the basin over time and is therefore greatly affected by maximum burial depth. Calibration, i.e. finding the thermal history model which best fits the observed data (e.g. vitrinite reflectance), can be a time-consuming exercise. To shorten this process, a simple pseudo-inverse model is used to convert the complex thermal behaviour obtained from a basin simulator into more simple behaviour, using a relatively simple equation. By comparing the calculated "simple" maturation trend with the observed data points using the suggested workflow, it becomes relatively straightforward to evaluate the range within which a best-fit model will be found. Reverse mapping from the simple model to the complex behaviour results in precise values for the heat-flow which can then be applied to the basin model. The goodness-of-fit between the modelled and observed data can be represented by the Mean Squared Residual (MSR) during the calibration process. This parameter shows the mean squared difference between all measured data and the respective predicted maturities. A minimum MSR value indicates the "best fit". Case studies are presented of two wells in the Horn Graben, Danish North Sea. In both wells calibrating the basin model using a constant heat-flow over time is not justified, and a more complex thermal history must be considered. The pseudo-inverse method was therefore applied iteratively to investigate more complex heat-flow histories. Neither in the observed maturity data nor in the recorded stratigraphy was there evidence for erosion which would have influenced the present-day thermal maturity pattern, and heat-flow and time were therefore the only variables investigated. The aim was to determine the simplest "best-fit" heat-flow history which could be resolved at the maximum resolution given by the measured maturity data. The conclusion was that basin models in which the predicted maturity of sedimentary rocks is calibrated solely against observed vitrinite reflectance data cannot provide information on the timing of anomalies in the heat-flow history. The pseudo inverse method, however, allowed the simplest heat-flow history that best fits the observed data to be found. [source] Unravelling the multi-stage burial history of the Swiss Molasse Basin: integration of apatite fission track, vitrinite reflectance and biomarker isomerisation analysisBASIN RESEARCH, Issue 1 2006Martin Mazurek ABSTRACT A complex basin evolution was studied using various methods, including thermal constraints based on apatite fission-track (AFT) analysis, vitrinite reflectance (VR) and biomarker isomerisation, in addition to a detailed analysis of the regional stratigraphic record and of the lithological properties. The study indicates that (1) given the substantial amount of data, the distinction and characterisation of successive stages of heating and burial in the same area are feasible, and (2) the three thermal indicators (AFT, VR and biomarkers) yield internally consistent thermal histories, which supports the validity of the underlying kinetic algorithms and their applicability to natural basins. All data pertaining to burial and thermal evolution were integrated in a basin model, which provides constraints on the thickness of eroded sections and on heat flow over geologic time. Three stages of basin evolution occurred in northern Switzerland. The Permo-Carboniferous strike,slip basin was characterised by high geothermal gradients (80,100°C km,1) and maximum temperature up to 160°C. After the erosion of a few hundreds of metres in the Permian, the post-orogenic, epicontinental Mesozoic basin developed in Central Europe, with subsidence triggered by several stages of rifting. Geothermal gradients in northern Switzerland during Cretaceous burial were relatively high (35,40°C km,1), and maximum temperature typically reached 75°C (top middle Jurassic) to 100°C (base Mesozoic). At least in the early Cretaceous, a stage of increased heat flow is needed to explain the observed maturity level. After erosion of 600,700 m of Cretaceous and late Jurassic strata during the Paleocene, the wedge-shaped Molasse Foreland Basin developed. Geothermal gradients were low at this time (,20°C km,1). Maximum temperature of Miocene burial exceeded that of Cretaceous burial in proximal parts (<35 km from the Alpine front), but was lower in more distal parts (>45 km). Thus, maximum temperature as well as maximum burial depth ever reached in Mesozoic strata occurred at different times in different regions. Since the Miocene, 750,1050 m were eroded, a process that still continues in the proximal parts of the basin. Current average geothermal gradients in the uppermost 2500 m are elevated (32,47°C km,1). They are due to a Quaternary increase of heat flow, most probably triggered by limited advective heat transport along Paleozoic faults in the crystalline basement. [source] | ||||||||||