Uploads from Engineering at Cambridge, tagged water

Matthew Kuo - 'Diatoms and clay agglomerates'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:49:34 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

The offshore oil and gas industry is under greater scrutiny than ever before. Resource exploration and the associated technology required for economical extraction continues to be pushed to the limits due to the depths of water in which resources are found. This image is taken from a series of environmental scanning microscopy images that were undertaken for my PhD. I discovered that the seabed sediment into which hot-oil pipelines are laid has in fact, been biologically modified through the production of robust faecal pellets by burrowing invertebrates (worms!). This image shows diatoms adjacent to disintegrating faecal pellets from a core sample taken from West African deep ocean sediments, water depth circ. 1440m. These pellets significantly influence the interface shearing behaviour of hot-oil pipelines, and provides an example of how an interdisciplinary approach to research can produce exciting and important discoveries with direct applications to the industry.

ESEM image showing microscopic sediment elements (<53 micrometers). Acknowledgements: Alan Heaver and Anne Bahnveg.

Matthew Kuo - 'Microstructure of a diatom'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:49:36 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Though these were not the main interest for using the ESEM to image deep water offshore samples, diatoms remain intriguing photographic subjects. Using the back scatter detector, the crystaline structure of a diatom is observed. Acknowledgements: Anne Bahnveg.

Matthew Kuo - 'Stereopairs'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:07:10 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

ESEM micrograph stereo pairs of pellets, foraminifera and diatoms (acknowledgement: Anne Bahnweg)

Matthew Kuo - 'Undulating clay'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:37:11 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Photograph of clay surfaces cut with cheese-wire

Matthew Kuo - 'Growth of salt crystals'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:36:38 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Part of my research at the Engineering Department is investigating the sediments found at the bottom of deep oceans. In some locations around the world, these deep-sea clays are much stronger than we would normally expect them to be. If hot-oil pipelines are installed in these locations, we need to understand why this clay is so strong, and what effect it's unusual strength will have on the pipelines. I used optical microscopy to image samples of clay from West Africa. Quite accidentally, I observed that as the sample dried out under the microscope, the fascinating patterns shown in this photograph started appearing. After completing further tests on different clays, I realised that what I was looking at was simply the intricate growth pattern of salt crystals in the clay. This wasn't quite what I was looking for from a research point of view, but it was certainly exciting and interesting to watch the crystals grow in front of me! To cut a long story short, it turns out that the strength of the clay is in fact due to millions of tiny little faecal pellets ...yes, that's right - worm poo!!

Matthew Kuo - 'Invertebrate faecal pellets'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:37:14 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Pellets: Photograph of a piece of clay from deep ocean sediments off the West coast of Africa showing burrowing invertebrate faecal pellets

Matthew Kuo - 'Close-up of burrowing invertebrate faecal pellet with coccoliths'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:37:52 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Close-up of burrowing invertebrate faecal pellet with coccoliths (acknowledgement: Anne Bahnweg)

Matthew Kuo - 'Growth of salt crystals'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:36:49 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Matthew Kuo - 'Marinobacter aquaeolei'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:36:55 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Marinobacter aquaeolei: growth of this bacterium (found in deep ocean sediments off the West coast of Africa) with clay on an agar plate

Matthew Kuo - 'Growth of salt crystals'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:36:18 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Matthew Kuo - 'Foraminifera'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:38:13 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

ESEM micrograph of foraminifera (acknowledgement: Anne Bahnweg)

Matthew Kuo - 'Pellet'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:37:29 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

ESEM micrograph stereo pairs of pellets, foraminifera and diatoms (acknowledgement: Anne Bahnweg)

Matthew Kuo - 'Foraminifera fragments and faecal pellets'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:37:59 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

ESEM micrograph of foraminifera fragments and faecal pellets (acknowledgement: Anne Bahnweg)

Matthew Kuo - 'An unknown object with crystal growth'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:37:37 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

An unknown object with crystal growth (acknowledgement: Anne Bahnweg)

Matthew Kuo - 'Burrowing invertebrate faecal pellet with coccoliths'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:37:45 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Burrowing invertebrate faecal pellet with coccoliths (acknowledgement: Anne Bahnweg)

Matthew Kuo - 'Foraminifera fragments'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:38:06 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Close-up of ESEM micrograph of foraminifera fragments (acknowledgement: Anne Bahnweg)

Matthew Kuo - 'Growth of salt crystals'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:36:28 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

Matthew Kuo - 'Diatoms and disintegrating faecal pellets'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:49:25 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

ESEM image showing microscopic sediment elements (<53 micrometers) found in West African offshore samples circ. 1400m water depth. Acknowledgements: Alan Heaver and Anne Bahnveg.

Matthew Kuo - 'Diatoms and disintegrating faecal pellets'

nobody@flickr.com (Engineering at Cambridge) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:49:32 -0700

Engineering at Cambridge posted a photo:

ESEM image showing microscopic sediment elements (<53 micrometers) found in West African offshore samples circ. 1400m water depth. Acknowledgements: Alan Heaver and Anne Bahnveg.