A surprising increase in seismicity started in and around Monticello Reservoir, South Carolina in December 1996, and by the end of 1999, over 700 earthquakes with 0.4 ML 2.5 had been located. This seismicity occurred in a new hypocentral region and filled the gaps in earlier seismicity at depths shallower than 2 km. The seismicity occurred in four episodes each with at least one earthquake of m...

In this paper we describe a technique based on radio frequency plasma treatment in H2O vapour to reproducibly clean and modify the surface energy of clastic and carbonate core material allowing the establishment of well defined wettability conditions. We present micro-tomographic observations of the pore-scale fluid distributions in strongly water wet clastic and carbonate cores. We then establ...

We present a three-dimensional network model to simulate two- and three-phase capillary dominated processes at the pore level. The displacement mechanisms incorporated in the model are based on the physics of multiphase flow observed in micromodel experiments. All the important features of immiscible fluid flow at the pore scale, such as wetting layers, spreading layers of the intermediate-wet ...

A two-step acid/base-catalyzed silica gel has been aged in alcohol and water baths followed by various aprotic solvents with a wide range of surface tensions. Low temperature (CO 2) and high temperature (ethanol) aerogels were also prepared. The physical and chemical structures of gels dried from aprotic solvents were studied by a series of techniques (29Si MAS-NMR, nitrogen adsorption, SAXS, e...

measurement of soil saturated hydraulic conductivity, ks, is normally affected by flow patterns such as macro pore; however, most current techniques do  not differentiate flow types, causing major problems in describing water and chemical flows within the soil matrix. this study compares eight models for scaling ks and predicted matrix and macro pore ks, using a database composed of 50 datasets...

We use the model described in Piri and Blunt [Phys. Rev. E 71, 026301 (2005)] to predict two- and three-phase relative permeabilities of Berea sandstone using a random network to represent the pore space. We predict measured relative permeabilities for two-phase flow in a water-wet system. We then successfully predict the steady-state oil, water, and gas three-phase relative permeabilities meas...

Hydraulic fracturing is expanding rapidly in the US to meet increasing energy demand and requires high volumes of hydrofracking fluid to displace natural gas from shale. Accidental spills and deliberate land application of hydrofracking fluids, which return to the surface during hydrofracking, are common causes of environmental contamination. Since the chemistry of hydrofracking fluids favors t...

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas. In North China, vegetable fields are amended with high levels of N fertilizer and irrigation water, which causes massive N2O flux. The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of microbial processes to N2O production and characterize isotopic signature effects on N2O source partitioning. We conducted a microcosm study that combined natu...