Transient Injection Well Deformation Observed by InSAR and Explained with Poroelastic Modeling
Abstract
Extraction of natural gas resources in Southeastern New Mexico, like other well fields, requires disposal of post-fracking fluid through reinjection. Subsurface fluid injection creates surface deformation that can be detected using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) analysis. SAR images retrieved via the Alaska Satellite Facility's data portal from the European Space Agency's Sentinel 1 platform, operational since 2014, cover this region from December 2016 till present every ~ 12 days. InSAR time series analysis performed with GMTSAR software show evidence of a transient deformation anomaly in the well field. The center of the anomaly coincides with the known location of a Delaware Basin injection well. The time series analysis reveals a temporal evolution manifesting as dispersion of a concentric ring around the original point of injection. We postulate that the detected ring of deformation could be related to the outward propagation of the injection plume. Elongation of the ring of deformation in subsequent InSAR images also reveals the direction of preferential plume migration. We will address the absence of similar anomalies at neighboring injections wells by reviewing production records from the NM Oil Conservation Division and geologic models of the injection horizon from the Texas Water Board. We aim to replicate the observed surface deformation by modeling of the subsurface fluid flow during and after brine injection using a poroelastic model. We also asses how the injection modulates the local stress field. This preliminary work on surface deformation and the migration of subsurface fluids provides a better understanding of evolution of the waste water reinjection wells and the injected brines.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.G13B0536G
- Keywords:
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- 1209 Tectonic deformation;
- GEODESY AND GRAVITY;
- 1211 Non-tectonic deformation;
- GEODESY AND GRAVITY;
- 1240 Satellite geodesy: results;
- GEODESY AND GRAVITY;
- 1241 Satellite geodesy: technical issues;
- GEODESY AND GRAVITY