Groundwater flow systems theory: an unexpected outcome of early cable tool drilling in the Turner Valley oil field

CATEGORY: GROUNDWATER PROTECTION
Groundwater flow systems theory: an unexpected outcome of early cable tool drilling in the Turner Valley oil field

Type	Conference Paper
Author	K. Udo Weyer
URL	Free Full Text Source:  http://www.geoconvention.com/uploads/abstracts/267_GC2014_Groundwater_flow_systems_theory.pdf
Date	2014
Conference Name	GeoConvention 2014
Abstract	The Theory of Groundwater Flow Systems originated in Alberta, Canada in response to early cable tool drilling data from oil wells in the Turner Valley, 50 km southwest of Calgary, Alberta. In the 1920s drilling was done with cable tool rigs without fluid circulation, while almost all other drilling methods used since apply mud or air circulation. The cable tool rig allowed a constant observation of the behavior of the water level in the borehole with increasing drilling depth. Drilling on hills encountered water levels that decreased with depth once the groundwater table had been reached. In valleys the water levels rose with drilling depth and turned artesian (flowing). At the shoulder of valleys the water level did not change substantially. This behavior was puzzling but was finally explained in the 1960s by applying Hubbert’s (1940) Force Potential, which up to this time had been widely considered as an absurd opinion within hydrogeology. Thus Hubbert’s theoretical development and analytical model of flow within a vertical cross-section was confirmed by actual field measurements in the Turner Valley oilfield.