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The microscopic differences in characteristics and formation mechanism of shale oil reservoirs in the upper and lower sweet spot sections of the Lucaogou Formation in the Jimsar Depression, which has been identified as a national shale oil demonstration area in China, are still unclear. In this study, the characteristics and the main controlling factors of reservoir differences in different sweet spots of Lucaogou Formation were specified based on core observation, thin-section observation, X-ray diffraction, Rock-Eval, microscopic fluorescence of hydrocarbon inclusions, and temperature measurement of saline inclusions. Results show that the Lucaogou Formation mainly develops dissolution and primary intergranular pores. The dissolution transformation leads to obvious differences between the upper and lower sweet spots. Specifically, the upper sweet spot section mainly develops primary intergranular pores and partially develops dissolution pores; the lower sweet spot section mainly develops dissolution pores, including intergranular, intragrain, and intergranular pores. Geochemical data such as inclusions indicate that hydrocarbon generation began in the Triassic, and a large number of hydrocarbons were charged in the Middle-Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous. As the key fluid that triggers reservoir dissolution modification, it is mainly derived from organic acids generated by thermal evolution of source rocks within shale formations. The scale and quality of source rocks in the lower sweet spot are better than those in the upper sweet spot. The former has stronger hydrocarbon generation potential, which lays a foundation for the scale difference of organic acid output in the upper and lower sweet spots. At the same time, the source rocks in the lower sweet spot are more mature due to magmatic-hydrothermal upwelling. This condition accelerates the release of organic acids from source rocks, which results in the scale difference of dissolution effects in the upper and lower sweet spots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the stability of the high-level radioactive waste (HLW) in the proposed clay rock in Tamusu area of China. The in-situ stress as well as the variational characteristics of ambient temperature caused by nuclide decay during HLW storage should be noticeable. A series of thermal property tests and thermo-mechanical coupled strength (T-M) tests of rock samples in the target formation are carried out. Then the stability of surrounding rock of an HLW under the combination of heat release from HLW and in-situ stress is simulated and analyzed by numerical method. Thermal properties of Tamusu clay rock samples are obtained by testing their thermal conductivity. In order to obtain the characteristics and the failure modes of rock samples at different temperatures, the T-M coupling experiments in the temperature range of 100°C are conducted. Numerical model for simulating the state of operation of the nuclear waste tank buried in the tunnel within 100 years is constructed. A thermal boundary by the heat release equation of HLW and the real in-situ stress level in Tamusu area are considered in the model. While, the variation law of surrounding rock's temperature, stress, and deformation corresponding to the embedding time is obtained from the numerical calculation. Finally, the stability of the deep geological repository is comprehensively evaluated. The results show that the temperature has a significant impact on the T-M coupling characteristics of Tamusu clay rock, and the proposed repository numerical model has no large deformation and failure problems in 100 years. However, the temperature of the surrounding rock of the repository may exceed the safety standard value during the operation period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study were to evaluate the contribution of chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) in the prenatal diagnosis of fetuses with central nervous system (CNS) anomalies but normal chromosomal karyotype. A total of 46 fetuses with CNS anomalies with or without other ultrasound anomalies but normal karyotypes were evaluated by array-based comparative genomic hybridisation (aCGH) or single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. The result showed that CNVs were detected in 17 (37.0%) fetuses. Of these, CNVs identified in 5 (5/46, 10.9%) fetuses were considered to be likely pathogenic, and CNVs detected in 3 (3/46, 6.5%) fetuses were defined as being of uncertain clinical significance. Fetuses with CNS malformations plus other ultrasound anomalies had a higher rate of pathogenic CNVs than those with isolated CNS anomalies (13.6% versus 8.3%), but there was no significant difference (Fisher’s exact test, P>0.05). Pathogenic CNVs were detected most frequently in fetuses with Dandy-Walker syndrome (2/6, 33.3%) when compared with other types of neural malformations, and holoprosencephaly (2/7, 28.6%) ranked the second. CMA is valuable in prenatal genetic diagnosis of fetuses with CNS anomalies. It should be considered as part of prenatal diagnosis in fetuses with CNS malformations and normal karyotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]