“Earth, Air, Water, Oil: Regulating Fracking in the Monterey Shale with Health and Environment in Mind,” explores how hydraulic fracturing regulation in California’s oil-rich Monterey Shale will impact regional public health, including groundwater and air quality. This is achieved through a combination of case study and policy analysis on both the state and national level.

This thesis looks at the current fracking debate on a national scale, before focusing specifically on how this debate is playing out in the landscape of Central Arkansas. Focusing on the lack of national regulation, the unique array of state regulations that have popped up are assessed in their effectiveness on the ground through speaking with residents of the area. The demographics of these residents are analyzed within an assessment of environmental injustice vulnerability. This ethnographic approach also compares the de jure v. de facto outcomes of these regulations through the narratives of residents working with organizations across the political spectrum, and specifically seeks to gauge their own personal stories and experiences with regulators and the fracking industry. Other key actors are identified. This thesis concludes that agency capture is a reality for these residents, and their perceived powerlessness drastically increases the power of the gas companies that monopolize the political agenda in the region.

Les interactions entre la fracturation, les circulations fluides et la chimie des fluides au sein de marges hyper-étendues sont encore peu décrites et sont pour la plupart localisées en mer, enfouies sous des sédiments post-rift. Le bassin sud Aquitain et la partie nord des Pyrénées constituent un cas d’étude approprié pour l’investigation de ces interactions dans un modèle de marge hyper-étendue avec exhumation du manteau durant le Crétacé inférieur puis inversée. Les données de terrain ont permis de décrire trois principaux sets de fractures. Ils ont été corrélés aux principaux événements de l’évolution géodynamique du bassin correspondant au rifting triasique, à l’hyper-extension datée Aptien-Cénomanien, et à la compression pyrénéenne. Les observations pétrographiques, les analyses Raman et microthermométriques sur les inclusions fluides, les données acquises par ICP-MS, et les analyses isotopiques ont permis de déterminer les chimies, les températures, les conditions rédox, les compositions des gaz, les signatures isotopiques de l’oxygène et du carbone, et les teneurs en terres rares des fluides parents pour les ciments précipités durant chaque épisode. Ces données ont permis le calage temporel des évènements diagénétiques majeurs. En particulier, la dolomie baroque et la chlorite ont précipité dans les fractures du set 2 durant l’hyper-extension correspondant au pic thermique à des températures supérieures à 300°C. La signature isotopique, la forte teneur en CO2, l’occurrence de H2S et les fortes salinités des fluides parents suggèrent la percolation de fluides mantelliques ascendants au travers des évaporites triasiques. La phase fin et post hyper-extension est caractérisée par de la bréchification hydraulique dans les formations les plus poreuses, une baisse des températures et des salinités, une baisse de la contribution mantellique dans les fluides parents, une fermeture du système diagénétique au cours de l’enfouissement et un passage à des conditions réductrices durant la précipitation du quartz, de la pyrite et de la calcite. La phase de compression pyrénéenne associée au troisième stade de fracturation a induit une réouverture du système diagénétique et favorisé le retour à des conditions oxydantes et à des infiltrations de fluides météoriques / Interactions between fracturing, fluid circulations and fluid chemistry on hyper-extended margins is still poorly described as most of them are located offshore, buried underneath post-rift sediments. The southern Aquitaine basin and the northern Pyrenees constitute an appropriate case study to investigate these interactions since a model of hyper extended margin with mantle exhumation during the Lower Cretaceous subsequently inverted was recently proposed. From a field study, we here describe three main sets of fractures (set 1 to set 3). They are correlated with main stages of the geodynamic evolution of the basin corresponding to the Liassic rifting, the Aptian-Cenomanian hyper-extension, and the Pyrenean compression. Petrographic observations, Raman and micro-thermometry analysis on fluid inclusions, ICP-MS, and isotope analysis permitted to determine chemistries, temperatures, redox conditions, gas compositions, oxygen and carbon isotopic signatures, and REE contents of parent fluids for cements precipitated during each episode. In particular saddle dolomite and chlorite precipitated in set 2 fractures during the hyper-extension corresponding to the thermal peak at temperatures higher than 300°C. The isotopic signature, the high CO2 content, the occurrence of H2S and the high salinity of parent fluids suggest ascending mantle fluids percolating across Triassic evaporites. The late and post hyper-extensional phase is characterized by hydraulic brecciation in porous formations, a decrease in temperature and salinity, a decrease in mantle contribution in parent fluids, a closing of the diagenetic system during burial and a switch to reducing conditions during the precipitation of quartz, pyrite and calcite. The Pyrenean compressive phase associated with the third fracturing stage induced a reopening of the diagenetic system and favored a return to oxidizing conditions and infiltrations of meteoric fluids

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-02-13T15:32:26Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) TeseDoutorado_MarcelaSeixas.pdf: 6064842 bytes, checksum: 5d148170b369d14be988b9c57683862a (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-13T15:32:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) TeseDoutorado_MarcelaSeixas.pdf: 6064842 bytes, checksum: 5d148170b369d14be988b9c57683862a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-31 / CNPq / O interesse em estudos relacionados ao processo de fraturamento hidráulico vem aumentando, principalmente devido à exploração de reservatórios não convencionais, que se torna cada vez mais importante para a demanda de energia atual, com estimativas de grandes reservas distribuídas por vários países. A modelagem numérica de tal processo é um desafio, devido à complexidade da física envolvida. A interação entre propriedades mecânicas da rocha, tensões in situ, e heterogeneidades como fraturas naturais e planos de fraqueza é determinante na geometria da fratura induzida. Para resolver este tipo de problema acoplado, o método dos elementos finitos é amplamente utilizado e um dos mais versáteis. O presente estudo propõe uma técnica numérica denominada Fragmentação de Malha, que usa elementos finitos com elevada razão de aspecto (ou elementos especiais de interface), combinados com um modelo constitutivo baseado na mecânica do dano para reproduzir os efeitos do processo de formação de fraturas. Esta metodologia, com base na Aproximação Contínua de Descontinuidades Fortes, consiste em introduzir estes elementos de interface entre elementos regulares de uma malha de elementos finitos. Dentre as vantagens dessa técnica estão a sua facilidade de adaptação a programas convencionais de elementos finitos e o fato de não ser necessário o uso de algoritmos de construção de trajetória da descontinuidade. As aplicações apresentados neste trabalho mostram a capacidade da técnica proposta na modelagem do fraturamento hidráulico em reservatórios não convencionais. / The interest in studies related to the hydraulic fracturing process has increased over the last decade, mainly due to the exploitation of unconventional reservoirs, which is growing and becoming more important to the current energy demand, with the estimation of the existence of large reserves spread over several countries. Numerical modelling of such processes is a challenging task because of the complexity of the physics involved, and because of the structurally complicated geometry of the reservoir. The interaction between rock’s mechanical properties, insitu stresses, and heterogeneities such as natural fractures and weak bedding planes is determinant of the induced fracture geometry. To solve this kind of coupled hydromechanical problem, the Finite Elements Method is one of the most versatile and widely used. The present study propose a numerical technique called mesh fragmentation, that uses solid finite elements with high aspect ratio combining with a proper strain softening constitutive model to reproduce the effects of fractures formation process. This methodology, based on the Continuous Strong Discontinuous Approach, consists in introducing these high aspect ratio elements between regular elements of a finite element mesh. Some advantages of this technique are that it can be easily adapted to standard finite elements programs and no tracking algorithms are necessary to follow the evolution of the fracture. The case studies presented in this paper show the ability of the proposed technique to model hydraulic fracturing propagation in unconventional reservoirs.

FundaÃÃo de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Cearà / CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A demanda das populaÃÃes por mais Ãgua tem forÃado o desenvolvimento de tÃcnicas para melhorar o aproveitamento de todas as formas de recursos hÃdricos. Em algumas partes dos Estados Unidos da AmÃrica, o fraturamento hidrÃulico tem sido utilizado para estimular poÃos perfurados no embasamento cristalino a aumentarem suas vazÃes. Na regiÃo Nordeste do Brasil, os poÃos perfurados neste tipo de formaÃÃo geolÃgica frequentemente exibem baixas vazÃes, o que os leva à posterior desativaÃÃo ou ao simples abandono. O objetivo principal desta pesquisa à estudar, analisar e quantificar os efeitos que o fraturamento hidrÃulico imprime sobre a transmissividade, a conectividade e as vazÃes de um aqÃÃfero fissural. Para tanto se desenvolveu um modelo de propagaÃÃo de fraturas em formaÃÃes rasas e de matriz impermeÃvel. AlÃm disso, fez-se uso de modelos de hidrÃulica de poÃos para a determinaÃÃo dos parÃmetros hidrodinÃmicos do aqÃÃfero. Para testar a metodologia, dados coletados em dois poÃos de bombeamento perfurados na Fazenda de Horticultura da University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, foram utilizados. Estes dados incluem testes de bombeamento prÃ-fraturamento e pÃs-fraturamento, ensaio geofÃsicos, alÃm dos registros da operaÃÃo de fraturamento. Uma anÃlise conjunta dos resultados dos testes de bombeamento e do modelo de propagaÃÃo de fratura permitiu concluir que, o fraturamento hidrÃulico aumentou a transmissividade das fraturas em 46 vezes em um poÃo e 285 vezes em outro. A conectividade do sistema de fraturas experimentou acrÃscimos entre 11 e 20 vezes. O dado prÃtico foi que um poÃo passou a fornecer vazÃes 10 vezes maiores e no outro este aumento foi de 18 vezes. Estes melhoramentos foram possÃveis porque o fraturamento hidrÃulico alargou a abertura das fraturas e fez seu raio propagar por dezenas de metros. A distÃncia que a fratura propagou a partir do poÃo juntamente com o aumento na interconexÃo das fraturas conectou o poÃo a regiÃes mais favorÃveis à recarga.

L'étude a pour but de caractériser les facteurs de contrôles de la distribution des propriétés pétrophysiques et mécaniques dans les réservoirs carbonatés. Pour y répondre, il a été entrepris une démarche intégrant des analyses sédimento-diagénétiques (sédimentologiques, pétrographiques, géochimiques…) et de la fracturation (stratigraphie mécanique et stratigraphie de fracture, hiérarchisation, chronologie…). L'acquisition des données a été réalisée sur un analogue de terrain d'un réservoir carbonaté fracturé : la Formation Madison, d'âge Carbonifère inférieur (357-340 Ma), affleurant dans le Bassin de Bighorn (Wyoming, USA) et qui est aussi un réservoir exploité en subsurface. Cette acquisition a été réalisée dans cinq sites : Wind River Canyon, Shell Canyon, Sheep Mountain, Shoshone Canyon, et Clark's Fork Canyon (selon une polarité paléogéographique proximale - distale).Dans le Wyoming (USA), la Formation Madison est une série carbonatée, atteignant une épaisseur de 340 m, formée de sept séquences de dépôt basse fréquence (SBF). Les deux premières (SBF1 et 2) se sont formées sur une rampe qui, en conséquence de progradations extensives, s'est aplanie progressivement pour former une plate-forme sur laquelle se sont déposées les cinq autres séquences (SBF3 à 7). SBF1 à 3, d'âge Kinderhookien à Osagéen inférieur, se sont formées sous climat aride à la faveur d'une subsidence tectonique générale compensant les chutes eustatiques épisodiques. Les cortèges de rétrogradation se caractérisent par le développement étendu des milieux inter- à supratidaux et des processus de précipitation d'évaporites et dolomitisation. / The purpose of this study is to characterize factors controlling the distribution of the petrophysical and mechanical properties in carbonate reservoirs. To do so, a pluridisciplinary approach integrating sedimento-diagenetic and fracturing analyses on a carbonate reservoir analogue: he Madison Formation, (Lower Carboniferous, 357-340 My), outcropping in the Bighorn Basin (Wyoming, USA) and that is also a subsurface reservoir.The Madison Formation is a 340 m thick carbonate series composed of seven low frequency depositional sequences (LFS). The first two (LFS 1 and 2) formed on a prograding ramp passing upward into a vast platform on which the other five LFS deposited (LFS3 à 7). LFS 1 to 3 (Kinderhookian to lower Osagean) deposited under arid conditions during general subsidence that balanced eustatic falls. Retrograding system tracts are characterized by the development of supratidal to intertidal environment dominated by evaporite precipitations and carbonate dolomitization. Prograding system tracts are mainly mainly by early-lithified grainstones. LFS 4 to 7 (Osagean) deposited under humid conditions (glacial conditions in high-latitudes) that contributed to a decrease in evaporite precipitations and carbonate dolomitization but that involved karstifications on tops of LFS 4 to 7 during uplift episodes and eustatic falls.

As a safe long-term management of nuclear wastes, deep geological repositories (DGRs) have been proposed or currently being constructed in several countries. The host rocks in DGRs are saturated with water after the geological disposal facilities (GDFs) are closed and sealed. Significant gas can be generated due to several processes, e.g., the metal corrosion, water radiolysis or microbial reaction of organic materials, etc. The generated gas is anticipated to span throughout the long-term disposal of waste, which may jeopardize the stability of host rocks. Correspondingly, the performance of GDF will be affected since the host rocks provide a final impediment to the radionuclide transport. As gas migration in saturated host rocks is a highly coupled hydro-mechanical (HM) process, either gas-induced micro-fracturing or macro-fracturing may contribute to the development of preferential gas pathways, which needs to be concerned to ensure the feasibility and safety of geological disposal. Current numerical studies on the gas migration behavior devoted to explaining the experimental phenomena in the gas injection tests conducted on the rock materials, in which some behaviors still cannot be well represented, i.e., gas induced fracturing, volulme dilation, anisotropic radial deformation. Therefore, to better represent the actual physical process of preferential gas flow, two modelling frameworks, i.e., macroscopic HM framework and two-scale HM framework, are proposed in the PhD study. For the macroscopic HM framework, a double porosity model is firstly developed based on the dual continuum method, in which the volumetric strains of the porous continuum (PC) and fractured continuum (FC) are work-conjugated to the respective effective stress level. The treatment in two types of porosity allows us to capture that the opening/closure of the fractures is caused by the interaction between the dilation of the PC and the dilation of the FPM, which is beneficial to describe the gas induced fracturing in an implicit way. Then, an enriched embedded fracture model (EFM) is proposed to address the mechanical behavior of fractures. A hyperbolic relation of fracture deformability is incorporated into the rock matrix, as a result the fractured rock shows a nonlinear elastic behavior, which can capture the stiffness degradation due to fracture opening. The equivalent continuum method is provided to derive the effective compliance tensor, which includes the transverse isotropic matrix and two fracture sets. Using the enriched EFM with a three-dimensional (3D) geometry is able to capture the anisotropic radial deformation during gas migration. Although the macroscopic HM framework is able to capture the major HM behaviors related to preferential gas flow, the development of gas dilatant pathways is still represented in an implicit way. Therefore, a two-scale HM framework is developed to explicitly simulate the development of preferential gas pathways. Initiating from the periodically distributed microstructures with microcracks, the asymptotic homogenization method is used to derive the macroscopic governing equations coupled with the normalized damage variable. The time-dependent damage evolution law is obtained from the microscopic mechanical energy analysis for evolving microcracks. Both time effect and size effect are incorporated in the damage model that will affect the overall HM behavior of rocks. The developed two-scale HM framework with single gas flow can qualitatively capture important behaviors, such as the discrete pathways, localized gas flow, unstabilized fracture branching. More specifically, the simulated results demonstrates that the inter-connection of fractures from gas inlet to outlet is a prerequisite for gas breakthrough, accompanied by large amounts of gas flowing out of the sample and a rapid drop in gas injection pressure. Incorporating water flow in the two-scale framework allows the model to quantitatively reproduce the experimental phenomena observed in the laboratory air injection tests, such as gas pressure evolution and mechanical deformation. More importantly, the model exlpaines that the significant differences in controlling gas breakthrough and mechanical deformation are resulting from the arbitrary nature of microstructural heterogeneities. To account for the gas-water interaction in the two-scale HM framework, a fully coupled two-phase flow and elaso-damage model is developed to simulate the laboratory and in-situ gas injection experiments. The model can quantitatively capture the experimental behaviors, e.g., gas pressure evolution and non-desaturation phenomenon. Furthermore, model results show that the highly localized fracture pathways are the major places where gas and water interacts each other, and as a result the rock is still kept fully saturated. As a whole, the obtained numerical results are synthesized and analyzed, the pros and cons of the developed models are discussed. To better improve the model performance, some recommendations are proposed for the future studies.

Understanding economic success of unconventional production from shales requires an explanation of the relationship between induced seismicity and hydraulic fracturing. This thesis deals with observing and analyzing synthetic and real microseismic monitoring data acquired during hydraulic fracturing. The thesis is based on observation and analyses of source mechanisms of induced microseismic events that have recently become regularly inverted and interpreted in the oil and gas industry. The results of analyses are interpreted with the geomechanical model of the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and induced seismicity. The study of source mechanisms starts with detailed analyses of spatial distribution of full moment tensor inversion stability. It was mapped based on synthetically computed condition numbers in the vicinity of different monitoring arrays including dense arrays at the surface and sparse arrays with sensors in the boreholes. Stability of inversion was tested under several conditions, mainly dependency on size and geometry of monitoring array and level of noise in the data. In this part of the thesis it is shown that dense surface arrays may provide very stable inversion of source mechanisms which may be interpreted. The study shows that an increasing percentage of non-shear...

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[pt] Esta pesquisa aborda o processo de fraturamento hidráulico ou processo de propagação de fraturas em rocha através da injeção de um fluido sob pressão, o que gera fissuras no material que se propagam de acordo com a quantidade de fluido injetado. Esta técnica leva a um incremento da transmissividade hidráulica da rocha e, como consequência, ocorre um incremento da produção de óleo. Diversos trabalhos analíticos e numéricos têm sido propostos para estudar o mecanismo de fratura, geralmente baseados em meios contínuos ou através da utilização de elementos de interface em uma trajetória de propagação conhecida. Neste trabalho, a propagação de uma fratura é simulada utilizando o modelo potencial PPR[72] através da sua implementação extrínseca. Assim, os elementos coesivos de interface são inseridos na malha de elementos finitos de forma adapativa para capturar o processo de fraturamento. A pressão do fluido é simulada utilizando o modelo de lattice-Boltzmann[84]. Através de um processo interativo, os contornos da fratura, computados utilizando o método dos elementos finitos, são transferidos para o modelo de lattice-Boltzmann como uma condição de contorno. Assim, a força que o fluido exerce nestes contornos, gerada pela injeção do fluido, pode ser calculada. Estas forças são utilizadas no modelo de elementos finitos como uma força externa aplicada nas faces da fratura. A nova posição das faces da fratura é calculada e transferida novamente para o modelo de lattice-Boltzmann como condição de contorno. Este processo interativo fluido-estrutura permite modelar o processo de fraturamento hidráulico em trajetórias de propagação irregulares. / [en] This research addresses hydraulic fracturing or hydro-fracking, i.e. fracture propagation process in rocks through the injection of a fluid under pressure, which generates cracks in the rock that propagate according to the amount of fluid injected. This technique leads to an increase of the hydraulic transmissivity of the rock mass and, consequently, improves oil production. Several analytical and numerical models have been proposed to study this fracture mechanism, generally based in continuum mechanics or using interface elements through a known propagation path. In this work, the crack propagation is simulated using the PPR potential-based cohesive zone model[72] by means of an extrinsic implementation. Thus, interface cohesive elements are adaptively inserted in the mesh to capture the softening fracture process. The fluid pressure is simulated using the lattice Boltzmann model[84] through an iterative procedure. The boundaries of the crack, computed using the finite element method, are transferred to the lattice Bolztmann model as boundary conditions, where the fluid pressure (or fluid forces) applied on these boundaries, caused by the fluid injected, can be calculated. These forces are then used in the finite element model as external forces applied on the faces of the crack. The new position of the crack faces is then calculated and transferred to the lattice-Boltzmann model to update the boundary conditions. This feedback-loop for fluid-structure interaction allows modeling of hydraulic fracturing processes for irregular path propagation.