ALBERT

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉At the 2015 United Nations International Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21), 197 national parties committed to limit global warming to well below 2°C. But current plans and pace of progress are still far from sufficient to achieve this objective. Here we review the role that geoscience and the subsurface could play in decarbonizing electricity production, industry, transport and heating to meet UK and international climate change targets, based on contributions to the 2019 Bryan Lovell meeting held at the Geological Society of London. Technologies discussed at the meeting involved decarbonization of electricity production via renewable sources of power generation, substitution of domestic heating using geothermal energy, use of carbon capture and storage (CCS), and more ambitious technologies such as bioenergy and carbon capture and storage (BECCS) that target negative emissions. It was noted also that growth in renewable energy supply will lead to increased demand for geological materials to sustain the electrification of the vehicle fleet and other low-carbon technologies. The overall conclusion reached at the 2019 Bryan Lovell meeting was that geoscience is critical to decarbonization, but that the geoscience community must influence decision-makers so that the value of the subsurface to decarbonization is understood.〈/span〉

Description: Though climate models exhibit broadly similar agreement on key long-term trends, they have significant temporal and spatial differences due to inter-model variability. Such variability should be considered when using climate models to project the future marine Arctic. Here we present multiple scenarios of 21 st -century Arctic marine access as driven by sea ice output from 10 CMIP5 models known to represent well the historical trend and climatology of Arctic sea ice. Optimal vessel transits from North America and Europe to the Bering Strait are estimated for two periods representing early-century (2011–2035) and mid-century (2036–2060) conditions under two forcing scenarios (RCP 4.5/8.5), assuming Polar Class 6 and open-water vessels with medium and no ice-breaking capability, respectively. Results illustrate that projected shipping viability of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and Northwest Passage (NWP) depends critically on model choice. The eastern Arctic will remain the most reliably accessible marine space for trans-Arctic shipping by mid-century, while outcomes for the NWP are particularly model-dependent. Omitting three models (GFDL-CM3, MIROC-ESM-CHEM, MPI-ESM-MR), our results would indicate minimal NWP potential even for routes from North America. Furthermore, the relative importance of the NSR will diminish over time as the number of viable central Arctic routes increases gradually toward mid-century. Compared to vessel class, climate forcing plays a minor role. These findings reveal the importance of model choice in devising projections for strategic planning by governments, environmental agencies, and the global maritime industry.

Description: The Carboniferous Bowland Shale of northern England has drawn considerable attention because it has been estimated to have 1329 trillion cubic feet hydrocarbons in-place (gas and liquids) resource potential (Andrews 2013). Here we report on the oil and gas generation characteristics of three selected Bowland Shale whole-rock samples taken from cores and their respective kerogen concentrates. Compositional kinetics and phase properties of the primary and secondary fluids were calculated through the PhaseKinetics and GOR-Fit approaches and PVT modelling software. The three Bowland Shale samples contain immature, marine type II kerogen. Pyrolysate compositions imply primary generation of paraffinic–naphthenic–aromatic (PNA) oil with low contents of wax and sulphur. Bulk kinetic parameters have many similarities to those of productive American Palaeozoic marine shale plays. The secondary gas generation potential of Bowland Shale is greater than the primary gas potential although it requires a 10 kcal mol –1 higher activation energy to achieve peak production. Primary oil, primary gas and secondary gas reach their maximum generation at 137, 150 and 200°C respectively for a 3°C Ma –1 heating rate. Different driving forces of expulsion including the generation of hydrocarbon and overpressure caused by phase separation during sequential periods of subsidence and uplift could be inferred.

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉At the 2015 United Nations international climate change conference in Paris (COP21), 197 national parties committed to limit global warming to well below 2°C. But current plans and pace of progress are still far from sufficient to achieve this objective. Here we review the role that geoscience and the subsurface could play in decarbonising electricity production, industry, transport, and heating, to meet UK and international climate change targets, based on contributions to the 2019 Bryan Lovell meeting held at the Geological Society of London. Technologies discussed at the meeting involved decarbonisation of electricity production via renewable sources of power generation, substitution of domestic heating using geothermal energy, use of carbon capture and storage (CCS), and more ambitious technologies such as bioenergy and carbon capture and storage (BECCS) that target negative emissions. It was noted also that growth in renewable energy supply will lead to increased demand for geological materials to sustain the electrification of the vehicle fleet and other low-carbon technologies. The overall conclusion reached at the 2019 Bryan Lovell meeting was that geoscience is critical to decarbonisation, but that the geoscience community must influence decision makers so that the value of the subsurface to decarbonisation is understood.〈/span〉

Description: 〈p〉This review of the role of the mantle lithosphere in plate tectonic processes collates a wide range of recent studies from seismology and numerical modelling. A continually growing catalogue of deep geophysical imaging has illuminated the mantle lithosphere and generated new interpretations of how the lithosphere evolves. We review current ideas about the role of continental mantle lithosphere in plate tectonic processes. Evidence seems to be growing that scarring in the continental mantle lithosphere is ubiquitous, which implies a reassessment of the widely held view that it is the inheritance of crustal structure only (rather than the lithosphere as a whole) that is most important in the conventional theory of plate tectonics (e.g. the Wilson cycle). Recent studies have interpreted mantle lithosphere heterogeneities to be pre-existing structures and, as such, linked to the Wilson cycle and inheritance. We consider the current fundamental questions in the role of the mantle lithosphere in causing tectonic deformation, reviewing recent results and highlighting the potential of the deep lithosphere in infiltrating every aspect of plate tectonics processes.〈/p〉

Description: The Carboniferous Bowland Shale of northern England has drawn considerable attention because it has been estimated to have 1329 trillion cubic feet hydrocarbons in-place (gas and liquids) resource potential (Andrews 2013). Here we report on the oil and gas generation characteristics of three selected Bowland Shale whole-rock samples taken from cores and their respective kerogen concentrates. Compositional kinetics and phase properties of the primary and secondary fluids were calculated through the PhaseKinetics and GOR-Fit approaches and PVT modelling software. The three Bowland Shale samples contain immature, marine type II kerogen. Pyrolysate compositions imply primary generation of paraffinic–naphthenic–aromatic (PNA) oil with low contents of wax and sulphur. Bulk kinetic parameters have many similarities to those of productive American Palaeozoic marine shale plays. The secondary gas generation potential of Bowland Shale is greater than the primary gas potential although it requires a 10 kcal mol –1 higher activation energy to achieve peak production. Primary oil, primary gas and secondary gas reach their maximum generation at 137, 150 and 200°C respectively for a 3°C Ma –1 heating rate. Different driving forces of expulsion including the generation of hydrocarbon and overpressure caused by phase separation during sequential periods of subsidence and uplift could be inferred.

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉Abstract〈/div〉Elevated topography is evident across the continental margins of the Atlantic. The Cumberland Peninsula, Baffin Island, formed as the result of rifting along the Labrador-Baffin margins in the late Mesozoic and is dominated by low relief high elevation topography. Apatite fission track (AFT) analysis of the landscape previously concluded that the area has experienced a differential protracted cooling regime since the Devonian; however, defined periods of cooling and the direct causes of exhumation were unresolved. This work combines the original AFT data with 98 apatite new (U-Th)/He ages from 16 samples and applies the newly developed ‘broken crystals’ technique to provide a greater number of thermal constraints for thermal history modelling to better constrain the topographic evolution. The spatial distribution of AFT and AHe ages implies exhumation has been significant toward the SE (Labrador) coastline, while results of thermal modelling outline three notable periods of cooling in the pre-rift (460 Ma – 200 Ma), from syn-rift to present (120 Ma – 0 Ma) and within post-rift (30 Ma – 0 Ma) stages. Pre-rift cooling is interpreted as the result of exhumation of Laurentia, syn-rift cooling as the result of rift flank uplift to the SE and differential erosion of landscape, while the final post-rift period is likely an artefact of the modelling process. These results suggest the source of the Cumberland Peninsula's modern-day elevated topography is uplift during rifting in the Cretaceous and the isostatic compensation following continuous Mesozoic and Cenozoic differential erosion. This work highlights the how interaction of rift tectonics and isostasy can be the principal source for modern elevated continental margins, while also providing insight into the pre-rift exhumational history of central Laurentia.〈strong〉Supplementary material:〈/strong〉〈a href="https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4528409"〉https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4528409〈/a〉〈/span〉