Overpressure

About: Overpressure is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3236 publications have been published within this topic receiving 34648 citations.

Generation of overpressure by cementation of pore space in sedimentary rocks

Abstract: SUMMARY Overpressure build-up is studied when the main cause for porosity reduction is cementation of the pore space sourced locally. The average porosity reduction for siliclastic sediments is modelled with nth-order kinetics. It is shown that the overpressure in one layer at a constant depth will decrease exponentially with time in the case of first-order kinetics for the porosity reduction. The overpressure is studied in one layer subjected to cementation during constant burial along a thermal gradient. A small overpressure build-up is shown above the window for cementation, with a steep rise in overpressure in the upper part of the window. The overpressure build-up is then seen to decrease rapidly towards the end of the window for cementation. Overpressure build-up is also studied when cementation is the main cause for porosity reduction in the entire column of sediments during deposition and burial. The overpressure regime characterized by gravity numbers larger than one is studied. This regime corresponds to low or moderate overpressures in the case of mechanical compaction. Cementation is shown to imply a steep pressure build-up in the window of cementation, which will easily exceed the lithostatic pressure. The porosity loss due to cementation is seen to have a strong impact on the permeability, which leads to the formation of a pressure seal. Although most of the potential for fluid expulsion is exhausted below the seal, because most of the porosity is cemented up, the permeability of the seal is sufficiently low for hydrofracturing to take place. This scenario is consistent with overpressure observations in many wells.

Preliminary results from the White Sands Missile Range sonic boom propagation experiment

Abstract: Sonic boom bow shock amplitude and rise time statistics from a recent sonic boom propagation experiment are presented. Distributions of bow shock overpressure and rise time measured under different atmospheric turbulence conditions for the same test aircraft are quite different. The peak overpressure distributions are skewed positively, indicating a tendency for positive deviations from the mean to be larger than negative deviations. Standard deviations of overpressure distributions measured under moderate turbulence were 40 percent larger than those measured under low turbulence. As turbulence increased, the difference between the median and the mean increased, indicating increased positive overpressure deviations. The effect of turbulence was more readily seen in the rise time distributions. Under moderate turbulence conditions, the rise time distribution means were larger by a factor of 4 and the standard deviations were larger by a factor of 3 from the low turbulence values. These distribution changes resulted in a transition from a peaked appearance of the rise time distribution for the morning to a flattened appearance for the afternoon rise time distributions. The sonic boom propagation experiment consisted of flying three types of aircraft supersonically over a ground-based microphone array with concurrent measurements of turbulence and other meteorological data. The test aircraft were a T-38, an F-15, and an F-111, and they were flown at speeds of Mach 1.2 to 1.3, 30,000 feet above a 16 element, linear microphone array with an inter-element spacing of 200 ft. In two weeks of testing, 57 supersonic passes of the test aircraft were flown from early morning to late afternoon.

An analysis of the nonlinear magma-edifice coupling at Grimsvötn volcano (Iceland)

Abstract: Continuous monitoring of seismicity and surface displacement of active volcanoes can reveal important features of the eruptive cycle. Here high-quality GPS and earthquake data recorded at Grimsvotn volcano by the Icelandic Meteorological Office during the 2004-2011 intereruptive period are analyzed. These showed a characteristic pattern, with an initial similar to 2 year long exponential decay followed by similar to 3 year long constant surface displacement inflation rate. We model it by using a one magma reservoir model in an elastic damaging edifice, with incompressible magma and constant pressure at the base of the magma conduit. Seismicity rate and damage were first modeled, and simple analytical expressions were derived for the magma reservoir overpressure and surface displacement as functions of time. Very good fits of the seismicity and surface displacement data were obtained by fitting only three phenomenological parameters. Characteristic time and power strain show maxima from which reference times were inferred that split the intereruptive period into five periods. After the pressurization periods, damage occurring in the third period induced weakly nonlinear variations in magma overpressure and flow, and surface displacement. During the fourth period, the damage dominated and variations became more strongly nonlinear, the reservoir overpressure decreased, and magma flow increased. This process lasted until the power strain reached its second maximum, where instability was generalized. This maximum is a physical limit, the occurrence of which shortly precedes rupture and, eventually, eruption. This analysis allows characterization of the state of the volcanic edifice during the intereruptive period and supports medium-term prediction of rupture and eruption.