Stands identified as potential Canadian lynx denning habitat by a habitat suitability model were sampled in northeastern Washington for stand structure and understory structural features identified as important for denning lynx. Potential den structures were quantified by use of strip transects, and stand structure was quantified through an enhanced forest inventory approach focused on assessing understory and downed wood conditions. Information theoretic model selection methods indicated that the best model to predict potential denning understory structure availability included downed wood abundance, total basal area, and average stand diameter. The strong predictive ability of our models suggest that understory features important to denning lynx can be predicted using traditional inventory data with the addition of a downed wood line intercept methodology. In general, our study supports the suggestion that assessing downed wood availability will effectively address concerns over quantifying the availability of understory structural features identified as being important at lynx den sites. West. J. Appl. For. 20(4):224–227.
This regional investigation contributes to the understanding of the influence and relationship of gathering areas and seals to oil habitat in the Arabian Basin. Cross plots and cumulative frequency distribution plots characterize the hydrocarbon habitat and lead to the following inferences. Gathering or fetch area size and contemporaneous peak oil generation rank as important factors in the accumulation of giant Middle East oil reserves. The importance of excellent seals to Middle East oil abundance should be moderated by recognition of widespread peak oil generation to seal effectiveness. The highest frequency of fields with several stacked reservoirs occurs in areas of modern peak source rock generation. Thin seals can be effective. Gross seal lithology is not as important as previously thought. Vertical migration through seals is an important process. Seals leak but are effective. Cross plots of original oil in place versus field gathering area identify areas of rich/thick source rock or sweet spots. Inefficiencies resulting from long distance migration are not apparent. Sweetness map analysis, using gathering areas with assigned oil-in-place values, results in an inferred source rock distribution that contrasts with published source rock distributions. Introduction Beydoun reviewed the reasons for the great abundance of oil in the Middle East. By analysis of a database accumulated for 110 oil and gas fields, this paper concurs with most of Beydoun's findings, but attempts through quantitative analysis to make more clear the role of seals and gathering areas in the accumulation of the world's largest commercial reserves of oil. The study area lies south of the onshore fields of Iraq and Iran. This geographical restriction reduces the role of multiple source rock horizons and emphasizes Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous source rock. Figure-1 displays quantitatively the stratigraphic distribution of oil-in-place in the Southern Arabian Basin. The main source rock horizon lies near the base of the Upper Jurassic, but may include some Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous strata as well. Figure-1 is plotted with a log scale of oil-in-place on the horizontal scale. The graph's log scale visually subdues the overwhelming proportion of Upper Jurassic and Middle Cretaceous reservoired oil, and shows the importance of hydrocarbon accumulations in many additional horizons. Although small in proportion to the Upper Jurassic and Middle Cretaceous, this graph points out that important oil accumulations occur in reservoirs of many different ages. The distribution of multiple stacked reservoirs in Arabian Basin fields is important to understanding seals. P. 103^
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