Evidence for High Rates of Gas Transport in the Deep Subsurface
Abstract
Barometric pumping caused by atmospheric pressure fluctuations contributes to the motion of gases in the vadose zone. While the resulting gas transport is often negligible in unfractured porous rocks, rates of transport in fractured media can be significant. Deep atmospheric pumping has implications for nuclear gas detection, water balance, and contaminant transport. We present results from a tracer test conducted to characterize deep subsurface fractured basalt and investigate the effects of barometric pumping on gaseous contaminant mobility. The tracer test provides data to constrain permeability, porosity, and diffusivity in a numerical representation of the experiment. A numerical model is used to simulate gas flow and dispersive transport under fluctuating pressure conditions. Tracer test and simulation results suggest that barometric pumping induces 10 to 100 times more mixing in the basalt than predicted by gas diffusion alone. Within the basalt fractures, estimates of gas velocity reach maximums of nearly 1,000 m/day.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[1];
[2];
[4];
- Los Alamos National LaboratoryEES‐16 Computational Earth Sciences Los Alamos New Mexico USA
- Los Alamos National LaboratoryEES‐14 Earth Systems Observations Los Alamos New Mexico USA
- N3B Los Alamos Los Alamos New Mexico USA
- Water Resources Science Graduate ProgramUniversity of Minnesota Duluth Minnesota USA
- Department of Earth and Environmental ScienceNew Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Socorro New Mexico USA
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1504502
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1504503; OSTI ID: 1505976
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-19-22388
Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52‐06NA24596; 89233218CNA000001
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; Gas migration atmospheric pumping
Citation Formats
Stauffer, P. H., Rahn, T., Ortiz, J. P., Salazar, L. J., Boukhalfa, H., Behar, H. R., and Snyder, E. E. Evidence for High Rates of Gas Transport in the Deep Subsurface. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1029/2019GL082394.
Stauffer, P. H., Rahn, T., Ortiz, J. P., Salazar, L. J., Boukhalfa, H., Behar, H. R., & Snyder, E. E. Evidence for High Rates of Gas Transport in the Deep Subsurface. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082394
Stauffer, P. H., Rahn, T., Ortiz, J. P., Salazar, L. J., Boukhalfa, H., Behar, H. R., and Snyder, E. E. Mon .
"Evidence for High Rates of Gas Transport in the Deep Subsurface". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082394.
@article{osti_1504502,
title = {Evidence for High Rates of Gas Transport in the Deep Subsurface},
author = {Stauffer, P. H. and Rahn, T. and Ortiz, J. P. and Salazar, L. J. and Boukhalfa, H. and Behar, H. R. and Snyder, E. E.},
abstractNote = {Barometric pumping caused by atmospheric pressure fluctuations contributes to the motion of gases in the vadose zone. While the resulting gas transport is often negligible in unfractured porous rocks, rates of transport in fractured media can be significant. Deep atmospheric pumping has implications for nuclear gas detection, water balance, and contaminant transport. We present results from a tracer test conducted to characterize deep subsurface fractured basalt and investigate the effects of barometric pumping on gaseous contaminant mobility. The tracer test provides data to constrain permeability, porosity, and diffusivity in a numerical representation of the experiment. A numerical model is used to simulate gas flow and dispersive transport under fluctuating pressure conditions. Tracer test and simulation results suggest that barometric pumping induces 10 to 100 times more mixing in the basalt than predicted by gas diffusion alone. Within the basalt fractures, estimates of gas velocity reach maximums of nearly 1,000 m/day.},
doi = {10.1029/2019GL082394},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Mon Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082394
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082394
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Cited by: 11 works
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Figures / Tables:
Figure 1: Measured surface pressure (red) adjusted to the same mean value as measured downhole pressure (gold) at 173 m bgs.
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Figures / Tables found in this record:
Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.