The Use of Temperature Logs to Trace the Movement of Injected Water

Abstract

Temperature logs were used to study the movement of water injected into wells penetrating the Pliocene Ogallala Formation in the High Plains of Texas. Descriptions of the results of three recharge tests are necessary because the hydrologic response to recharge at each site was very different. The water used for artificial recharge of the aquifer was derived from playa lakes in which the diurnal fluctuation of temperature was as much as 17 ° Celsius. Daily thermal cycles that resulted from injection of this water were traced through the aquifer by use of a series of temperature logs made at frequent intervals in cased holes specially constructed for logging. The thermal pulses were detected by logging holes as far as 46 meters (150 ft) from the recharge well. In areas where this technique was used, the Ogallala Formation consists of thick sections of uniform medium‐grained sand that visually appear uniform and thus were thought to have uniform hydraulic conductivity. However, the results of temperature logging at each of the three sites clearly demonstrate that the hydraulic conductivity varies greatly through these seemingly uniform lithologic units. Thermal pulse velocities as high as 4.6 meters (15 ft) per hour were found in thin zones immediately adjacent to sand where velocities were a few feet per day. Tracing with temperature logs is potentially useful in locating zones of high intrinsic permeability and in detecting apparent changes in rate of flow as a function of time.

Improved Resolution of Ambient Flow through Fractured Rock with Temperature Logs

“…To avoid the adverse impacts of vertical flow in boreholes because of cross connection between fractures, temperature profiles have been measured in the static water columns inside water‐filled steel or PVC pipes (e.g., Keys and Brown 1978; Ferguson et al 2003). Another approach involves permanently embedding sensors, most recently fiber optic temperature measurement in grout columns outside boreholes casings (e.g., Henninges et al 2005) sealed in the rock.…”

Potential use of particle tracking in the analysis of low-temperature geothermal developments

“…Keys and Brown, 1978;Chevalier and Banton, 1999;Shook, 2001). The thermal retardation factor (D T ) can be defined as follows (Shook, 2001)…”

“…Gringarten and Sauty, 1975;Keys and Brown, 1978;Doughty et al, 1982). Using this relationship in conjunction with particle tracking may allow for some inferences on the behaviour of injection-production doublets by examining transport by advection along a pathline.…”

Relation entre température et intensité des circulations d'eau souterraine dans les massifs alpins: outil de prévision des venues d'eau dans les tunnels

“…Par ailleurs, les hydrogéologues et géophysiciens ont reconnu depuis longtemps la forte influence des circulations d'eau souterraine sur la distribution des températures en profondeur. Les premiers travaux entrepris dans le domaine ont montré cette dépendance (DONALDSON, 1962 ;STALLMAN, 1963) ; ensuite, les chercheurs ont utilisé celle-ci pour déterminer les propriétés hydrauliques d'un aquifère (BAIR et PARIZEK, 1978), pour prospecter des aqui-fères peu profonds (CARTWRIGHT, 1968) ou pour déterminer des zones d'écoule-ment souterrain (KEYS et BROWN, 1978 ;TANIGUCHI, 1993). À une échelle plus régionale, les effets thermiques des écoulements souterrains ont été mis en évi-dence et étudiés grâce notamment aux modèles numériques (SMITH et CHAP-MAN, 1983 ;WOODBURY et SMITH, 1985).…”