Wink Sink

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6544486

Baumgardner, Jr, R W

The Wink Sink formed on June 3, l980. Inferred precursor of the sinkhole was a solution cavity in the Permian Salado Formation formed either by natural dissolution or by water flow in an abandoned oil well. Correlation of well logs in the area indicates that the Salado Formation contains several dissolution zones. Dissolution in the middle of the Salado evaporite sequence may have resulted from ground-water flow along fractured anhydrite interbeds. The Wink Sink lies directly above the Permian Capitan reef on the margin of a natural salt dissolution trough. Other natural collapse features overlie the reef to the north. Hydraulic head of water in the reef is higher than the elevation of the Salado Formation but lower than the head in the Triassic Santa Rosa Sandstone, a near-surface freshwater aquifer. Fracture or cavernous permeability occurs above, within, and below the Salado Formation. Consequently, a brine-density flow may be operating: relatively fresh water moves upward through fractures under artesian pressure and dissolves salt; the denser brine moves downward under gravity flow. Alternatively, downward flow of water from freshwater aquifers above the salt may have caused dissolution. An oil well drilled into the Permian Yates Formation (with the aid of nitroglycerine) in 1928 was located within the sinkhole. The well initially produced about 80% saline water from the Permian Tansill Formation, which directly underlies the Salado. About 600 ft of casing was removed from the well when it was plugged and abandoned in 1964.

• OSTI ID: 6544486
• Report Number(s): CONF-880301-
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
AQUIFERS
BRINES
CHEMISTRY
DISSOLUTION
EXPLORATION
FEDERAL REGION VI
GEOCHEMISTRY
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOPHYSICS
GROUND SUBSIDENCE
HYDROLOGY
MESOZOIC ERA
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
PERMIAN PERIOD
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
REEFS
RESOURCES
SALT DEPOSITS
STRATA MOVEMENT
TEXAS
TRIASSIC PERIOD
USA