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Jan 1, 1907

By Paul A. Taylor

MUCH information concerning pegmatites which was thought to be true a few years ago has been proved false, and what is now actually known about some pegmatites is not true of many others. The erratic and seemingly unpredictable structure and variable composition of this class of mineral deposits has been widely emphasized. Even parts of the same pegmatite body exhibit marked differences in texture, mineral composition, width, and attitude. Constructive geological thinking in respect to pegmatites now aims to establish general laws rather than to stress the confusing diversity of features having no special economic significance. Substantial progress has been made in classifying different types of these deposits according to general features, internal structure, mineralogy, and origin. In some cases it has even been possible to block out tonnage reserves in advance of mining. It is still easy, however, to make highly erroneous predictions after a preliminary examination of a pegmatite prospect. Pegmatites are important to the economic well being of the country and to its military security. They furnish virtually all the feldspar, strategic mica, beryl, columbium, tantalum, and caesium utilized in the United States, as well as sundry other minerals and significant amounts of lithium and rare earth minerals and gems. With the exception of vermiculite, occasional ilmenite-rutile, and perhaps soda-lime feldspar and garnet deposits, basic pegmatites are of little economic importance. Consequently in this paper, as in common parlance, the term pegmatite generally relates to coarsegrained acidic rocks or what is aptly called giant granite. Available data indicating the size and importance of the production and trade in specified pegmatite minerals are summarized in Table I. Geological Features Much of the latest thinking on the economic geology of pegmatites is now available in a 115-page monograph' by a group of experts who participated with geologists of the Federal Geological Survey in the widespread wartime investigations. Doubtless the most significant feature of the monograph is indicated by the title, The Internal Structure of Pegmatites, but it also contains a vast amount of other new information and includes the assimilated concepts of many earlier writers, whose works are given in a comprehensive list of references. The shape, size, attitude, and continuity of many pegmatite bodies is controlled by the structure of the older rocks in which they occur. If the older rocks are easily penetrated, e.g., biotite schist, most of the pegmatites in a given district will be found outside the parent granite mass as exterior pegmatites. Marginal pegmatites are more prevalent if the older rocks are massive, unsheared, and sparingly jointed. Networks of pegmatites are abundant in highly-jointed rocks. In strongly foliated schists the bodies are usually lenticular, whereas in highly-folded areas they assume tear drop, pipe or pod-like, bow-shaped, or sinuous forms. Jahns2 recognizes five major shape classes: l—dikes, sills, pipes, and elongate pods; 2— dikes, sills, pipes, and pods with bends, protuberances, or other irregularities; 3-—trough-or scoop-shaped bodies with or without complicating branches; 4—bodies with the form of an inverted trough or scoop; and 5—other bodies, including combinations of the above and miscellaneous shapes. Many pegmatite deposits are scarcely big enough to be recognizable as such. Most of them, in fact, are small tabular deposits less than 4 in. wide and usually without economic concentrations of minerals. On the other hand, some pegmatites are more than a mile long and over 500 ft wide. The ratios of length to breadth range from 1 : 1 to 1 : 100. Although the vertical dimension bears no invariable relationship to strike length, tabular deposits or large lenses are often symmetrical enough to show nearly as much continuity down dip as in their horizontal extension, and some pipes or pods are amazingly persistent in the vertical plane. Small pegmatites often string along a fairly definite trend line; in a given district major bodies may lie roughly parallel, and where only a few of them do not, the erratically disposed bodies generally differ in composition from those conforming to the regular pattern. This does not apply, however, in all districts. Characteristically, pegmatite veins pinch and swell or split into branches. When they pinch out entirely it is often possible to find a new body by prospecting the extension of the strike or dip, but the chances of finding a hidden deposit are ordinarily too uncertain to justify much subsurface prospecting. Diamond drilling may yield valuable information as to the continuity of known deposits whose upper portions are well-exposed. Some deposits, in fact, can be proved up for hundreds of feet by surface trenching and then intersected by drill holes at various depths like any other vein-like deposit. Others twist and branch, apparently defying all efforts to explore them short of actual mining.

Jan 1, 1954

Magnetic Measurements on Auriferous Veins in Brazil. BY MARK C MA¬LAMPHY (Contribution 72-Preprint; also Trans, vol 110 4900 words) One of the lesser known gold-bearing regions of Brazil is in the vicinity of Lavras, in the State of Rio Grande do Sul Recently the Companhia Estrada de Ferro e Minas Sao Jeronymo has been making a detailed survey of the area, and the author of this paper was requested to study the possibility of applying geophysical methods. The present paper gives a few details of the work and the results obtained The problem was difficult and the results not particularly brilliant, according to the author, but the data are believed to represent another advance in the application of the magnetic method of prospecting The instrument used was a Schmidt-Lloyd vertical magnetic field balance made by Askania Werke It did not prove of value for the discovery of auriferous veins of the type there found It is believed, however, that fair results may be expected when studying the continuation of veins that disappear under alluvial covering The data thus obtained should be of exceptional value in directing the excavational work of prospecting A short appendix to the paper gives the results of magnetic observations in the Sao Jeronymo coal mine

Jan 1, 1935

By D. L. Albright, R. W. Kraft, J. A. Ford

HE unidirectional solidification of A1-CuAl, eutec-tic specimens to produce an essentially parallel lamellar structure has been described previously.' Ingots solidified in this manner ordinarily exhibit three macroscopic zones. In Zone I, at the head end of the ingot, a large number of slightly elongated grains occur in which the lamellae are highly distorted and twisted. After a few centimeters of growth, this distribution gradually changes to a small number of coarse grains elongated in the growth direction and in which the lamellae are quite regular, Zone 11. Zone 111, at the tail end of the ingot,

Jan 1, 1963

By Richard D. Hagni

Mississippi Valley-type ore deposits contain significant quantities of minor elements, which are present partly in the form of separate mineral phases and partly in solid solution in the major sulfide phases for which these deposits are exploited. These elements, as separate phases, are: copper, mainly in chalcopyrite and enargite; cobalt and nickel, chiefly in thiospinels and bravoite; rare earth elements associated with certain fluorites; and native gold. Many economically important minor elements occur in solid solution in sphalerite, including silver, cadmium, iron, germanium, gallium, indium, thallium, cobalt, nickel, and mercury. Significant amounts of silver and antimony, and perhaps very small amounts of gold, are present in solid solution in galena. Chalcopyrite may contain small amounts of silver, molybdenum, bismuth, cadmium, cobalt, and nickel. Marcasite and pyrite may contain silver, thallium, cobalt, and nickel. Although some of the minor elements contained in the Mississippi Valley-type deposits are currently recovered at the smelters and refineries, many are lost in tailings, sludges, and slags; consequently, important quantities of these elements are potentially recoverable as non-conventional resources.

Jan 1, 1983

By S. S. Arentz

An organized safety program has reduced accidents at Pioche because effort is first devoted to arousing and maintaining interest in safety, followed by training in accident prevention, assigning responsibility for the detection and removal of safety hazards, and finally, by keeping score through an adequate system of records. A health program is intergrated with the safety program.

Jan 2, 1950

Jan 1, 1945

By N. A. D. Parlee, E. M. Sacris

OXYGEN solubility in liquid silver has been well studied.1-6 It has been established that the solubility follows Sieverts' law reasonably well5'6 up to po2

Jan 1, 1968

By Bruce Short

HIGH rock and surface temperatures combined H with small deep shafts create a difficult ventilation problem. At the Magma operation in Superior, Ariz., booster fans take air off the bottom levels, directing it first through cooling coils and then through the working places and out to the exhaust shafts. All air drawn from the intake shafts below the 3400 level is cooled before it goes to the stoping areas. Most of the ore mined at Magma has come from steep-dipping vein deposits developed for a maximum distance of 9000 ft along the strike of the vein. At present approximately one third of the tonnage is coming from a new section of the mine where the ore occurs as replacement deposits along a favorable horizon in limestone beds. The deepest mining level is now the 4800.

Jan 3, 1957

By Wallce E. Pratt

The Philippine Islands have produced no oil commercially; nevertheless, oil is known to be present at various places in the is1ands.l Although all attempts to produce oil commercially have failed, no intelligent, persistent exploration has been carried out. The Richmond Petroleum Corpn. (a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Co. of California) and a syndicate headed by Ralph Arnold are at present engaged in exploring Bondoc Peninsula in Tayabas Province, one of the promising Philippine areas, in a manner that promises to test the petroleum possibilities adequately and intelligently. How can the petroleum resources of an entirely undeveloped area like the Philippines be estimated, where not even the areal extent of the various geologic formations is known? Obviously no calculated figure for assured future production can be derived. Yet a study of the evidence of the occurrence of petroleum, the character of the possible reservoir beds, the probable source rocks, the character and size of favorable structures, and the area over which petroleum-bearing rocks are known to occur, will throw some light on the question. The fact that rocks of the same geologic age and similar composition have been explored and are producing in Borneo, Sumatra, and Java to the south and in Formosa and Japan to the north also affect the problem, so that one can obtain some idea of the quantity of petroleum that may reasonably be expected from the Philippines. It is this measure of the possibilities rather than a definite calculation of petroleum reserves that is presented herewith. This paper will not attempt to describe, nor even to enumerate in detail, the occurrences of petroleum in the Philippines, as such data have already been published. Fig. 1 indicates the localities where

Jan 1, 1923

By D. L. Rainey, E. R. Goter, W. R. Hudspeth

THE area in which spodumene-bearing pegmatites occur extends from Gaffney, S. C., in a northerly direction to Lincolnton, N. C., a distance of about 16 miles. The zone averages 2 miles in width. Interest in this area was first aroused by the discovery of small amounts of cassiterite in the peg-matites and in greissen which occurs on the walls of some of the pegmatites. Attempts were made from 1880 into the 1920's to mine and concentrate cas-siterite, but there were no successful operations. In 1935 L. M. Williams became interested in the area and began prospecting by trenching and sinking several small shafts. He gradually gained control of a considerable acreage south of the city of Kings Mountain, N. C. Mr. Williams states that he produced some ore from a shaft which he shipped to the Maywood Chemical Co. in the late 1930's. In 1937 G. H. Chambers of the Foote Mineral Co. visited the area and examined several properties, but the lithium market was too small to support the necessary concentrating plant. Early in World War II the Solvay Process Co., encouraged by various federal agencies, acquired the Williams properties and leases and started a drilling program to develop reserves for spodumene mining. A study of this area was also made under T. L. Kesler by the U. S. Department of the Interior Geological Survey. Starting in 1942 a concentrating plant, water supply dams, and shops and other buildings were constructed. The Superior Stone Co., a neighboring crushed stone operator, was awarded a contract to mine and crush the pegmatite ore. Late in 1943 the plant started operations, which were continued until February 1946. A drop in demand for lithium chemicals forced it to close and remain closed for several years. In 1948 the Foote Mineral Co. became interested in assuring itself a source of lithium ore on the North American continent, to be used in the production of lithium ore chemicals, and inspected properties in Canada, South Dakota, and North Carolina. The North Carolina deposits were the most promising. In the fall of 1950 the company leased the Solvay interests with option to buy and acquired additional properties. Renovation of the mill and preparation of the quarry for mining was begun in earnest in January 1951. A new crushing plant was built and construction started in July 1951. The flotation process used was developed in the North Carolina State Minerals Research Laboratory located at Asheville, N. C. Foote is now in the process of expanding its production. The crushing plant is being revamped and much of the old milling equipment purchased from Solvay will be replaced by new. Mining equipment of suitable capacity has been received and is in use. The frontispiece is a general view of the mill. The orebodies consist of pegmatite dikes composed of fine-grained albite and quartz, with varying amounts of mica and spodumene. The latter may amount to as much as 50 pct of the rock, but the overall average is about 15 to 20 pct. Tin, columbite-tantalite, beryl, and other valuable minerals are present in varying small amounts. These dikes, which intruded into the Roan Gneiss underlying most of the Piedmont area, strike approximately N 30 E and dip about 85" to the west. The gneiss has the same strike but dips about 70" west. The dikes lie in a belt extending from Lin-colnton, N. C., to Gaffney, S. C., and passing through

Jan 1, 1954

By A. Lubinski

In drilling operations, attention generally is given to hole angles rather than to changes of angle, in spite of the fact that the latter are responsible for drilling and production troubles. The paper presents means for specifying maximum permissible changes of hole angle to insure a trouble-free hole, using a minimum amount of surveys. It is expected that the paper will result in a decrease of drilling costs, not only by avoiding troubles, but also by removing the fear of such troubles. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Excessive dog-legs result in such troubles as fatigue failures of drill pipe, fatigue failures of drill-collar connections, worn tool joints and drill pipe, key seats, grooved casing, etc. Most of these detrimental effects greatly increase with the amount of tension to which drill pipe is subjected in the dog-leg. Therefore, the closer a dog-leg is to the total anticipated depth, the greater becomes its acceptable severity. Very large collar-to-hole clearances will cause fatigue of drill-collar connections and shorten their life, even in very mild dog-legs. Another finding regarding fatiguing of collar connections in dog-legs is that rotating with the bit off bottom sometimes may be worse than drilling with the full weight of drill collars on the bit, mainly in highly inclined holes when the inclination decreases with depth in the dog-leg. Means are given for specifying maximum dog-legs compatible with trouble-free holes. An inexpensive technique proposed is to take inclinometer or directional surveys far apart; then, if an excessive dog-leg is detected in some interval, intermediate close-spaced surveys are run in this interval. The application of the findings should result in a decrease of drilling costs, not only by avoiding troubles, but mainly by removing the fear of such troubles. The result would be much more frequent drilling with heavy weights on bit, regardless of hole deviation. Because of errors inherent to their use, presently available surveys are not very suitable for detecting dog-legs. There is a need for instruments especially adapted to dog-leg surveys. Crooked hole drilling rules should fall into two distinct categories—(1) those whose purpose is to bottom the hole as desired, and (2) those whose purpose is to insure a trouble-free hole. Three kinds of first-category rules in usage today are as follows. 1. A means to bottom the hole as desired is to prevent the bottom of the hole from being horizontally too far from the surface location; this may be achieved by keeping the hole inclination below some maximum permissible value such as, for instance, 5. 2. Another means to achieve the same goal is to limit the rate at which the inclination is allowed to increase with depth. A frequently used rate is 1/1,000 ft. In other words, a maximum deviation of l° is allowed at 1,000 ft, 2 at 2,000 ft, 3 at 3,000 ft, etc. 3. Whenever application of the first two means precludes carrying the full weight on bit required for most economical drilling, then the best course is to take advantage of the natural tendency of the hole to drift updip, displace the surface location accordingly and impose a target area within which the hole should be bottomed. This method has already been successfully applied,'.' and its usage probably will become more frequent in the future. Means for calculating the amount of necessary surface location displacement are avail-able.3'5'6 If in high-dip formations the full weight on bit should result in unreasonably great deviations, the situation could be remedied by increasing the size of collars and (if needed) the size of both hole and collars,351 or in some cases by using several stabilizers. Rules which would fall into the second category (i.e., rules whose purpose is to insure a trouble-free hole) are seldom specified today. It is vaguely believed that following Rules 1 and 2 of the first category will automatically prevent troubles. Actually, this is not true. If at some depth the only specified rule is that the hole inclination must be less than 4", the hole may be lost if the deviation suddenly drops from 4 to 2, or if the direction of the drift changes, etc. Rule 3 of the first category is generally used in conjunction with a rule belonging to the second category, namely, that the hole curvature' (dog-leg severity) must not exceed the arbitrarily chosen value of 1½ /100 ft. Moreover, when using this rule, the industry is not clear over what depth intervals the hole curvature should be measured. All this results in a frequent fear

By U. C. Tainton

FOR the last 15 years lead has been the standard material for anodes in electrolytic zinc production and it has been generally accepted that this lead should be as free as possible from impurities. Laist1 says, "Next in importance to the purity of solution is the purity of the electrodes and tank lining material. The purest lead obtainable should be used for anodes." The same conclusion is expressed by Ingalls2 and by two German investigators who say that experiments have demonstrated that the purer the lead, the greater is its resistance to corrosion during electrolysis.3 Pure lead, however, while the best material hitherto available for anodes, is not entirely free from objection. The plain lead anode gradually disintegrates under electrolysis, so that the life of an anode, say ¼ in. thick, is frequently not more than two years. Part of the lead from the anode finds its way to the cathode, lowering the purity of the deposited zinc and decreasing the hydrogen overvoltage. The rest of the lead that comes from the disintegration of the anode goes into the manganese dioxide which is precipitated in the cells, rendering unsaleable what might otherwise be a valuable by-product. Yet a further disadvantage of plain lead anodes comes from their tendency to bend or buckle during electrolysis, as a result of intercrystalline oxidation. This makes it necessary to use a fairly wide spacing between anode and cathode to avoid short circuits, and thus leads to a higher power consumption than would otherwise be necessary. The power consumption is also affected by the high decomposition voltage at a lead peroxide surface.

Jan 1, 1929

Jan 1, 1911

By Henry Howe

FIG. 1 shows a volute aging break which developed spontaneously in a hardened and tempered steel helmet between 19 and 38 days after it had been tested ballistically. A similar break, shown in Fig. 2, developed spontaneously in a similar helmet about 40 days after the ballistic testing. In this case the rupture occurred abruptly and with a loud report. The path of rupture in this second case, though much the less regular, is the more interesting of the FIG. 1. FIG. 2. two, in that it is an approximation to two parallel volutes centered at the point of impact of the projectile, just below D. Several weeks later, after the photograph for Fig. 1 was taken, a similar doubling of the volute crack occurred in this helmet, starting from the end of the eyelash crack near A and spreading thence to the left contra-clockwise for about ½ in. The negatives from which these pictures are made have not been touched up in any way, save writing the letters on them. In both cases the trajectory of the bullet was normal to the initial surface at the point of impact, and in both the helmet passed the ballistic

Jan 2, 1919

By Dermot M. Ross-Brown

Introduction Slope angles are one of the major factors affecting the shape of the final pit and the location of the walls Due to differences in geology, the optimum slope angles vary from pit to pit and within different parts of the same pit. Indeed, it is not unusual to have different slope angles for the top and bottom portions of the same cross section. The optimization of these slope angles is a major study in itself and this chapter is intended as a general introduction to the subject. It is not intended to be a comprehensive text for the absolute beginner The objective is to put the various aspects of slope stability analysis into relative perspective by describing the vari¬ous analytical techniques available and indicating when each may be most appropriately used References are made to the many excellent texts and papers on slope stability for the reader who does not have a formal training in soil or rock mechanics. In writing this chapter, an assumption has been made that a tentative mining plan has been drawn up, includ¬ing a preliminary estimate of the slope angles. It has also been assumed that all the necessary field and laboratory data has been collected and reduced to a form suitable for input into the stability analyses.

Jan 1, 1979

By A. A. Bauer

The ?-to-? transformation has been studied in zirconium alloys containing 22 to 70 wt pct U. In this range of compositions the ? phase can be retained by quenching. Transformation to ? occurs by a nucleation-and-growth process. The diffusion of atoms to preferred lattice sites to yield a partially ordered structure apparently controls the rate of reaction. Alpha uranium and a zirconium precipitate from the supersaturated E phase initially formed in alloys outside the equilibrium E phase composition limits. ZIRCONIUM-Uranium alloys have long been of interest for reactor-fuel applications because of the low thermal-neutron cross section of zirconium. Considerable information is available on the various properties and behavior of these alloys1 although there had been a number of areas where information was incomplete. As part of a program to provide more detailed knowledge in these areas, the presently reported investigation was undertaken. The constitutional diagram of the zirconium-uranium system is shown in Fig. 1.' The system is distinguished by a region of complete solid solubility between the body-centered cubic ß-zirconium and ? uranium phases and the existence of an intermediate phase in the vicinity of 50 wt pct U. This intermediate phase, designated as E, is reported3 to have a primitive hexagonal structure with a = 5.03 and c = 3.08A. The structure is partially ordered with zirconium atoms at the 0, 0, 0 position and zirconium and uranium atoms located randomly at the 1/3, 2/3, 1/2, and 2/3, 1/3, 1/2 positions. While the E phase may be nominally designated as of UZr2 stoichio-metry, the random distribution of uranium and zirconium atoms permit a considerable range in composition. Of interest in the research performed were alloys in the range from 20 wt pct (10 at. pct) to 70 wt pct (47 at. pct) U. In this range of compositions the body-centered-cubic ? phase can be retained either completely or partially on quenching. The nature and kinetics of transformation of the ? phase were the subject of study. Proceeding concurrently with the presently reported work was an investigation by Kearns4 which has since been reported. Kearns studied alloys containing 50 to 60 wt pct U prepared from sponge zirconium. While the work reported here is for alloys prepared from crystal-bar zirconium and the techniques of study are to some extent dissimilar to those employed by Kearns, general agreement so far as results and interpretation can be reported. Experimental Techniques—Alloys were prepared and the transformation of the ? phase studied during interrupted-quench and quench-and-temper isothermal heat treatments by means of hardness measurements and X-ray diffraction and metallographic techniques. The isothermal transformation of the ? phase on quenching and tempering was investigated further employing dynamic-modulus measurements. Electrical resistivity and limited Hall coefficient measurements were also obtained as part of the study. Alloy Preparation and Heat Treatment— Alloys containing 15, 20, 22, 30, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, and 70 wt pct U were prepared from as-reduced uranium and crystal-bar zirconium. The alloys were double arc melted by consumable-electrode are-melting techniques. The final ingots were forged and rolled at temperatures between 790" and 840oC to 1/4-in. rod and 1/8-in. sheet. Chemical analyses of the fabricated alloys were

Jan 1, 1961

By H. A. Meyerhoff, R. J. Colony

Deposits of iron are widely scattered in the folded Cretaceous rocks and the associated igneous intrusives of Puerto Rico. Most of them are too small for commercial development, but a few have aroused some scientific and economic interest, among them the large body of residual limonite at the west end of the island near Mayagüezl-6 (Fig. 1) and the mixed hematite and magnetite deposit on the southern slopes of the Sierra de Cayey, about four miles north of Arroyo.7"9 Neither of these orebodies has been developed, nor have investigations of the widely distributed deposits of magnetite, which include all the remaining occurrences of iron deserving of economic consideration, proceeded beyond the exploratory stage. With the possible exception of the mixed deposit near Arroyo, the magnetite is directly associated with andesitic and dioritic intrusives, which invade the Cretaceous rock section, and the bulk of it, occurring in calcareous sediments, is clearly of contact-replacement origin. The small deposit on Rio Portugües, north of Ponce, is found in a limestone band near its contact with an andesite dike.10,11 Two deposits of unde-

Jan 1, 1935

By Bryan J. Travis, Thomas L. Cook

INTRODUCTION Our growing concern for adequate and secure sources of energy and minerals has stimulated vigorous exploration for new sources, research toward a better understanding of geological processes, and development of new extraction technologies. The need for control, or at least prediction, of subsurface fluid flow is important for many of these technologies for example: primary, secondary and tertiary recovery of oil; ground water and waste management; in-situ fossil energy extraction (oil shale, coal, tar sands); and solution mining of uranium, copper and other minerals. These technologies, especially the last two, are characterized by highly complex systems. A partial list of the physical processes occurring would include flow in porous/fractured media, multi-phase and multi-component flow with heat transport, chemically active fluids and soils, tracers, diffusion and dispersion, fracturing and dissolution. A great deal of understanding of how these processes behave and interact can be obtained from models. MODELS Theoretical models are valuable because they: 1) provide a frame of reference for interpreting results of laboratory and field experiments; 2) once validated by experiments, allow a variety of geometries, injection/production strategies, etc., to be examined (at relatively low cost) for efficiency and stability; 3) can provide guidance to the design of experiments and field operations. Most models are based on the fundamental principles of mass, momentum and energy balance. But from this starting point, many paths can be taken. For example, there is the theory of Payatakes (1973) which concentrates on the microscale dynamics. In this approach, the rock or soil matrix is represented by a complex of characteristic channels (such as periodically constricted smooth tubes). Detail of flow within the characteristic channel is calculated very accurately. A difficulty with this model is that description of a representative channel can require several parameters which may not be easily measured. Also, it is not clear how the channels can be combined practically to model a large scale flow. Another type of model is the "global" one described by Bear (1972). Here, the continuum equations for conservation of mass, momentum and energy are averaged over a distribution of pore channels, resulting in a set of conservation equations in which the small scale structure of the medium is replaced by quantities such as porosity, permeability, dispersion coefficients and tortuosity. This approach allows computation of large scale flows. However, additional constitutive equations are needed which relate averaged quantities such as permeability to observables such as local saturation, particle size distributions, and others. An important difference between models is the way they handle the momentum equation. Payatakes' model solves the full equation. In others, it is replaced by a simpler relation such as Darcy's law (valid for slow flow rates) or by Forchheimer's equation which extends Darcy's law to higher flow rates. These simple relations can nevertheless match a great deal of experimental data (Dullien 1975). The permeability term which appears in Darcy's law and in Forchheimer's expression has been related to other quantities such as porosity and particle surface area. The Kozeny-Carmen equation is a well-known example, valid for some ranges of porosity and particle sizes and for some materials. Several other semi-theoretical, semi-empirical formulations have been devised, none of which are entirely satisfactory. One goal of researchers has been the ability to predict permeability of a porous material from basic measurable quantities such as grain size distributions without recourse to adjustable parameters. This effort has proceeded from consideration of distributions of idealized, non-intersecting channels, to intersecting channels, to consideration of both distributed pore radii and pore neck radii. This last approach has been used successfully to predict permeabilities (ranging over several orders of magnitude) in sandstones (Dullien 1975). Additionally, studies on explicit networks of channels (e.g., Fatt 1956) and percolation theory (e.g., Larson et. al. 1981) have been used to examine interconnectivity effects in porous media with the hope of eventually being able to predict permeability accurately. To be of more than theoretical interest, a model must be compared s controlled laboratory conditions where boundary and initial conditions and relevant material properties can be accurately determined. Also, extraneous forces can be eliminated so that the interactions between processes of interest can be clearly seen and flow models can be vigorously tested. In contrast to the well-defined environment and

Jan 1, 1982

By D. R. Parrish, T. M. Geffen, R. A. Morse, G. W. Haynes

Flow tests on small core plugs have indicated that a large amount of gas is trapped and not recovered by water flooding a gas sand. Instead of I to 15 per cent pore space, as is usually assumed, the residual gas saturation is 15 to 50 per cent pore space, and is thus of the same magnitude as residual oil after water flooding oil sands. A thorough investigation was made to ascertain that large amounts of residual gas actually remain in reservoirs after a water flood and that this condition is not merely a laboratory phenomenon. In field experiments, the amount of gas left in a watered-out gas sand was measured by use of a pressure core barrel and the residual gas saturation of two watered-out gas sands was determined by electric log evaluation. In the laboratory, an investigation was made of factors that could possibly cause the value of residual gas saturation as measured on small core plugs to differ from that in the reservoir, and the effect of these factors on the amount of residual gas saturation was studied. The factors studied include flooding rate, static pressure, temperature, sample size and saturation conditions before flooding All evidence established that a relatively high gas saturation is trapped in water flooded gas sands and that this residual gas saturation can be measured in the laboratory by tests on small core plugs. INTRODUCTION There. has been general agreement among engineers that very high recovery of gas could be obtained from natural reservoirs By water displacement. Gas recoveries of 80 to 95 per cent of the original gas in place have become the normal expectation in water drive fields. The assumption of high recovery has been based on: 1. low density and viscosity of gas compared with water; 2. the erroneous assumption that the flow relationship in a gas-liquid system where gas is the displaced phase will be the same as when it is the displacing phase. It has long been recognized that gas can flow at very low gas saturations (in the range of 1 to 15 per cent pore space) in systems where liquid is being displaced by gas. By assuming the reversibility of this process, the conclusion was reached that the residual gas saturation following water flooding of a gas reservoir would be the qame (1 to 15 per cent) as that at which gas first flowed continuously as a displacing phase. Recent laboratory relative permeability Studies have demonstrated that the flow characteristics are very different in gas-liquid systems, depending on whether gas is displacing or being displaced by, a liquid. Also, it has been shown that there is no difference between the flow characteristics of oil and water or gas and water in water wet porous rocks. The residual gas saturation that can be expected following water flooding of a gas reservoir then would be in the same range as the residual oil saturation normally expected after water flooding an oil reservoir! i.e., in the range of 15 to 50 per cent pore space, depending on the rock characteristics. Obviously, such a difference in residual gas saturation means very important differences in recoverable gas reserves from water drive reservoirs. For example, if the original gas saturation in a field were 70 per cent, and the residual gas following flooding were 35 per cent, only half of the gas in place could be recovered by complete water drive, compared to the previously expected 80 to 95 per cent. This is a situation in which complete pressure maintenance could result in very greatly reduced recovery, since straight pressure depletion recoveries from gas reservoirs can approach 80 to 90 per cent. Such a change in thinking must be based on more complete information than a series of small core tests. Hence the work reported herein was undertaken with the objective of determining whether or not residual gas saturations indicated from small core relative permeability tests at atmospheric pressure and room temperature are representative of the residual gas saturations which could be expected after water flood of natural reservoirs. A study was made both through laboratory and fields tests to determine any differences in residual saturation which might be occasioned by differences in pressure, temperature, rate of flooding, and original saturation conditions. Four separate types of laboratory experiments and two field mesurements were made in this investigation. The apparatus and testing methods of each will he discussed individually. LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS, APPARATUS AND PROCEDURE Relative Permeability Tests Steady state flow experiments Here conducted using the Penn State type apparatus. The equipment used has beer (described in a previous publication? "Irreducible" water satu-ration was established in the core' by imposing ,a capillary pressure of 45 psi before simultaneous flow of air and water

Jan 1, 1952