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Data needs for predicting problems caused by the use of subsurface reservoirs
Author(s) -
Stallman Robert W.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr008i001p00238
Subject(s) - characterisation of pore space in soil , quality (philosophy) , petroleum engineering , groundwater related subsidence , geology , environmental science , subsidence , earth science , geotechnical engineering , geomorphology , philosophy , epistemology , structural basin , porosity
There is an observable trend toward the use of subsurface reservoirs for storing different fluids. This trend is rapidly changing the picture of investigative programing for evaluating such reservoirs. Historically, studies were focused chiefly on the consequences of the withdrawal of fluids. Projecting the changing emphasis toward the broader use of storage capacity, one should expect problems arising from the injection of fluids to attain a similar significance. The injection of fluids with dissolved substances of kinds and in concentrations incompatible with the rocks can cause thermal and chemical stresses in addition to the more prosaic pressure stress. All three types of stress can produce changes: (1) in the reservoir, (2) of the land surface, and (3) of structures on the land surface. Subsidence, seismic response, water quality degradation, and plugging of the pore space are already recognized as undesirable consequences of withdrawal and injection. Earth scientists are not yet fully cognizant of the need to define such responses in the subsurface quantitatively, and therefore planners cannot become fully aware of the total cost of various alternatives for using the sub‐surface. Hopefully, research emphasis and data collection practices will be altered to answer successfully the new and more complex questions.