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| Titel |
Topographic controls on the propagation of carbon dioxide in geological reservoirs |
| VerfasserIn |
Sam Pegler, Herbert Huppert, Jerome Neufeld |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2014
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 16 (2014) |
| Datensatznummer |
250093270
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2014-7853.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The propagation of carbon dioxide (CO2) in saline aquifers can be controlled by the
topography of the caprock along which it flows. The influence of topographic trapping in
basin-like structures, such as that of the Sleipner Field, is central to understanding the
long-term flow and containment of CO2. We present a theoretical and experimental study of
the flow of gravity currents in porous media with variations in the topography along which
they flow. Our results provide a general assessment of the role of topography in the
entrapment of CO2. We consider cases where the height of the topography forms an
anticline from a line or point source. In all cases, it is found that the flow of CO2
transitions towards a long-term regime controlled by the shape of the caprock. We
identify an intrinsic time scale before which the flow is controlled by gravitational
spreading due to gradients in hydrostatic pressure, and beyond which the variations in
topography are dominant. Our theoretical predictions compare well with data from
a new series of laboratory experiments. Comparison between our mathematical
solutions and seismic data gathered from the Sleipner Field indicates that topographic
control is unlikely to explain the observed non-axisymmetric flow of CO2 plumes. |
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