DE-NT0006554

Goal
The goal of this project is to develop a GIS- (Geographic Information Systems) and web-based water resource geospatial infrastructure which contains the basin baseline datasets for surface and groundwater, customized analytical toolsets, and user interfaces (UIs). The water resource geospatial infrastructure will provide water management solutions that will facilitate decision making, environmental impact studies (EIS), and cost estimation under different development scenarios for potential oil shale resource development in the Western U. S.

Performers
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401
University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249
Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-2107

Collaborators
USGS Energy Resources Program, Denver, CO 80228
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
USGS Colorado Water Science Center, Grand Junction, CO 81506

Background
Abundant oil shale deposits are found throughout the Midwestern and Eastern United States; however, oil shale deposits in the Green River Formation in northwestern Colorado, southwestern Wyoming, and northeastern Utah are most likely to be developed because of their richness, accessibility, and extensive prior characterization.

Green River Formation basins in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Figure shows most geologically prospective oil shale resources; areas where the overburden above the oil shale resources is =500 ft; and locations of the six RD&D projects.

The Green River oil shale deposits are located within the Upper Colorado River Basin, which includes the Colorado River and its tributaries north of Lee’s Ferry, Arizona. Colorado River waters are critical resources in this semi-arid region, being used for municipal purposes, irrigated agriculture, industry and mining, energy development, and for maintaining recreational, scenic, and ecological value. Oil shale development has diverse impacts on water quality and quantity that must be addressed when developing this resource.

Development of western oil shale resources will require significant quantities of water for mine and plant operations, reclamation, and associated economic growth. A Department of Energy (DOE) report indicates that current estimates (based on updated oil shale industry water budgets for new retorting methods) will be one-to-three barrels of water per barrel of oil. For an oil shale industry producing 2.5 MMBOPD, this equates to between 105 and 315 million gallons of water per day (MGD).

These numbers include water requirements for power generation, in situ heating processes, retorting, refining, reclamation, dust control, and on-site worker demands. According to the DOE fact sheet report, municipal and other water requirements related to population growth and industry development will require an additional 58 million gallons per day. In areas where oil shale is available, particularly in the Western U.S., the water will be drawn from local and regional sources. The major water source would be rivers, which have to support the water demands from municipal, industrial, and agricultural activities in addition to baseline environmental flows.

In addition to water quantity issues, water quality issues need to be addressed, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) foot prints and the possibility of oil spills due to the large amounts of shale oil produced, processed, and transported. Stream temperature could also be altered due to warm wastewater discharge from power plants, by consuming cool water, or by lowering the ground water table. Toxic trace elements and organic chemicals from stack emissions from processing operations, chemicals used in upgrading and gas processing, leachates from raw and retorted shale, and associated industrial and municipal wastes are also a concern because of their potential impact on aquatic life, and on human health through drinking water supplies and irrigation.

These potential environmental impacts necessitate further study of water usage issues related to shale oil development. A basin-integrated baseline for surface and ground water data is the foundation of these studies. The study of water availability and environmental impact is a critical early step for the potential development of oil shale resources in the Western U.S.

Impact
One of the greatest challenges to advancing scientific discovery and industrial development is to efficiently collect and share data with the scientific community and general public. The development of a water resource geospatial database will create a repository for large volumes of water resource and oil shale data. This database will allow for collaborative regional basin assessments for future oil shale development. This type of collaboration provides the ideal atmosphere for the development of new, generically useful approaches for the use of technology and procedures that promote the best and most widespread use of our enormous data holdings despite their disparate locations and heterogeneous formats. The database will enhance and standardize existing oil shale data by developing tools and GUIs to integrate previously dispersed and diverse datasets. The results of this research will become a powerful tool to facilitate communication among industry, state, and federal regulators, and other stakeholders.

Accomplishments

• A georeferenced and digitized surface expression of faults in Piceance Basin was developed. The faults play a critical role in water movement throughout the basin providing preferential conduits for both recharge and discharge of groundwater. The faults will be an important component of the 3D geologic model and geo-hydrologic conceptual model.
• Georeferenced and digitized surficial alluvial deposits that make up the stream valleys in the Piceance Basin were added to the database. It is important to define the extent and volume of the surficial alluvial aquifers in the Piceance Basin system. Alluvial valleys are in direct connection with the shallow groundwater table and surface water. Quantifying the storage capacity of the alluvial aquifers is an important step in characterizing available water sources and potential shallow groundwater injection storage opportunities.
• Feature classes of hydrogeologic units previously compiled from USGS publications (Taylor, 1982) were renamed in the geodatabase to be consistent with nomenclature of original publication, and to allow for correlation to nomenclature used in the MODFLOW groundwater model, which is in the process of development.
• An Adobe Flex 2.2 API development environment was established for ArcGIS Server on the project server, and an initial test mapping site of the web-based GIS was developed.
• All project products were migrated from ArcGIS Desktop version 9.3 to version 10.0.
• WARMF model calibration has been completed.
• As part of the technology transfer effort for this project, presentations at the International Petroleum Environmental Conference (IPEC), Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC), the 2010 Rocky Mountain Energy Epicenter Conference (RMEEC), the 2010 Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists (AEG) Annual Meeting, and the 30th Oil Shale Symposium (30th OSS) were given in 2010. The PI served as session chair/co-chair for three (RMEEC, AEG, and OSS) of these conferences.
• A test mapping site of the web-based GIS has been set up and can be displayed within the CSM intranet. Refinement of this mapping site is in progress.
• The integrated geodatabase was updated to reflect newly acquired data.
• Newly acquired geologic data for deeper formations was integrated into the geospatial infrastructure.
• Updated USGS Piceance Basin Fisher assays (the updated 2010 version) and Geologic Tops data were integrated into the geospatial infrastructure.
• A VolumeCalculation Tool designed to calculate the volume of geologic zones by computing the difference between a user-specified top zone and bottom zone was developed.
• A ComputeRasterSurfaces Tool designed to compute raster surfaces for the top of geologic zones based on borehole x, y, z input or from contour input was developed.
• A ComputeMultipatch Tool designed to build vector-based multipatch feature classes that represent geologic volumes was developed.
• A ComputeRasterSurfaces Tool designed to compute raster surfaces for the top of geologic zones based on borehole x, y, z input or from contour input was developed.
• The framework/prototype of the integrated geodatabases, including all of the data collected thus far, such as surface water, groundwater, geological, geomorphologic, oil shale (Fisher assays), surface water, ground water, and climatic data sets was completed.
• A Dell R710 GIS server was purchased and configured. This GIS server serves as the host for data storage and web-based GIS.

Current Status (October 2011)
The project team continues to focus on digitizing legacy data from paper maps for analysis and storage in the database. Most of the geologic mapping of the Piceance Basin was done in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s and now exist as paper maps and/or digital images. The digital images can be brought into ArcGIS and georeferenced to real world coordinates to overlay on other real world datasets.

Project Start: October 1, 2008
Project End: September 30, 2012

DOE Contribution: $883,971
Performer Contribution: $298,253

Contact Information:
NETL – William Fincham (William.Fincham@netl.doe.gov or 304-285-4268)
Colorado School of Mines – Wei (Wendy) Zhou (wzhou@mines.edu or 303-384-2181)
If you are unable to reach the above personnel, please contact the content manager.

Additional Information:

Technology Status Assessment [PDF-44KB]

Publications

The Office of Technology Assessment Materials Program staff, An Assessment of Oil Shale Technol¬ogy, Volume I, June 1980

Geology and Resources of Some World Oil-Shale Deposits (USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2005–5294)

Draft OSTS PEIS, Appendix A: Oil Shale Development Background and Technology Overview (De¬cember 2007)

U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory 2007 Oil Shale Environmental Issues and Needs Workshop, October 18, 2007, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, March 2008.

Zhou, W.; Chen, G.; Li, H.; Luo, H.; Huang, S. L., GIS Application in Mineral Resource Analysis – A Case Study of Offshore Marine Placer Gold at Nome, Alaska, Computers and Geosciences, 33 (2007), pp. 773–788.