Reports
National Priorities Report: Sustainability in the Hydrocarbon Value Chain in Mexico
This report emerged from a workshop led by the Mexican Institute of Petroleum (IMP) in 2018 regarding priorities for a sustainable hydrocarbon value chain following the Energy Reform Acts of 2013–2014.
This document provides my recommendations for ways to achieve long-term storage of radioactive waste in the United States, written as part of a seminar at Stanford University. Image shows radioactive waste in interim storage (via BBC).
This term paper summarizes applications of the virtual seismometer method (VSM), also called inter-source seismic interferometry. This promising technique, introduced by Curtis et al. (2009), allows geoscientists to find the Green function between nearby earthquakes by estimating the response that would be detected at one earthquake location if it were a seismometer observing the others.
Accurate predictions of porosity and pore pressure in buried sedimentary formations are of great importance for oil and gas exploration and production, and for drilling safety. However, these values are notoriously difficult to estimate before drilling a well, especially if the rocks have experienced a complex geologic history. Here I use existing basin and petroleum system modeling (BPSM) software to model these properties in a hypothetical reservoir. This term paper reports the results of my analysis and may be of interest to anyone interested in predicting pore pressure and porosity in the subsurface.
Data
Simple web calculators to determine the Aφ parameter (relative stress magnitudes) from absolute stress magnitudes, and vice versa.
Data grids for the colorful background grid of relative principal stress magnitudes (presented using the Aɸ parameter) from Lund Snee & Zoback (2020) and Lund Snee (2020). Includes the data grids in GeoTIFF, ESRI layer package (for ArcGIS), and KML (for Google Earth) formats.
Maximum horizontal principal stress (SHmax) orientations from Lund Snee & Zoback (2020) and Lund Snee (2020), and sources therein. Includes the data as vector files in ESRI layer package (symbolized shapefile for ArcGIS), and KML (for Google Earth) formats.
Data tables from Lund Snee & Zoback (2020) and Lund Snee (2020). Tables include all SHmax orientations (including from Lund Snee & Zoback, 2016, 2018, and Hennings et al., 2019), Aɸ (faulting regime) map control points, and all focal mechanisms used to build the Aɸ map.
This table, from my dissertation and Lund Snee & Zoback, 2020), provides updated quality criteria for stress measurements (the same criteria are available on the Stress and Geomechanics Research page, via this link). Quality criteria are given for maximum horizontal principal stress (SHmax) orientations using several methods, as well as relative principal stress magnitudes (Aφ) obtained from focal mechanism inversions.
Geology
This abridged geologic history of Texas includes figures showing the 2016 version of the Stress Map of Texas overlain on various maps showing the regional basement structure. The figure shows the crustal structure of the region. Background is the U.S. Geological Survey Basement Domain Map by Lund et al. (2015). Llano Province outline after Whitmeyer & Karlstrom (2007). Limits of the Gulf of Mexico basin from Salvador (1987). Proterozoic and Paleozoic rift and transform structures compiled from Poole et al. (2005) and Thomas (2006). Approximate Ancestral Rocky Mountains uplift locations after Marshak et al. (2000) and sources therein. Jemez lineament location after Magnani et al. (2004), and Rio Grande rift location compiled from Seager and Morgan (1979) and Perry et al. (1987).
Geologic map of part of the Elko Basin and nearby areas in northeastern Nevada (Lund Snee & Miller, 2015, NBMG map). Click here for the accompanying cross sections and here for the supporting text.
Titled Geology and geochronology of Cenozoic units in the Piñon Range and Huntington Valley, Nevada, this thesis contains data and descriptions that weren't published by Lund Snee and Miller (2015) and Lund Snee et al. (2016).