Abstract —This paper presents results of experimental studies of a thermal field in the barrel of a shut-in (no fluid movement in the casing) well in relation to determining a behind-the-casing upward flow using the method of active thermometry. The studies are carried out using the physical model of a well that is a vertically located steel pipe with a system of externally attached copper tubes simulating a behind-the-casing flow. The pipe contains a local heating section, above which a temperature probe is located to record thermal disturbance from the heating section. The effect of free convection in a fluid on the temperature field in the pipe during and after heating is described. It is revealed that there are high-frequency temperature oscillations on sensors that record the temperature of the inner surface (wall) of the pipe and fluid above the heating area, whose value reaches higher than 2 °C and decreases when the distance to the heating region becomes longer. There is an empirical relationship that relates the time of arrival of the temperature disturbance front associated with free convection and the distance to the pipe heating region. Azimuthal temperature distribution curves on the inner wall of the pipe above the heating section are constructed in the absence and presence of a behind-the-casing flow. Qualitative criteria have been obtained indicating the presence of an azimuthally localized behind-the-casing flow (sector flow) of fluid based on the azimuthal temperature distribution analysis.

Abstract ––We carried out a detailed geological, geochronological, geochemical, and isotope study of diorites from a dike located in the central part of the Baikal uplift of the Siberian craton. The geochemical and isotope data obtained for diorites of the studied intrusion were compared with coeval mafic and intermediate igneous rocks of the southern part of the Siberian craton. The U–Pb (ID-TIMS) baddeleyite age of 1862 ± 7 Ma has been estimated for diorite from a dike located in the area of the Onguren Village. The obtained data are the first reliable age determination for the Paleoproterozoic mafic and intermediate igneous rocks of the Baikal uplift, which are part of the South Siberian postcollisional magmatic belt. The dike is of NE strike. The dike rocks correspond in chemical composition to diorites and are highly differentiated varieties (mg# = 36.5–37.4). There are no significant variations in the composition of diorites in the marginal and central parts of the dike. The rocks are characterized by low contents of TiO2, P2O5, and Nb, high contents of Th, Zr, Ba, and LREE, and low negative values of εNd(T) (–5.9 to –6.2). We assume that the diorites formed from the enriched subcontinental lithospheric mantle. The obtained geochemical and isotope data show similar negative values of εNd(T) from –4.3 to –11.6 for most of Paleoproterozoic mafic and intermediate igneous rocks of the South Siberian postcollisional magmatic belt within the Aldan Shield, the Baikal uplift, and the Irkut block of the Sharyzhalgai uplift. These rocks correspond in geochemical features to rocks resulted from the melting of subduction-modified lithospheric mantle sources in the postcollisional extension setting at the final Paleoproterozoic stage of formation of the Siberian craton.

Abstract —This paper presents a solution to the problem of searching for cavernous fractured zones and the zones that determine reservoir heterogeneity in Famennian deposits of one of the licensed sections of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The use of an integrated approach to the study of azimuthal horizontal-transverse isotropy of rocks using wellbore data and modern methods for processing areal seismic data for carbonate deposits associated with the development of organogenic structures is described. The results of using the full-azimuth angular migration technology are obtained. The introduction of high-tech approaches at the research site using full-azimuth seismic data processing, spectral decomposition, AVA/AVAZ inversion, and complex analysis of dynamic properties of the wave field in conjunction with well logging and core data makes it possible to identify the distorted zones of the carbonate reservoir associated with changes in the characteristics of the rock skeleton, the presence of a porous-cavernous-fracture void space and lithological replacement zones, as well as secondary processes, thereby reducing the risks associated with subsequent production drilling.

Abstract ––The objects of study were bitumens of sedimentary rocks and paraffin oils of the Middle Devonian–lower Frasnian terrigenous complex of the Timan–Pechora basin. We studied the composition of biomarker hydrocarbons and the carbon isotope composition of individual n-alkanes of bitumens from the cores of the wells of the Omra–Lyzha saddle. The results were compared with similar data on the composition of paraffin oils from the south of the Pechora–Kozhva megaswell. The generation potential and thermal maturity of organic matter were studied by the Rock-Eval pyrolysis method. The maturity of organic matter in the rocks of the studied complex in the Omra–Lyzha saddle and the Pechora–Kozhva megaswell corresponds to the oil window. Data on the carbon isotopy of n-alkanes and on the composition of biomarker hydrocarbons do not contradict the possible genetic relationship between paraffin oils and the organic matter of the host sedimentary complex. Both the studied paraffin oils and the rock bitumens contain early eluting rearranged hopanes atypical of oils of other petroliferous complexes and show high contents of n-alkanes relative to iso-alkanes and polycyclic biomarkers. The content of 13C tends to decrease with an increase in the number of carbon atoms in the n-alkane molecule in both oils and bitumen rocks.

Abstract —Polymigmatites in the Early Proterozoic metamorphic complex of the Northern Ladoga area trace the evolution of thermodynamic conditions during anatexis. The P–T conditions inferred for anatectic leucosome correspond to the onset of partial melting under granulite facies conditions of 5.5–6.2 kbar and 720–810 °C. After the peak of metamorphism, pressure and temperature show a coupled decrease to 4 kbar and ~550 °C, respectively. The latest granitic veins were intruded into metamorphic rocks during an event of brittle deformation. The P–T trend correlates with changes in migmatitic mineral assemblages and in chemistry of minerals. Newly formed leucocratic material changed from plagiogranitic to granitic composition when melting involved plagiogneiss but melt derived from Al-rich metapelite remained granitic. The analyzed leucosomes and granitic veins originated by multistage melting, under P–T conditions changing from granulite to amphibolite facies, between 1875 and 1865 Ma. Judging by their ages, the leucosome and granitic vein bodies from the Lakhdenpokhia and Priozersky zones of the area differed in the total duration of crystallization. Therefore, a single thermal event involving different lithologies can produce intrusions of different ages.

Abstract ––Carbonaceous (shungite) rocks have high contents of trace elements, which can get to the environment through natural weathering. Shungite rocks are a group of Precambrian carbonaceous rocks of volcanic and sedimentary genesis in Karelia. In this work we present results of studying the mineral and geochemical compositions of shungite rocks at their outcrops on the shoreline of Lake Onega. The interaction of the Onega waters with shungite rocks led to: (1) the removal of most elements, except for K, Mn, Ba, and Mg, whose contents in the rocks increased; (2) the formation of an assemblage of secondary minerals, such as hematite, jarosite, goethite, chalcocite, anglesite, brookite, and Mn hydroxides. Based on the results obtained, we propose a model of the transformation of high-carbon (shungite) rocks by the Onega waters.

Abstract —This work is devoted to the development of the engineering seismic monitoring method created in Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GS RAS). In previous years, the “method of standing waves” was created and put into practice. It helps to separate natural oscillation modes of buildings and other engineering structures. The natural oscillations of hundreds of various objects (buildings, bridges, dams, etc.) had been studied and identified. We assumed that the physical condition of studied constructions could be controlled during exploitation by measuring the changes of natural oscillation frequencies. That would help to identify the appearance of defects in constructions, to prevent the risk of their destruction. However, it turned out that not everything is that simple: changes in frequency values are logically affected by changes in the environment around the studied objects. This article provides examples of these relations, influence of changes in environmental temperature, mass of objects and precipitation on the frequencies of natural oscillations.

Abstract —The study of minerals, melt inclusions, as well as natural glasses showed that two different melts contributed to the formation of ignimbrites of the Khangar Volcano. The first, providing the information on melt inclusions in plagioclase and quartz phenocrysts, represents the state of magma in a deep source. The other type of melt is responsible for the formation of glasses and microcrystals of feldspars in fiamme. Experimental and analytical studies of melt inclusions showed that crystallization of most plagioclase and quartz phenocrysts from ignimbrites of the Khangar Volcano occurred at temperatures of 840–960 °C and pressures up to 1.1 kbar, from the melt with water contents up to 3.23 wt.%, under the conditions of magma chamber. The presence of syngenetic primary melt and fluid inclusions in plagioclase and quartz phenocrysts from ignimbrites of the Khangar Volcano indicates phase separation (“boiling”) of the melt with mass formation of СО2 microbubbles in magma. The other type of melt is secondary relative to magmatic systems of the Khangar Volcano and is formed by sintering and melting of tuffogenic volcanoclastic material. This melt contributed to the formation of fiamme in the examined ignimbrites. Based on the study of glasses and microcrystals of feldspars in fiamme, it was found that crystallization of oligoclase occurred at temperatures of 770–840 °C in the melt between the spherules (with water content up to 2.91 wt.%). Sanidine crystals grew over spherules at lower temperatures, 680–760 °C.