Assessing aquitard hydraulic performance from hydrocarbon migration indicators: Surat and Bowen basins, Australia

Underschultz, Jim; Pasini, P.; Grigorescu, M.; Souza, Thamy Lara de

doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2016.09.025

Cited by 16 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Conversely, trace elements have shown that there is no substantial connectivity between the J Aquifer and overlying Hamilton Sub-basin aquifer near Lake Eyre (Keppel et al 2017). Cross-formational flow with aquifers below the J Aquifer has also been identified at a number of other locations throughout the eastern GAB (refer to: Moya et al 2014Moya et al , 2016Jiang et al 2016;Underschultz et al 2016;Sreekanth et al 2018).…”

Section: Cross-formational Flowmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have focused on hydrochemical and hydrological processes in the eastern GAB to determine the potential impact of coal-seam gas (CSG) extraction from underlying basins. These studies have improved our understanding of recharge processes and groundwater hydraulics within the eastern GAB (Moya et al 2015), as well as identify the possible location and mechanisms of water and fugitive methane leakage through faults and thin aquitards (Jiang et al 2016;Moya et al 2014Moya et al , 2016Sreekanth et al 2018;Underschultz et al 2016). However, despite the importance of groundwater from the semi-arid and arid western GAB as a water source, very few studies have focused on the geochemical and hydrological processes in this area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hydrochemical variations of groundwater and spring discharge of the western Great Artesian Basin, Australia: implications for regional groundwater flow

et al. 2019

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The western Great Artesian Basin (GAB) is an important water source for pastoral and town water supplies, as well as for springs containing endemic flora and fauna, within arid Australia. This study focuses on the hydrochemical variations of groundwater and spring discharge in order to determine the major geochemical processes responsible for water quality and evolution across the western GAB. Regional hydrochemical trends within groundwater generally support the modern groundwater potentiometric surface and interpreted flow paths, highlighting that these approximately represent the long-term flow paths. Additionally, the regional chemical variations along the flow paths in the western GAB are complex, with their composition being a function of several controlling processes, including location of recharge, evapo-concentration, mixing and various water-rock interactions. These processes cause groundwater east of Lake Eyre to be predominantly of Na-HCO 3 type, whereas groundwater originating from the western margin is of Na-Cl-(-SO 4 ) type. The GAB springs appear to be discharging water predominantly from the main GAB aquifer, the J Aquifer; however, a component of the discharging water from several springs is from a source other than the J Aquifer. Current understanding of the hydrochemical variations of groundwater and spring discharge of the western GAB can help provide constraints on groundwater flow, as well as provide an understanding of the geochemical and hydrological processes responsible for water quality evolution.

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Section: Cross-formational Flowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrochemical variations of groundwater and spring discharge of the western Great Artesian Basin, Australia: implications for regional groundwater flow

et al. 2019

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“…1). The Surat Basin contains a sequence of Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments and hosts regional-scale aquifers and aquitards with a total thickness that exceeds 2,500 m. The Surat overlies the older Permo-Triassic Bowen Basin sequence that contains source rocks for thermogenic oil and gas accumulations within the Precipice Sandstone (Underschultz et al 2016). A key challenge for regulators and water resource management in the Surat Basin is hydrogeological conceptualisation, particularly of more deeply confined aquifers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing geological and hydrogeological understanding of the Precipice Sandstone aquifer of the Surat Basin, Great Artesian Basin, Australia, through model inversion of managed aquifer recharge datasets

et al. 2019

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The Precipice Sandstone is a major Great Artesian Basin aquifer in the Surat Basin, Queensland, Australia, which is used for water supply and production of oil and gas. This report describes use of observed groundwater pressure responses to managed aquifer recharge (MAR) at a regional scale to test recent geological descriptions of Precipice Sandstone extent, and to inform its hydrogeological conceptualisation. Since 2015, two MAR schemes have injected over 20 GL of treated water from coal seam gas production into the Precipice Sandstone, with pressure responses rapidly propagating over 100 km, indicating high aquifer diffusivity. Groundwater modelling of injection and inversion of pressure signals using PEST software shows the spatial variability of aquifer properties, and indicates that basin in-situ stresses and faulting exert control on permeability. Extremely high permeability, up to 200 m/day, occurs in heavily fractured regions with a dual-porosity flow regime. The broader-scale estimates of permeability approach an order of magnitude higher than previous studies, which has implications for the management of water resources in the Precipice Sandstone. Results also show the Precipice Sandstone to have broadly isotropic permeability. The results also support a recent geological interpretation of the Precipice Sandstone as having more limited lateral extent than initially considered. The study shows the effective use of MAR injection data to improve geological and hydrogeological understanding through groundwater model inversion. It also demonstrates the utility of combining hydrogeological and reservoir-engineer datasets in areas explored and developed for both groundwater resources and oil and gas resources.

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“…Recent groundwater modelling studies refer to the Springbok Sandstone either as a major aquifer (e.g. OGIA, 2016) or as a moderate aquifer (Underschultz et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Targeting Core Sampling with Machine Learning: Case Study from the Springbok Sandstone, Surat Basin

Gaede

Levy

2018

ASEG Extended Abstracts

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We show how clustering algorithms can ensure that the core intervals that are pertinent to specific objectives of a sampling campaign are actually sampled. We also show how clusters can be validated prior to sampling with auxiliary data not used for the cluster analysis. We chose to target our core sampling to ensure that both clay poor and clay rich intervals of the Springbok Sandstone are sampled. The clay phases in the Jurassic Springbok Sandstone generally do not exhibit a prominent gamma ray signature and are therefore poorly defined in wireline logs. Similar, hydrogeological properties of the Springbok Sandstone are not well defined through wireline logs. This introduces uncertainty to groundwater models of the Springbok Sandstone. Hence, a better understanding of the clay distribution is thought to be a key to improve the definition of the hydrogeological properties of the Springbok Sandstone. We applied our sample targeting approach to five study wells from the Surat Basin in Queensland. We tailored the application of the cluster analysis to our working hypothesis that the variability of hydrogeological properties of the Springbok Sandstone is controlled by the presence and type of clays, rather than compaction. This informed our choice of wireline logs to include in the clustering (nuclear logs) and of logs to be used for control purpose (resistivity logs, spontaneous potential). We show that identification of five clusters was the most useful number towards our sampling objectives. This allowed for example to exclude coal and siderite layers from sampling for clay analysis and to focus on the differentiation of the clastic sediments in the formation. Further, we show that certain clusters correlate with resistivity and spontaneous potential log signatures. The correlation between the categorical clusters based on nuclear logs and continuous wireline logs not used in the cluster analysis allowed us to interpret the meaning of the clusters in the context of our project and target our sampling to ensure that all clusters are represented in our sample set.

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Assessing aquitard hydraulic performance from hydrocarbon migration indicators: Surat and Bowen basins, Australia

Cited by 16 publications

References 25 publications

Hydrochemical variations of groundwater and spring discharge of the western Great Artesian Basin, Australia: implications for regional groundwater flow

Hydrochemical variations of groundwater and spring discharge of the western Great Artesian Basin, Australia: implications for regional groundwater flow

Enhancing geological and hydrogeological understanding of the Precipice Sandstone aquifer of the Surat Basin, Great Artesian Basin, Australia, through model inversion of managed aquifer recharge datasets

Targeting Core Sampling with Machine Learning: Case Study from the Springbok Sandstone, Surat Basin

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