Seismic Absorption and Modulus Measurements in Porous Rocks in Lab and Field: Physical, Chemical, and Biological Effects of Fluids (Detecting a Biosurfactant Additive in a Field Irrigation Experiment)
We have been exploring a new technology that is based on using low-frequency seismic attenuation data to monitor changes in fluid saturation conditions in two-fluid phase porous materials. The seismic attenuation mechanism is related to the loss of energy due to the hysteresis of resistance to meniscus movement (changes in surface tension, wettability) when a pore containing two fluids is stressed at very low frequencies (< 10 Hz). This technology has potential applications to monitoring changes in (1) leakage at buried waste sites, (2) contaminant remediation, and (3) flooding during enhanced petroleum recovery. We have concluded a three year field study at the Maricopa Agricultural Center site of the University of Arizona. Three sets of instruments were installed along an East-West line perpendicular to the 50m by 50m inigation site. Each set of instruments consisted of one three component seismometer and one tiltmeter. Microseisms and solid Earth-tides served as strain sources. The former have a power peak at a period of about 6 seconds and the tides have about two cycles per day. Installation of instruments commenced in late summer of 2002. The instruments operated nearly continuously until April 2005. During the fall of 2003 the site was irrigated with water and one year later with water containing 150 ppm of a biosurfactant additive. This biodegradable additive served to mimic a class of contaminants that change the surface tension of the inigation fluid. Tilt data clearly show tidal tilts superimposed on local tilts due to agricultural irrigation and field work. When the observed signals were correlated with site specific theoretical tilt signals we saw no anomalies for the water irrigation in 2003, but large anomalies on two stations for the surfactant irrigation in 2004. Occasional failures of seismometers as well as data acquisition systems contributed to less than continuous coverage. These data are noisier than the tilt data, but do also show possible anomalies for the irrigation with the surfactant. The quantity of data is large and deserves careful analysis. Detailed analyses of the two data sets are ongoing.
- Research Organization:
- University of Colorado
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-04ER15589
- OSTI ID:
- 1010627
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/04ER15589- Final Report; TRN: US201109%%703
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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