Rocks experiment

If a body of rock experiences uplift, exposure and erosion, the kerogen it contains is weathered, ultimately to... 

Cole DR, Ripley EM (1999) Oxygen isotope fractionation between chlorite and water form 170 to 350°C A prehminaiy assessment based on partial exchange and fluid/rock experiments. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 63 449-457... 

Abstract The bentonite layer, which surrounds the canisters in a nuclear waste repository deep down in rock, experiences an initial drying and a resaturation from the outer rock side. These complex processes interact and a key question is the degree of initial drying and the time it takes to resaturate the bentonite. It is shown that the highly non-linear coupled equations may, when formulated in a special way, be linearized with a loss of accuracy of some 10% only. The paper presents an analytical solution for the linearized case. The solution involves two key parameters only, a time scale and thermodiffusive parameter a. The largest drying at the canister wall and the resaturation are obtained from a single set of curves with a dimensionless time and a as parameter. 

Table V. Composition of Waters from Crushed Rock Experiments ...

In a separate experiment, a piece (about 3 cm ) of Wall Creek core was added to a PAA solution identical to the one described above. This solution lost 6% of its original viscosity when heated at 115 F (46 C) for 2 days, 18% in 2 weeks, and 38% in 2 months. A similar solution that was adjusted to pH 9 showed a viscosity loss of 2, 9, and 21% at 2 days, 2 weeks, and 2 months, respectively. Analyses by atomic absorption did not show higher levels of iron, calcium, or magnesium in these solutions than in a similar solution not contacted with Wall Creek rock. Experiments are in progress to determine the effect of reservoir rock on PAA solutions containing limited amounts of oxygen. 

Vinegar and Waxman (1984) investigated 20 sandstones at 5 different salinities from 11 formations varying widely in cation exchange capacity, type of clay, and distribution in the rock. Experiments show that the quadramre conductivities and phase angles are approximately independent on frequency in the range 3-1000 Hz. 

The above experiment was conducted for a single fluid only. In hydrocarbon reservoirs there is always connate water present, and commonly two fluids are competing for the same pore space (e.g. water and oil in water drive). The permeability of one of the fluids is then described by its relative permeability (k ), which is a function of the saturation of the fluid. Relative permeabilities are measured in the laboratory on reservoir rock samples using reservoir fluids. The following diagram shows an example of a relative permeability curve for oil and water. For example, at a given water saturation (SJ, the permeability... 

Water loss in operating an HDR faciUty may result from either increased storage within the body of the reservoir or diffusion into the rock body beyond the periphery of the reservoir (38). When a reservoir is created, the joints which are opened immediately fill with water. Micropores or microcracks may fill much more slowly, however. Figure 11 shows water consumption during an extended pressurization experiment at the HDR faciUty operated by the Los Alamos National Laboratory at Fenton Hill, New Mexico. As the microcracks within the reservoir become saturated, the water consumption at a set pressure declines. It does not go to zero because diffusion at the reservoir boundary can never be completely elirninated. Of course, if a reservoir joint should intersect a natural open fault, water losses may be high under any conditions. 

Mercuric iodide crystals grown by physical vapor transport on Spacelab 3 exhibited sharp, weU-formed facets indicating good internal order (19). This was confirmed by y-ray rocking curves which were approximately one-third the width of the ground control sample. Both electron and hole mobiUty were significantly enhanced in the flight crystal. The experiment was repeated on IML-1 with similar results (20). 

Figure 8.2. Target configuration for dynamic tensile fracture experiments on rock. PMMA buffers and windows were not used on those rocks with an acoustic impedance comparable to PMMA. Velocity for these tests was measured at the rock-free surface.

The present statistical study has been motivated by a desire to better understand and interpret dynamic fragmentation in mechanical systems. Applications include the blasting of rock with explosives or the fragmentation caused by the impact of a high-velocity projectile. For the reasons noted earlier it is difficult to verify the present statistical theory with experiments. Recently, however, support for the theories have emerged from rather diverse sources. 

The presence of silica to form slag which is vital to large-scale production was perceptively introduced by Robert Boyle in his very early experiments. Two apparendy acceptable mechanisms have been proposed and it is possible that both may be occurring. In the first, the rock is thought to react with molten silica to form slag and P4O10 which is then reduced by the carbon ... 

This input to design refers to the long-term stability of the raw material sources for the plant. It is only of importance where the raw materials can or do contain impurities which can have profound effects on the corrosivity of the process. Just as the design should cater not only for the norm of operation but for the extremes, so it is pertinent to question the assumptions made about raw material purity. Crude oil (where HjS, mercaptan sulphur and napthenic acid contents determine the corrosivity of the distillation process) and phosphate rock (chloride, silica and fluoride determine the corrosivity of phosphoric acid) are very pertinent examples. Thus, crude-oil units intended to process low-sulphur crudes , and therefore designed on a basis of carbon-steel equipment, experience serious corrosion problems when only higher sulphur crudes are economically available and must be processed. 

Why are the oceans so depleted in these trace metals Certainly it is not for the lack of availability from rock weathering or because of constraints imposed by the solubility of any unique compound of these elements. The reason must lie in the dynamics of the system of delivery of the metals to the oceans and their subsequent behavior in an ocean that cannot be simulated by simple in vitro experiments involving homogeneous reaction kinetics. 

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