Induced Seismicity and Groundwater Leakage in Oklahoma, USA

报告题目：1. Induced Seismicity and Groundwater Leakage in Oklahoma, USA ；2. 如何思考学术问题？

报告人：王其允 教授

报告人单位：加州大学伯克利分校

报告时间：20180419-15:00:00

报告地点：理科二号楼2829

 

报告内容简介：

Most aquifers are used as sources of fresh water, some aquifers are used for disposal of wastewater and other hazardous liquids. An example of the latter is the deep injection of massive amount of wastewater co-produced from hydrocarbon exploration, which has induced abundant earthquake in the mid-continental US such as the state of Oklahoma. Such earthquakes have the potential to cause aquifer leakage and release hazardous liquids into the environment.  Thus it is important to monitor the leakage of aquifers not only for the safety of water resources but also for the security of underground repositories. Traditional methods for detection of aquifer leakage are time consuming and are thus infeasible for continuous and long-term monitory. Here we propose to use the tidal response of water level in wells for such purpose. Quantitative interpretation of the tidal response of the hydraulic head of an aquifer has been made either with a model for perfectly confined aquifers or with that for purely unconfined aquifers. However, leaky aquifers are neither totally confined nor purely unconfined, but behave somewhere between the two end members at the frequencies of tidal loading. A model for the interpretation of the tidal response of such aquifers, however, is currently lacking. We derive a new model for the tidal response of a leaky aquifer and use the model to interpret the tidal response of water level in a USGS Oklahoma deep monitoring well installed in the Arbuckle aquifer. The analysis suggests that the Arbuckle aquifer is leaking significantly at this site. It also shows that Earth tide analysis of water level in wells may be useful for continuous monitoring of leakage of groundwater system, which bears on the safety of water resources, the security of underground waste repositories, and the outflow of wastewater during hydrocarbons extraction. 

 

报告人简介：

• Education: 

B.Sc. (Geology) Taiwan National University, June 1958 

M.A. (Geological Sciences) Harvard University, June 1961 

Ph.D. (Geological Sciences) Harvard University, May 1964 

• Appointments: 

Geophysicist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 1964-1967. 

Miller Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 1968-1969.  

Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Full Professor, UC Berkeley, 1967-2007. Professor of the Graduate School, UC Berkeley, 2007 – present.

• Current research focus:

Effects of earthquakes on groundwater

Effects of induced seismicity on pore pressure and crustal deformation

Effects of pore pressure on crustal strain and deformation