Threat of a sinkhole: A reevaluation of Cavern 4, Bayou Choctaw salt dome, Louisiana
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Magorian (Thomas R.), Amherst, NY (United States)
Cavern Lake at Bayou Choctaw salt dome resulted from the failure of Cavern 7 in 1954. Uncontrolled solutioning of this cavern through the thin caprock had set the stage for overburden to collapse into the cavern below. A similar situation developed with nearby Cavern 4, but with less dissolutioning of the caprock. Because pressure loss was already a problem and because another 800 ft diameter lake would have endangered surface operations, solutioning of Cavern 4 was stopped and the cavern abandoned in 1957 in order to protect the already-small site. In 1978 the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) acquired a number of caverns at Bayou Choctaw, including Cavern 4, and the possible repeat of the Cavern 7 failure and formation of another lake thus became an issue. The cavern dimensions were re-sonared in 1980 for comparison with 1963 and 1977 surveys. Annual surface leveling between 1982--1992 showed less subsidence occurring than the site average, and a cavern monitoring system, installed in 1984, has revealed no anomalous motion. Repeat sonar surveys in 1992 showed very little, if any, change occurred since 1980 although a small amount of uncertainty exists as a result of changing sonar techniques. We conclude that significant additional solutioning or erosion of the caprock has not occurred and that there is no increased threat to SPR operations.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 10192177
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-93-2012C; CONF-9310168-1; ON: DE93040751
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Solution Mining Research Institute annual meeting,Lafayette, LA (United States),24-28 Oct 1993; Other Information: PBD: [1993]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Features of Bayou Choctaw SPR caverns and internal structure of the salt dome.
Sonar atlas of caverns comprising the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Volume 1, Bayou Choctaw site, Louisiana.