Executive

Deep geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO 2) could offer an essential solution to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the continued use of fossil fuels. Currently, CO 2 capture is both costly and energy intensive; it represents about 60% of the cost of the total carbon capture and storage (CCS) chain which is causing a bottleneck in advancement of CCS in China. This paper proposes capturing CO 2 from coal chemical plants where the CO 2 is high purity and relatively cheap to collect, thus offering an early opportunity for industrial-scale full-chain CCS implementation. The total amount of high concentration CO 2 that will be emitted (or is being emitted) by the coal chemical factories approved by the National Development and Reform Commission described in this paper is 42 million tonnes. If all eight projects could utilize CCS, it would be of great significance for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in China. Basins which may provide storage sites for captured CO 2 in North China are characterized by large sedimentary thicknesses and several sets of reservoircaprock strata. Some oil fields are nearing depletion and a subset of these are potentially suitable for CO 2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and CCS demonstration but all these still require detailed geological characterisation. The short distance between the high concentration CO 2 sources and potential storage sites should reduce transport costs and complications. The authors believe these high purity sources coupled with EOR or aquifer storage could offer China an opportunity to lead development in this globally beneficial CCS option.

Stephenson, Michael; Rawahi, AL; Casey, B.. 2008 Correlation of the Al Khlata Formation in the Mukhaizna field, Oman based on a new downhole, cuttings-based palynostratigraphic biozonation. GeoArabia - Middle East Petroleum Geosciences, 13 (3). 15-34.

A special thematic conference was organized at the Geological Society of London in November 2003, aimed at bringing together experts in minerals development in the Developing Countries. Representatives of many aspects of mineral development attended, including mining companies, governments, aid agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academics and consultants. The opening address to the conference is given in this paper. Mining is an ancient human activity developed through essential societal demand. As society and technology have developed, they have inevitably become ever-more materials hungry. This demand will remain for the foreseeable future. Many areas of the Developed World have depleted high-grade mineral deposits, and remaining resources are subject to strong environmental constraints. This increases pressure on the Developing World to generate the mineral commodities upon which society depends. Mineral resources are also a potential source of capital over which De...

The siliciclastic beds outcropping around the village of Kuhlan, northwest Yemen were originally designated the Kohlan Series. Later the sandstone part of the sequence was renamed the Kuhlan Formation by the Yemeni Stratigraphic Commission. The lower part of the Kuhlan Formation (Unit A) yielded diverse and well-preserved palynological assemblages. Their quantitative character and the presence of Anapiculatisporites concinnus, Brevitriletes cornutus, B. parmatus, Deusilities tentus, Dibolisporites disfacies, Microbaculispora tentula, Spelaeotriletes triangulus and Verrucosisporites andersonii, suggests a confident correlation to the 2165A to 2141A biozones of southern Oman, and to Arabian OSPZ2, indicating a Late Carboniferous age for the unit rather than the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic age given on the geological map of western Yemen. The date for the lower Kuhlan Formation indicates that the underlying Akbra Formation, which was previously dated as possibly Early Permian, and Late Carboniferous to Early Permian in age respectively, is probably not younger than the 2165A Biozone and therefore likely to be equivalent to the lower parts of the Al Khlata Formation of Oman.

THE US has led the world in extracting gas from shale but interest is now spreading elsewhere. The British Geological Survey (BGS) recently estimated that the UK has 150 billion cubic metres of shale gas, about half of its more conventional reserves. World shale gas reserves are 450,000 billion cubic metres. Shale gas has been a success story in the US. But fracking has had some bad press, with the main concerns being earthquakes and the contamination of groundwater with gas and chemicals. In the documentary film Gasland, for example, a man is shown igniting water from his kitchen tap.

Following a preliminary palynological report of two samples from the lower part of the Kuhlan Formation (Unit A) near Kuhlan village, northwest Yemen (Stephenson and Al-Mashaikie, 2010), a further seven samples from Unit A, and an additional 22 samples from the underlying Akbarah Formation in the same locality are reported. The seven new samples from the Kuhlan Formation support the 2165A to 2141A Biozone age originally suggested by Stephenson and Al-Mashaikie (2010), and the new Akbarah Formation samples suggest an age not markedly different since Anapiculatisporites concinnus and Spelaeotriletes triangulus are also present in the Akbarah Formation (e.g. samples AK-11 and AK-12). This correlation confirms that the lower Kuhlan Formation and the Akbarah Formation, are likely to be late Carboniferous in age and equivalent to the lower parts of the Al Khlata Formation of Oman.

The siliciclastic beds outcropping around the village of Kuhlan, northwest Yemen were originally designated the Kohlan Series. Later the sandstone part of the sequence was renamed the Kuhlan Formation by the Yemeni Stratigraphic Commission. The lower part of the Kuhlan Formation (Unit A) yielded diverse and well-preserved palynological assemblages. Their quantitative character and the presence of Anapiculatisporites concinnus, Brevitriletes cornutus, B. parmatus, Deusilities tentus, Dibolisporites disfacies, Microbaculispora tentula, Spelaeotriletes triangulus and Verrucosisporites andersonii, suggests a confident correlation to the 2165A to 2141A biozones of southern Oman, and to Arabian OSPZ2, indicating a Late Carboniferous age for the unit rather than the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic age given on the geological map of western Yemen. The date for the lower Kuhlan Formation indicates that the underlying Akbra Formation, which was previously dated as possibly Early Permian, and ...

Extensive palynological work in sequences in Oman and Saudi Arabia, has allowed a framework of eight biozones for the uppermost Carboniferous to Permian rocks in that region. Five of these are established in the palyniferous uppermost Carboniferous to Lower Permian sequence in Oman, and to some extent these are recognisable in sequences of central and southern Saudi Arabia. OSPZ1 (Oman and Saudi Arabia Palynological Zone 1), associated with the lower parts of the Al Khlata Formation and the Unayzah C member, is probably Stephanian in age. OSPZ2 is Asselian-Sakmarian in age, and is associated with the upper part of the Al Khlata Formation and the Unayzah B member. OSPZ3, which is subdivided into three sub-biozones, is associated with the Lower Gharif member; its age may lie in the range late Sakmarian to Artinskian, based on palynology and brachiopod-based ages for the Haushi Limestone, locally present toward the top of the Lower Gharif member. The composition of assemblages from OSP...

SUMMARY Following a preliminary palynological report of two samples from the lower part of the Kuhlan Formation (Unit A) near Kuhlan village, northwest Yemen (Stephenson and Al-Mashaikie, 2010), a further seven samples from Unit A, and an additional 22 samples from the underlying Akbarah Formation in the same locality are reported. The seven new samples from the Kuhlan Formation support the 2165A to 2141A Biozone age originally suggested by Stephenson and Al-Mashaikie (2010), and the new Akbarah Formation samples suggest an age not markedly different since Anapiculatisporites concinnus and Spelaeotriletes triangulus are also present in the Akbarah Formation (e.g. samples AK-11 and AK-12). This correlation confirms that the lower Kuhlan Formation and the Akbarah Formation, are likely to be late Carboniferous in age and equivalent to the lower parts of the Al Khlata Formation of Oman.

High-precision radioisotopic dating using Chemical Abrasion-Isotope Dilution Thermal Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (CA-IDTIMS) has been undertaken to allow the recalibration of the numerical ages of Permian and Triassic spore-pollen palynozones. These changes have been significant, with some zonal boundaries in the Permian changing by as much as 6 million years, and some in the Triassic changing by more than twice as much. Most of the samples analysed have come from Eastern Australian coal basins (Sydney, Gunnedah, Bowen) where abundant ash beds are scattered through the coal-bearing successions. The recalibrations of these widely used palynozones have implications for the timing of stratigraphic events far beyond the basins whence the samples came. Our revised dates for the Permian and Triassic palynozones can now be applied to all Permian and Triassic basins across Australia, from the Perth, Carnarvon, Roebuck, Canning, and Bonaparte basins along the western and northern continenta...

You might remember the TV coverage of last winter’s floods, reporters standing in waders in the suburban streets of west London, talking about the mysterious phenomenon of ‘groundwater flooding’. Occasionally they might bring in a BGS (British Geological Survey) expert to explain the process. The whole thing was replayed for ‘sinkholes’. Why do they happen and where would they happen next? Shale gas started to worry people too. Where is the shale gas, and what are the consequences of drilling for it - for the landscape... and house prices? Rarely have geological processes been so close to people’s lives.

Brachiopod carbonate from Early Permian brachiopod shells from low palaeolatitude north Iran and higher palaeolatitude Pakistan Karakorum were screened for diagenesis and analysed for oxygen isotope ratios to derive seawater palaeotemperatures. Screening techniques employed included SEM ultrastructural analysis, cathodoluminescence (CL), image analysis of CL images, trace-element (Sr, Mn, Fe) determinations, and carbon and oxygen stable-isotope determinations. The Karakorum shells were found to be diagenetically altered, but those from north Iran were judged to be pristine. Using data from pristine material, two distinct time slices were analysed: the early and middle Asselian. Two contrasting ä 18 O values for seawater (0‰ and +1.0‰ V-SMOW) were used to account for different extensions of the Gondwanan ice caps. The ä 18 O data from north Iran indicate a range of seawater temperatures from +24.3 to +30.3 8C (for ä 18 O seawater ¼ 0‰ V-SMOW) or from +30.3 to +35.4 8C (for ä 18 O seawater ¼ +1.0‰ V-SMOW) for the early Asselian. Results for ä 18 O from the middle Asselian indicate seawater temperatures of +24.4 to +28.0 8C (for ä 18 O seawater ¼ 0‰) or +29.2 to +32.8 8C (for ä 18 O seawater ¼ +1.0‰). The maximum calculated temperatures in the middle Asselian are about 2 8C lower than those for the early Asselian. The average temperature for both time slices is similar to modern tropical sea-surface temperatures, indicating that low-latitude Early Permian ocean waters in Iran did not undergo significant cooling during the final Glacial III episode of Gondwanan glaciation. This confirms other evidence based on biotic provinces, which suggests that during the Permo-Carboniferous glaciation, the low-latitude warm belt became narrower and confined to the western Tethys and Cathaysian provinces, and was not subject to a reduction in temperature, but rather a reduction in size.

During the late Sakmarian (Early Permian), the Haushi limestone was deposited in a shallow embayment of the Neotethys Ocean covering what is now north Oman and parts of southeast Saudi Arabia. The sea persisted through the late Sakmarian, but by the time of the deposition of the ?Artinskian Middle Gharif Member, limestone deposition had ceased and generally arid fluvial and minor lacustrine * Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript: Stephenson Haushi.doc Click here to view linked references parts of post glacial Early Permian Gondwana. First the Haushi sea, being an embayment partially isolated by Hawasina rift shoulder uplift, was more vulnerable to changes in rainfall and runoff than an open sea. Second, continued post glacial global warming and small northward movement of Gondwana may have contributed to temperature increase. Aridity may have been caused by the influence of rift shoulders to the northeast and southeast which formed barriers to humid onshore monsoon winds in the southern hemisphere summer.

The representative survey studies provide a comprehensive database on the public awareness and perception of CCS in six selected European countries. Our results provide insights into the public understanding and knowledge of energy related issues and CCS topics. The embedded experimental research provides insights into how information affects CCS perceptions. The results discuss implications for CCS communication methods.