Seismological and geomechanical controls on the properties of the brittle crust and economic reservoirs
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In 2008, large-scale horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing allowed for the exploitation of hydrocarbons from extremely impermeable formations for the first time. The exploitation of these unconventional reservoirs caused their geomechanical properties to take on new importance. With insight into such properties, it is possible to withdraw more efficiently hydrocarbons from the resources. These properties can be measured in two distinct ways. First, operators can look at in situ properties by drilling into the formations of interest, which is often expensive. The second way of measuring geomechanical properties is the primary focus of this dissertation: seismological data can be used to discern these properties in either the earth's crust or unconventional reservoirs during stimulation. Four chapters tie together a coherent description of the solid earth: The second chapter looks at the ability of teleseismic waves to measure the direction of the maximum horizontal principal stress in the earth's crust at four locations within the United States. The third chapter uses both seismology and other methods of in situ measurements to well explain the hydraulic fractures, microseismic clouds, and production data that were observed at an unconventional site in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in north-central Colorado. The fourth chapter uses similar geomechanical concepts in the development of conventional reservoirs in the Vienna Basin, Austria. Finally, chapter five investigates the clay content of reservoirs - which has implications for their exploitation - using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. All told, this dissertation illuminates both sources of success and difficulties for understanding the earth's crust and economic reservoirs from a seismological and geomechanical perspective
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2020; ©2020 |
| Publication date | 2020; 2020 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | McCormack, Kevin Lynn |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Zoback, Mark D |
| Thesis advisor | Zoback, Mark D |
| Thesis advisor | Beroza, Gregory C. (Gregory Christian) |
| Thesis advisor | Ellsworth, William L |
| Degree committee member | Beroza, Gregory C. (Gregory Christian) |
| Degree committee member | Ellsworth, William L |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Geophysics |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Kevin Lynn McCormack |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Geophysics |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2020 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2020 by Kevin Lynn McCormack
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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