Iranian Journal of Earth Sciences
Volume:14 Issue: 2, Apr 2022

This study presents a critical historical review of shale gas exploration and development in China from 2000 to 2020. It reviews achievements in theoretical and technological understandings by summarizing successful experiences in commercial development and prospects for future development. The analytical review implies that shale gas has become an emerging unconventional resource of energy, gaining much importance as a substitution over the past two decades with the use of cutting-edge technology. The developing proportion of natural gas in China's energy utilization system and the success of its commercial potential, along with significant progress in the prospective evaluation and pilot testing, indicates that shale gas is likely to be the most reliable future source of energy in China. The production of shale gas in the Sichuan Basin and its environs has relied on technological advancements in six areas: comprehensive geological evaluation; development optimization; fast drilling of horizontal wells; volume fracturing of horizontal wells; factory-like operation, and efficient and clean production. Further, the accomplishment of economic development of shale gas can be summarized from four key factors: (a) optimized horizontal section targets; (b) supporting technologies for effective and fast drilling and volume fracturing stimulation; (c) geological and engineering integration; (d) advanced organization and management. Lastly, with an anticipated 30 to 60 billion m3 yearly commercial output in China indicates that shale gas has an immense usage potential to support future natural gas production growth. The given analytical, historical review is significantly helpful for stakeholders to formulate policies concerning the exploration industry.

Bali Island has experienced more than 6 significant earthquakes (magnitude > 6) since 1815, which caused extensive damage to buildings and casualties. The microtremor data analysis in the building of Indonesian meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG) Region III Denpasar aims to reduce the risk of building damage and casualties due to the earthquake. The analysis was conducted by measuring microtremor and processing the data to obtain the natural frequency of the soil (f0s HVSR) and building (f0b HVSR), resonance, soil (Kg), and building vulnerability index (Kb) so that the safety of the building can be known in the event of an earthquake. The processing and analyzing results the characteristics of microtremor data get the f0b has a greater value than the f0s value so that the building is relatively safe from resonance. The resonance value of the building with the ground has an (R) value of 6.67% - 13.3%, with an average resonance value of 8.89% which is included in the medium resonance. The location of the building is in an area with a Kg of 8.20 – 10.81, which is included in the category of low to moderate soil vulnerability index, and the Kb has a value of 0.4827x10-6 – 7.9771x10-6, with the first floor having an index highest vulnerability. The f0s, f0b, R, Kg, and Kb show that the building is in the safe category in the event of an earthquake.

The 11th August 2012 Ahar-Varzaghan earthquake doublet Mw 6.4 and 6.2 occurred near the city of Ahar, northwest Iran, in a region where there was no major mapped fault or any well-documented historical seismicity. To investigate the active tectonics and the state of pre and post-seismic stress distribution of the source region, we applied a combination of Coulomb stress change, b-value mapping, and the Fry method. Inferred Coulomb stress field reveals the E–W-striking (dextral) fault responsible for the first event and the NNE–SSW-striking (sinistral reverse) fault for the second event. The high slip stress-released regions in the obtained b-value map and the dominant anisotropies of aftershocks on regional stress-parallel cross-sections achieved by the Fry method, together with the distribution of aftershocks mechanisms, merely highlight the particular wedge-shaped structures namely the rhombic structures. The clockwise block rotation about the vertical axis under the right-lateral regional shear between the Kura basin to the north and the Central Iranian Block to the south and NW-oriented coeval shortening leads to the formation of rhombic structures. The results of this study improve our understanding of the kinematics of active deformation in NW Iran and have important implications for seismic hazard assessment of the region and potential future failure area.

This study is aimed to determine the Fe content in natural epidote from Varan area (Urumieh-Dokhtar Magmatic Arc, Iran) by using vibrational FTIR and Raman spectroscopy and EPMA analyses. Fe3+ concentration calculated from FTIR spectroscopic data is in the range of 0.96 to 1 apfu. The results are in complete agreement with EPMA data. The comparison between obtained Raman spectra of studied epidote grains and those from the RRUFF database suggest that epidote from Varan area is rich in Fe3+. High Fe3+ content might reflect moderate to high oxygen fugacity during the crystallization of epidote. This short paper demonstrates that the quantification of the Fe content in epidote via FTIR method is as good as EPMA, whereas the utilization of a low-cost Raman spectrometer  helps in quickly distinguishing between Fe-rich and Fe-poor epidote, which even could be useful in the case of field studies.

Engineering properties of soils and the 3D modeling of geological formations are widely used in site investigations and the preparation of geological hazard maps. The present study was conducted to characterize the engineering geological properties of the young surface alluviums of the Gorgan city (Iran) to a depth of 25 m and 3D modeling of their geology using boreholes data. To this end, after determining the location of the available boreholes on the aerial map of Gorgan, four hypothetical cross-sections were considered in the North-South and East-West directions. Then, the borehole data were marked on each section and their 2D geological cross-sections were manually drawn using correlation of the similar layers. In the next step, by expanding the information of these sections, a 3D geological model of Gorgan city was prepared using a conceptual-observational method. According to the evidence from the boreholes and field observations, the depositional environment of Gorgan alluviums was an alluvial fan created by the Ziarat River. Additionally, in terms of engineering characteristics of alluviums, the Gorgan subsurface soils can be divided into four engineering units, including upper clay unit (UCU), middle gravel unit (MGU), lower clay unit (LCU), and sandy unit (SU), which share the same engineering characteristics. Finally, the results of tests performed on samples from different depths were employed to calculate the engineering geological characteristics of each unit, including Atterberg limits, compressibility, undrained shear strength, and drained shear strength parameters.

The copper deposit of Zaveh lies in the SE of the city of Torbat-e-Heydarieh and in middle of the Khaf-Kashmar-Bardaskan Magmatic Belt (KKBMB) in the Khorasan-e-Razavi Province. The lithology of the area consist of Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks and Eocene volcanic units. Ore-formation is controlled by fault activity, representing vein-veinlet style E-W trending, formed within a conglomerate rich in quartz. Primary minerals are chalcopyrite, pyrite and arsenopyrite and secondary minerals contain malachite, azurite chalcocite, bornite, covellite, Cu sulphates, wad (Mn hydroxide), haematite, goethite, jarosite, limonite and (to a lesser extent) chrysocolla. The predominant alteration is silification which is associated with vein ore-formation. The volcanic units host propylitic, sericite, carbonate and silicification alterations. The ore-formation itself represents anomalies of Cu (2.1 % max), As (>1%), Sb (~105 gr/T), Pb (4371 gr/T) and Zn (1.1% max). Induced polarization and electrical resistivity (IP/RS) surveys unveil that the most chargeability anomaly corresponds to center of ore-forming vein and fault zone.The chargeability anomaly extends and amplifies with depth. The most amount of specific electrical resistance has been observed in the quartz-rich conglomerate. Interpretation of IP/RS data reveals that the chargeable source is extending in deeper beds (presumably sulphid ore-formation) which needs to be verified by boring operation. Geophysical surveys are significantly commensurate with field observations, ore-forming and geochemical data. Utilization Geophysical methods in different style of ore-deposits and interpretation of obtained information by means of geological, ore-forming and geochemistry data is considered to be a big step towards subterranean exploration and deposits modeling.