Texas water resources are under pressure due to population growth expected in the coming decades, increasing industrial demands, and frequent periods of drought. With this increasing demand for limited water resources it is important to explore alternative water sources within the State. One of those resources that can be developed is the many small aquifers which have never been well-characterized but could be an alternative source of fresh and brackish water for agriculture, municipal, and industrial applications. The natural gas industry’s demand for water is growing in Texas as new drilling techniques such a hydraulic fracturing have opened new reserves previously considered economically non-viable. The development of smaller aquifers containing brackish water is a viable alternative to the gas industry’s current reliance on fresh (potable) groundwater resources. The aquifer sections containing brackish water need to be mapped and characterized so they can be developed as an alternative water resource by the gas industry. The Barnett Shale in North-central Texas is one of the first major gas plays in the United States to use the technique of hydraulic fracturing in field development. This technique requires large quantities of water to create the required hydraulic pressure down the gas well to fracture the normally low permeability shale. A typical horizontal well completion consumes approximately 3.0 to 3.5 million gallons (11,400 to 13,200 m3) of fresh water. Projections of future groundwater demand for the Barnett Shale gas play total 417,000 AF (5.1x108 m3), an annual average of 22,000 AF (2.7x107 m3) over the expected 2007-2025 development phase. This level of water demand has the gas industry and groundwater managers exploring alternative sources of water for future development of the Barnett Shale. One alternative source of water for the expanding footprint of the Barnett Shale gas play are the smaller local Paleozoic aquifers on the western edge of the play. These small aquifers are underutilized and contain waters with higher levels of TDS. These levels are, however, acceptable to the drilling industry. In order to characterize theses aquifers, TWDB databases were utilized to analyze water chemistry and well productivity. / text

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1949 M81 / Master of Science

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1950 W4 / Master of Science

Detailed mapping (1:6,000) of Lower Ordovician through Lower Pennsylvanian strata, exposed in the vicinity of the Sunshine Springs thrust fault, shows that the thrust ramps up-section twice in a direction parallel or subparallel with the thrusting, and that the geometry of folds can be attributed to their proximity to the two closely spaced ramps. The lower ramp is a frontal ramp which originated as a forelimb thrust through the overturned limb of a tight anticline-syncline fold couplet. The upper ramp cuts up-section through a thin, upper Paleozoic flysch sequence where the Sunshine Springs thrust becomes imbricated. Directly above the lower ramp, in the upper plate, is a broad symmetrical anticline which has a geometry similar to a fault-bend fold. Forward of the lower ramp is a large wavelength, flat-bottomed syncline, and behind the lower ramp is a series of tight to isoclinal overturned folds. As a result of fault-bend folding and continued shortening of the ramp region, upper plate folds characteristically have a larger amplitude than folds of the lower plate. Just forward of the lower ramp in the footwall is the tightly folded and truncated syncline of the syncline-anticline fold couplet. The rest of the lower plate section is only mildly deformed. A composite, down-structure cross section drawn parallel with the direction of thrusting shows that the Peña Colorada synclinorium has been transported along the Sunshine Springs thrust approximately 3.8 km. Shortening, as deduced from folding in this study alone, is 20 percent, and when the shortening by the thrust is also considered, the total amount of shortening equals 52 percent. A major left-lateral strike-slip system, trending WNW, approximately parallel with the thrusting direction, offsets the Sunshine Springs thrust fault. Strike-slip and dip-slip displacements can be calculated from a displaced fold axis of the lower plate syncline, and are 335 m and 90 m, respectively. In the vicinity of this strike-slip system, the axial traces of folds change from a dominantly southwesterly trend to a more southerly trend. The regional extent of the fault system within the Marathon Basin, and its correspondence with the change in major fold axes orientations suggests that the fault zone is a regional tear which formed in response to the impingement of the Marathon thrust front against the Diablo Platform during the Pennsylvanian Period. / text

published_or_final_version / Earth Sciences / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.