Cooperating Country Report of UNITED KINGDOM

Transcription

1 CCOP-47AS/ COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR GEOSCIENCE PROGRAMMES IN EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA (CCOP) 47 th CCOP Annual Session October 2010 Manado, Indonesia Cooperating Country Report of UNITED KINGDOM Submitted by D.C. Ovadia and D.G. Bate British Geological Survey (BGS) (For Agenda Item 4)

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3 COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR GEOSCIENCE PROGRAMMES IN EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA (CCOP) CCOP Building, 75/10 Rama VI Road, Phayathai, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand Tel: +66 (0) , Fax: +66 (0) , Website: ANNUAL COOPERATING COUNTRY REPORT Country/Organization: U.K./BGS Period: 1 July June Summary During the reporting year BGS has continued to pursue long-term projects in Papua New Guinea (geological mapping and mineral potential assessment), Nigeria (geochemical mapping) and the United Arab Emirates (detailed geological mapping and mineral assessment), with funding respectively from EDF, the World Bank, and the Government of UAE. Projects related to groundwater have been undertaken in Ethiopia and the Limpopo Valley. Collaborative work with researchers in China has continued on several fronts, including: (1) the Edinburgh Anisotropy Project (EAP), which has been focusing on the application of seismic anisotropy for fracture characterisation in hydrocarbon reservoirs; (2) research into carbon capture and storage (COACH); and (3) application of carbon isotope analysis in determining the source of estuarine organic matter. Papers emanating from all of these research activities were published during the reporting year and are listed under section 4 below. The First World Young Earth Scientists (YES) Congress was held in Beijing in October 2009 and was attended by BGS staff members Charlotte Vye and Chloe Wright, who delivered presentations on OneGeology, landslide hazards, mineral planning in England, and volcanism and mapping in the Afar region of Ethiopia. BGS hopes to play an important part in maintaining a YES national network in the UK. 2. Review of current technical activities and geoscience programmes in the CCOP Region (Multilateral or Bilateral) The EDF-funded geothematic mapping project in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea (GEOMAP) saw further progress during the reporting year with the completion of another five 1:100k-scale geological and geochemical map sheets. To date, the project has collected several thousand rock samples, prepared some 2000 thin sections (many with detailed petrographic descriptions), approximately 370 whole-rock chemical analyses have been obtained, and 570 rock samples have been sent for palaeontological determination by a range of experts. In March 2010 GEOMAP handed over to the PNG Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) the fully validated (QA/QC) digital geochemical stream sediment analytical data which was released for sale in mid April. At the same time the final processed geophysical data from the Highlands region and the Papuan Peninsula became available. To date, several major exploration companies, including Harmony Gold, Rio Tinto, Newmont, Anglo American, Marengo Mining, Barrick, Khor, Eng Hock & Sons, Highlands Pacific Group, and BHP Billiton, have either bought or expressed an interest in buying the geophysical and geochemical data. The GEOMAP project, which is being undertaken in conjunction with the South African Council for Geosciences (CGS), Deutsche Montan Technologie GmbH (DMT) and the Mineral Resources Authority, is due to complete in CCOP Cooperating Country Report: UNITED KINGDOM 1

4 Current status of geological and geochemical 1:100k mapping in PNG (GEOMAP) up to June 2010 BGS has been a principal partner in the Cooperation Action Carbon Capture and Storage China-EU project (COACH), a three-year EC Framework-6 co-funded collaborative project with Chinese and EU partners which finished in October The project investigated geological storage options in the Bohai Basin (see map below) for CO 2 generated by coal-fired power stations in Shandong Province, where emissions are increasing as China s economy grows. Interim assessments have been made of the storage potential of the Dagang oilfield complex (Tianjin Municipality), deep saline aquifers in the Jiyang Depression (Shandong Province), and the Kailuan coalfield (Hebei Province). It was concluded that the greatest capacity for storage appears to lie in the Jiyang Depression, although further investigation will be needed to remove current uncertainties (Vincent et al. 2009). 2 CCOP Cooperating Country Report: UNITED KINGDOM

5 3. Proposed future activities and assistance to CCOP in support to current and future activities The EDF-funded GEOMAP project in PNG is due to run until A number of map-sheets at a scale of 1: are currently in press. BGS international activity is in large part dependent on the availability of external funding, but there are currently no signs of similar large projects with EU or development bank funding in the CCOP region. This is due to a continuing focus by such agencies on development issues in Africa. We look forward to continuing collaboration with Chinese researchers and are talking to potential collaborators in Japan with a view to winning EC funding for research into carbon capture and storage. 4. Reports/publications of technical activities for dissemination to CCOP Member Countries including contributions to GRID-Net BGS personnel in bold Bateman, K., Coombs, P., Lacinska, A. M., Milodowski, A. E., Wagner, D. & West, J. M Microbiological influences on the geological disposal of radioactive waste. British Geological Survey Report CR/09/025, 51 pp. (Confidential report for Japan Atomic Energy Agency) Chen, W., Dai, S., Ding, G., Li, Ming, Li, Mingyuan, Lin, M., Poulsen, N. E., Vincent, C., Wang, H., Xu, W., Zhang, B. & Zeng, R Assessment of CO 2 storage potential of the Dagang and Shengli oilfield provinces, Jiyang Depression and Kailuan mining area. British Geological Survey Report CR/10/011, 75 pp. (Confidential) Kemp, J. C., Rushton, J. C., Wagner, D., Lacinska, A. M. & Mounteney, J Mineralogical and petrographical characterisation of samples from Singapore. British Geological Survey Report CR/09/145, 33 pp. (Confidential) Riding, J. B A palynological investigation of ten limestone samples from Papua New Guinea. British Geological Survey Report IR/09/064, 3 pp. (Restricted) Riding, J. B A palynological investigation of a suite of samples from Papua New Guinea. British Geological Survey Report IR/10/015, 17 pp. (Restricted) Riding, J. B A palynological investigation of 34 samples from Papua New Guinea. British Geological Survey Report IR/10/065, 13 pp. (Restricted) Vincent, C COACH Project purity requirements of the carbon dioxide stream for geological storage. British Geological Survey Report OR/08/050, 8 pp. Vincent, C., Dai, S., Wenying, C., Rongshu, Z., Guosheng, D., Xu, R., Vangkilde-Pedersen, T. & Dahlhoff, F Carbon dioxide storage options for the COACH Project in the Bohai Basin, China. Energy Procedia (Elsevier), 1, Yang, D. H., Liu, E., Song, G., Wang, N Elastic wave modelling method based on the displacement-velocity fields: an improving nearly analytic discrete approximation. Journal of Seismology, 13 (2), (Cooperative research project between BGS and Tsinghua University, China) Yang, Y. S. & Wang, L A review of modelling tools for implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive in handling diffuse water pollution. Water Resources Management, 24 (9), (Joint paper with Jilin University, China) CCOP Cooperating Country Report: UNITED KINGDOM 3

6 Yu, F., Zong, Y., Lloyd, J. M., Huang, G., Leng, M. J., Kendrick, C. P. & Yim, W.W.-S Bulk organic δ 13 C and C/N as indicators for sediment sources in the Pearl River delta and estuary, southern China. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 87 (4), (Undertaken in conjunction with researchers from China and Singapore) Xu, W.-C., Zhang, H. F., Parrish, R. R., Harris, N., Guo, L., Yuan, H.-L. & Zhongguo di zhi da xue Timing of granulite-facies metamorphism in the eastern Himalayan syntaxis and its tectonic implications. Tectonophysics, 485, (Research undertaken in conjunction with Northwest University, China) 4 CCOP Cooperating Country Report: UNITED KINGDOM