Methods and challenges to locating legacy wells in western Pennsylvania: Case study at Hillman State Park
Methods and challenges to locating legacy wells in western Pennsylvania: Case study at Hillman State Park
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宾夕法尼亚州西部遗留井定位的方法和挑战：希尔曼州立公园的案例研究
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发表时间：
2017
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Richard Hammack
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作者：
J. Sams;G. Veloski;J. Diehl;Richard Hammack
本研究展示了航磁勘测在希尔曼州立公园定位 1800 年代末期油气井的应用。宾夕法尼亚州西南部的研究区域给遗留井的定位带来了一些独特的挑战。宾夕法尼亚州许多遗留井的位置记录都不存在。那些确实存在的井往往是不完整和不准确的，老井通常在没有有效封堵的情况下被废弃。现在，未堵塞的遗留井可以作为与现代石油和天然气作业相关的流体和气体的垂直运移通道。希尔曼州立公园的水井在 1900 年代初期被废弃，几乎没有留下任何井址的证据。然而，钢井套管通常仍留在现场。 1940 年至 1960 年间，希尔曼州立公园 50% 的土地用于露天开采煤炭。煤层覆盖层的去除也将露天开采区域的上井套管去除到煤层深处。然后，在重新分级作业期间，这些井被埋在矿渣下。如今，希尔曼州立公园的大部分地区都被树木和茂密的植被覆盖，通过地面搜索来定位水井非常困难、耗时，而且往往是徒劳的。本研究中使用的机载磁力勘测根据垂直钢井套管的独特磁特征确定了井位，包括雷区的埋井。将航磁测量的结果与地理信息系统中的航空摄影、历史地图和高分辨率地形数据相结合，以在地面搜索验证之前完善井位。
This study demonstrates the application of aeromagnetic surveys for locating late 1800s-era oil and gas wells in Hillman State Park. The study area in southwestern Pennsylvania offered several unique challenges to locating legacy wells. Location records for many of Pennsylvania’s legacy wells do not exist. Those that do exist are often incomplete and inaccurate, and old wells were commonly abandoned without effective plugging. Now, unplugged legacy wells may serve as vertical migration pathways for fluids and gas associated with modern oil and gas operations. Wells in Hillman State Park were abandoned in the early 1900s, leaving little evidence of a well site. However, the steel well casing commonly remained at the site. Between 1940 and 1960, 50% of the land area at Hillman State Park was surface mined for coal. The removal of coal overburden also removed the upper well casings in surface-mined areas to the depth of the coal. The wells were then buried under mine spoil during regrading operations. Today, much of Hillman State Park is covered in trees and dense vegetation, and locating wells with ground-level searches is difficult, time consuming, and often futile. The airborne magnetic survey used in this study identified well locations, including buried wells in mined areas, based on the unique magnetic signature of vertical, steel well casing. The results of the aeromagnetic survey were combined with aerial photography, historic maps, and high-resolution topographic data in a geographic information system to refine well locations prior to verification with a ground search.