The complexity of identifying and quantifying natural and anthropogenic influences on surface movement in coal seam gas producing regions within the Surat Basin, Queensland
Sarah Brennand A * , Phil Hayes B and Christopher Leonardi A BA School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.
B Centre for Natural Gas, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 63 127-143 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ22143
Submitted: 19 December 2022 Accepted: 20 February 2023 Published: 11 May 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA.
Abstract
Coal seam gas (CSG) production can cause surface movement through the compaction of coal seams and adjacent geological units and may cause subtle changes in the topographic gradients that have been alleged to cause impacts on agriculture. Since surface movement can result from both natural and anthropogenic processes, the determination of which processes, and the magnitudes of their contributions, are important challenges in the management of impacts. Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR) is a proven remote sensing technique used to monitor large-scale surface movement via radar satellite imagery. It is currently used by major CSG producers to conduct monitoring over their tenements. As D-InSAR can only deduce total observed movement, integration with other datasets is required to deconvolve the influences within observations. This paper provides an overview of the range of processes that influence surface movement. A case study using a D-InSAR time-series dataset (2016–2022) reveals the surface movement in the Surat Basin. Velocity measurements show that surface movement in the vicinity of CSG wells ranges between −18 and +9 mm/year. Analysis of any correlations between landscape characteristics and surface movement is provided, along with preliminary findings on some key observations. This work aids in refining calculations on what proportion of surface movement may be attributable to gas extraction.
Keywords: coal bed methane, coal seam gas, differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR), gas extraction, interferometry, subsidence, Surat Basin, surface movement.
Sarah Brennand is a PhD Candidate at The University of Queensland (UQ). She is currently focussed on quantifying and attributing surface movement in the Surat Basin, south-east Queensland. She has a Bachelor of Science in Geology with Class 1 Honours from the Australian National University and received several awards throughout her undergraduate studies. She has over 20 years’ experience in the Australian Government, including several years as a Repeat-Pass Interferometry Scientist. Her research interests include using remotely sensed data to identify changes in the Earth’s surface through time, integrating different datasets to identify the causes of surface movement, leverage the latest technologies, high-performance computing and big data to deliver innovative solutions to meet new/emerging challenges in geoscience. |
A/Prof. Phil Hayes is an applied geoscientist, hydrogeologist and specialist groundwater modeller. He is an Associate Professor of Water Resources at UQ where his research interests range across groundwater modelling and reservoir modelling, the Great Artesian Basin, carbon capture and storage, migration of gas in the shallow sub-surface, algae farming, and geomechanical impacts and ground motion due to groundwater and gas extraction. Since 2021, he has been a member of the Independent Expert Scientific Committee, providing advice to the Australian federal and state governments on environmental impacts from large coal and coal seam gas development proposals. Phil holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics from the University of Manchester and a PhD (Civil Engineering) in Groundwater Modelling from the University of Birmingham, and he worked in an environmental and engineering consultancy for 25 years in Chile, the UK and Australia. He joined UQ in 2019. |
A/Prof. Christopher Leonardi is an academic in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at UQ and a recent Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellow (Mid-Career). He holds a B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering with Class I Honours from James Cook University and a PhD in Civil and Computational Engineering from Swansea University, UK. Before joining UQ, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, and also spent 5 years consulting to industry. Dr Leonardi’s research is currently targeted at the development of large-scale numerical models that can be used to provide insight into the complex characteristics of fluid-solid interaction in oil and gas reservoirs. His particular fields of expertise include the lattice Boltzmann method for fluid flows, the discrete element method for discontinuous systems and the finite element method for solid mechanics problems. |
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