The lower Frio Formation in eastern Brazoria County, upper Texas Gulf Coast, was deposited in a high constructive deltaic environment in the Houston delta system. Constructive elements of the stacked, elongate to lobate deltas that were intersected in core are storm induced delta front splays, delta front slump deposits, and distributary mouth bar, distributary channel and delta plain assemblages. Reworked and winnowed abandonment facies that are volumetrically insignificant relative to constructive elements are subdivided into a crossbedded shoreface-foreshore subfacies and a fine grained cyclic sequence of storm deposits on the lower shoreface that represent a distal abandonment subfacies. Micropaleontological evidence indicates that deposition of constructive and abandonment facies took place in water depths of less than 120 feet.

The system plans, construction, integration and test, and performance evaluation are discussed for the photovoltaic power supply at the Newman Power Station in El Paso, Texas. The system consists of 64 parallel-connected panels, each panel containing nine series-connected photovoltaic modules. The system is connected, through power monitoring equipment, to an existing DC bus that supplies uninterruptible power to a computer that controls the power generating equipment. The site is described and possible environmental hazards are assessed. Site preparation and the installation of the photovoltaic panels, electrical cabling, and instrumentation subsystems are described. System testing includes initial system checkout, module performance test, control system test. A training program for operators and maintenance personnel is briefly described, including visual aids. Performance data collection and analysis are described, and actual data are compared with a computer simulation. System drawings are included. (LEW)

The Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing a site characterization plan for the candidate site in Deaf Smith County, Texas. The DOE has provided, for information and review, a consultation draft of the plan to the State of Texas and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The site characterization plan is a lengthy document that describes in considerable detail the program that will be conducted to characterize the geologic, hydrologic, and other conditions relevant to the suitability of the site for a repository. The overview presented here consists of brief summaries of important topics covered in the consultation draft of the site characterization plan; it is not a substitute for the site characterization plan. The arrangement of the overview is similar to that of the plan itself, with brief descriptions of the repository system - the site, the repository, and the waste package - preceding the discussion of the characterization program to be carried out at the Deaf Smith County site. It is intended primarily for the management staff of organizations involved in the DOE's repository program or other persons who might wish to understand the general scope of the site-characterization program, the activities to be conducted, and the facilities to …

Twenty-three shale samples ranging in depth from 5194 ft to 13,246 ft from Gulf Oil Corporation No. 2 Texas State Lease 53034 well and 33 shale samples ranging in depth from 2185 ft to 15,592 ft from General Crude Oil Company/Department of Energy No. 1 Pleasant Bayou well were examined by x-ray techniques to determine the mineralogy of the geopressured zone in the Brazoria Fairway. Both wells have similar weight-percent trends with depth for a portion of the mineralogy. Calcite decreases, and plagioclase, quartz and total clay increase slightly. Within the clays, illite in mixed-layer illite/smectite (I/S) increases and smectite in mixed-layer I/S decreases. Four minerals have distinctly different trends with depth for each well. In the No. 2 Texas State Lease 53034 well, potassium feldspar and mixed-layer I/S decrease, kaolinite increases, and discrete illite is constant. In the No. 1 Pleasant Bayou well, potassium feldspar and kaolinite are constant, mixed-layer I/S increases, and discrete illite decreases.

First order leveling to be conducted as part of an environmental monitoring program for a geopressured test well was reported. 39.43 kilometers of first order levels were run to NGS specifications. Twelve Class B type bench marks were set to NGS specifications. The adjusted elevation of bench mark C-1209 was used as a starting elevation and is based on a supplementary adjustment of April 6, 1979 by NGS. The closure for the loop around the well site is -0.65 millimeters. The distance around the loop is 1.29 kilometers, the allowable error of closure was 4.54 millimeters. The initial leveling of this well was performed in 1977. A thorough search for their monumentation was conducted. No monuments were found due to the lack of adequate monument descriptions. Therefore, an elevation comparison summary for this report is only available along the NGS lines outside the well area. The first order level tie to line No. 101 (BMA-1208) was +3.37 millimeters in 17.21 kilometers. The allowable error of closure was 12.44 millimeters.

Comparisons between leveling surveys of different epochs are used to determine vertical displacement of permanent bench marks. Displacement of bench marks usually represents the movement of the surrounding area. In this report, the 1978 Houston-Galveston and Texas Gulf Coast releveling surveys are compared to the 1963, 1973, and 1976 releveling results. The changes in elevations of bench marks common to two or more epochs are tabulated and plotted in Appendix A. From these differences, contour maps were prepared for the 1963 to 1978 and 1973 to 1978 epochs in the 2/sup 0/ x 2/sup 0/ area of maximum subsidence. Annual subsidence rates computed for the 1973 to 1978 period are about 25% less in the maximum subsidence area than the rates computed for the 1963 to 1973 period.

This compilation identities all locations of potential source of geothermal fluids in Texas available as of December 1981. 7 refs. (ACR)

On March 25, 1986, the ICE spacecraft came within 28 x 10/sup 6/ km of the nucleus of comet Halley. For several days around this time, bursts of heavy ions were observed by the ICE energetic ion experiment. These bursts were observed only during periods when the solar wind velocity was considerably higher than its nominal value. We examine the characteristics of these ions, in particular their anisotropies. Using the well known formulae for transformation of distributions from the solar wind frame of reference to the spacecraft frame, we examine the angular distributions expected from either protons, or heavy ions from the water group, and show that the measurements are consistent with heavy ions, and not with protons. We discuss other sources of heavy ions and conclude that the most likely source of these ions is comet Halley. 9 refs., 5 figs.

The Pauline Kraft Well No. 1 was originally drilled to a depth of 13,001 feet and abandoned as a dry hole. The well was re-entered in an effort to obtain a source of GEO/sup 2/ energy for a proposed gasohol manufacturing plant. The well was tested through a 5-inch by 2-3/8 inch annulus. The geological section tested was the Frio-Anderson sand of Mid-Oligocene age. The interval tested was from 12,750 to 12,860 feet. A saltwater disposal well was drilled on the site and completed in a Micocene sand section. The disposal interval was perforated from 4710 to 4770 feet and from 4500 to 4542 feet. The test well failed to produce water at substantial rates. Initial production was 34 BWPD. A large acid stimulation treatment increased productivity to 132 BWPD, which was still far from an acceptable rate. During the acid treatment, a failure of the 5-inch production casing occurred. The poor production rates are attributed to a reservoir with very low permeability and possible formation damage. The casing failure is related to increased tensile strain resulting from cooling of the casing by acid and from the high surface injection pressure. The location of the casing failure is now known …

An aerial radiological survey was conducted over the Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory (SSCL) site from July 22 through August 20,1991. Parallel lines were flown at intervals of 305 meters over a 1,036-square-kilometer (400-square-mile) area surrounding Waxahachie, Texas. The 70,000 terrestrial gamma energy spectra obtained were reduced to an exposure rate contour map overlaid on a United States Geological Survey (USGS) map of the area. The mean terrestrial exposure rate measured was 5.4 {mu}R/h at 1 meter above ground level. Comparison to ground-based measurements shows good agreement. No anomalous or man-made isotopes were detected.

Meteorologic data from the Pantex Plant and from the nearby National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Amarillo, Texas, International Airport were evaluated to determine if the NWS data adequately represented meteorologic conditions at the Pantex Plant. Annual site environmental dose calculations for the Pantex Plant have previously used the NWS data; information from this data comparison helped determine if future environmental dose calculations should use site-specific Pantex meteorologic data. The meteorologic data evaluated were wind speed, wind direction, and atmospheric stability class. Atmospheric stability class data were compared for years 1990 and 1991 and found to be very similar. Stability class designations were identical and one class different in 63% and 30%, respectively, of the paired hourly data. An unexpected finding was the preponderance of Class D stability, which occurred approximately 62% of the time in both data sets. The overall effect of meteorological differences between the two locations was evaluated by performing environmental dose assessments using the GENII dose assessment computer code. Acute and chronic releases of {sup 3}H and {sup 239}Pu were evaluated. Results using the NWS Amarillo meteorologic data were approximately one-half of those generated using Pantex meteorologic data. The two-fold difference in dose results is …

Commercial and centralized drilling-fluid disposal (CCDD) sites receive a portion of spent drilling fluids for disposal from oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) operations. Many older and some abandoned sites may have operated under less stringent regulations than are currently enforced. This study provides a census, compilation, and summary of information on active, inactive, and abandoned CCDD sites in Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, intended as a basis for supporting State-funded assessment and remediation of abandoned sites. Closure of abandoned CCDD sites is within the jurisdiction of State regulatory agencies. Sources of data used in this study on abandoned CCDD sites mainly are permit files at State regulatory agencies. Active and inactive sites were included because data on abandoned sites are sparse. Onsite reserve pits at individual wells for disposal of spent drilling fluid are not part of this study. Of 287 CCDD sites in the four States for which we compiled data, 34 had been abandoned whereas 54 were active and 199 were inactive as of January 2002. Most were disposal-pit facilities; five percent were land treatment facilities. A typical disposal-pit facility has fewer than 3 disposal pits or cells, which have a median size of approximately …

The objectives of this project are to evaluate the feasibility of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) sequestration in Texas low-rank coals and to determine the potential for enhanced coalbed methane (CBM) recovery as an added benefit of sequestration. The main tasks for this reporting period were to correlate well logs and refine coal property maps, evaluate methane content and gas composition of Wilcox Group coals, and initiate discussions concerning collection of additional, essential data with Anadarko. To assess the volume of CO{sub 2} that may be sequestered and volume of methane that can be produced in the vicinity of the proposed Sam Seymour sequestration site, we used approximately 200 additional wells logs from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. to correlate and map coal properties of the 3 coal-bearing intervals of Wilcox group. Among the maps we are making are maps of the number of coal beds, number of coal beds greater than 5 ft thick, and cumulative coal thickness for each coal interval. This stratigraphic analysis validates the presence of abundant coal for CO{sub 2} sequestration in the Wilcox Group in the vicinity of Sam Seymour power plant. A typical wellbore in this region may penetrate 20 to 40 coal beds with cumulative …

This progress report covers the period from November 1, 1990 to April 30, 1993. During that period, TEXT was operated as a circular tokamak with a material limiter. It was devoted to the study of basic plasma physics, in particular to study of fluctuations, turbulence, and transport. The purpose is to operate and maintain TEXT Upgrade as a complete facility for applied tokamak physics, specifically to conduct a research program under the following main headings: (1) to elucidate the mechanisms of working gas, impurity, and thermal transport in tokamaks, in particular to understand the role of turbulence; (2) to study physics of the edge plasma, in particular the turbulence; (3) to study the physics or resonant magnetic fields (ergodic magnetic divertors, intra island pumping); and (4) to study the physics of electron cyclotron heating (ECRH). Results of studies in each of these areas are reported.

The following are included in the appendices: field test data, combined and edited raw data, time/pressure data, sample log, reservoir fluid study, gas data, sample collection and analysis procedure, scale monitoring and water analysis, sand detector and strip charts, and Horner-type plot data. (MHR)

The acquisition, completion, and testing of a geopressured-geothermal well are described. The following are covered: geology; petrophysics; re-entry and completion operations - test well; drilling and completion operations - disposal well; test objectives; surface testing facilities; pre-test operations; test sequence; test results and analysis; and return of wells and location to operator. (MHR)

Surface remedial action will be completed at the Falls City, Texas, Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project site in the spring of 1994. Results of water sampling activity from 1989 to 1993 indicate that ground water contamination occurs primarily in the Deweesville/Conquista aquifer (the uppermost aquifer) and that the contamination migrates along four distinct contaminant plumes. Contaminated ground water from some wells in these regions has significantly elevated levels of aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, sulfate, and uranium. Contamination in the Dilworth aquifer was identified in monitor well 977 and in monitor well 833 at the southern edge of former tailings pile 4. There is no evidence that surface water quality in Tordilla and Scared Dog Creeks is impacted by tailings seepage. The following water sampling activities are planned for calendar year 1994: (1) Ground water sampling from 15 monitor wells to monitor the migration of the four major contaminant plumes within the Deweesville/Conquista aquifer. (2) Ground water sampling from five monitor wells to monitor contaminated and background ground water quality conditions in the Dilworth aquifer. Because of disposal cell construction activities, all plume monitor wells screened in the Dilworth aquifer were abandoned. No surface water locations are proposed …

The coring, logging and testing of Bennett Ranch Unit well No. 310 was a cooperative effort between Texas Pacific, owner of the well, and Gruy Federal, Inc. The requirements of the contract, which are summarized in Enclosure 1, Appendix A, include drilling and coring activities. The pressure-coring and associated logging and testing programs in selected wells are intended to provide data on in-situ oil saturation, porosity and permeability distribution, and other data needed for resource characterization of fields and reservoirs in which CO/sub 2/ injection might have a high probability of success. This report presents detailed information on the first such project. This project demonstrates the usefulness of integrating pressure core, log and production data to realistically evaluate a reservoir for carbon dioxide flood. The engineering of tests and analysis of such experimental data requires original thinking, but the reliability of the results is higher than data derived from conventional tests.

This report describes preliminary results of an ongoing study of the volcanic stratigraphy, caldera activity, and known and potential mineralization of the Chinati Mountains area of Trans-Pecos Texas. Many ore deposits are spatially associated with calderas and other volcanic centers. A genetic relationship between calderas and base and precious metal mineralization has been proposed by some and denied by others. Steven and others have demonstrated that calderas provide an important setting for mineralization in the San Juan volcanic field of Colorado. Mineralization is not found in all calderas but is apparently restricted to calderas that had complex, postsubsidence igneous activity. A comparison of volcanic setting, volcanic history, caldera evolution, and evidence of mineralization in Trans-Pecos to those of the San Juan volcanic field, a major mineral producer, indicates that Trans-Pecos Texas also could be an important mineralized region. The Chianti caldera complex in Trans-Pecos Texas contains at least two calderas that have had considerable postsubsidence activity and that display large areas of hydrothermal alteration and mineralization. Abundant prospects in Trans-Pecos and numerous producing mines immediately south of the Trans-Pecos volcanic field in Mexico are additional evidence that ore-grade deposits could occur in Texas.

Patterns of microearthquakes detected downhole defined fracture orientation and extent in the Austin chalk, Giddings field, TX and the 76 field, Clinton Co., KY. We collected over 480 and 770 microearthquakes during hydraulic stimulation at two sites in the Austin chalk, and over 3200 during primary production in Clinton Co. Data were of high enough quality that 20%, 31% and 53% of the events could be located, respectively. Reflected waves constrained microearthquakes to the stimulated depths at the base of the Austin chalk. In plan view, microearthquakes defined elongate fracture zones extending from the stimulation wells parallel to the regional fracture trend. However, widths of the stimulated zones differed by a factor of five between the two Austin chalk sites, indicating a large difference in the population of ancillary fractures. Post-stimulation production was much higher from the wider zone. At Clinton Co., microearthquakes defined low-angle, reverse-fault fracture zones above and below a producing zone. Associations with depleted production intervals indicated the mapped fractures had been previously drained. Drilling showed that the fractures currently contain brine. The seismic behavior was consistent with poroelastic models that predicted slight increases in compressive stress above and below the drained volume.

The U.S. Department of Energy/Morgantown Energy Technology Center (DOE/METC) awarded a contract in 1991 to Prime Energy Corporation (PEC) to demonstrate the benefit of using horizontal wells to recover gas from low permeability formations. The project area was located in the Chittim field of Maverick County, Texas. The Lower Glen Rose Formation in the Chittim field was a promising horizontal well candidate based on the heterogenous nature of the reservoir (suggested by large well-to-well variances in reserves) and the low percentage of economical vertical wells. Since there was substantial evidence of reservoir heterogeneity, it was unknown whether the selected, wellsite would penetrate a reservoir with the desired properties for a horizontal well. Thus, an integrated team was formed to combine geologic analysis, seismic interpretation, reservoir engineering, reservoir simulation, and economic assessment to analyze the production potential and profitability of completing a horizontal well in the Lower Glen Rose formation.

The uranium processing site near Falls City, Texas, was one of 24 inactive uranium mill sites designated to be remediated by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Title I of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA). The UMTRCA requires that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) concur with the DOE`s remedial action plan (RAP) and certify that the remedial action conducted at the site complies with the standards promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The RAP, which includes this summary remedial action selection report (RAS), serves a two-fold purpose. First, it describes the activities proposed by the DOE to accomplish long-term stabilization and control of the residual radioactive materials at the inactive uranium processing site near Falls City, Texas. Second, this document and the remainder of the RAP, upon concurrence and execution by the DOE, the State of Texas, and the NRC, becomes Appendix B of the Cooperative Agreement between the DOE and the State of Texas.

This report presents the results of geological characterization studies in a typical Grayburg reservior in the Permian Basin. The work applies geological models developed in outcrop studies to better constrain the geological reservoir framework and heterogeneity in a typical Grayburg reservoir, The South Cowden Grayburg reservoir. This framework provides a strong basis for defining petrophysical and flow unit properties in the reservior and serves as a prototype model for other Grayburg reservoir characterization studies. The Grayburg Formation in the South Cowden field of eastern Ector County displays an internal stratal architecture that typifies Grayburg shallow-water platform successions throughout the Permian Basin. Study of core and wireline logs in South Cowden field documents three orders of cyclicity in the Grayburg. The entire Grayburg constitutes a single long-duration accommodation cycle that commenced with a major sea-level rise. Two major diagenetic events strongly affect reservoir character in some parts of the field. Recrystallized dolomite is developed along vertical burrows in highly cyclic mud-dominated packstones and wackestones of the HFS 4 Grayburg highstand succussion. Later alteration and removal of anhydrite are focused in structurally low sections along the eastern and southern margins of the field.

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