We studied a high-resolution multiproxy data set, including magnetic susceptibility (MS), CaCO3 content, and stable isotopes (δ18O and δ13C), from the stratigraphic interval covering the uppermost Maastrichtian and the lower Danian, represented by the pelagic limestones of the Scaglia Rossa Formation continuously exposed in the classic sections of the Bottaccione Gorge and the Contessa Highway near Gubbio, Italy. Variations in all the proxy series are periodic and reflect astronomically forced climate changes (i.e., Milankovitch cycles). In particular, the MS proxy reflects variations in the terrigenous dust input in this pelagic, deep-marine environment. We speculate that the dust is mainly eolian in origin and that the availability and transport of dust are influenced by variations in the vegetation cover on the Maastrichtian-Paleocene African or Asian zone, which were respectively located at tropical to subtropical latitudes to the south or far to the east of the western Tethyan Umbria-Marche Basin, and were characterized by monsoonal circulation. The dynamics of monsoonal circulation are known to be strongly dependent on precession-driven and obliquity-driven changes in insolation. We propose that a threshold mechanism in the vegetation coverage may explain eccentricity-related periodicities in the terrigenous eolian dust input. Other mechanisms, both oceanic and terrestrial, that depend on the precession amplitude modulated by eccentricity, can be evoked together with the variation of dust influx in the western Tethys to explain the detected eccentricity periodicity in the δ13C record. Our interpretations of the δ18O and MS records suggest a warming event ~400 k.y. prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, and a period of climatic and environmental instability in the earliest Danian. Based on these multiproxy phase relationships, we propose an astronomical tuning for these sections; this leads us to an estimate of the timing and duration of several late Maastrichtian and Danian biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic events.

Although typically considered with a focus on high-resolution petrography, shale porosity should not be thought of as a stand-alone petrographic feature. Shale and mudstone porosity is the outcome of a long succession of processes and events that span the continuum from deposition through burial, compaction, and late diagenesis. For the Eagle Ford Shale this journey began with accumulation in intra-shelf basins at relatively low latitudes on a southeast-facing margin during early parts of the late Cretaceous. To understand the factors that generated and preserved porosity in this economically important interval, a scanning electron microscope study on ion-milled drill-core samples from southern Texas was conducted to understand the development of petrographic features and porosity and place them in stratigraphic context.The studied samples show multiple pore types, including pores defined by mineral frameworks (clay and calcite), shelter pores in foraminifer tests and other hollow fossil debris, and pores in organic material (OM). In many instances, framework and shelter pores are filled with OM that has developed pores due to maturation. Large bubble pores in OM suggest that hydrocarbon liquids were left behind in or migrated into these rocks following petroleum generation and that the bubbles developed as these rocks experienced additional thermal stress. These larger OM pores indicate deeper seated interconnection on ion-milled surfaces and in three-dimensional image stacks.The largest pores occur in the infills of foraminifer tests. The framework of crushed carbonate debris in planktonic fecal pellets shows intermediate levels of porosity, and the silicate-rich matrix that encloses framework components has the smallest average porosity.The distribution of pore types is not uniform. Our hypothesis is that facies association is an important factor that determines bulk porosity and influences reservoir performance. The observed variability in the attributes of the described distal, medial, and proximal facies associations is thought to translate into significant variability of rock properties such as total organic carbon and porosity. In turn, this variability should control the quality and distribution of the intervals that are optimum sources and reservoirs of hydrocarbons in the Eagle Ford Shale. The medial facies association most likely has the best porosity development when a favorable combination of more commonly abundant calcareous fecal pellets and organic material versus clay content is present. The systematic arrangement of facies associations into parasequences provides the basis for testing and predicting the best development of optimal reservoir facies within a sequence-stratigraphic framework in the Eagle Ford Shale.

The Middle Devonian Geneseo Formation and its lateral equivalents in the Northern Appalachian Basin are regarded as crucial secondary targets to the extensively explored Marcellus subgroup. High-resolution sedimentology, stratigraphy, and petrography have yielded differentiation of genetically related packages, comprised of distinct lithofacies with characteristic physical, biological, and chemical attributes. In addition, argon ion milling and nanoscale scanning electron microscopy of shale sections has shown that the pore structure of the Geneseo derives from pores defined by phyllosilicate frameworks, carbonate dissolution, and within organic matter. Intervals of silt-rich mudstones and muddy siltstones occur in multiple facies types and “interrupt” facies, reflecting background sedimentation. These deposits and their sedimentary features are interpreted as products of high-density fluvial discharge events.Pore morphology and distribution correlates with distinct mudstone lithofacies as a result of small-scale compositional and textural characteristics. Phyllosilicate framework pores are small triangular openings (100-1500 nm wide) and are the dominant pore type observed in hyperpycnites. Organic matter porosity is common (10-500 nm pore size) and dominates the organic-rich facies that represents “background” sedimentation with high organic content. Carbonate dissolution pores (50-500 nm wide) are observed in calcareous intervals and reflect partial dissolution of carbonate grains during catagenetic formation of carboxylic/phenolic acids.

Using conventional core samples from the Upper Devonian–Mississippian Bakken Formation, Williston Basin, North Dakota, U.S.A., and the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation, Denver Basin, Colorado, U.S.A., as examples, the pore systems and the associated organic matter habit common in these source rocks and associated unconventional tight oil reservoirs are characterized. A workflow that distinguishes primary organic matter (kerogen) and secondary organic matter (bitumen and oil) based on their morphology, paragenesis, and general thermal history as interpreted from high-resolution scanning electron microscopy-based technologies is described in this chapter. In the description of this workflow, the quantitative image processing challenges of discriminating and quantifying pores and organic matter types are reviewed.

The current strong motivation to explore those traces of the archaeological and prehistoric human heritage that presently lie submerged on the continental shelf requires large-scale and precise underwater mapping. One Mediterranean sector deserving particular attention is the Sicily Channel, which is critical for a better understanding of the Africa–Europe migratory routes and early civilization patterns due to its large expanses of shallow seabed that were partially or totally exposed at times of lower relative sea levels. We have focused our attention on the submerged continental margin of the Maltese archipelago. A detailed bathymetric map is here presented, and is discussed in terms of features interpretable as former subaerial landforms and inundated by sea-level rise following the Last Glacial Maximum lowstand at approximately –130 m. Our datasets combine multibeam surveys, Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR)-derived digital terrain models (DTMs), Chirp sub-bottom profiler records and bottom samples acquired between 2009 and 2012. The main features identified are former river incisions, alluvial plains, karst landscapes (sinkholes, limestone plateaus), slide deposits and palaeoshorelines. This study provides a detailed topographical reconstruction of the palaeolandscape of this key region that is relevant to any future archaeological exploration of the Maltese offshore area.

Many volcanoes around the world are poorly monitored and new eruptions increase the need for rapid ground-based monitoring, which is not always available in a timely manner. Initial observations therefore are commonly provided by orbital remote sensing instruments at different temporal, spatial and wavelength scales. Even at well-monitored volcanoes, satellite data still play an important role. The ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission Radiometer) orbital sensor provides moderately high spatial resolution images in multiple wavelength regions; however, because ASTER is a scheduled instrument, the data are not acquired over specific targets every orbit. Therefore, in an attempt to improve the temporal frequency of ASTER specifically for volcano observations and to have the images integrate synergistically with high temporal resolution data, the Urgent Request Protocol (URP) system was developed in 2004. Now integrated with both the AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) hotspot monitoring programmes, the URP acquires an average of 24 volcanic datasets every month and planned improvements will allow this number to increase in the future. New URP data are sent directly to investigators responding to the ongoing eruption, and the large archive is also being used for retrospective science and operational studies for future instruments. The URP Program has been very successful over the past decade and will continue until at least 2017 or as long as the ASTER sensor is operational. Several volcanic science examples are given here that highlight the various stages of the URP development. However, not all are strictly focused on effusive eruptions. Rather, these examples were chosen to demonstrate the wide range of applications, as well as the general usefulness of the higher resolution, multispectral data of ASTER.

Developments in spaceborne Earth Observation (EO) sensor technology over the last decade, combined with well-tested physical models and multispectral data-processing techniques developed from the early 1980s, have paved the way to the global monitoring of volcanoes by sensors of metric, decametric, kilometric and multi-kilometric spatial resolution. Such variable geometries provide for revisit intervals ranging from about monthly – at high-spatial resolution in Low-Earth Orbit – to less than 5 min – at low-spatial resolution, from geostationary platforms. There are currently about 20 spacecrafts available for carrying out 24/7 quantitative observations of volcanic unrest, at all resolutions and as close as possible to real-time. We show some successful examples of synergetic EO on volcanoes on three continents from 10 different payloads, automatically processed with three, end-to-end unsupervised procedures, on eight major eruptions and a lava lake between 2006 and 2014.

The IGUANES cruise took place in May 2013 on the R/V L’Atalante along the Demerara passive transform margin off French Guiana and Surinam. Seismic, multibeam and chirp acquisitions were made. Piston cores were collected for pore geochemistry and sedimentology. A mooring was deployed on the sea-bottom for 10 months (temperature, salinity, turbidity and current measurements). This new dataset highlights the lateral variability of the 350 km-long Guiana–Surinam transform margin due to the presence of a releasing bend between two transform segments. The adjacent Demerara Plateau is affected by a 350 km-long giant slide complex. This complex initiated in Cretaceous times and was regularly reactivated until recent times. Since the Miocene, contourite processes seem to be active due to the onset of the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) bottom current. A main NADW water vein flows towards SE, eroding slide headscarps and allowing the deposition of contourite drifts. Numerous depressions looking like comet tails or comet scours record this flow. Some of those were interpreted before the cruise as active pockmarks. Pore geochemistry and core analysis do not show any evidence of present-day gas seepage.

Based on relationships among volcanic-plutonic arc rocks, high-pressure–low-temperature (HP-LT) metamafic rocks, westward relative migration of the Klamath Mountains salient, and locations of the Mariposa-Galice, Great Valley Group, and Franciscan depositional basins, the following geologic evolution is inferred for the northern California continental edge: (1) By ca. 175 Ma, onset of transpressive plate underflow generated an Andean-type Klamath-Sierran arc along the margin. At ca. 165 Ma and continuing to ca. 150–140 Ma, erosion supplied volcanogenic debris to proximal Mariposa-Galice ± Myrtle overlap strata. (2) Oceanic crustal rocks were metamorphosed under HP-LT conditions in an inboard, east-inclined subduction zone from ca. 165 to 150 Ma. Most such mafic rocks remained stored at depth, and HP-LT tectonic blocks only returned surfaceward during the Late Cretaceous, chiefly entrained in circulating, buoyant Franciscan mud-matrix mélange. (3) At end-of-Jurassic time, before onset of paired Franciscan and Great Valley Group + Hornbrook deposition, the Klamath salient was deformed and displaced ∼100–200 km westward relative to the Sierran arc. (4) After this ca. 140 Ma seaward step-out of the Farallon–North American convergent plate junction—stranding preexisting oceanic crust on the south as the Coast Range ophiolite—terrigenous debris began to arrive at the Franciscan trench and intervening Great Valley forearc. Voluminous sedimentation and accretion of Franciscan Eastern + Central belt and Great Valley Group coeval detritus took place during paroxysmal igneous activity and rapid, nearly orthogonal plate convergence at ca. 125–80 Ma. (5) Sierran arc volcanism-plutonism ceased by ca. 80 Ma in northern California, signaling a transition to shallow, nearly subhorizontal eastward plate underflow attending Laramide orogeny far to the east. (6) Paleogene–Lower Miocene Franciscan Coastal belt sedimentary strata were deposited in a tectonic realm nearly unaffected by HP-LT subduction. (7) Grenville-age detrital zircons apparently are absent from the post–120 Ma Franciscan section. Detritus from the Pacific Northwest is not present in the Central belt sandstones, whereas zircons from the Idaho Batholith, the Challis volcanics, and the Cascade Range appear in progressively younger Paleogene–Lower Miocene Coastal belt sediments. This trend suggests the possible gradual NW dextral offset of Franciscan trench deposits of up to ∼1600 km relative to the autochthonous Great Valley Group forearc and basement terranes of the American Southwest.

The impact of geometric uncertainty on across-fault flow behaviour at the scale of individual intra-reservoir faults is investigated in this study. A high resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of a faulted outcrop is used to construct an outcrop-scale geocellular grid capturing high-resolution fault geometries (5 m scale). Seismic forward modelling of this grid allows generation of a 3D synthetic seismic cube, which reveals the corresponding seismically resolvable fault geometries (12.5 m scale). Construction of a second geocellular model, based upon the seismically resolvable fault geometries, allows comparison with the original outcrop geometries. Running fluid flow simulations across both models enables us to assess quantitatively the impact of outcrop resolution v. seismic resolution fault geometries upon across-fault flow. The results suggest that seismically resolvable fault geometries significantly underestimate the area of across-fault juxtaposition relative to realistic fault geometries. In turn this leads to overestimates in the sealing ability of faults, and inaccurate calculation of fault plane properties such as transmissibility multipliers (TMs).

The Aftershock Imaging with Dense Arrays (AIDA) project recorded 12 days of high-density seismic array data following the 23 August 2011 Mineral, Virginia (USA), earthquake. AIDA utilized short-period, vertical-component seismographs at 201 locations to record closely spaced data that would reduce spatial aliasing. Interstation correlation enabled a detection threshold between magnitude −1.5 and −2. A joint hypocenter and velocity inversion algorithm was applied to compressional and shear wave arrival times for 300 of the larger events. Traveltime misfits were minimized using a constant velocity of Vp = 6.2–6.25 and Vs = 3.61–3.63. Hypocenter location error estimates for this range of velocities are ~100 m. Little to no three-dimensional variation exists in the seismic velocity of the upper crust, consistent with the aftershock zone being within a single crystalline rock terrane. The hypocenter locations define a 1–2-km-wide cloud with a strike of ~029° and dip of ~53°E, consistent with the focal mechanism of the main shock. The cloud bends ~5° along strike and has a slightly shallower dip angle below ~6 km depth, indicating a broad, complex fault zone with a slightly concave shape. This study shows that seismic arrays comparable to those used in controlled-source seismology can be successfully applied to aftershock sequences, and that dense array data can produce high-resolution information about earthquake rupture zones.

Stratal stacking patterns and platform distribution within the Devonian Beaverhill Lake Sequence of northern Alberta were influenced by several factors, those that were primarily external (e.g., climate change, trade-wind flow, terrigenous mud supply) and those that were internal (e.g., carbonate factory, water circulation, basin topography). Within the first-rank Beaverhill Lake Sequence, our study revealed two second-rank (1,2) and 10 third-rank (A-J) transgressive-regressive (T-R) sequences within the Beaverhill Lake Sequence, many of which were progradational and basin-filling, even during a relative rise in sea level. Furthermore, our study reveals three distinct phases of sedimentation during the depositional interval.The first phase of sedimentation occurred during T-R sequence A. During the initial sea-level rise of sequence A, the Peace River Arch fringing platform and Hay River platform initiated along the western margin of the study area. Platforms aggraded, but they did not prograde significantly, likely because detrital carbonate sediment was transported by surface currents into the inner platform and because of the proximity of the platforms to a limited but adequate supply of nutrients. The condensed limestone across the shallow Waterways Subbasin at the end of sequence A was produced by a local carbonate factory within or near the base of the photic zone, but under nutrient-starved conditions. Slope environments near the platforms contained a mixture of locally produced carbonate sediment and transported allochems. Therefore, this first phase of sedimentation during the Beaverhill Lake Sequence contains circulation-and nutrient-constrained carbonate platforms on the western side of the study area and limited carbonate accumulation within a shallow basin. Mixing of sediments between the two environments occurred only within slope deposits.The second phase of sedimentation occurred during the clinoformal infilling of the Waterways Subbasin with the progradation of the carbonate-siliciclastic Eastern Platform, the drowning and burial of the Hay River platform, and the back stepping of the Peace River Arch fringing platform. Lithofacies and faunas found on the Eastern Platform generally grade into deeper-water components, often by the increase in argillaceous sediment in carbonate beds and the loss of shallow-water organisms. Basinal sediments are mainly argillaceous in the thin toes of the clinoforms in the Waterways Subbasin. Evidence of sediment transport by gravity flow or other mechanisms from the Eastern Platform down the slope and into the basin is rare in core and restricted to occasional tempestite-like beds and individual allochems derived from shallow-water organisms. Although the transport of micrite basinward by water currents is likely to have occurred, an in situ fauna inhabited at least the upper portion of the slope environment and produced carbonate sediment.The third and final phase of sedimentation in the Beaverhill Lake Sequence was generally aggradational, with a much-reduced difference in topography between the Eastern Platform and the Waterways Subbasin. Lithofacies and faunas found on the Eastern Platform can be traced into the Waterways Subbasin. Faunas change little, but lithofacies tend to become more argillaceous throughout the study area. The definition of the Eastern Platform margin can only be seen in cross section where carbonates thin abruptly westward.

Remote sensing is an important option for finding interesting research problems in remote regions of the world, but existing freely available imagery, such as Landsat imagery, has limitations in terms of resolution. In some remote areas, recently available high-resolution imagery in Google Earth has the potential to revolutionize the kind of research that can be initiated and carried out. This paper details an example from a remote region of Egypt's Western Desert. Work by others on Eocene carbonates of the Drunka and El Rufuf Formations has focused on lithologic and paleontologic aspects, and previous mapping of the contact between the two formations in the Western Desert using early Landsat imagery (69 m/pixel) shows a simple contact. High-resolution imagery in Google Earth (~1 m/pixel) shows, however, that the contact is both folded and faulted. We used high-resolution images in Google Earth to define mappable subunits and to do detailed mapping of folds and faults in a 400 km2 study area. Subsequent field work confirmed the accuracy of lithologic and structural mapping in Google Earth, targeted critical areas for field data collection, and provided ground truth for extending mapping into remote areas. Freely available, high-resolution satellite imagery in Google Earth not only allows identification of research questions but is also critical in pre–field work mapping, targeting sites for field work, and disseminating research results in areas of the world where field work is difficult, funding is poor, and access to dissemination of research results outside the region is limited.

High-resolution topography data acquired with lidar (light detection and ranging) technology are revolutionizing the way we study Earth surface processes. These data permit analysis of the mechanisms that drive landscape evolution at resolutions not previously possible yet essential for their appropriate representation. Unfortunately, the volume of data produced by the technology, software requirements, and a steep learning curve are barriers to lidar utilization. To encourage access to these data we use Keyhole Markup Language (KML) and Google Earth to deliver lidar-derived visualizations of these data for research and educational purposes. Display of full-resolution images derived from lidar in the Google Earth virtual globe is a powerful way to view and explore these data. Through region-dependent network linked KML (a.k.a., super-overlay), users are able to access lidar-derived imagery stored on a remote server from within Google Earth. This method provides seamless, Internet-based access to imagery through the simple download of a small KML-format file from the OpenTopography Facility portal. Lidar-derived imagery in Google Earth is the most popular product available via OpenTopography and has greatly enhanced the usability and thus impact of these data. Users ranging from scientists to K–12 educators have downloaded KML files ~12,000 times during the first eight months of 2011. The overwhelming usage of these data products demonstrates the impact of this simple yet novel approach for delivering easy to use lidar data visualizations to Earth scientists, students, and the general public.

Upper Jurassic sandstones deposited in a shallow-marine deltaic setting in the Piper Field of the Outer Moray Firth area, North Sea, show high-frequency fluctuations in apatite:tourmaline ratios that appear to be related to sea-level change. Because apatite and tourmaline are both stable during burial diagenesis and have similar hydraulic behavior, variations in the apatite:tourmaline ratio indicate either differences in sediment provenance or in the extent of floodplain weathering, apatite being unstable during weathering. Other provenance-sensitive heavy mineral ratios (rutile:zircon, monazite:zircon, chrome spinel:zircon) and mineral-chemical data from detrital garnet assemblages show that sandstones with high apatite:tourmaline have the same provenance as sandstones with low apatite:tourmaline. Fluctuations in apatite:tourmaline ratios are therefore attributed to the extent of weathering during floodplain residence prior to the sediment entering the marine system. Sedimentological data indicate that sandstones with high apatite:tourmaline were deposited during sea-level highstands, whereas sandstones with low apatite:tourmaline were deposited during lowstands. The implication of this observation is that during sea-level lowstands, sediment undergoes more prolonged floodplain residence than during highstands, apparently the direct result of the increase in areal extent of the floodplain. The fluctuations in apatite:tourmaline offer an opportunity for high-resolution correlation in the Piper Field. If similar patterns become apparent in other areas, variations in apatite:tourmaline ratios could also provide a basis for identifying highstand and lowstand events, and help establish whether deep-water submarine fan sandstones were deposited during highstands or lowstands.

We compared the morphology of gully sedimentary fans on Svalbard as possible analogs to gullies on Mars in order to constrain whether fluvial and/or debris-flow processes are predominantly responsible for the formation of Martian gullies. Our analysis is based on high-resolution imagery (High Resolution Stereo Camera [HRSC-AX], ~20 cm/pixel) acquired through a flight campaign in summer 2008 and ground truth during two expeditions in the summers of 2008 and 2009 in Svalbard, compared to high-resolution satellite imagery (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment [HiRISE], ~25 cm/pixel) from Mars. On Svalbard, fluvial and debris-flow processes are evident in the formation of gullies, but the morphological characteristics clearly show that the transport and sedimentation of eroded material are predominated by debris flows. Most investigated gullies on Mars lack clear evidence for debris-flow processes. The Martian gully fan morphology is more consistent with the deposition of small overlapping fans by multiple fluvial flow events. Clear evidence for debris flows on Mars was only found in one new location, in addition to a few previously published examples. The occurrence of debris-flow processes in the formation of Martian gullies seems to be rare and locally limited. If predominantly fluvial processes caused the formation of gullies on Mars, then large amounts of water would have been required for their formation because of the relatively low sediment supply in stream and/or hyperconcentrated flows. Repeated seasonal or episodic snow deposition and melting during periods of higher obliquity in the recent past on Mars can best explain the formation of the gullies.

Seismic-related damages of archaeological structures play an important role in increasing our knowledge about the timing and magnitudes of historical earthquakes. Although quantitative data should form the basis of objective archaeoseismological methods, most studies still do not rely on such methods. Ground-based LIDAR (light detection and ranging) is a promising, rather new, scanning technology that determines spatial position of an object or surface and provides high-resolution three-dimensional (3-D) digital data. Using LIDAR, we mapped the damage and overall attitude of a Roman theater in the ancient Lycian city of Pinara (500 B.C.–A.D. 900), located at a faulted margin of the Eşen Basin (SW Turkey). An average 0.81°NW tilt of the 20 seating rows could be computed from the LIDAR data. Conventional compass readings of these seating rows did not provide the same results because errors involved with this method are generally >2°. The tilt direction appears perpendicular to the NE-trending basin-margin fault, suggesting that fault-block rotation is the most likely mechanism to have induced the systematic tilt of the theater. The estimated 4 m offset on this normal fault should be seen as a rough estimate of the total displacement and was likely produced by several (more than one) earthquakes with magnitudes of M = 6–6.8. This is consistent with historical records that mention several large earthquakes during the Roman period.