Monday, March 20, 2017: 10:40 a.m.
Daniel Lupton, PG
,
INTERA Inc., Austin, TX
Van Kelley, PG
,
INTERA, Austin, TX
Dennis Powers, PhD
,
Consulting Geologist, Anthony, TX
Carlos Torres-Verdin, PhD
,
Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Groundwater is a major source of water in Texas, providing about 60 percent of the water used in the state. House Bill 30, passed by the 84
th Texas Legislative Session, requires the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) to identify and designate brackish groundwater production zones in the aquifers of the state. For this study, the INTERA Team evaluated the brackish groundwater resources of the Rustler Aquifer.
The Rustler Formation is a Permian (Ochoan) Age deposit made up of a series of alternating dolomites, anhydrites, shales and limestones. It was anticipated that the majority of the water resources were within the dolomites and limestones as opposed to the entire formation, as the aquifer was previously characterized. In addition, given the brackish nature of the Rustler Aquifer, sampled water quality data was sparse and poorly distributed. However, since the project area was within the Permian Basin of West Texas, geophysical data from oil and gas logs would be available to evaluate structure and make calculations of water quality.
A total of 589 natural gamma logs were analyzed, making approximately 5,000 stratigraphic picks to gain further insight into the specific depositional and post depositional regime of the Rustler Formation and how this knowledge relates to the Rustler Aquifer. To augment sampled water quality data, we used state-of-the art petrophysical analysis techniques developed in the oil and gas industry to analyze old geophysical logs for both porosity (neutron and sonic) and water quality (resistivity, induction and spontaneous potential). Calculations of Rustler Aquifer water quality (total dissolved solids) using geophysical logs were both novel and provided the additional data needed to better define the groundwater salinity zones within the Rustler Aquifer.
This project represents a successful integration of the specific expertise possessed by hydrogeologists, stratigraphers and petrophysicists in anticipation of evaluating brackish groundwater resources.
Daniel Lupton, PG, INTERA Inc., Austin, TX
Daniel Lupton is a Hydrogeologist at INTERA with 11 years of experience in water resource and geological sciences focused on employing field data collection and interpretation methods,
such as geophysical logging/correlation, water level sampling, and spring discharge surveys, in conjunction with data analysis and modeling to develop an improved understanding of the hydraulic properties of groundwater flow systems. Mr. Lupton brings specialized expertise in using advanced techniques to analyze and integrate hydrogeologic data into groundwater flow models. Much of his work at INTERA is focused on the acquisition and interpretation of geophysical logs that provide important information on water quality, lithology, and structure, as they relate to defining the hydraulic properties of aquifer systems. He has supported projects ranging from the development and application of groundwater models to evaluate water availability and production economics to developing standard procedures for digitizing large amounts of geological and hydrogeological data from public sources. Through this and other work, he has become proficient in accessing both public and private geophysical log databases and analyzing and integrating geophysical log information to support evaluations of groundwater resources. To perform hydrogeologic analyses and integrate and present hydraulic property
data, Mr. Lupton routinely uses tools that include Arc GIS, Leapfrog Geo, and Petra, an integrated application with a common database and interface for project and data management, well log analysis, mapping, cross-sections and seismic integration. He regularly presents the results of the hydrogeologic analyses to clients and other project stakeholders, including GCDs, and at national/international conferences. In addition, Mr. Lupton is regularly responsible for documenting these results in technical reports and industry publications.
Van Kelley, PG, INTERA, Austin, TX
Van Kelley is a Senior Hydrogeologist with Intera Inc. in Austin, Texas. He has 27 years of experience in groundwater modeling and groundwater characterization experience. Kelley currently is a vice president of Intera and he is the manager of the Intera Water Resources Division.
Dennis Powers, PhD, Consulting Geologist, Anthony, TX
Dennis Powers is a Consulting Geologist with over 45 years of experience in the fields of geology and hydrogeology. A Professional Geoscientist in the State of Texas, he specializes in the detailed interpretation of subsurface data from geophysical and geological logs, and integration with surface geology or other available data, to evaluate stratigraphic and lithofacies relationships. Since 1975, Dr. Powers has been directly involved in studies of the geology and
hydrology of rocks in the Delaware Basin and adjacent regions. He has examined and interpreted thousands of geophysical logs for these studies and provided expert testimony at hearings, and is experienced interacting with a variety of review and oversight organizations. Dr. Powers has completed studies of the stratigraphy and lithofacies of formations within the Delaware Basin as well as across the Capitan Reef Complex Aquifer area and back-reef shelf. This work has included interpreting more than a thousand geophysical logs to detail the stratigraphy, structure, and lithofacies of the Permian Rustler Formation and supporting new drilling, coring, and geophysical logging programs related to oil and gas exploration and water resource evaluations. In two other studies, he has interpreted additional geophysical logs to investigate structure and lithofacies extent as potential indicators of halite dissolution.
He has evaluated subsurface formations in the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico and much of west Texas as alternate sources of groundwater to serve industrial purposes. For several oil and gas clients, Dr. Powers has recently developed lithological cross sections from ground surface to depths of 2,000 to 5,000 feet. He provided the geological interpretation of thousands of geophysical logs for the Rustler GAM for the TWDB. He has interpreted thousands of additional geophysical logs of the Dockum and related formations across west Texas and has prepared dozens of cross-sections as part of proprietary studies. Since 2000, Dr. Powers has variously had responsibility for drilling, coring, logging, completing, and reporting on more than 20 shallow wells (< 2,000 feet deep) that commonly intercept or completely penetrate Dockum formations. He has published more than 125 reports and articles related to his work. Of these, at least 100 are directly based on investigations of the geology of the Delaware Basin.
Carlos Torres-Verdin, PhD, Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Carlos Torres-Verdin is the Zarrow Centennial Professor in Petroleum Engineering, and Frank W. Jessen Professor in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Texas Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department. He has over 25 years of applied and research experience in the areas of well logging, formation evaluation, integrated reservoir characterization, nonlinear optimization, and inverse theory. He also serves as the Program Director of the Formation Evaluation Joint Industry Research Consortium. Dr. Torres-Verdin’s industry experience includes working as a development engineer for the Mexican Petroleum Institute where he developed computer algorithms for the processing and interpretation of gravity, magnetic, and seismic data.
