Subsurface Observatory

Nodes - Lead node University of Melbourne

Contacts

Mike Sandiford – University of Melbourne
Tim Rawling – University of Melbourne

EIF funding - A$ 7 million

Project duration - Start: January 2011 to December 2014

Summary

There exists a great opportunity to unlock the billions of dollars spent on drilling by enabling access to these holes by the research community, for the purpose of undertaking subsurface data collection and experimentation only possible from deep holes. The Subsurface observatory program will provide an infrastructure that would allow additional experimentation to take place in and around existing boreholes, including funds for re-entry of blocked of holes and funds for maintaining access to selected boreholes for research purposes once commercial objectives have been completed.

Infrastructure

• Access to workover rigs
  • to facilitate access to plugged deep drill holes.
• Downhole tests
  
  • includes fluid pump-in tests to assess permeability and in situ stress. Deployment of strain meters
• Downhole logging 
  • geophysical logging while drilling, open hole logging (e.g. image logging), cased-hole logging, and, pore fluid pressure measurements coupled with fluid sampling.
• Petrophysical laboratories
  
  • including geothermal laboratories, allowing for direct measurements on core, cuttings and fluids, including studies on the physical properties, and constitutive behavior of rock samples recovered from depth.
     

Last updated 3 April 2012