Episodic fluid venting from sedimentary basins fueled by pressurized mudstones.

ABSTRACT: Subsurface sandstone reservoirs sealed by overlying, low-permeability layers provide capacity for long-term sequestration of anthropogenic waste. Leakage can occur if reservoir pressures rise sufficiently to fracture the seal. Such pressures can be generated within the reservoir by vigorous injection of waste or, over thousands of years, by natural processes. In either case, the precise role of intercalated mudstones in the long-term evolution of reservoir pressure remains unclear; these layers have variously been viewed as seals, as pressure sinks, or as pressure sources. Here, we use the geological record of episodic fluid venting in the Levant Basin to provide striking evidence for the pressure-source hypothesis. We use a Bayesian framework to combine recently published venting data, wh

SUBMITTER: Kearney LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10895340 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature