Project Info
Petrophysical analysis of an offshore freshened groundwater system
Brandon Dugan
dugan@mines.edu
Project Goals and Description:
We will use existing wireline logging data (natural gamma radiation, electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and nuclear magnetic resonance) and porewater salinity data to better understand the relationships between lithology, fluid flow properties, and freshwater distribution for three offshore freshened groundwater sites along the New England Atlantic margin. Additionally we will focus on the borehole resistivity profiles to help aid future inversions of marine-based resistivity profiles. This work will contribute to the larger goals of IODP3-NSF Expedition 501 to understand the origin and dynamics of offshore freshened groundwater systems.
More Information:
Grand Challenge: Provide access to clean water.
https://www.ecord.org/expedition501/
https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article/137/9-10/3905/653337/Testing-different-scenarios-of-freshwater
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020RG000706
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2014GC005569
Primary Contacts:
Brandon Dugan, dugan@mines.edu
Student Preparation
Qualifications
Student should be motivated to work with real-world data and be comfortable asking questions to learn about research (in general and this project). Student will need basic geology and geophysics knowledge and should be proficient with Python for data manipulation and plotting.
TIME COMMITMENT (HRS/WK)
3-4 hrs/week
SKILLS/TECHNIQUES GAINED
Student will learn how to analyze data from raw to final product, will learn how to develop testable hypotheses based, will learn how basic wireline logging tools work, and will learn how to be a researcher as part of a team that has individual goals that feed into the team goals.
MENTORING PLAN
I will meet weekly with the student to allow for expanding basic knowledge, exploring research questions, setting research goals, and discussing research success and not-yet successes. We will also discuss informal and formal research presentations, and how to improve presentation skills.
Preferred Student Status
Sophomore
Junior
Senior