Land uplift due to subsurface fluid injection

Abstract

The subsurface injection of fluid (water, gas, vapour) occurs worldwide for a variety of purposes, e.g. to enhance oil production (EOR), store gas in depleted gas/oil fields, recharge overdrafted aquifer systems (ASR), and mitigate anthropogenic land subsidence. Irrespective of the injection target, some areas have experienced an observed land uplift ranging from a few millimetres to tens of centimetres over a time period of a few months to several years depending on the quantity and spatial distribution of the fluid used, pore pressure increase, geological setting (depth, thickness, and area extent), and hydro-geomechanical properties of the injected formation. The present paper reviews the fundamental geomechanical processes that govern land upheaval due to fluid injection in the subsurface and presents a survey of some interesting examples of anthropogenic uplift measured in the past by the traditional levelling technique and in recent times with the aid of satellite technology. The examples addressed include Long Beach, Santa Clara Valley, and Santa Ana basin, California; Las Vegas Valley, Nevada; Cold Lake and other similar sites, Canada; Tokyo and Osaka, Japan; Taipei, Taiwan; Krechba, Algeria; Upper Palatinate, Germany; Chioggia and Ravenna, Italy

Geomechanics of subsurface water withdrawal and injection

“…The ratio a loading = a unloading decreases with depth and may approach 1 order of magnitude for very shallow silty/clayey sediments [Teatini et al, 2011b].…”

“…This is particularly true for surface movements connected with natural fluctuations of the groundwater head and in areas of aquifer storage (ASR), which have been systematically monitored by the USGS (United States Geological Survey): among others see Santa Clara Valley, California [Schmidt and Burgmann, 2003], Santa Ana basin, California [Galloway and Hoffmann, 2007], and Las Vegas Valley, Nevada [Hoffmann et al, 2001; Water Resources Research [Du et al, 2008]. For a recent thorough review of areas uplifted anthropogenically by injecting fluid underground see Teatini et al [2011b].…”

The Geomechanics of CO2 Storage in Deep Sedimentary Formations

“…Even a small pressure change and straining of the rock might result in small microseismic events because of rock heterogeneities, including fractures and local stress concentrations that could be released locally. As will be further discussed, these types of geomechanical responses, including ground-surface uplift and microseismic events, have been observed at CO 2 storage sites as well as in other types of underground injection operations, and are generally useful for monitoring of subsurface fluid flow and geomechanical processes (Mathieson et al 2011;Teatinia et al 2011;Burch et al 2009). If reservoir pressure becomes sufficiently high, more substantial, irreversible mechanical changes could occur, e.g., creating new fractures, straining the well assembly, or reactivating larger faults within the reservoir, in the caprock or overburden (Fig.…”

A Study of Ground Movements in Brussels (Belgium) Monitored by Persistent Scatterer Interferometry over a 25-Year Period

“…Mexico city centre [8][9][10][11], Las Vegas [12], Shanghai [13,14] are just a few of many extensively studied examples. On the contrary, uplifts caused by the recharge of aquifers have received far less attention in scientific literature except for some studies dealing with the effects of fluid injections [15] or CO2 storage [16], and uplifts related to volcanism [5,17,18]. Hence this paper monitors 25 years of the ground movements in the city centre of Brussels (Belgium) using PSI.…”