Adjustment of Gravity Observations towards a Microgal Precision

Gravity observations adjustment is studied having in view to take full advantage of the modern technology of gravity measurement. We present here results of a test performed with the mathematical model proposed by our group, on the adjustment of gravity observations carried out on network design. Additionally, considering the recent improvement on instrumental technology in gravimetry, that model was modified to take into account possible nonlinear local datum scale factors, in a 1900 mGal range network, and to check its significance for microgal precision measurements. The data set of the Brazilian Fundamental Gravity Network was used as case study. With about 1900 mGal gravity range and 11 control stations the Brazilian Fundamental Gravity Network (BFGN) was used as case study. It was established mainly with the use of LaCoste & Romberg, model G, gravimeters and new additional observations with Scintrex CG-5 gravimeters. The observables involved in the model are instrumental reading, calibration functions of the gravimeters used and the absolute gravity values at the control stations. Gravity values at the gravity stations and local datum scale factors for each gravimeter were determined by least square method. The results indicate good adaptation of the tested model to network adjustments. The gravity value in the IFE-172 control station, located in Santa Maria, had the largest estimated correction of ?10.4 μGal (1 μGal = 10 nm/s2), and the largest residual for an observed reading was estimated in 0.043 reading unit. The largest correction to the calibration functions was estimated in 6.9 × 10-6mGal/reading unit.

Advances in Assessment of Geothermal Resources of South America

Updated data for 1417 localities have been assembled for purposes of assessments of geothermal resources in South America. Analyses of these data sets have allowed improved estimates of geothermal resource base and recoverable resources for thirteen countries in the continent. The results obtained have also allowed identification of more than 20 crustal blocks where the resource base per unit area (referred to the accessible depth limit of 3 km) is in the range of 100 to 1000 Giga Joules, while the recoverable resources per unit area are in the range of 1 to 100 Giga Joules. Most of the high temperature resources occur within regions of recent tectonic activities in southern and central Chile, highlands regions in Bolivia, and several localities along the magmatic arc covering western Ecuador, central volcanic belt of Colombia and northern Venezuela. In addition, isolated pockets of geothermal resources have been identified along the eastern Andean belt of Peru. There are indications of occurrence of medium and low temperature geothermal resources at depths of 1 to 3 km in several regions in the eastern sectors of the continent, mainly in the northeastern and central parts of Brazil. In addition, considerable progress has been made in assessments of low temperature resources associated with deep fracture systems in Precambrian terrains. Progress has also been achieved in assessment of low temperature resources in deep aquifers of Paleozoic sedimentary basins. The results of such estimates are currently being considered for planning large-scale exploitation of the Guarani aquifer system, which spans over large areas of western Uruguay, northern Argentina and southern Brazil.

Possibility of Excitation of Magnetospheric Modes by Strong Geomagnetic Storms

In this paper, we advance the possibility of strong geomagnetic storms (called sometimes super geomagnetic storms) exciting oscillation modes of the magnetosphere with some defined periods. To determine this possibility, we analyze the whole period of duration of some particularly strong geomagnetic storms through the Fourier transformation. We obtain some results on the strongest geomagnetic storm of the time series, the one from March 1989.

Correlation between Solar Semi-Diameter and Geomagnetic Time Series

We study the correlation between geomagnetic and solar semi-diameter measurements made at two of our ground stations (Vassouras and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). The study comprises the period from March 1998 to November 2003, for which daily means were compared. Both series describe correlated, but different, phenomena and, consequently, before a correlation study, an individual analysis of each data set was necessary. One of the motivations of the present work was to further explore the correlation with lags found between the solar semi-diameter and some solar activity estimators, which supports the probabilistic forecasting of the solar activity and hence, of the solar driven geomagnetic variations.

A Study of the Magnetospheric Micropulsations Pc5 and Pc6 Using Magnetic Stations at Low Latitude Northern Region of Brazil and Ascension Island during Magnetic Stormed Magnetospheric Plasma

In general, micropulsation is generated by the free energy within the magnetosphere, which is mainly caused by the magnetosphere-solar wind interactions and/or magnetic field reconnections in the magnetospheric tail. In this article, we studied the types of low-frequency magnetospheric micropulsations Pc5 and Pc6 (1 - 6 mHz), during three magnetic storms, using ground magnetic observations. One of the main motivations of this study was to produce scientific knowledge on the subject in order to fill knowledge gaps in this region, collaborating with existing bibliographies. The data were recorded in a series of six Brazilian stations close to the Dip Equator (dip = 0), with using data from the Ascension Island observatory. Pulse trains were found to occur simultaneously with almost identical waveforms, with significant amplitude increase near magnetic local noon. Amplitude spectra showed a clear similarity in all equatorial seasons. The results obtained were compared with studies performed in regions with similar low latitudes. The possible mechanisms that induced these micropulsations and the peculiarities presented by these data were also discussed in this article.

Application of Neural Networks in Probabilistic Forecasting of Earthquakes in the Southern California Region

During the last few decades, many statistical physicists have devoted re-search efforts to the study of the problem of earthquakes. The purpose of this work is to apply methods of Statistical Physics and network systems based on “neurons” in the study of seismological events. Data from the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) of Southern California were used to verify the relationship between time differences between consecutive seismic events with magnitudes greater than 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5 through the modeling of neural networks. The problem we are analyzing is time differences between seismological events and how these data can be adopted as a time series with non linear characteristic. We are therefore using the multilayer perceptron neural network system with a backpropagation learning algorithm, because its characteristics allow for the analysis of non-linear data in order to obtain statistical results regarding the probabilistic forecast of tremor occurrence.

N-Body Simulations of Gas-Free Disc Galaxies with SMBH Seed in Binary Systems

We have shown the outcome of N-body simulations of the interactions of two disc galaxies without gas with the same mass. Both disc galaxies have halos of dark matter, central bulges and initial supermassive black hole (SMBH) seeds at their centers. The purpose of this work is to study the mass and dynamical evolution of the initial SMBH seed during a Hubble cosmological time. It is a complementation of our previous paper with different initial orbit conditions and by introducing the SMBH seed in the initial galaxy. The disc of the secondary galaxy has a coplanar or polar orientation in relation to the disc of the primary galaxy and their initial orbit are eccentric and prograde. The primary and secondary galaxies have mass and size of Milky Way with an initial SMBH seed. We have found that the merger of the primary and secondary discs can result in a final normal disc or a final warped disc. After the fusion of discs, the final one is thicker and larger than the initial disc. The tidal effects are very important, modifying the evolution of the SMBH in the primary and secondary galaxy differently. The mass of the SMBH of the primary galaxy has increased by a factor ranging from 52 to 64 times the initial seed mass, depending on the experiment. However, the mass of the SMBH of the secondary galaxy has increased by a factor ranging from 6 to 33 times the initial SMBH seed mass, depending also on the experiment. Most of the accreted particles have come from the bulge and from the halo, depleting their particles. This could explain why the observations show that the SMBH with masses of approximatelyis found in many bulgeless galaxies. Only a small number of the accreted particles has come from the disc. In some cases of final merging stage of the two galaxies, the final SMBH of the secondary galaxy was ejected out of the galaxy.

Three-Dimensional Shear Wave Velocity Structure of the Northeastern Brazilian Lithosphere

A large number of Rayleigh wave dispersion curves recorded at twenty three seismic stations was used to investigate the 3-D shear wave velocity structure of the northeastern Brazilian lithosphere. A simple procedure to generate a three-dimensional image of Mohorovicic;discontinuity was applied in northeastern Brazil and the Moho 3-D image was in agreement with several isolated crustal thicknesses obtained with different geophysical methods. A detailed 3-D S wave velocity model is proposed for the region. In the crust, our model is more realist than CRUST2.0 global model, because it shows more details either laterally or in depth than global model, i.e., clear lateral variation and gradual increase of S wave velocity in depth. Down to 100 km depth, the 3-D S wave velocity model in northeastern Brazil is dominated by low velocities and this is consistent either with heat flow measurements or with measurements of the flexural strength of the lithosphere developed in the South American continent. Our 3-D S wave velocity model was also used to obtain the lithosphere thickness in each cell of the northeastern Brazil and the results were consistent with global studies about the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary worldwide.

Reconstruction of lithofacies using a supervised Self-Organizing Map:Application in pseudo-wells based on a synthetic geologic cross-section

Recently,machine learning(ML)has been considered a powerful technological element of different society areas.To transform the computer into a decision maker,several sophisticated methods and algorithms are constantly created and analyzed.In geophysics,both supervised and unsupervised ML methods have dramatically contributed to the development of seismic and well-log data interpretation.In well-logging,ML algorithms are well-suited for lithologic reconstruction problems,once there is no analytical expressions for computing well-log data produced by a particular rock unit.Additionally,supervised ML methods are strongly dependent on a accurate-labeled training data-set,which is not a simple task to achieve,due to data absences or corruption.Once an adequate supervision is performed,the classification outputs tend to be more accurate than unsupervised methods.This work presents a supervised version of a Self-Organizing Map,named as SSOM,to solve a lithologic reconstruction problem from well-log data.Firstly,we go for a more controlled problem and simulate well-log data directly from an interpreted geologic cross-section.We then define two specific training data-sets composed by density(RHOB),sonic(DT),spontaneous potential(SP)and gamma-ray(GR)logs,all simulated through a Gaussian distribution function per lithology.Once the training data-set is created,we simulate a particular pseudo-well,referred to as classification well,for defining controlled tests.First one comprises a training data-set with no labeled log data of the simulated fault zone.In the second test,we intentionally improve the training data-set with the fault.To bespeak the obtained results for each test,we analyze confusion matrices,logplots,accuracy and precision.Apart from very thin layer misclassifications,the SSOM provides reasonable lithologic reconstructions,especially when the improved training data-set is considered for supervision.The set of numerical experiments shows that our SSOM is extremely well-suited for a supervised lithologic reconstruction,especially to recover lithotypes that are weakly-sampled in the training log-data.On the other hand,some misclassifications are also observed when the cortex could not group the slightly different lithologies.