Journal articles on the topic 'CORE DRILLING THEORY'

AbstractDetermining the expected age at a potential ice-core drilling site on a polar ice sheet generally depends on a combination of information from remote-sensing methods, estimates of current accumulation and modelling. This poses irreducible uncertainties in retrieving an undisturbed ice core of the desired age. Although recently perfected radar techniques will improve the picture of the ice sheet below future drilling sites, rapid prospective drillings could further increase the success of deep drilling projects. Here we design and explore a drilling system for a minimum-size rapid-access hole. The advantages of a small hole are the low demand for drilling fluid, low overall weight of the equipment, fast installing and de-installing and low costs. We show that, in theory, drilling of a 20 mm hole to a depth of 3000 m is possible in ∼4 days. First concepts have been realized and verified in the field. Both the drill cuttings and the hole itself can be used to characterize the properties of the ice sheet and its potential to provide a trustworthy palaeo-record. A candidate drilling site could be explored in ∼2 weeks, which would enable the characterization of several sites in one summer season.

Impregnated diamond core bits are often used in core drilling for geological surveys. A tri-state theory is proposed to describe the three states in drilling processes for a diamond particle or a bit. These states are contacting state, cutting state, and ploughing state. Furthermore, the relations among thrust and other mechanical parameters are also summarized. The optimal value of the specific energy is in the cutting state. Several experiment results verified the proposed model. This mechanism is useful for selecting operation parameters in core drilling using impregnated diamond core bits.

AbstractMore than 170 years ago, Louis Agassiz, one of the creators of glacial theory, made his first attempt to drill into the bed of Unteraargletscher, Swiss Alps. Since that time, various systems for thermal and mechanical drilling have been designed especially for boring into ice, and some conventional drill rigs been adopted for ice coring. Although contemporary ice-drilling knowledge and techniques are now familiar, there remain many problems to be solved by advanced modern technology. Specific challenges related to improving old drilling methods and developing new emerging technologies include: (1) identification of depth limitation of ‘dry’ drilling; (2) improvement of casing; (3) searching for the new environmentally friendly low-temperature drilling fluids; (4) reliable elimination of sticking drills; (5) improvement of core quality in the brittle zone; (6) additional core sampling from borehole walls after the core has been drilled; (7) obtaining oriented core; (8) designing automation drilling systems; (9) developing rapid-access drills. Possible ways of solving these problems are presented below.

On the basis of Cliftons, hydraulic fracturing is established under the condition of cylindrical specimen fracture toughness expression. Using a self-built laboratory equipment, drilling core specimen for the fracture toughness test and obtain the relevant data. Based on the rock parameters inversion theory to construct the formation rock fracture toughness inversion objective function and optimization function. according to the drilling core material fracture toughness test data and the application of Matlab programming presented the formation rock fracture toughness.

Development of carotage (retrospective years 1969-2019) at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv is described. Basic achievements are shown in educational and scientific directions. Carbonate rocks methodology study problems, petrophysical models which allowed building physically well-founded dependences of "core-core", "core-geophysics", "geophysics- geophysics" type are described. Petrophysical simulation, theory of probability and mathematical statistics methods allowed the author to work out a complex system of data processing and interpretation in welllogging. Current status and tendency in dataware drilling process of the deep oil and gas wells are examined. Absolutely new ideology of operative getting of the reliable directional survey data without special logging services (telesystem in the process of drilling, autonomous inclinometer and other) is proposed.

Aerated underbalanced horizontal drilling technology has become the focus of the drilling industry at home and abroad, and one of the engineering core issues is the horizontal borehole cleaning. Therefore, calculating the minimum injection volume of gas and liquid accurately is essential for the construction in aerated underbalanced horizontal drilling. This paper establishes a physical model of carrying cuttings and borehole cleaning in wellbore of horizontal well and a critical transport mathematical model according to gas-liquid-solid flow mechanism and large plane dunes particle transport theory.

AbstractIn order to understand and solve the ‘warm-ice problem’ in deep ice-core drilling, we applied the metal-cutting theory to ice and estimated the heat generated during ice coring taking into account the mechanical and thermal properties of the ice and cutters. We found that (1) most of the heat in cutting is generated by shear deformation at the shear plane of ice, and the heat could increase the chip temperature by several degrees; (2) the rake angle of the cutter has more influence on the temperature increase in chips than the barrel rotation speed and penetration pitch; (3) if the cutter is made of a material with larger thermal conductivity, the temperature increase in the chips can be reduced; and (4) if the density of the liquid is less than the density of ice, the cutting chips sink to the bottom and the friction heat generated by the drill head and slush can raise the ambient temperature of the drill head by several degrees.

In this paper, the impact of three parameters including nanoparticles geometry, particles aggregation and borehole inclination on induced formation damage from water based drilling fluids were investigated by means of experimental studies. Accordingly, we designed a dynamic filtration setup capable to rotate and change well inclination. nanobased drilling fluids consisting of spherical, cubical and tubular shapes nanoparticles as fluid loss additives were used. Mud cake quality, core permeability impairment and degree of formation damage at various well inclinations were examined. The cluster structure of aggregated particles were determined using fractal theory and applying dynamic light scattering technique. For this purpose, drilling fluids were circulated at different well inclinations and at a constant differential pressure against a synthetic core. Field emission scanning electronic microscopy images taken from mud cakes confirmed the proposed cluster structures of nanoparticles. The experimental results show that the mud cake quality and degree of damage are functions of produced structure of aggregated particles. Moreover, by increasing the well inclination, the skin factor increases. However, this trend is intensively depended on particle geometry. Real time analysis of pore throat size to particle size ratio during mud circulation shows the tendency of particles to create external/internal filter cake is mainly related to well inclination and particle shape. The results can be used to optimize the size and shape of selected macro/nanoparticles as additives in drilling fluids to reduce formation damage in directional and horizontal wells during drilling operation.

Aiming at the complexity of rock discing mechanics, and the theory being not mature, the paper carried out three-dimensional numerical simulation for rock core discing based on strain soft model. The strain soft theory is introduced firstly, then numerically simulated how the depth of lug boss and original stress affect the rock core destroy pattern(discing if occurs, the thickness of disk), obtained the characters of rock core discing. Along with the drilling depth increases, the stress concentration scope below lug boss also increases, as well as the pressure stress concentration degree of side corner below of lug boss. Rock core discing can be induced respectively by shear action and tension action, sometimes it is combined by both of them. The destroy pattern of them especially destroy sequence are different. The strain soft numerical simulation could be used in original stress feedback analysis, has significant meaning.

The work investigates the structure parameters of adjustable subatmospheric pumping scraps device and oil feeder, which have extremely significant impacts on double feeder system in the deep-hole drilling process. Equations for subatmospheric zone pressure are derived herein using the siphon principle, and experiments are performed the trends of pressure on the single factor condition, which provide reasonable structure parameters for adjustable subatmospheric pumping scraps device. Oil feeder is studied based on the Euler column theory, and it can be optimized that is intermediate support, pilot bushing as well as sealing. The universal finite element software is used to design the structure of adjustable subatmospheric pumping scraps device and oil feeder, also reasonable structure design scheme of double feeder system core components is given.

Exploration of deep-rock mechanics has a significant influence on the techniques of mining and rock mechanics. Rock coring technique is the basic method for all rock mechanics study. With the increase of the drilling depth and increasing strength of the hard rock, how to obtain high-quality rock core through various coring techniques is an eternal work. Here an innovative method is applied to design the new coring system to maximize the efficiency of operation. The stress conditions or parameters of rock core in the coring are analyzed, and the mechanism of the core with in situ stress is shown in this paper. The conflict of the core and coring tool chamber is proposed for the innovative design. The innovative design method is fulfilled by the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ). An improved coring system for the full-length core with in situ stress was obtained with the solutions of improved coring mechanism, cutting mechanism, and spiral drill pipe.

With the development of the resource exploration and environmental science drilling, strict and scientific requirements are put forward for the samples taken from drilling. It is significant to keep the original appearance of the core and obtain the in situ core for the analysis of deep geological fluid and the exploration of the law of geological disasters caused by large-scale geological exploitation. To achieve the high-fidelity in situ core of deep rock, the development of the corresponding deep in situ fidelity coring device should involve the insulation coring device. The development of deep in situ fidelity coring device is a typical sophisticated product design. There are many problems in the design process, such as multimodules, multidisciplinary, crossdomain, and high coupling, which makes it more difficult for users to participate in product design and understand the product design intention. Digital twin technology, such as time data collection, accelerated iterative optimization, and high-fidelity rendering, provides users with an immersive experience and deepens their understanding of the product design intention. The exploration of the novel design model combined digital twin technology with innovative design theory. Digital twin innovative design of the deep in situ insulation coring device is based on the innovative design method, which built a digital connection between the pre-research test platform and the corresponding simulation models. This digital twin to help users participate in product design and understand the product design process. Finally, the TOPSIS evaluation model was used to calculate the user’s score on the design scheme, which increased by 27.64%, which improves the overall efficiency of product design. This paper provides a practical design method and technical means for the design of the deep in situ insulation coring device based on the geological mechanism and control theory of thermal insulation core.

Based on getting block oilfield original drilling core data, the study established a geological physical parameters database and visual geological model of block oilfield, including block areas model, fault model, surface model and so on, by choosing several block oilfield oil parameters and using geological sections. The paper established block model by using hexahedral subdivision skills, estimated three-dimensional space physical parameters by using geostatistics theory and constraints of block areas and faults. It got block oilfield rock parameters spatial distribution and supplied a effective method to find oil rich regions and reach rolling development goals.

Based on equivalent continuum media theory of fractured rock mass, the author got the permeability tensor of floor strata in some mine according to core logging method, drilling imaging method and boring water injection method, and determined the floor rock permeability tensor using correction method. The author simulated the floor inrush problem by coupling fluid-solid theory and anisotropic flow model with FLAC3D software. The result shows that, the destroyed depth of floor and the confined water rising height are all slight when the coal mining workface is 150m apart from the fault, but they increase obviously when the coal mining workface is 30m apart from the fault, and are extremely easy to get through and casue water inrush through fault.

Abstract Drilling rigs for deep seabed shallow strata are commonly used to explore ocean cobalt-rich crust resources and other fields. This paper mainly presents the structure and mechanism of a mobile drilling rig for use in acquiring seafloor cores that are up to 1.5 m in length. The software Simcenter Amesim is used to establish the mobile drilling rig's hydraulic propulsion system model, which is the basis and a core part of the rig. Moreover, closed-loop and PID (proportion-integral-differential) control methods are separately used to control the hydraulic propulsion system for simulation analysis. Comparison of the simulation results shows that the PID control method is more convincing in verifying the design rationality of the hydraulic propulsion system. In the simulation of the PID-controlled hydraulic propulsion system, the co-simulation technology of Simcenter Amesim and MATLAB/Simulink not only establishes the hydraulic and control models but also determines the relevant simulation parameters, thereby helping improve system simulation efficiency. In its verification deployment in the South China Sea, the mobile drilling rig has been operated many times at different depths, and some cores have been successfully obtained. It was also used during the 55th Voyage of China Oceanic Scientific Expedition, which was supported by the China Ocean Mineral Resources R&D Association. Several sites were explored, and a large number of cobalt-rich crust cores were obtained. Theory and sea trials are explained to support further research on the survey of abyssal resources.

Summary We present a novel approach that combines dynamic reservoir simulations and special core tests to model the extent of invasive damage and its impact on flowback during production. A radially adaptive 3D microsimulator is used to estimate the extent and impact of filtrate invasion on near-wellbore saturation and reservoir pressure. Time-varying reservoir exposure is used to simulate the acts of drilling, tripping, completions, and workovers. Extremely fine, core-scale grids are used to capture saturation and pressure in the invasion zone. Special core tests using a specially designed core holder are conducted on the subject reservoir core. Test results are interpreted to obtain an estimate of endpoint relative permeabilities, dynamic mudcake effect on filtrate loss, and impact of solids invasion on return permeability. The saturation and pressure profiles from this model are then used as initial conditions in a sector-scale simulator to model flowback effects. Absolute-permeability damage is modeled using the core-test results as an incremental and hyperbolically recovering effect during flowback simulations. A near-wellbore fine-grid overlay is used to capture the near-wellbore effects from the microsimulator results. Several sensitivities, including initial reservoir pressure, degree of overbalance and drawdown, heterogeneity, anisotropy, and mudcake effect, are examined. Equivalent skin factors that vary with time and depth are developed to enable comparison with full-field simulations. A horizontal-well example is used to illustrate the results of the study. Results illustrate the stark and often underappreciated effects of invasive damage on flowback and, therefore, on production performance. The methods described in this work can be used in reservoir-specific studies to quantify formation damage and aid in the selection of mud types, drilling techniques, and remediation methods required to improve performance. It is hoped that this work bridges the typically empirical damage-characterization methods and dynamic reservoir simulations. Introduction Conventional (or overbalanced) drilling and workover operations invariably result in invasion of filtrate and solids present in the drilling and workover fluids. In most cases, the damage caused is limited to a near-wellbore region and can reduce productivity because of degradation in effective permeability. Permeability degradation from filtrate and solids invasion could be caused by a variety of damage mechanisms, such as blockage of pore throats by solids, reduction in relative permeability to hydrocarbons because of a change in saturation, phase blockage, and clay swelling in the formation. Damage can be harsher in horizontal wells and mature reservoirs because of greater overbalance and longer duration of exposure to drilling fluids. During drilling, mudcake buildup can reduce the invasion depth. The buildup and effectiveness of mudcake depend greatly upon the formulation of the mud, the type and heterogeneity of the formation being drilled, the maturity of the reservoir, and the degree of overbalance during drilling or workovers. In horizontal wells, mudcake effectiveness is compromised further because of repeated movement of the pipe against the mudcake, leading to several events of removal and re-laying of the mudcake. The effects of damage also can be alleviated by the use of remedial stimulation techniques such as acidizing and hydraulic fracturing. These may not always produce the desired results, particularly in horizontal wells in highly heterogeneous formations. Moreover, implementing some of these techniques in horizontal wells is difficult. Given the potential for reduced productivity from invasion, characterization of invasion-induced damage has been of interest for decades. However, the implicit presumption when dealing with invasion-induced damage has been that it can be mitigated (by appropriate selection of muds and formation of mudcake), bypassed (through perforations), or remedied (through stimulation and fracturing). Most prior damage-characterization work has been empirical in nature, relying on log and core tests to assess damage parameters. More recently, some authors also have attempted to quantify and model formation damage from the fundamental principles of deep-bed filtration, fines migration, and percolation theory. Dynamic modeling of invasion with numerical simulations has also received much-needed attention in recent times. However, much of the numerical invasion-modeling work in the literature has focused on the invasion only (typically because of interest in the impact of the invasion zone on log accuracy), and very few works have dealt with the impact of invasion on flowback during production. The problem of bridging empirical models and dynamic simulations to obtain reasonable estimates of the impact on production has been one of the challenges. In this work, we present a novel approach that combines dynamic reservoir simulations and special core tests to model the extent of invasive damage and its impact on flowback during production. The approach uses an ultrafine-grid numerical simulator to model invasion, with parameters calibrated to special core tests. Flowback is then modeled using a sector-scale simulator with near-wellbore fine gridding, with the initial saturation and pressure profiles as determined by the invasion model and parameters calibrated to the core tests. The experimental and numerical approaches are described in detail, along with examples to illustrate the use of the methods we describe. Several sensitivity analyses are presented to demonstrate the often overlooked and underestimated impact of invasion on productivity. The method can be used to compare different mud types, evaluate the benefits of different remediation methods, and value the impact of underbalanced drilling (UBD) on productivity.

The oil and gas reserves of Gu83 block in Gulong oilfield is very abundant, but the development is very difficult because the sand bodies are thin, scattered and lack of horizontal continuity. Guided by the theory of sequence stratigraphy and reservoir sedimentology, using drilling core, logging and seismic data, the researcher found that the interest area belongs to delta front subfacies deposition, which can be mainly classified by four miscrofacies types including underwater distributary channel, mouth, sheet sand and bay between distributary. The plane distribution of sedimentary microfacies are mainly controlled by the west and north provenance, the two source collected in the middle east of the work area.

The Kola Superdeep Well (SG-3) is an outstanding achievement of Soviet science and technology, drilled in Precambrian crystalline rocks and reached a depth of 12262 m. It was one of a series of super deep wells planned within the framework of the program “Earth's Interior Exploration and Superdeep Drilling”. In order to achieve record depths, unique domestic drilling equipment and materials capable of working at high temperatures and pressures were created. A fundamentally new technology for drilling wells using hydraulic downhole motors was developed. Despite difficult drilling conditions and repeated acci-dents, SG-3 has fulfilled almost all the tasks assigned to it. The well was penetrated with full core sampling, which was subjected to comprehensive study. This made it possible to study the deep structure of the Earth's crust and to revise the interpretation of depth seismic data. It was found that changes in the physical properties of rocks at great depths had been erroneously interpreted as a change in their composition. It made it possible to assess the prospects of deep horizons of the Pechenga structure for copper-nickel mineralisation by uncovering a previously unknown body of ore-bearing hyperbasites. New information was obtained on the temperature gradient, which turned out to be significantly higher than expected, as well as on the vertical metamorphic zoning along the borehole section. The composition and physical properties of rocks in deep horizons were investigated. Tectonic fault zones and six types of ore mineralisation were identified in the borehole section. New data on ore formation processes at great depths have been obtained, which is an important contribution to the theory of mineral deposit formation

Through the structure instability theory analysis of the coal roadway roof ,the author concluded that mechanical properties of rock, location, thickness and thickness ratio is the main factor affecting the instability and failure of rock structure. Capitalize on the roof caving hidden danger detector developed by the China university of mining and technology to synchronize, continuous and intensive monitor the rotational speed, thrust for synchronization and thrust. Based on the record ,the author inferred the coal seam roof lithology and rock structures of the different drilling location. Engineering practice shows that the use of roof caving hidden danger detector to identify lithology of strata and structure is in good agreement with the core test values. Coincidence rate reached 95.14% and the recognition effect is quite good.

Improved theory of steady outflow of water ponded to constant depth in holes drilled in unsaturated soil is used to re-evaluate the well permeameter method for measurement of in situ hydraulic conductivity, Kg. In particular, theory predicts that neglect of unsaturated flow into soil surrounding the saturated region around a borehole may lead to serious overestimation of K0, especially when using small holes in soils with high capillarity, i.e. the capillarity factor � = 0.1-1 m-l. Field studies on 12 soils gave a values from 6 to 35 m-l, resulting in theoretical overestimates of K0 by 10-40%, for boreholes >0.3 m deep and >0.03 m radius. Comparison of results obtained by measurements with this method for four soils, however, gave permeameter values of K0 which were approximately 50% of those obtained with the augerhole or the core method. Overestimation of K0 due to neglect of capillarity was, in all cases, more than offset by reduction in K0 due to pore closure around a hole during drilling and infiltration.

Title – UMW Holdings: sustaining a centennial corporation. Subject area – Strategic Management and Organization Theory and Design. Study level/applicability – Advanced undergraduate and MBA students taking courses in Strategic Management and Organization Theory and Design. Case overview – By the end of 2011, five years short of its centennial anniversary, UMW Holdings was one of the biggest corporations in Malaysia, registering revenues of RM13.5 billion (US$4.5 billion), and net profit after tax of RM1 billion (US$0.33 billion). By that time, it had 110 subsidiaries, operating in four core businesses of automotive assembly and distribution of Toyota lines of products, automotive components and lubricants original equipment manufacturing (OEM) and replacement equipment manufacturing (REM), heavy equipment, and oil and gas drilling service. In September 2011, the company had targeted its Toyota automotive business to contribute to 50 percent of its revenues, while the other 50 percent would come from its other three businesses, by the year 2015. However, as of the first quarter of 2012, Datuk Syed Hisham Syed Wazir, the Group CEO and his management team realized that, at 72 percent, the automotive business was still the main contributor to the Group ' s revenues. As the company ' s Toyota assembly operation was limited exclusively to the Malaysian market, plus in the face of greater competition within the automotive industries, the company needed to set strategies to achieve its 50:50 plan. The case stimulates discussion on strategy formulation of a mature corporation, involved in diversified business portfolio. Expected learning outcomes – Understanding the process of industry analysis, as well as the formulation and implementation of business-level and corporate strategies, enables case analysts to extend the concepts to many business situations. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

In the process of lunar exploration, and specifically when studying lunar surface structure and thickness, the established lunar regolith model is usually a uniform and ideal structural model, which is not well-suited to describe the real structure of the lunar regolith layer. The present study aims to explain the geological structural information contained in the channel 2 LPR (lunar penetrating radar) data. In this paper, the random medium theory and Apollo drilling core data are used to construct a modeling method based on discrete heterogeneous random media, and the simulation data are processed and collected by the electromagnetic numerical method FDTD (finite-difference time domain). When comparing the LPR data with the simulated data, the heterogeneous random medium model is more consistent with the actual distribution of the media in the lunar regolith layer. It is indicated that the interior structure of the lunar regolith layer at the landing site is not a pure lunar regolith medium but rather a regolith-rock mixture, with rocks of different sizes and shapes. Finally, several reasons are given to explain the formation of the geological structures of the lunar regolith layer at the Chang’E 3 landing site, as well as the possible geological stratification structure.

Pore- and fracture-filling gas hydrates were identified from the core samples at several sites during the second Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey (GMGS2) expedition. Well logs indicated that gas hydrate occurred in three distinct layers at site GMGS2-08. The gas hydrate saturations calculated from well-log data and the seismic responses for the three gas hydrate-bearing layers, especially within the middle carbonate layer, were poorly known. We estimated gas hydrate saturations using isotropic and anisotropic models based on the mineral composition of the sediments and the effective medium theory. In the upper and lower gas hydrate-bearing layers, saturations estimated from anisotropic models are close to those estimated from pressures cores and chlorinity data. The average saturation using an anisotropic model in the upper (fracture-dominated) hydrate layer is approximately 10% with a maximum value of 25%. In the lower (fracture-dominated) layer, the horizontal and vertical gas hydrate-filled fractures and visible gas hydrate were formed with a maximum saturation of approximately 85%. For the middle layer, well logs show high P-wave velocity, density, high resistivity as well as low gamma ray, porosity, and drilling rate, together indicating a carbonate layer containing gas hydrate. The hydrate saturations calculated from isotropic models assuming hydrate formed at grain contacts are less than 20%, which fit well with two values calculated from chlorinity data for this layer. The upper gas hydrate layer shows no clear seismic response and probably consisted of small fractures filled with gas hydrate. The middle carbonate and lower fracture-filled gas hydrate-bearing layers show pull-up reflections, with the carbonate layer exhibiting relatively higher amplitudes. Pore-filling gas hydrate was also identified just above the depth of the bottom-simulating-reflector (BSR) from the GMGS2-05 drill site. Below the BSR, the push-down reflections, polarity reversal, and enhanced reflections indicate the occurrence of free gas in the study area.

Being a natural, ecological and renewable resource, wood is increasingly replacing artificial and toxic materials in the manufacture of various types of packaging and other products; thus, its proper and economically justified use has become necessary. The best utilization of wood raw materials has been sought both in practice and theory, which led to the development of a number of non-destructive and semi-destructive methods for the wood quality assessments in various stages of wood exploitation. In this paper, two instruments for the inspection of the internal condition of standing trees were analyzed. The resistograph was designed for the detection of internal defects. In addition to assessing the condition of living trees of different species, the instrument is used to assess the wood density in various materials. The observed resistance during drilling is proportional to the change in the wood density or the relative mass of the element analyzed. The results of drilling in different spots or directions, through the cross-section and along the element, can be used to map the properties of the element. The fractometer is a device designed to measure the strength and other mechanical properties of on a core sample extracted by using an increment borer from a certain part of the tree or branch examined. The fractometer can determine the maximum fracture force and bending and pressure strength of wood. It is also possible to identify the stage of decay. Due to its heterogeneous structure and anisotropy, the wood compressive and bending strengths differ between different anatomical directions even within a single species. The results of previous research in the literature indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between the radial bending strength and the longitudinal compressive strength of wood. This actualizes the need for the use of different tree species in construction, depending on the load that the wood element will be exposed to. These devices provide high precision and quality in measurement and can achieve a good correlation between the measured values and the mechanical properties of wood. This way, science and practice could be provided by significant data on the properties and quality of wood, while its consumption is minimized.

Short-wall block filling mining (SBBM) technology has become an effective way to recover coal resources beneath the aquifer, which are unsuitable, or cannot be used by long-wall mining, such as corner coal pillars, industrial square pillars, and irregular coal blocks as well as the coal beneath buildings, railways, and water bodies. The SBBM method can not only enhance the recovery ratio but also provide a solution for the environment problems associated with gangues on the surface. However, whether the height of water flowing fractures will reach to the aquifer to cause water loss during SBBM has always been a key problem. Therefore, based on the theory of elastic foundation beam and SBBM characteristics, a mechanical model for calculating the height of a water flowing fracture zone in the overlying strata of SBBM was established, and this model calculated that the height of the water flowing fracture zone was 27.0 m in the experimental working face, and the height of the water flowing fracture zone was measured as 26.8 m according to washing fluid loss in the hole, core damage analysis, and drilling TV imaging detection. The comparison results demonstrated that the calculated value almost fit well with the field-measured data, validating the accuracy of the proposed mechanical model, while the predicted value (48.7 m) in the Regulations of coal mining under building, railways and water-bodies deviates greatly from the measured results. This reveals that the prediction formula in Regulations is not effective in predicting the height of the water flowing fracture zone in SBBM. The present research results are of great significance to further enhancing the recovery ratio of coal resources and improving the water-preserved mining theory.

Summary Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of core samples in laboratory experiments showed that CO2 storage in gas hydrates formed in porous rock resulted in the spontaneous production of methane with no associated water production. The exposure of methane hydrate in the pores to liquid CO2 resulted in methane production from the hydrate that suggested the exchange of methane molecules with CO2 molecules within the hydrate without the addition or subtraction of significant amounts of heat. Thermodynamic simulations based on Phase Field Theory were in agreement with these results and predicted similar methane production rates that were observed in several experiments. MRI-based 3D visualizations of the formation of hydrates in the porous rock and the methane production improved the interpretation of the experiments. The sequestration of an important greenhouse gas while simultaneously producing the freed natural gas offers access to the significant amounts of energy bound in natural gas hydrates and also offers an attractive potential for CO2 storage. The potential danger associated with catastrophic dissociation of hydrate structures in nature and the corresponding collapse of geological formations is reduced because of the increased thermodynamic stability of the CO2 hydrate relative to the natural gas hydrate. Introduction The replacement of methane in natural gas hydrates with CO2 presents an attractive scenario of providing a source of abundant natural gas while establishing a thermodynamically more stable hydrate accumulation. Natural gas hydrates represent an enormous potential energy source as the total energy corresponding to natural gas entrapped in hydrate reservoirs is estimated to be more than twice the energy of all known energy sources of coal, oil, and gas (Sloan 2003). Thermodynamic stability of the hydrate is sensitive to local temperature and pressure, but all components in the hydrate have to be in equilibrium with the surroundings if the hydrate is to be thermodynamically stable. Natural gas hydrate accumulations are therefore rarely in a state of complete stability in a strict thermodynamic sense. Typically, the hydrate associated with fine-grain sediments is trapped between low-permeability layers that keep the system in a state of very slow dynamics. One concern of hydrate dissociation, especially near the surface of either submarine or permafrost-associated deposits, is the potential for the release of methane to the water column or atmosphere. Methane represents an environmental concern because it is a more aggressive (~25 times) greenhouse gas than CO2. A more serious concern is related to the stability of these hydrate formations and its impact on the surrounding sediments. Changes in local conditions of temperature, pressure, or surrounding fluids can change the dynamics of the system and lead to catastrophic dissociation of the hydrates and consequent sediment instability. The Storegga mudslide in offshore Norway was created by several catastrophic hydrate dissociations. The largest of these was estimated to have occurred 7,000 years ago and was believed to have created a massive tsunami (Dawson et al. 1988). The replacement of natural gas hydrate with CO2 hydrate has the potential to increase the stability of hydrate-saturated sediments under near-surface conditions. Hydrocarbon exploitation in hydrate-bearing regions has the additional challenge to drilling operations of controlling heat production from drilling and its potential risk of local hydrate dissociation (Yakushev and Collett 1992). The molar volume of hydrate is 25-30% greater than the volume of liquid water under the same temperature-pressure conditions. Any production scenario for natural gas hydrate that involves significant dissociation of the hydrate (e.g., pressure depletion) has to account for the release of significant amounts of water that in turn affects the local mechanical stress on the reservoir formation. In the worst case, this would lead to local collapse of the surrounding formation. Natural gas production by CO2 exchange and sequestration benefits from the observation that there is little or no associated liquid water production during this process. Production of gas by hydrate dissociation can produce large volumes of associated water, and can create a significant environmental problem that would severely limit the economic potential. The conversion from methane hydrate to a CO2 hydrate is thermodynamically favorable in terms of free energy differences, and the phase transition is coupled to corresponding processes of mass and heat transport. The essential question is then if it is possible to actually convert methane hydrate as found in sediments to CO2 hydrate. Experiments that formed natural gas hydrates in porous sandstone core plugs used MRI to monitor the dynamics of hydrate formation and reformation. The paper emphasizes the experimental procedures developed to form the initial natural gas hydrates in sandstone pores and the subsequent exchange with CO2 while monitoring the dynamic process with 3D imaging on a sub millimetre scale. The in-situ imaging illustrates the production of methane from methane hydrate when exposed to liquid CO2 without any external heating.

Grouting is always used in mine water plugging, reinforcement, and other disaster prevention projects. The diffusion mechanism of slurry in fractured rock is affected by geological environment and slurry performance, which should be revealed and characterized better. Based on the two-phase flow diffusion theory, a slurry diffusion model considering flowing water condition was established for a blocking area of a fracture zone in one case from China. The feasibility of two-phase flow model in grouting diffusion calculation was analyzed. The diffusion model in dynamic water environment was studied, and the diffusion range varying with time in the grouting area of Zhangji Coal Mine was explored. The optimization method of multi grouting holes was put forward, and the influence of water flowing was discussed. The results show that the slurry diffusion calculated by the two-phase flow model was feasible and consistent with the experimental study. The dynamic water can change the conventional circular diffusion state of slurry, but its pattern was oval and leaf type. There were different penetration distances in directions, and typical grouting voids were made on the side and upstream. When the single-hole grouting was carried out, the predetermined value can be achieved in the height range, but it was only about 15 m on the side because of the water flowing, which cannot meet the requirements. The optimization scheme of grouting was put forward, which adopted multiple grouting holes in the long side, and grouting in different directions and periods to avoid the possible problems of multihole intersection. The rationality and effectiveness of the proposed optimization method were verified through the calculation of water yield and analysis of cement composition from the drilling core in the grouted zone. In the grouting process, the water flowing has double effects, which has a significant role in promoting and scouring along the flow direction, but there is a significant weakness in the side diffusion. It is very important to realize the rational use of the dynamic water through the optimization scheme. This study is an important basic work of grouting mechanism, and it is expected to promote the development of grouting technology and application of two-phase fluid-solid coupling theory.

Summary There is a potential for improving the reliability of standard core tests for seismic monitoring studies. A primary concern is the ability to quantify and correct for core-damage effects, which significantly enhance the stress dependency of wave velocities. This problem is most relevant for relatively low-strength rocks cored in high-stress environments. We have used synthetic sandstones formed under stress to perform a systematic study of stress-release- induced core-damage effects. The results show that careful laboratory procedures and modeling efforts may reduce core damage effects. However, no simple procedure is currently available to eliminate the problem. The use of simplified laboratory test procedures, particularly the application of an inappropriate effective stress principle, may lead to erroneous interpretations. Introduction Time-lapse (4D) seismic provides a potentially powerful tool to identify changes in a reservoir induced during production. This is accomplished by running repeated seismic surveys throughout the production period and looking for changes in the seismic response. Such changes can, in principle, be ascribed to several parameters, the most obvious being fluid saturation, pore pressure, and temperature. 1,2 Thus, by monitoring the reservoir at various timesteps during an enhanced oil recovery operation such as a water injection, one may identify nonflooded compartments within the reservoir. This information permits subsequent positioning of new production and injection wells or modification of the existing depletion strategy in a way that significantly improves the total recovery of the reservoir. During the past 5 years or so, the number of commercial 4D seismic surveys has increased from fewer than 5 to approximately 25 per year. The cost of a reservoir monitoring project is in many places comparable to that of drilling a new well, and benefits have, in many cases, proven so large that most companies now consider it a natural part of reservoir management. There are, however, a number of factors that influence the success for such surveys, be they related to the reservoir itself in terms of depth, stress, temperature, and structural and compositional complexity, or to such intrinsic reservoir properties as the rock and fluid properties at the given reservoir conditions. The success also is affected by the quality of the seismic acquisition parameters during the surveys, such as the degree of repeatability between subsequent surveys,3 as well as the final processing of the seismic data (see Lumley et al.4 for a technical risk summary). Because of this substantial variability, one should always perform a seismic monitoring feasibility study in advance to quantify the extent to which expected production-induced changes may be detectable from a planned seismic monitoring study. Such a study needs integrated input from a number of disciplines; after a proper reservoir model is built, reservoir simulations must be undertaken to produce relevant scenarios to be expected throughout production. Thereafter, these must be translated into corresponding seismic parameters from rock physical principles before, finally, seismic modeling can be undertaken for various acquisition geometries and subsequent processing alternatives can be tested. Traditionally, seismic monitoring parameters have been deduced from post-stack data through changes in the vertical P-wave reflection coefficient, expressed by the corresponding acoustic impedance ZP = ?·VP, where VP = the acoustic P-wave velocity and p=the density. This, essentially, has allowed for inversion for only one effective reservoir parameter. Knowing that there may be concurrent changes in several parameters has made the interpretation of the seismics difficult. More recently, however, a practical use of amplitude-vs.-offset (AVO) data has been introduced5 that enables the determination of the corresponding shear-wave impedance ZS. This simultaneous determination of P- and S-wave impedances has allowed for distinction between changes in multiple reservoir properties such as saturation and pore pressure, assuming that other parameters remain constant. A crucial point in the initial feasibility study, as well as in the final interpretation of deduced changes in seismic parameters during monitoring, is the quantitative rock physical interpretation of the seismic parameters in terms of changes in reservoir parameters. A number of factors affect the acoustic velocities in a complicated manner, and no theory exists that can be applied generally. Therefore, laboratory testing on core material at representative test conditions is required as a natural part of a feasibility study to quantify the effects of pore pressure, saturation, and temperature that can be encountered during monitoring. The objective of this paper is to elucidate some fundamental questions related to these key issues. In particular, we focus on the neglected effect of core damage upon the laboratory-measured stress sensitivity of velocities6 and the importance of using proper stress conditions during such experiments. We handle this by performing systematic laboratory measurements on synthetic reservoir sandstones formed under stress, and we try to tune the properties of the synthetics to match specific reservoir sandstones. Even if this procedure is not fully representative of all reservoir sandstones, our experience is that it may at least be applicable for weakly cemented, clean sandstone reservoirs. Furthermore, we also illustrate pitfalls in the common use of the so-called effective stress principle. Fundamental Questions As in all core testing, one has to deal with two fundamental questions when running experiments to quantify effects of pore pressure, saturation, and temperature on acoustic velocities:Are the cores representative of the reservoir rock?Are the tests performed under the appropriate conditions for prediction of in-situ behavior? Core Representativity. The first question has two different aspects. First, the small core may not be representative of a large heterogeneous reservoir. The most obvious way to deal with this is to test many cores and then perform some kind of statistical analysis on the acquired data. Still, the reservoir may contain fractures and faults at subseismic length scales, which are not present in the core samples but contribute to seismic velocities. The second aspect to consider is core damage: a rock is "born" and "lives all its life" in a stressed earth. When drilled and brought to the surface, it meets the hostile world of atmospheric conditions. The stress release may be sufficient to induce microcracks or broken grain bonds in the rock core, leading to altered rock properties. The damage is permanent and has been shown to have strong effects on rock mechanical and acoustic parameters.7 In the present paper, we discuss in more detail how core damage affects the predicted stress sensitivity of the seismic velocity.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the development of a simulator of oil well drilling processes. Design/methodology/approach – The simulator incorporates the main variables that are used by drilling engineers in the definition of the drilling processes. The code is useful a priori, in the design of a drilling process, as a tool for comparing different design options and predicting their results and a posteriori of a failure to understand its genesis and therefore provide know-why to improve the drilling techniques. Findings – The developed finite element simulator uses a co-rotational Bernoulli beam element, an explicit time integration scheme and an explicit contact algorithm. The numerical results show that the simulator is stable and provides consistent solutions. Practical implications – During the drilling of oil wells, the fatigue damage and wear of the drilling column is of utmost concern. To determine the mechanical behavior of the drilling column standard simplified analyses are usually performed using commercially available codes; however, those standard analyses do not include a transient dynamic simulation of the process; hence, it is necessary to develop a specific tool for the detailed dynamic simulation of drilling processes. Originality/value – A simulator able to perform a description of the drilling process in the time range will be an important contribution to the tools used by drilling engineers.

Summary This paper proposes a method for quantitative integration of seismic(elastic) anisotropy attributes with reservoir-performance data as an aid in characterizing systems of natural fractures in hydrocarbon reservoirs. This method is demonstrated through application to history matching of reservoir performance using synthetic test cases. Discrete-feature-network (DFN) modeling is a powerful tool for developing fieldwide stochastic realizations of fracture networks in petroleum reservoirs. Such models are typically well conditioned in the vicinity of the wellbore through incorporation of core data, borehole imagery, and pressure-transient data. Model uncertainty generally increases with distance from the borehole. Three-dimensional seismic data provide uncalibrated information throughout the interwell space. Some elementary seismic attributes such as horizon curvature and impedance anomalies have been used to guide estimates of fracture trend and intensity (fracture area per unit volume) in DFN modeling through geostatistical calibration with borehole and other data. However, these attributes often provide only weak statistical correlation with fracture-system characteristics. The presence of a system of natural fractures in a reservoir induces elastic anisotropy that can be observed in seismic data. Elastic attributes such as azimuthally dependent normal move out velocity (ANMO), reflection amplitude vs. azimuth (AVAZ), and shear-wave birefringence can be inverted from 3D-seismicdata. Anisotropic elastic theory provides physical relationships among these attributes and fracture-system properties such as trend and intensity. Effective-elastic-media models allow forward modeling of elastic properties for fractured media. A technique has been developed in which both reservoir-performance data and seismic anisotropic attributes are used in an objective function for gradient-based optimization of selected fracture-system parameters. The proposed integration method involves parallel workflows for effective elastic and effective permeability media modeling from an initial DFN estimate of the fracture system. The objective function is minimized through systematic updates of selected fracture-population parameters. Synthetic data cases show that3D-seismic attributes contribute significantly to the reduction of ambiguity in estimates of fracture-system characteristics in the interwell rock mass. The method will benefit enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) program planning and management, optimization of horizontal-well trajectory and completion design, and borehole-stability studies. Introduction Anisotropy and heterogeneity in reservoir permeability present challenges during the development of hydrocarbon reserves in naturally fractured reservoirs. Predicting primary reservoir performance, planning development drilling or EOR programs, completion design, and facilities design all require accurate estimates of reservoir properties and the predictions of future reservoir behavior computed from such estimates. Over the history of naturally-fractured-reservoir development, many methods have been used to characterize fracture systems and their effect on fluid flow in the reservoir. These include the use of geologic surface-outcrop analogs; core, single-well, and multiwell pressure-transient analysis; borehole-imaging logs; and surface and borehole seismic observations. To date, efforts to integrate seismic data into the workflow for characterization of naturally fractured reservoirs have been focused on the use of post-stack data. CDP stacking of seismic data takes advantage of redundancy in seismic data sets for the attenuation of noise. Unfortunately, CDP stacking also eliminates valuable information about spatial and orientational variations in the data. Such variations are often related to fracture-system characteristics. CDP-stacked seismic data are typically used to define the main structural elements of the reservoir. Fracture density has been correlated successfully with horizon curvature determined from seismic horizons. Seismic attributes frequently can be correlated with reservoir properties such as shale fraction, which often correlates with fracture-population statistics. Acoustic impedance computed from seismic data frequently exhibits dim spots in the presence of fractures.

Drill bit vibrations are modeled using the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The model includes the most important properties of drill bits and of the drilling operation. These are: the drill bit cross sectional geometry, the drill helix angle, rotational speed of the drill bit, the thrust force, torque, and cutting forces generated during drilling. Equations of motion are derived in an inertial frame and then transformed to a rotating fluted frame for convenience in the solution. The transformed equations are discretized using finite element techniques. The finite element code developed is capable of solving the eigenvalue problem for various boundary conditions and drill cross sectional geometries. Finite element solutions are compared to known analytical, numerical, and experimental results from the literature and good agreement is obtained.

This paper focuses on laboratory tests concerned with the lateral behavior of a rod representative of part of a drill-string in the area of rotary oil drilling. The original experimental set-up takes into account the curvature of the rod, mud, stabilizers and rotation speed. The lateral behavior of the drill-string subjected to the axial excitations of the bit is governed by time varying parameter equations due to torsion-lateral and longitudinal-lateral couplings. The experimental results highlight the different kinds of lateral instabilities and they are compared either with existing experimental, or theoretical results. The experimental investigation described in this paper is included in a wide ranging study which also involves theory and the development of a computer code, both briefly presented here.

Air drilling technology has been widely used in the oil and gas exploration, coal, geothermal, geological exploration, nuclear industry and other fields due to its high drilling rate and low cost. However, the design of the pneumatic conveying system for the mineral detritus is still largely based on empiricism. The paper was set in the background of gas drilling, mainly studied the gas-solids two-phase flow characteristics in 90 degree bent annular pipe and backward-facing step of an annular pipe, which are very important parts of air drilling. They refer to the bent part and backward-facing step of an annular channel formed by the drill pipe and the borehole wall. A detailed numerical simulation and experimental studies were carried out for the flow structure and pressure losses of gas-solid two-phase in the annular pipe of gas drilling. Since a unified theory has not been developed for the two-phase flow in annular pipe, a lot of experimental work should be conducted. In the experimental research, the paper independently designed and built an annular pipe pneumatic conveying system with 90 degree bend and backward-facing step, including designing material screw feeder, material receiving hopper, pipeline, control system, data acquisition system, and etc. As known, many parameters, such as gas velocity, diameter and density of the particle, and solids loading ratio, can influence the conveying process. How these primordial influence factors act on the pressure losses of two-phase flow in annular pipe was analyzed in this paper. In the numerical simulation research, turbulent two-phase flow calculations were performed with a commercial CFD computer code referred to as FLUENT to study the gas-solid two phase flow in the sections of backward-facing step and 90 degree bent pipe respectively by using Euler-Lagrange method. The RNG κ-ε model and stochastic tracking were involved in the calculation of turbulence dispersion of two phases. The discrete phase model was performed for the solid phase. In the end, the numerical study 3-D results were translated to 1-D results using the standard averaging transformation to compare with experimental results. Predicted results obtained for pressure drop and velocity variations in full developed flows in the cases examined are in good qualitative agreement and are not in quantitative agreement with experimental data. The deviations between the simulations and experimental data lie in the range of 20%-30%. These results suggest commercial CFD codes such as FLUENT can be used productively for investigations into gas-solid two-phase flow phenomena and as an aid in pneumatic conveying design. The studies of the two-phase flow characteristics in the paper will contribute to reliable determination of the optimal condition of pneumatic conveying in gas drilling.

Air drilling technology has been widely used in the oil and gas exploration, coal, geothermal, geological exploration, nuclear industry and other fields due to its high drilling rate and low cost. However, the design of the pneumatic conveying system for the mineral detritus is still largely based on empiricism. The paper was set in the background of gas drilling, mainly studied the gas-solids two-phase flow characteristics in 90 degree bent annular pipe and backward-facing step of an annular pipe, which are very important parts of air drilling. They refer to the bent part and backward-facing step of an annular channel formed by the drill pipe and the borehole wall. A detailed numerical simulation and experimental studies were carried out for the flow structure and pressure losses of gas-solid two-phase in the annular pipe of gas drilling. Since a unified theory has not been developed for the two-phase flow in annular pipe, a lot of experimental work should be conducted. In the experimental research, the paper independently designed and built an annular pipe pneumatic conveying system with 90 degree bend and backward-facing step, including designing material screw feeder, material receiving hopper, pipeline, control system, data acquisition system, and etc. As known, many parameters, such as gas velocity, diameter and density of the particle, and solids loading ratio, can influence the conveying process. How these primordial influence factors act on the pressure losses of two-phase flow in annular pipe was analyzed in this paper. In the numerical simulation research, turbulent two-phase flow calculations were performed with a commercial CFD computer code referred to as FLUENT to study the gas-solid two phase flow in the sections of backward-facing step and 90 degree bent pipe respectively by using Euler-Lagrange method. The RNG κ-ε model and stochastic tracking were involved in the calculation of turbulence dispersion of two phases. The discrete phase model was performed for the solid phase. In the end, the numerical study 3-D results were translated to 1-D results using the standard averaging transformation to compare with experimental results. Predicted results obtained for pressure drop and velocity variations in full developed flows in the cases examined are in good qualitative agreement and are not in quantitative agreement with experimental data. The deviations between the simulations and experimental data lie in the range of 20%-30%. These results suggest commercial CFD codes such as FLUENT can be used productively for investigations into gas-solid two-phase flow phenomena and as an aid in pneumatic conveying design. The studies of the two-phase flow characteristics in the paper will contribute to reliable determination of the optimal condition of pneumatic conveying in gas drilling.

Two Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) successions, Lung Cam in Vietnam, and Lukač in Slovenia, have been sampled for high-resolution magnetic susceptibility, stable isotope and elemental chemistry, and biostratigraphic analyses. These successions are located on the eastern (Lung Cam section) and western margins (Lukač section) of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean during PTB time. Lung Cam, lying along the eastern margin of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean provides an excellent proxy for correlation back to the GSSP and out to other Paleo-Tethyan successions. This proxy is tested herein by correlating the Lung Cam section in Vietnam to the Lukač section in Slovenia, which was deposited along the western margin of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean during the PTB interval. It is shown herein that both the Lung Cam and Lukač sections can be correlated and exhibit similar characteristics through the PTB interval. Using time-series analysis of magnetic susceptibility data, high-resolution ages are obtained for both successions, thus allowing relative ages, relative to the PTB age at ~252 Ma, to be assigned. Evaluation of climate variability along the western and eastern margins of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean through the PTB interval, using d18O values indicates generally cooler climate in the west, below the PTB, changing to generally warmer climates above the boundary. A unique Black Carbon layer (elemental carbon present by agglutinated foraminifers in their test) below the boundary exhibits colder temperatures in the eastern and warmer temperatures in the western Paleo-Tethys Ocean.ReferencesBalsam W., Arimoto R., Ji J., Shen Z, 2007. Aeolian dust in sediment: a re-examination of methods for identification and dispersal assessed by diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry. International Journal of Environment and Health, 1, 374-402.Balsam W.L., Otto-Bliesner B.L., Deaton B.C., 1995. 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Abstract Elementary borehole- and perforation-stability problems in friable clastic formations for unrestricted fluid flow between reservoir rock and underground opening are treated on the basis of linear poroelastic theory. Thermal stress effects caused by a temperature difference between reservoir and borehole fluids can be predicted from the mathematical similarity of poro- and thermoelasticity. A tension-failure condition applies for the prediction of hydraulic fracture initiation in a formation around injection wells. The resulting equations are partially well-known. Similarly, a uniaxial compression-failure condition should predict perforation failure leading to sand influx in production wells. The major difference between these situations is that, at sufficient depth of burial, the tensile strength of a friable rock mass has only a minor effect on the fracturing pressure level, but the actual value of the compressive strength plays a crucial role in the prediction of sand-influx conditions. Practical suggestions for resolving the latter are given. Introduction This paper discusses borehole- and perforation-stability problems as encountered in friable sandstone formations that have in common free fluid flow between a reservoir and an underground opening. Such a condition prevailsduring fluid production through either casing perforations or open hole andduring injection of fluids into a reservoir for pressure maintenance, gas conservation, tertiary oil recovery, or well stimulation. In the absence of a membrane (such as a filter cake) at the rock/hole interface, the effective stress normal to the rock surface is zero. Rock failure can result either in tension during fluid injection or in compression during fluid production. Because one of the principal effective stresses (the radial stress) is zero and the effect of the intermediate principal effective stress is small, failure is of either the unconfined tension or compression type. Rock failure resulting from fluid production from friable sandstones causes sand-particle influx. Failure caused by fluid injection means either planned or unintentional formation fracturing. The production technologist has to foresee such failure conditions as a function of changes in the stress regime with time. He has to start with a best possible estimate of the initial in-situ state of stress. On the basis of log data and core sample analysis, relevant rock deformation and strength properties must be determined next. Finally, an estimate of changes in the stress field resulting from prolonged production or injection must be made. Problem Areas Formation Particle Influx in Production Wells. Although significant improvements have been made in well-completion techniques aimed at sand-particle retention by both gravel packing and sand consolidation, straightforward production through casing perforations is the preferred production method because of minimum costs and maximum usage of well-flow potential. Moreoever, gravel packing long intervals of strongly deviated holes remains a difficult, expensive operation to perform, while sand consolidation processes for oil wells at temperatures above 75 degrees C [167 degrees F] are not available commercially. Friable formation sands i.e., formations that have some strength of their own-do not necessarily present a sand-influx problem initially. Sand production may develop gradually in time, once total drawdown increases and/or water breakthrough occurs. Deviated boreholes may encounter less favorable stress concentrations around perforations than vertical holes. All in all, it is necessary to predict the sand-influx potential of a well as soon as possible after drilling to serve as a basis for a completion policy. A perforation pattern that both results in production from only the more competent zones and enables delivery of the required well production capacity could be implemented. Formation Fracturing Around Injection Wells. A familiar type of formation failure is fracturing in tension around injection wells. Formation fracturing always occurs when the injection pressure surpasses the formation breakdown pressurei.e., the fluid pressure that brings the hoop stress around the opening in a tension equal to the tensile strength. Once initiated at or below this pressure level (because the formation may contain natural fractures), fracturing proceeds while the injection pressure surpasses the least principal in-situ total stress. The instantaneous shut-in pressure recorded during or after a fracturing job provides the best value of the least principal total stress component. The in-situ state of stress is not necessarily a constant during the production life of a reservoir. Changes both in reservoir pressure and in temperature adjacent to a well affect the local stress field in the formation. The effect of reservoir pressure variations on formation fracturing potential is well-known. Breckels and van Eekelen explicitly account for this effect. It is less recognized that in deeper formations cooling of the borehole surroundings by injection of liquids at near-surface temperature causes reservoir-rock shrinkage, leading to a reduction in both fracture initiation and propagation pressure. SPEJ P. 848^

Introduction. Various techniques of breaking rock by explosion have currently been developed when tunneling underground mine workings, but asymmetrically directed stress fields application is of the main interest. Research aim is to study explosion energy distribution and maximum concentration deep down the blasted rock mass. Blast energy concentration may be achieved by using the principle of cumulation in the hole back by means of changing the design of the blasthole explosive charge. Methodology. Based on the analyzed literature and theoretical research it is recommended to use the design of a blasthole explosive charge with the use of Munroe effect, which makes it possible to increase the blasthole efficiency ratio (BER), reduce drilling activity, reach sharper design contours of mine workings and eliminate bootlegs. The action of blasthole explosive charges with Munroe effect has been theoretically investigated, hydrodynamic theory of cumulation has been studied, and the dependences have been determined between the liner’s collapsing angle alternation and the radius of the cone, its height, initial velocity, and cumulative jet velocity. Results. The main factors which determine the efficiency of the proposed new technique of blasting against the basic technique are the blasthole efficiency ratio, face advance pace after one blast, the amount of rock mass detached after one blast, and the granulometric composition of the blasted rock mass. Summary. The developed design of the blasthole explosive charge with Munroe effect makes it possible to increase BER, face advance per one cycle, and increase the amount of the broken rock mass.

Socio-technical systems, such as those in oil and gas, or the petrochemical and energy industries, are escalating in complexity, a consequence of increasingly advanced technologies, organizational constructs, and business functions that interact and depend on one another. These dynamic social and technological elements, coupled with the high risk inherent in these systems, have generated conditions that can bring about catastrophic failure and the tragic loss of human life, such as the disaster in Bhopal, India (1984) or the explosion in the Houston Ship Channel near Pasadena, Texas (1989). Historically, the perception of such complexities and the struggle to minimize catastrophic failures observed within the petrochemical industry have been attributed to the inherent variability in people. Therefore, process safety regulations associated with the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) require employers to develop written process safety information or “procedures” which aim for consistency in plant operations and to help workers at the “sharp-end” of the system cope with unexpected events (OSHA, 2000). However, investigation reports since, such as the BP Texas City incident of 2005, suggest “outdated and ineffective procedures” as significant contributing factors to failure. Evidence from other studies suggest that procedures in complex environments are sometimes misunderstood, outdated, or simply not used (Bullemer & Hajdukiewicz, 2004). While there have been studies on procedural deviations and safety violations (Alper & Karsh, 2009; Jamison & Miller, 2000), employers continue to report a high rate of procedural breakdown as root causes for incidents (Bates & Holroyd, 2012). This warrants a contemporary, systems-oriented inquiry into process safety and behavior surrounding the use of the documents at different individual (e.g. cognitive), task, cultural, organizational, and environmental levels. This perspective appreciates the interdependent nature of these interrelated socio-technical elements and should provide insight into the effectiveness of current procedure systems, thereby informing future work in creating and empirically testing mitigation methods to address potential barriers. This research documents one part of a three part, large-scale project that investigates the issues with procedure forms, usage, adoption, and challenges in a wide range of high-risk industries. As such, the method was framed around first understanding the extent to which these challenges could be generalized between various locations. A grounded theory approach in qualitative data analysis, influenced by the Strauss & Corbin and Charmaz approaches (Bryman 2015) and facilitated by the analysis software MAXQDA-12 was used to examine 72 semi-structured interviews with operators of varying roles and experiences across 6 countries and an offshore drilling vessel. Findings reaffirm previous research, suggesting that the effectiveness of written procedures is limited by an abundance of outdated procedures plagued by information overload. New findings suggest that frequency of the task and the experience level of the worker would impact workers’ procedure use, with participants commenting that the perceived importance of these documents decreases significantly after initial training periods. Other unintended consequences associated with written procedural systems range from complications in using the documents around personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements and harsh weather, reactive organizational behavior surrounding changing procedures, and a general disconnect between the users and the writers of these documents. This is only exacerbated as management imposes pressure to use procedures on personnel despite the issues encountered with the documents, inhibiting valuable feedback within their organizations as personnel withhold information for fear of job security and potential punishment (in the form of 20-day suspension programs or termination). Moving forward, research is in-progress to identify the interdependencies between environmental, cultural, organizational, task, and personal factors unique to each location. This will provide insight regarding the extent to which procedures may not be generalized, after which a holistic view of procedure use in the industry will be offered. The resulting insight will point to recommendations for the future redesign of procedures’ role in promoting safe operations within petrochemical systems. Finally, the third part of this research project will demonstrate the efficacy of using visualizations as tools and methods in qualitative research for modeling complexity in socio- technical systems.

Abstract This paper presents various phenomena obtained by localized microwave-heating (LMH) of basalt, including effects of inner core melting, lava eruption and flow (from the molten core outside), plasma ejection from basalt (in forms of fire-column and ball-lightning), and effusion of dust (deposited as powder by the plasma). The experiments are conducted by irradiating a basalt stone (~30-cm3 volume, either naturally shaped or cut to a cubic brick) in a microwave cavity, fed by an adaptively-matched magnetron (~1 kW at 2.45 GHz). Effects of LMH and thermal-runaway instability in basalt are observed and compared to theory. Various in- and ex-situ diagnostics are used in order to characterize the dusty-plasma observed and its nanoparticle products. The resemblance of the experimental phenomena obtained in small laboratory scale to gigantic volcanic phenomena in nature is noticed, and its potential relevance to further volcanic studies is discussed. In particular, we show that LMH could be instrumental for laboratory demonstrations and simulations of miniature-volcano effects, such as lava flows, formation of volcanic glass (obsidian), eruption of dusty-plasma and volcanic ash, and ejection of ball lightning. These findings might be significant as well for various applications, such as drilling and mining, microwave-induced breakdown spectroscopy (MIBS), mineral extraction, and powder production directly from basalts.

This paper exploits a natural experiment afforded by the fracking boom in Pennsylvania to shed light on the determinants of mortgage default. Looking only at mortgages originated before fracking became viable, and using the underlying geology as a supply shifter, we find that mortgages on homes exposed to shale drilling experience a significant reduction in default risk. This effect is more than four times greater for borrowers who are underwater on their loans. Additional evidence shows that fracking activity does not raise house prices, but significantly increases household income through higher royalty payments, wages, and salaries. Furthermore, we find that fracking directly leads to employment increases in the drilling/mining and construction sectors at the county level and reduces income from unemployment benefits at the ZIP-code level. Finally, in addition to reducing mortgage-default risk, we show that fracking lowers credit card delinquencies. These results are most consistent with the “double-trigger” theory of mortgage default, where underwater borrowers subject to an adverse income shock are much more likely to lose their homes to foreclosure. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, finance.

The influence of shale anisotropy and orientation on shale drilling performance was studied with an instrumented laboratory drilling rig with a 38.1-mm dual-cutter polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit, operating at a nominally fixed rotational speed with a constant rate of flow of drilling fluid—water. However, the rate of rotation (rpm) was affected by the weight on bit (WOB), as was the torque (TRQ) produced. The WOB also affected the depth of cut (DOC). All these variables, WOB, rpm, TRQ, and DOC, were monitored dynamically, for example, rpm with a resolution of one-third of a revolution (samples at time intervals of 0.07 s.) The shale studied was from Newfoundland and was compared with similar tests on granite, also from a local site. Similar tests were also conducted on the concrete made with fine aggregate, used as “rock-like material” (RLM). The shale samples were embedded (laterally confined) in the concrete while drilled in directions perpendicular, parallel, and at 45 deg orientations to bedding planes. Cores were produced from all three materials in several directions for the determination of oriented physical properties derived from ultrasonic testing and oriented unconfined compressive strength (OUCS). In the case of shale, directions were set relative to the bedding. In this study, both primary (or compression) velocity Vp and shear ultrasonic velocity Vs were found to vary with orientation on the local shale samples cored parallel to bedding planes, while Vp and Vs varied, but only slightly, with orientation in tests on granite and RLM. The OUCS data for shale, published elsewhere, support the OUCS theory of this work. The OUCS is high perpendicular and parallel to shale bedding, and is low oblique to shale bedding. Correlations were found between the test parameters determined from the drilling tests on local shale. As expected, ROP, DOC, and TRQ increase with increasing WOB, while there are inverse relationships between ROP, DOC, and TRQ with rpm on the other hand. All these parameters vary with orientation to the bedding plane.

The first time I read Hélène Cixous’s The Laugh of the Medusa I swooned. I wanted to write the whole thing out, large, and black, and pin it across an entire wall. I was 32 and vulnerable around polemic texts (I was always copying out quotes and sticking them to my walls, trying to hold onto meaning, unable to let the writing I read slip out and away). You must "write your self, your body must be heard" (Cixous 880), I read, as if for the hundredth time, even though it was the first. Those decades old words had an echoing, a resonance to them, as if each person who had read them had left their own mnemonic mark there, so that by the time they reached me, they struck, immediately, at my core (not the heart or the spine, or even the gut, but somewhere stickier; some pulsing place in amongst my organs, somewhere not touched, a space forgotten). The body that read The Laugh was so big its knees had trouble lifting it from chairs (“more body, hence more writing”, Cixous 886), and was soon to have its gallbladder taken. Its polycystic ovaries dreamed, lumpily and without much hope, of zygotes. The body that read The Laugh was a wobbling thing, sheathed in fat (as if this could protect it), with a yearning for sveltness, for muscle, for strength. Cixous sang through its cells, and called it to itself. The body that read The Laugh wrote itself back. It spoke about dungeons, and walls that had collected teenaged fists, and needles that turned it somnambulant and concave and warm until it was not. It wrote trauma in short and staggering sentences (out, get it out) as if narrative could save it from a fat-laden and static decline. Text leaked from tissue and bone, out through fingers and onto the page, and in increments so small I did not notice them, the body took its place. I was, all-of-a-sudden, more than my head. And then the body that read The Laugh performed the ultimate coup, and conceived.The body wrote then about its own birth, and the birth of its mother, and when its own children were born, of course, of course, about them. “Oral drive, anal drive, vocal drive–all these drives are our strengths, and among them is the gestation drive–all just like the desire to write: a desire to live self from within, a desire for the swollen belly, for language, for blood” (Cixous 891). The fat was gone, and in its place this other tissue, that later would be he. What I know now is that the body gets what the body wants. What I know now is that the body will tell its story, because if you “censor the body [… then] you censor breath and speech at the same time” (Cixous 880).I am trying to find a beginning. Because where is the place where I start? I was never a twinkle in my mother’s eye. It was the seventies. She was 22 and then 23–there was nothing planned about me. Her eyes a flinty green, hair long and straight. When I think of her then I remember this photo: black and white on the thick photo paper that is hard to get now. No shiny oblong spat from a machine, this paper was pulled in and out of three chemical trays and hung, dripping, in a dark red room to show me a woman in a long white t-shirt and nothing else. She stares straight out at me. On the shirt is a women’s symbol with a fist in the middle of it. Do you know the one? It might have been purple (the symbol I mean). When I think of her then I see her David Bowie teeth, the ones she hated, and a packet of Drum tobacco with Tally-Hos tucked inside, and some of the scars on her forearms, but not all of them, not yet. I can imagine her pregnant with me, the slow gait, that fleshy weight dragging at her spine and pelvis. She told me the story of my birth every year on my birthday. She remembers what day of the week the contractions started. The story is told with a kind of glory in the detail, with a relishing of small facts. I do the same with my children now. I was delivered by forceps. The dent in my skull, up above my right ear, was a party trick when I was a teenager, and an annoyance when I wanted to shave my head down to the bone at 18. Just before Jem was born, I discovered a second dent behind my left ear. My skull holds the footprint of those silver clamps. My bones say here, and here, this is where I was pulled from you. I have seen babies being born this way. They don’t slide out all sealish and purple and slippy. They are pulled. The person holding the forcep handles uses their whole body weight to yank that baby out. It makes me squirm, all that pulling, those tiny neck bones concertinaing out, the silver scoops sinking into the skull and leaving prints, like a warm spoon in dough. The urgency of separation, of the need to make two things from one. After Jem was born he lay on my chest for hours. As the placenta was birthed he weed on me. I felt the warm trickle down my side and was glad. There was nothing so right as my naked body making a bed for his. I lay in a pool of wet (blood and lichor and Jem’s little wee) and the midwives pushed towels under me so I wouldn’t get cold. He sucked. White waffle weave blankets over both of us. That bloody nest. I lay in it and rested my free hand on his vernix covered back; the softest thing I had ever touched. We basked in the warm wet. We basked. How do I sew theory into this writing? Julia Kristeva especially, whose Stabat Mater describes those early moments of holding the one who was inside and then out so perfectly that I am left silent. The smell of milk, dew-drenched greenery, sour and clear, a memory of wind, of air, of seaweed (as if a body lived without waste): it glides under my skin, not stopping at the mouth or nose but caressing my veins, and stripping the skin from the bones fills me like a balloon full of ozone and I plant my feet firmly on the ground in order to carry him, safe, stable, unuprootable, while he dances in my neck, floats with my hair, looks right and left for a soft shoulder, “slips on the breast, swingles, silver vivid blossom of my belly” and finally flies up from my navel in his dream, borne by my hands. My son (Kristeva, Stabat Mater 141). Is theory more important than this? The smell of milk (dried, it is soursweet and will draw any baby to you, nuzzling and mewling), which resides alongside the Virgin Mother and the semiotics of milk and tears. The language of fluid. While the rest of this writing, the stories not of mothers and babies, but one mother and one baby, came out smooth and fast, as soon as I see or hear or write that word, theory, I slow. I am concerned with the placement of things. I do not have the sense of being free. But if there’s anything that should come from this vain attempt to answer Cixous, to “write your self. Your body must be heard” (880), it should be that freedom and theory, boundary-lessness, is where I reside. If anything should come from this, it is the knowing that theory is the most creative pursuit, and that creativity will always speak to theory. There are fewer divisions than any of us realise, and the leakiness of bodies, of this body, will get me there. The smell of this page is of lichor; a clean but heady smell, thick with old cells and a foetus’s breath. The smell of this page is of blood and saliva and milk mixed (the colour like rotten strawberries or the soaked pad at the bottom of your tray of supermarket mince). It is a smell that you will secretly savour, breathe deeply, and then long for lemon zest or the sharpness of coffee beans to send away that angelic fug. That milk and tears have a language of their own is undeniable. Kristeva says they are “metaphors of non-language, of a ‘semiotic’ that does not coincide with linguistic communication” (Stabat Mater 143) but what I know is that these fluids were the first language for my children. Were they the first language for me? Because “it must be true: babies drink language along with the breastmilk: Curling up over their tongues while they take siestas–Mots au lait, verbae cum lacta, palabros con leche” (Wasserman quoted in Giles 223). The enduring picture I have of myself as an infant is of a baby who didn’t cry, but my mother will tell you a different story, in the way that all of us do. She will tell you I didn’t smile until I was five months old (Soli and Jem were both beaming at three months). Born six weeks premature, my muscles took longer to find their place, to assemble themselves under my skin. She will tell you I screamed in the night, because all babies do. Is this non-language? Jem was unintelligible much of the time. I felt as if I was holding a puzzle. Three o’clock in the morning, having tried breastfeeds, a bath with Nick Drake’s Pink Moon, bouncing him in a baby sling on the fitball (wedged into a corner so that if I nodded off I would hopefully swoon backwards, and the wall would wake me), walking him around and around while rocking and singing, then breastfeeding again, and still he did not sleep, and still he cried and clawed at my cheeks and shoulders and wrists and writhed; I could not guess at what it was he needed. I had never been less concerned with the self that was me. I was all breasts and milk and a craving for barbecued chicken and watermelon at three in the morning because he was drinking every ounce of energy I had. I was arms and a voice. I was food. And then I learnt other things; about let downs and waking up in pools of the stuff. Wet. Everywhere. “Lactating bodies tend towards anarchy” (Bartlett 163). Any body will tend towards anarchy – there is so much to keep in – but there are only so many openings a person can keep track of, and breastfeeding meant a kind of levelling up, meant I was as far from clean and proper as I possibly could be (Kristeva, Powers of Horror 72).In the nights I was not alone. Caren could not breastfeed him, but could do everything else, and never said I have to work tomorrow, because she knew I was working too. During waking hours I watched him constantly for those mystical tired signs, which often were hungry signs, which quickly became overtired signs. There was no figuring it out. But Soli, with Soli, I knew. The language of babies had been sung into my bones. There is a grammar in crying, a calling out and telling, a way of knowing that is older than I’ll ever be. Those tiny bodies are brimming with semiotics. Knees pulled up is belly ache, arching is tired, a look to the side I-want-that-take-me-there-not-there. There. Curling in, the whole of him, is don’t-look-at-me-now-hands-away. Now he is one he uses his hands to tell me what he wants. Sign language because I sign and so, then, does he, but also an emphatic placing of my hands on his body or toys, utensils, swings, things. In the early hours of a Wednesday morning I tried to stroke his head, to close his wide-open eyes with my fingertips. He grabbed my hand and moved it to his chest before I could alight on the bridge of his nose. And yesterday he raised his arm into the air, then got my hand and placed it into his raised hand, then stood, and led me down to the laundry to play with the dustpan and broom. His body, literally, speaks.This is the language of mothers and babies. It is laid down in the darkest part of the night. Laid down like memory, like dreams, stitched into tiredness and circled with dread adrenalin and fear. It will never stop. That baby will cry and I will stare owl-eyed into the dark and bend my cracking knees (don’t shake the baby it will only make it worse don’t shake don’t). These babies will grow into children and then adults who will never remember those screaming nights, cots like cages, a stuffed toy pushed on them as if it could replace the warmth of skin and breath (please, please, little bear, replace the warmth of skin and breath). I will never remember it, but she will. They will never remember it, but we will. Kristeva says too that mothers are in a “catastrophe of identity which plunges the proper Name into that ‘unnameable’ that somehow involves our imaginary representations of femininity, non-language, or the body” (Stabat Mater 134). A catastrophe of identity. The me and the not-me. In the night, with a wrapped baby and aching biceps, the I-was batting quietly at the I-am. The I-am is all body. Arms to hold and bathe and change him, milk to feed him, a voice to sing and soothe him. The I-was is a different beast, made of words and books, uninterrupted conversation and the kind of self-obsession and autonomy I didn’t know existed until it was gone. Old friends stopped asking me about my day. They asked Caren, who had been at work, but not me. It did not matter that she was a woman; in this, for most people we spoke to, she was the public and I was the private, her work mattered and mine did not. Later she would commiserate and I would fume, but while it was happening, it was near impossible to contest. A catastrophe of identity. In a day I had fed and walked and cried and sung and fed and rocked and pointed and read books with no words and rolled inane balls across the lounge room floor and washed and sung and fed. I had circled in and around while the sun traced its arc. I had waited with impatience for adult company. I had loved harder than I ever had before. I had metamorphosed and nobody noticed. Nobody noticed. A catastrophe of identity it was, but the noise and visibility that the word catastrophe invokes was entirely absent. And where was the language to describe this peeling inside out? I was burnished bright by those sleepless nights, by the requirement of the I-am. And in those nights I learned what my mother already knew. That having children is a form of grief. That we lose. But that we gain. At 23, what’s lost is possibility. She must have seen her writer’s life drilling down to nothing. She knew that Sylvia Plath had placed her head, so carefully on its pillow, in that gas filled place. No pungent metaphor, just a poet, a mother, who could not continue. I had my babies at 34 and 36. I knew some of what I would lose, but had more than I needed. My mother had started out with not enough, and so was left concave and edged with desperation as she made her way through inner-city Sydney’s grime, her children singing from behind her wait for me, wait for me, Mama please wait for me, I’m going just as fast as I can.Nothing could be more ‘normal’ than that a maternal image should establish itself on the site of that tempered anguish known as love. No one is spared. Except perhaps the saint or the mystic, or the writer who, by force of language, can still manage nothing more than to demolish the fiction of the mother-as-love’s-mainstay and to identify with love as it really is: a fire of tongues, an escape from representation (Kristeva, Stabat Mater 145).We transformed, she and I. She hoped to make herself new with children. A writer born of writers, the growing and birthing of our tiny bodies forced her to place pen to paper, to fight to write. She carved a place for herself with words but it kept collapsing in on her. My father’s bi-polar rages, his scrubbing evil spirits from the soles of her shoes in the middle of the night, wore her down, and soon she inhabited that maternal image anyway, in spite of all her attempts to side step it. The mad mother, the single mother, the sad mother. And yes I remember those mothers. But I also remember her holding me so hard sometimes I couldn’t breathe properly, and that some nights when I couldn’t sleep she had warm eyes and made chamomile tea, and that she called me angel. A fire of tongues, but even she, with her words, couldn’t escape from representation. I am a writer born of writers born of writers (triply blessed or cursed with text). In my scramble to not be mad or bad or sad, I still could not escape the maternal image. More days than I can count I lay under my babies wishing I could be somewhere, anywhere else, but they needed to sleep or feed or be. With me. Held captive by the need to be a good mother, to be the best mother, no saint or mystic presenting itself, all I could do was write. Whole poems sprang unbidden and complete from my pen. My love for my children, that fire of tongues, was demolishing me, and the only way through was to inhabit this vessel of text, to imbibe the language of bodies and tears and night, and make from it my boat.Those children wrote my body in the night. They taught me about desire, that unbounded scribbling thing that will not be bound by subjectivity, by me. They taught me that “the body is literally written on, inscribed, by desire and signification” (Grosz 60), and every morning I woke with ashen bones and poetry aching out through my pores, with my body writing me.This Mother ThingI maintain that I do not have to leavethe house at nightall leathery and eyelinered,all booted up and raw.I maintain that I do not miss thosesmoky rooms (wait that’s not allowed any more)where we strut and, without looking,compare tattoos.Because two years ago I had you.You with your blonde hair shining, your eyes like a creek after rain, that veinthat’s so blue on the side of your small nosethat people think you’ve been bruised.Because two years ago you cameout of me and landed here and grew. There is no going out. We (she and me) washand cook and wash and clean and love.This mother thing is the making of me but I missthose pulsing rooms,the feel of all of you pressing in onall of me.This mother thing is the making of me. And in text, in poetry, I find my home. “You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her. And she’s not deadly. She’s beautiful and she’s laughing” (Cixous 885). The mother-body writes herself, and is made new. The mother-body writes her own mother, and knows she was always-already here. The mother-body births, and breastfeeds, and turns to me in the aching night and says this: the Medusa? The Medusa is me.ReferencesBartlett, Alison. Breastwork: Rethinking Breastfeeding. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2005.Cixous, Hélène, Keith Cohen, and Paula Cohen (Trans.). "The Laugh of the Medusa." Signs 1.4 (1976): 875-93. Giles, Fiona. Fresh Milk. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2003. Grosz, Elizabeth. Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1994.Kristeva, Julia, and Leon S. Roudiez (Trans.) Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982.Kristeva, Julia, and Arthur Goldhammer (Trans.). "Stabat Mater." Poetics Today 6.1-2 (1985): 133-52.

Unconventional energy sources have become increasingly important to the global energy mix. These include coal seam gas, shale gas and shale oil. The unconventional gas industry was pioneered in the United States and embraced following the first oil shock in 1973 (Rogers). As has been the case with many global resources (Hiscock), many of the same companies that worked in the USA carried their experience in this industry to early Australian explorations. Recently the USA has secured significant energy security with the development of unconventional energy deposits such as the Marcellus shale gas and the Bakken shale oil (Dobb; McGraw). But this has not come without environmental impact, including contamination to underground water supply (Osborn, Vengosh, Warner, Jackson) and potential greenhouse gas contributions (Howarth, Santoro, Ingraffea; McKenna). The environmental impact of unconventional gas extraction has raised serious public concern about the introduction and growth of the industry in Australia. In coal rich Australia coal seam gas is currently the major source of unconventional gas. Large gas deposits have been found in prime agricultural land along eastern Australia, such as the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales and the Darling Downs in Queensland. Competing land-uses and a series of environmental incidents from the coal seam gas industry have warranted major protest from a coalition of environmentalists and farmers (Berry; McLeish). Conflict between energy companies wanting development and environmentalists warning precaution is an easy script to cast for frontline media coverage. But historical perspectives are often missing in these contemporary debates. While coal mining and natural gas have often received “boosting” historical coverage (Diamond; Wilkinson), and although historical themes of “development” and “rushes” remain predominant when observing the span of the industry (AGA; Blainey), the history of unconventional gas, particularly the history of its environmental impact, has been little studied. Few people are aware, for example, that the first shale gas exploratory well was completed in late 2010 in the Cooper Basin in Central Australia (Molan) and is considered as a “new” frontier in Australian unconventional gas. Moreover many people are unaware that the first coal seam gas wells were completed in 1976 in Queensland. The first four wells offer an important moment for reflection in light of the industry’s recent move into Central Australia. By locating and analysing the first four coal seam gas wells, this essay identifies the roots of the unconventional gas industry in Australia and explores the early environmental impact of these wells. By analysing exploration reports that have been placed online by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines through the lens of environmental history, the dominant developmental narrative of this industry can also be scrutinised. These narratives often place more significance on economic and national benefits while displacing the environmental and social impacts of the industry (Connor, Higginbotham, Freeman, Albrecht; Duus; McEachern; Trigger). This essay therefore seeks to bring an environmental insight into early unconventional gas mining in Australia. As the author, I am concerned that nearly four decades on and it seems that no one has heeded the warning gleaned from these early wells and early exploration reports, as gas exploration in Australia continues under little scrutiny. Arrival The first four unconventional gas wells in Australia appear at the beginning of the industry world-wide (Schraufnagel, McBane, and Kuuskraa; McClanahan). The wells were explored by Houston Oils and Minerals—a company that entered the Australian mining scene by sharing a mining prospect with International Australian Energy Company (Wiltshire). The International Australian Energy Company was owned by Black Giant Oil Company in the US, which in turn was owned by International Royalty and Oil Company also based in the US. The Texan oilman Robert Kanton held a sixteen percent share in the latter. Kanton had an idea that the Mimosa Syncline in the south-eastern Bowen Basin was a gas trap waiting to be exploited. To test the theory he needed capital. Kanton presented the idea to Houston Oil and Minerals which had the financial backing to take the risk. Shotover No. 1 was drilled by Houston Oil and Minerals thirty miles south-east of the coal mining town of Blackwater. By late August 1975 it was drilled to 2,717 metres, discovered to have little gas, spudded, and, after a spend of $610,000, abandoned. The data from the Shotover well showed that the porosity of the rocks in the area was not a trap, and the Mimosa Syncline was therefore downgraded as a possible hydrocarbon location. There was, however, a small amount of gas found in the coal seams (Benbow 16). The well had passed through the huge coal seams of both the Bowen and Surat basins—important basins for the future of both the coal and gas industries. Mining Concepts In 1975, while Houston Oil and Minerals was drilling the Shotover well, US Steel and the US Bureau of Mines used hydraulic fracture, a technique already used in the petroleum industry, to drill vertical surface wells to drain gas from a coal seam (Methane Drainage Taskforce 102). They were able to remove gas from the coal seam before it was mined and sold enough to make a profit. With the well data from the Shotover well in Australia compiled, Houston returned to the US to research the possibility of harvesting methane in Australia. As the company saw it, methane drainage was “a novel exploitation concept” and the methane in the Bowen Basin was an “enormous hydrocarbon resource” (Wiltshire 7). The Shotover well passed through a section of the German Creek Coal measures and this became their next target. In September 1976 the Shotover well was re-opened and plugged at 1499 meters to become Australia’s first exploratory unconventional gas well. By the end of the month the rig was released and gas production tested. At one point an employee on the drilling operation observed a gas flame “the size of a 44 gal drum” (HOMA, “Shotover # 1” 9). But apart from the brief show, no gas flowed. And yet, Houston Oil and Minerals was not deterred, as they had already taken out other leases for further prospecting (Wiltshire 4). Only a week after the Shotover well had failed, Houston moved the methane search south-east to an area five miles north of the Moura township. Houston Oil and Minerals had researched the coal exploration seismic surveys of the area that were conducted in 1969, 1972, and 1973 to choose the location. Over the next two months in late 1976, two new wells—Kinma No.1 and Carra No.1—were drilled within a mile from each other and completed as gas wells. Houston Oil and Minerals also purchased the old oil exploration well Moura No. 1 from the Queensland Government and completed it as a suspended gas well. The company must have mined the Department of Mines archive to find Moura No.1, as the previous exploration report from 1969 noted methane given off from the coal seams (Sell). By December 1976 Houston Oil and Minerals had three gas wells in the vicinity of each other and by early 1977 testing had occurred. The results were disappointing with minimal gas flow at Kinma and Carra, but Moura showed a little more promise. Here, the drillers were able to convert their Fairbanks-Morse engine driving the pump from an engine run on LPG to one run on methane produced from the well (Porter, “Moura # 1”). Drink This? Although there was not much gas to find in the test production phase, there was a lot of water. The exploration reports produced by the company are incomplete (indeed no report was available for the Shotover well), but the information available shows that a large amount of water was extracted before gas started to flow (Porter, “Carra # 1”; Porter, “Moura # 1”; Porter, “Kinma # 1”). As Porter’s reports outline, prior to gas flowing, the water produced at Carra, Kinma and Moura totalled 37,600 litres, 11,900 and 2,900 respectively. It should be noted that the method used to test the amount of water was not continuous and these amounts were not the full amount of water produced; also, upon gas coming to the surface some of the wells continued to produce water. In short, before any gas flowed at the first unconventional gas wells in Australia at least 50,000 litres of water were taken from underground. Results show that the water was not ready to drink (Mathers, “Moura # 1”; Mathers, “Appendix 1”; HOMA, “Miscellaneous Pages” 21-24). The water had total dissolved solids (minerals) well over the average set by the authorities (WHO; Apps Laboratories; NHMRC; QDAFF). The well at Kinma recorded the highest levels, almost two and a half times the unacceptable standard. On average the water from the Moura well was of reasonable standard, possibly because some water was extracted from the well when it was originally sunk in 1969; but the water from Kinma and Carra was very poor quality, not good enough for crops, stock or to be let run into creeks. The biggest issue was the sodium concentration; all wells had very high salt levels. Kinma and Carra were four and two times the maximum standard respectively. In short, there was a substantial amount of poor quality water produced from drilling and testing the three wells. Fracking Australia Hydraulic fracturing is an artificial process that can encourage more gas to flow to the surface (McGraw; Fischetti; Senate). Prior to the testing phase at the Moura field, well data was sent to the Chemical Research and Development Department at Halliburton in Oklahoma, to examine the ability to fracture the coal and shale in the Australian wells. Halliburton was the founding father of hydraulic fracture. In Oklahoma on 17 March 1949, operating under an exclusive license from Standard Oil, this company conducted the first ever hydraulic fracture of an oil well (Montgomery and Smith). To come up with a program of hydraulic fracturing for the Australian field, Halliburton went back to the laboratory. They bonded together small slabs of coal and shale similar to Australian samples, drilled one-inch holes into the sample, then pressurised the holes and completed a “hydro-frac” in miniature. “These samples were difficult to prepare,” they wrote in their report to Houston Oil and Minerals (HOMA, “Miscellaneous Pages” 10). Their program for fracturing was informed by a field of science that had been evolving since the first hydraulic fracture but had rapidly progressed since the first oil shock. Halliburton’s laboratory test had confirmed that the model of Perkins and Kern developed for widths of hydraulic fracture—in an article that defined the field—should also apply to Australian coals (Perkins and Kern). By late January 1977 Halliburton had issued Houston Oil and Minerals with a program of hydraulic fracture to use on the central Queensland wells. On the final page of their report they warned: “There are many unknowns in a vertical fracture design procedure” (HOMA, “Miscellaneous Pages” 17). In July 1977, Moura No. 1 became the first coal seam gas well hydraulically fractured in Australia. The exploration report states: “During July 1977 the well was killed with 1% KCL solution and the tubing and packer were pulled from the well … and pumping commenced” (Porter 2-3). The use of the word “kill” is interesting—potassium chloride (KCl) is the third and final drug administered in the lethal injection of humans on death row in the USA. Potassium chloride was used to minimise the effect on parts of the coal seam that were water-sensitive and was the recommended solution prior to adding other chemicals (Montgomery and Smith 28); but a word such as “kill” also implies that the well and the larger environment were alive before fracking commenced (Giblett; Trigger). Pumping recommenced after the fracturing fluid was unloaded. Initially gas supply was very good. It increased from an average estimate of 7,000 cubic feet per day to 30,000, but this only lasted two days before coal and sand started flowing back up to the surface. In effect, the cleats were propped open but the coal did not close and hold onto them which meant coal particles and sand flowed back up the pipe with diminishing amounts of gas (Walters 12). Although there were some interesting results, the program was considered a failure. In April 1978, Houston Oil and Minerals finally abandoned the methane concept. Following the failure, they reflected on the possibilities for a coal seam gas industry given the gas prices in Queensland: “Methane drainage wells appear to offer no economic potential” (Wooldridge 2). At the wells they let the tubing drop into the hole, put a fifteen foot cement plug at the top of the hole, covered it with a steel plate and by their own description restored the area to its “original state” (Wiltshire 8). Houston Oil and Minerals now turned to “conventional targets” which included coal exploration (Wiltshire 7). A Thousand Memories The first four wells show some of the critical environmental issues that were present from the outset of the industry in Australia. The process of hydraulic fracture was not just a failure, but conducted on a science that had never been tested in Australia, was ponderous at best, and by Halliburton’s own admission had “many unknowns”. There was also the role of large multinationals providing “experience” (Briody; Hiscock) and conducting these tests while having limited knowledge of the Australian landscape. Before any gas came to the surface, a large amount of water was produced that was loaded with a mixture of salt and other heavy minerals. The source of water for both the mud drilling of Carra and Kinma, as well as the hydraulic fracture job on Moura, was extracted from Kianga Creek three miles from the site (HOMA, “Carra # 1” 5; HOMA, “Kinma # 1” 5; Porter, “Moura # 1”). No location was listed for the disposal of the water from the wells, including the hydraulic fracture liquid. Considering the poor quality of water, if the water was disposed on site or let drain into a creek, this would have had significant environmental impact. Nobody has yet answered the question of where all this water went. The environmental issues of water extraction, saline water and hydraulic fracture were present at the first four wells. At the first four wells environmental concern was not a priority. The complexity of inter-company relations, as witnessed at the Shotover well, shows there was little time. The re-use of old wells, such as the Moura well, also shows that economic priorities were more important. Even if environmental information was considered important at the time, no one would have had access to it because, as handwritten notes on some of the reports show, many of the reports were “confidential” (Sell). Even though coal mines commenced filing Environmental Impact Statements in the early 1970s, there is no such documentation for gas exploration conducted by Houston Oil and Minerals. A lack of broader awareness for the surrounding environment, from floral and faunal health to the impact on habitat quality, can be gleaned when reading across all the exploration reports. Nearly four decades on and we now have thousands of wells throughout the world. Yet, the challenges of unconventional gas still persist. The implications of the environmental history of the first four wells in Australia for contemporary unconventional gas exploration and development in this country and beyond are significant. Many environmental issues were present from the beginning of the coal seam gas industry in Australia. Owning up to this history would place policy makers and regulators in a position to strengthen current regulation. The industry continues to face the same challenges today as it did at the start of development—including water extraction, hydraulic fracturing and problems associated with drilling through underground aquifers. Looking more broadly at the unconventional gas industry, shale gas has appeared as the next target for energy resources in Australia. Reflecting on the first exploratory shale gas wells drilled in Central Australia, the chief executive of the company responsible for the shale gas wells noted their deliberate decision to locate their activities in semi-desert country away from “an area of prime agricultural land” and conflict with environmentalists (quoted in Molan). Moreover, the journalist Paul Cleary recently complained about the coal seam gas industry polluting Australia’s food-bowl but concluded that the “next frontier” should be in “remote” Central Australia with shale gas (Cleary 195). It appears that preference is to move the industry to the arid centre of Australia, to the ecologically and culturally unique Lake Eyre Basin region (Robin and Smith). 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Introduction Almost all industries in Australia today have adopted digital media in some way. However, uses in large scale activities such as mining may seem to be different from others. This article looks at mining practices with a media studies approach, and concludes that, just as many other industries, mining and media have converged. Many Australian mine sites are adopting new media for communication and control to manage communication, explore for ore bodies, simulate forces, automate drilling, keep records, and make transport and command robotic. Beyond sharing similar digital devices for communication and computation, new media in mining employ characteristic digital media operations, such as numerical operation, automation and managed variability. This article examines the implications of finding that some of the most material practices have become mediated by new media. Mining has become increasingly mediated through new media technologies similar to GPS, visualisation, game remote operation, similar to those adopted in consumer home and mobile digital media. The growing and diversified adoption of digital media championed by companies like Rio Tinto aims not only ‘improve’ mining, but to change it. Through remediating practices of digital mining, new media have become integral powerful tools in prospective, real time and analytical environments. This paper draws on two well-known case studies of mines in the Pilbara and Western NSW. These have been documented in press releases and media reports as representing changes in media and mining. First, the West Angelas mines in the Pilbara is an open cut iron ore mine introducing automation and remote operation. This mine is located in the remote Pilbara, and is notable for being operated remotely from a control centre 2000km away, near Perth Airport, WA. A growing fleet of Komatsu 930E haul trucks, which can drive autonomously, traverses the site. Fitted with radars, lasers and GPS, these enormous vehicles navigate through the open pit mine with no direct human control. Introducing these innovations to mine sites become more viable after iron ore mining became increasingly profitable in the mid-2000s. A boom in steel building in China drove unprecedented demand. This growing income coincided with a change in public rhetoric from companies like Rio Tinto. They pointed towards substantial investments in research, infrastructure, and accelerated introduction of new media technologies into mining practices. Rio Tinto trademarked the term ‘Mine of the future’ (US Federal News Service 1), and publicised their ambitious project for renewal of mining practice, including digital media. More recently, prices have been more volatile. The second case study site is a copper and gold underground mine at Northparkes in Western NSW. Northparkes uses substantial sensing and control, as well as hybrid autonomous and remote operated vehicles. The use of digital media begins with prospecting, and through to logistics of transportation. Engineers place explosives in optimal positions using computer modelling of the underground rock formations. They make heavy use of software to coordinate layer-by-layer use of explosives in this advanced ‘box cut’ mine. After explosives disrupt the rock layer a kilometre underground, another specialised vehicle collects and carries the ore to the surface. The Sandvik loader-hauler-dumper (LHD) can be driven conventionally by a driver, but it can also travel autonomously in and out of the mine without a direct operator. Once it reaches a collection point, where the broken up ore has accumulated, a user of the surface can change the media mode to telepresence. The human operator then takes control using something like a games controller and multiple screens. The remote operator controls the LHD to fill the scoop with ore. The fully-loaded LHD backs up, and returns autonomously using laser senses to follow a trail to the next drop off point. The LHD has become a powerful mediator, reconfiguring technical, material and social practices throughout the mine. The Meanings of Mining and Media Are Converging Until recently, mining and media typically operated ontologically separately. The media, such as newspapers and television, often tell stories about mining, following regular narrative scripts. There are controversies and conflicts, narratives of ecological crises, and the economics of national benefit. There are heroic and tragic stories such as the Beaconsfield mine collapse (Clark). There are new industry policies (Middelbeek), which are politically fraught because of the lobbying power of miners. Almost completely separately, workers in mines were consumers of media, from news to entertainment. These media practices, while important in their own right, tell nothing of the approaching changes in many other sectors of work and everyday life. It is somewhat unusual for a media studies scholar to study mine sites. Mine sites are most commonly studied by Engineering (Bellamy & Pravica), Business and labour and cultural histories (McDonald, Mayes & Pini). Until recently, media scholarship on mining has related to media institutions, such as newspapers, broadcasters and websites, and their audiences. As digital media have proliferated, the phenomena that can be considered as media phenomena has changed. This article, pointing to the growing roles of media technologies, observes the growing importance that media, in these terms, have in the rapidly changing domain of mining. Another meaning for ‘media’ studies, from cybernetics, is that a medium is any technology that translates perception, makes interpretations, and performs expressions. This meaning is more abstract, operating with a broader definition of media — not only those institutionalised as newspapers or radio stations. It is well known that computer-based media have become ubiquitous in culture. This is true in particular within the mining company’s higher ranks. Rio Tinto’s ambitious 2010 ‘Mine of the Future’ (Fisher & Schnittger, 2) program was premised on an awareness that engineers, middle managers and senior staff were already highly computer literate. It is worth remembering that such competency was relatively uncommon until the late 1980s. The meanings of digital media have been shifting for many years, as computers become experienced more as everyday personal artefacts, and less as remote information systems. Their value has always been held with some ambivalence. Zuboff’s (387-414) picture of loss, intimidation and resistance to new information technologies in the 1980s seems to have dissipated by 2011. More than simply being accepted begrudgingly, the PC platform (and variants) has become a ubiquitous platform, a lingua franca for information workers. It became an intimate companion for many professions, and in many homes. It was an inexpensive, versatile and generalised convergent medium for communication and control. And yet, writers such as Gregg observe, the flexibility of networked digital work imposes upon many workers ‘unlimited work’. The office boundaries of the office wall break down, for better or worse. Emails, utility and other work-related behaviours increasingly encroach onto domestic and public space and time. Its very attractiveness to users has tied them to these artefacts. The trail that leads the media studies discipline down the digital mine shaft has been cleared by recent work in media archaeology (Parikka), platform studies (Middelbeek; Montfort & Bogost; Maher) and new media (Manovich). Each of these redefined Media Studies practices addresses the need to diversify the field’s attention and methods. It must look at more specific, less conventional and more complex media formations. Mobile media and games (both computer-based) have turned out to be quite different from traditional media (Hjorth; Goggin). Kirschenbaum’s literary study of hard drives and digital fiction moves from materiality to aesthetics. In my study of digital mining, I present a reconfigured media studies, after the authors, that reveals heterogeneous media configurations, deserving new attention to materiality. This article also draws from the actor network theory approach and terminology (Latour). The uses of media / control / communications in the mining industry are very complex, and remain under constant development. Media such as robotics, computer modelling, remote operation and so on are bound together into complex practices. Each mine site is different — geologically, politically, and economically. Mines are subject to local and remote disasters. Mine tunnels and global prices can collapse, rendering active sites uneconomical overnight. Many technologies are still under development — including Northparkes and West Angelas. Both these sites are notable for their significant use of autonomous vehicles and remote operated vehicles. There is no doubt that the digital technologies modulate all manner of the mining processes: from rocks and mechanical devices to human actors. Each of these actors present different forms of collusion and opposition. Within a mining operation, the budgets for computerised and even robotic systems are relatively modest for their expected return. Deep in a mine, we can still see media convergence at work. Convergence refers to processes whereby previously diverse practices in media have taken on similar devices and techniques. While high-end PCs in mining, running simulators; control data systems; visualisation; telepresence, and so on may be high performance, ruggedised devices, they still share a common platform to the desktop PC. Conceptual resources developed in Media Ecology, New Media Studies, and the Digital Humanities can now inform readings of mining practices, even if their applications differ dramatically in size, reliability and cost. It is not entirely surprising that some observations by new media theorists about entertainment and media applications can also relate to features of mining technologies. Manovich argues that numerical representation is a distinctive feature of new media. Numbers have always already been key to mining engineering. However, computers visualise numerical fields in simulations that extend out of the minds of the calculators, and into visual and even haptic spaces. Specialists in geology, explosives, mechanical apparatuses, and so on, can use plaftorms that are common to everyday media. As the significance of numbers is extended by computers in the field, more and more diverse sources of data provide apparently consistent and seamless images of multiple fields of knowledge. Another feature that Manovich identifies in new media is the capacity for automation of media operations. Automation of many processes in mechanical domains clearly occurred long before industrial technologies were ported into new media. The difference with new media in mine sites is that robotic systems must vary their performance according to feedback from their extra-system environments. For our purposes, the haul trucks in WA are software-controlled devices that already qualify as robots. They sense, interpret and act in the world based on their surroundings. They evaluate multiple factors, including the sensors, GPS signals, operator instructions and so on. They can repeat the path, by sensing the differences, day after day, even if the weather changes, the track wears away or the instructions from base change. Automation compensates for differences within complex and changing environments. Automation of an open-pit mine haulage system… provides more consistent and efficient operation of mining equipment, it removes workers from potential danger, it reduces fuel consumption significantly reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and it can help optimize vehicle repairs and equipment replacement because of more-predictable and better-controlled maintenance. (Parreire and Meech 1-13) Material components in physical mines tend to become modular and variable, as their physical shape lines up with the logic of another of Manovich’s new media themes, variability. Automatic systems also make obsolete human drivers, who previously handled those environmental variations, for better or for worse, through the dangerous, dull and dirty spaces of the mine. Drivers’ capacity to control repeat trips is no longer needed. The Komatsu driverless truck, introduced to the WA iron ore mines from 2008, proved itself to be almost as quick as human drivers at many tasks. But the driverless trucks have deeper advantages: they can run 23 hours each day with no shift breaks; they drive more cautiously and wear the equipment less than human drivers. There is no need to put up workers and their families up in town. The benefit most often mentioned is safety: even the worst accident won’t produce injuries to drivers. The other advantage less mentioned is that autonomous trucks don’t strike. Meanwhile, managers of human labour also need to adopt certain strategies of modulation to support the needs and expectations of their workers. Mobile phones, televisions and radio are popular modes of connecting workers to their loved ones, particularly in the remote and harsh West Angelas site. One solution — regular fly-in-fly out shifts — tends also to be alienating for workers and locals (Cheshire; Storey; Tonts). As with any operations, the cost of maintaining a safe and comfortable environment for workers requires trade-offs. Companies face risks from mobile phones, leaking computer networks, and espionage that expose the site to security risks. Because of such risks, miners tend be subject to disciplinary regimes. It is common to test alcohol and drug levels. There was some resistance from workers, who refused to change to saliva testing from urine testing (Latimer). Contesting these machines places the medium, in a different sense, at the centre of regulation of the workers’ bodies. In Northparkes, the solution of hybrid autonomous and remote operation is also a solution for modulating labour. It is safer and more comfortable, while also being more efficient, as one experienced driver can control three trucks at a time. This more complex mode of mediation is necessary because underground mines are more complex in geology, and working environments to suit full autonomy. These variations provide different relationships between operators and machines. The operator uses a games controller, and watches four video views from the cabin to make the vehicle fill the bucket with ore (Northparkes Mines, 9). Again, media have become a pivotal element in the mining assemblage. This combines the safety and comfort of autonomous operation (helping to retain staff) with the required use of human sensorimotor dexterity. Mine systems deserve attention from media studies because sites are combining large scale physical complexity with increasingly sophisticated computing. The conventional pictures of mining and media rarely address the specificity of subjective and artefactual encounters in and around mine sites. Any research on mining communication is typically within the instrumental frames of engineering (Duff et al.). Some of the developments in mechanical systems have contributed to efficiency and safety of many mines: larger trucks, more rock crushers, and so on. However, the single most powerful influence on mining has been adopting digital media to control, integrate and mining systems. Rio Tinto’s transformative agenda document is outlined in its high profile ‘Mine of the Future’ agenda (US Federal News Service). The media to which I refer are not only those in popular culture, but also those with digital control and communications systems used internally within mines and supply chains. The global mining industry began adopting digital communication automation (somewhat) systematically only in the 1980s. Mining companies hesitated to adopt digital media because the fundamentals of mining are so risky and bound to standard procedures. Large scale material operations, extracting and processing minerals from under the ground: hardly to be an appropriate space for delicate digital electronics. Mining is also exposed to volatile economic conditions, so investing in anything major can be unattractive. High technology perhaps contradicts an industry ethos of risk-taking and masculinity. Digital media became domesticated, and familiar to a new generation of formally educated engineers for whom databases and algorithms (Manovich) were second nature. Digital systems become simultaneously controllers of objects, and mediators of meanings and relationships. They control movements, and express communications. Computers slide from using meanings to invoking direct actions over objects in the world. Even on an everyday scale, computer operations often control physical processes. Anti-lock Braking Systems regulate a vehicle’s braking pressure to avoid the danger when wheels lock-up. Or another example, is the ATM, which involves both symbolic interactions, and also exchange of physical objects. These operations are examples of the ‘asignifying semiotic’ (Guattari), in which meanings and non-meanings interact. There is no operation essential distinction between media- and non-media digital operations. Which are symbolic, attached or non-consequential is not clear. This trend towards using computation for both meanings and actions has accelerated since 2000. Mines of the Future Beyond a relatively standard set of office and communications software, many fields, including mining, have adopted specialised packages for their domains. In 3D design, it is AutoCAD. In hard sciences, it is custom modelling. In audiovisual production, it may be Apple and Adobe products. Some platforms define their subjectivity, professional identity and practices around these platforms. This platform orientation is apparent in areas of mining, so that applications such as the Gemcom, Rockware, Geological Database and Resource Estimation Modelling from Micromine; geology/mine design software from Runge, Minemap; and mine production data management software from Corvus. However, software is only a small proportion of overall costs in the industry. Agents in mining demand solutions to peculiar problems and requirements. They are bound by their enormous scale; physical risks of environments, explosive and moving elements; need to negotiate constant change, as mining literally takes the ground from under itself; the need to incorporate geological patterns; and the importance of logistics. When digital media are the solution, there can be what is perceived as rapid gains, including greater capacities for surveillance and control. Digital media do not provide more force. Instead, they modulate the direction, speed and timing of activities. It is not a complete solution, because too many uncontrolled elements are at play. Instead, there are moment and situations when the degree of control refigures the work that can be done. Conclusions In this article I have proposed a new conception of media change, by reading digital innovations in mining practices themselves as media changes. This involved developing an initial reading of the operations of mining as digital media. With this approach, the array of media components extends far beyond the conventional ‘mass media’ of newspapers and television. It offers a more molecular media environment which is increasingly heterogeneous. It sometimes involves materiality on a huge scale, and is sometimes apparently virtual. The mining media event can be a semiotic, a signal, a material entity and so on. It can be a command to a human. It can be a measurement of location, a rock formation, a pressure or an explosion. The mining media event, as discussed above, is subject to Manovich’s principles of media, being numerical, variable and automated. In the mining media event, these principles move from the aesthetic to the instrumental and physical domains of the mine site. The role of new media operates at many levels — from the bottom of the mine site to the cruising altitude of the fly-in-fly out aeroplanes — has motivated significant changes in the Australian industry. When digital media and robotics come into play, they do not so much introduce change, but reintroduce similarity. This inversion of media is less about meaning, and more about local mastery. Media modulation extends the kinds of influence that can be exerted by the actors in control. In these situations, the degrees of control, and of resistance, are yet to be seen. Acknowledgments Thanks to Mining IQ for a researcher's pass at Mining Automation and Communication Conference, Perth in August 2012. References Bellamy, D., and L. 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Taylor & Francis, 2008. Kirschenbaum, M.G. Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination. Campridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2008. Latimer, Cole. “Fair Work Appeal May Change Drug Testing on Site.” Mining Australia 2012. 3 May 2013 ‹http://www.miningaustralia.com.au/news/fair-work-appeal-may-change-drug-testing-on-site›. Latour, B. Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Maher, J. The Future Was Here: The Commodore Amiga. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2012. Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. McDonald, P., R. Mayes, and B. Pini. “Mining Work, Family and Community: A Spatially-Oriented Approach to the Impact of the Ravensthorpe Nickel Mine Closure in Remote Australia.” Journal of Industrial Relations 2012. Middelbeek, E. “Australia Mining Tax Set to Slam Iron Ore Profits.” Metal Bulletin Weekly 2012. Montfort, N., and I. Bogost. Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. 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Australia in Maps is a compilation of cartography taken from the collection of over 600,000 maps held at the Australian National Library. Included in this collection are military maps, coastal maps and modern-day maps for tourists. The map of the eastern coast of ‘New Holland’ drawn by James Cook when he ‘discovered’ Australia in 1770 is included. Also published is Eddie Koiki Mabo’s map drawn on a hole-punched piece of paper showing traditional land holdings in the Murray Islands in the Torres Strait. This map became a key document in Eddie Mabo’s fight for native title recognition, a fight which became the precursor to native title rights as they are known today. The inclusion of these two drawings in a collection of maps defining Australia as a country illustrates the dichotomies and contradictions which exist in a colonial nation. It is now fifteen years since the Native Title Act 1994 (Commonwealth) was developed in response to the Mabo cases in order to recognise Indigenous customary law and traditional relationships to the land over certain (restricted) parts of Australia. It is 220 years since the First Fleet arrived and Indigenous land was (and remains) illegally possessed through the process of colonisation (Moreton-Robinson Australia). Questions surrounding ‘country’ – who owns it, has rights to use it, to live on it, to develop or protect it – are still contested and contentious today. In part, this contention arises out of the radically different conceptions of ‘country’ held by, in its simplest sense, Indigenous nations and colonisers. For Indigenous Australians the land has a spiritual significance that I, as a non-Indigenous person, cannot properly understand as a result of the different ways in which relationships to land are made available. The ways of understanding the world through which my identity as a non-Indigenous person are made intelligible, by contrast, see ‘country’ as there to be ‘developed’ and exploited. Within colonial logic, discourses of development and the productive use of resources function as what Wetherell and Potter term “rhetorically self-sufficient” in that they are principles which are considered to be beyond question (177). As Vincent Tucker states; “The myth of development is elevated to the status of natural law, objective reality and evolutionary necessity. In the process all other world views are devalued and dismissed as ‘primitive’, ‘backward’, ‘irrational’ or ‘naïve’” (1). It was this precise way of thinking which was able to justify colonisation in the first place. Australia was seen as terra nullius; an empty and un-developed land not recognized as inhabited. Indigenous people were incorrectly perceived as individuals who did not use the land in an efficient manner, rather than as individual nations who engaged with the land in ways that were not intelligible to the colonial eye. This paper considers the tensions inherent in definitions of ‘country’ and the way these tensions are played out through native title claims as white, colonial Australia attempts to recognise (and limit) Indigenous rights to land. It examines such tensions as they appear in the media as an example of how native title issues are made intelligible to the non-Indigenous general public who may otherwise have little knowledge or experience of native title issues. It has been well-documented that the news media play an important role in further disseminating those discourses which dominate in a society, and therefore frequently supports the interests of those in positions of power (Fowler; Hall et. al.). As Stuart Hall argues, this means that the media often reproduces a conservative status quo which in many cases is simply reflective of the positions held by other powerful institutions in society, in this case government, and mining and other commercial interests. This has been found to be the case in past analysis of media coverage of native title, such as work completed by Meadows (which found that media coverage of native title issues focused largely on non-Indigenous perspectives) and Hartley and McKee (who found that media coverage of native title negotiations frequently focused on bureaucratic issues rather than the rights of Indigenous peoples to oppose ‘developments’ on their land). This paper aims to build on this work, and to map the way in which native title, an ongoing issue for many Indigenous groups, figures in a mainstream newspaper at a time when there has not been much mainstream public interest in the process. In order to do this, this paper considered articles which appeared in Australia’s only national newspaper – The Australian – over the six months preceding the start of July 2008. Several main themes ran through these articles, examples of which are provided in the relevant sections. These included: economic interests in native title issues, discourses of white ownership and control of the land, and rhetorical devices which reinforced the battle-like nature of native title negotiations rather than emphasised the rights of Indigenous Australians to their lands. Native Title: Some Definitions and Some Problems The concept of native title itself can be a difficult one to grasp and therefore a brief definition is called for here. According to the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) website (www.nntt.gov.au), native title is the recognition by Australian law that some Indigenous people have rights and interests to their land that come from their traditional laws and customs. The native title rights and interests held by particular Indigenous people will depend on both their traditional laws and customs and what interests are held by others in the area concerned. Generally speaking, native title must give way to the rights held by others. Native title is therefore recognised as existing on the basis of certain laws and customs which have been maintained over an area of land despite the disruption caused by colonisation. As such, if native title is to be recognised over an area of country, Indigenous communities have to argue that their cultures and connection with the land have survived colonisation. As the Maori Land Court Chief Judge Joe Williams argues: In Australia the surviving title approach […] requires the Indigenous community to prove in a court or tribunal that colonisation caused them no material injury. This is necessary because, the greater the injury, the smaller the surviving bundle of rights. Communities who were forced off their land lose it. Those whose traditions and languages were beaten out of them at state sponsored mission schools lose all of the resources owned within the matrix of that language and those traditions. This is a perverse result. In reality, of course, colonisation was the greatest calamity in the history of these people on this land. Surviving title asks aboriginal people to pretend that it was not. To prove in court that colonisation caused them no material injury. Communities who were forced off their land are the same communities who are more likely to lose it. As found in previous research (Meadows), these inherent difficulties of the native title process were widely overlooked in recent media reports of native title issues published in The Australian. Due to recent suggestions made by Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin for changes to be made to the native title system, The Australian did include reports on the need to ensure that traditional owners share the economic profits of the mining boom. This was seen in an article by Karvelas and Murphy entitled “Labor to Overhaul Native Title Law”. The article states that: Fifteen years after the passage of the historic Mabo legislation, the Rudd Government has flagged sweeping changes to native title to ensure the benefits of the mining boom flow to Aboriginal communities and are not locked up in trusts or frittered away. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin, delivering the third annual Eddie Mabo Lecture in Townsville, said yesterday that native title legislation was too complex and had failed to deliver money to remote Aboriginal communities, despite lucrative agreements with mining companies. (1) Whilst this passage appears supportive of Indigenous Australians in that it argues for their right to share in economic gains made through ‘developments’ on their country, the use of phrases such as ‘frittered away’ imply that Indigenous Australians have made poor use of their ‘lucrative agreements’, and therefore require further intervention in their lives in order to better manage their financial situations. Such an argument further implies that the fact that many remote Indigenous communities continue to live in poverty is the fault of Indigenous Australians’ mismanagement of funds from native title agreements rather than from governmental neglect, thereby locating the blame once more in the hands of Indigenous people rather than in a colonial system of dispossession and regulation. Whilst the extract does continue to state that native title legislation is too complex and has ‘failed to deliver money to remote Aboriginal communities’, the article does not go on to consider other areas in which native title is failing Indigenous people, such as reporting the protection of sacred and ceremonial sites, and provisions for Indigenous peoples to be consulted about developments on their land to which they may be opposed. Whilst native title agreements with companies may contain provisions for these issues, it is rare that there is any regulation for whether or not these provisions are met after an agreement is made (Faircheallaigh). These issues almost never appeared in the media which instead focused on the economic benefits (or lack thereof) stemming from the land rather than the sovereign rights of traditional owners to their country. There are many other difficulties inherent in the native title legislation for Indigenous peoples. It is worth discussing some of these difficulties as they provide an image of the ways in which ‘country’ is conceived of at the intersection of a Western legal system attempting to encompass Indigenous relations to land. The first of these difficulties relates to the way in which Indigenous people are required to delineate the boundaries of the country which they are claiming. Applications for native title over an area of land require strict outlining of boundaries for land under consideration, in accordance with a Western system of mapping country. The creation of such boundaries requires Indigenous peoples to define their country in Western terms rather than Indigenous ones, and in many cases proves quite difficult as areas of traditional lands may be unavailable to claim (Neate). Such differences in understandings of country mean that “for Indigenous peoples, the recognition of their indigenous title, should it be afforded, may bear little resemblance to, or reflect minimally on, their own conceptualisation of their relations to country” (Glaskin 67). Instead, existing as it does within a Western legal system and subject to Western determinations, native title forces Indigenous people to define themselves and their land within white conceptions of country (Moreton-Robinson Possessive). In fact, the entire concept of native title has been criticized by many Indigenous commentators as a denial of Indigenous sovereignty over the land, with the result of the Mabo case meaning that “Indigenous people did not lose their native title rights but were stripped of their sovereign rights to manage their own affairs, to live according to their own laws, and to own and control the resources on their lands” (Falk and Martin 38). As such, Falk and Martin argue that The Native Title Act amounts to a complete denial of Aboriginal sovereignty so that Indigenous people are forced to live under a colonial regime which is able to control and regulate their lives and access to country. This is commented upon by Aileen Moreton-Robinson, who writes that: What Indigenous people have been given, by way of white benevolence, is a white-constructed from of ‘Indigenous’ proprietary rights that are not epistemologically and ontologically grounded in Indigenous conceptions of sovereignty. Indigenous land ownership, under these legislative regimes, amounts to little more than a mode of land tenure that enables a circumscribed form of autonomy and governance with minimum control and ownership of resources, on or below the ground, thus entrenching economic dependence on the nation state. (Moreton-Robinson Sovereign Subjects 4) The native title laws in place in Australia restrict Indigenous peoples to existing within white frameworks of knowledge. Within the space of The Native Title Act there is no room for recognition of Indigenous sovereignty whereby Indigenous peoples can make decisions for themselves and control their own lands (Falk and Martin). These tensions within definitions of ‘country’ and sovereignty over land were reflected in the media articles examined, primarily in terms of the way in which ‘country’ was related to and used. This was evident in an article entitled “An Economic Vision” with a tag-line “Native Title Reforms offer Communities a Fresh Start”: Central to such a success story is the determination of indigenous people to help themselves. Such a business-like, forward-thinking approach is also evident in Kimberley Land Council executive director Wayne Bergmann's negotiations with some of the world's biggest resource companies […] With at least 45 per cent of Kimberley land subject to native title, Mr Bergmann, a qualified lawyer, is acutely aware of the royalties and employment potential. Communities are also benefitting from the largesse of Australia’s richest man, miner Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, whose job training courses and other initiatives are designed to help the local people, in his words, become “wonderful participating Australians.” (15) Again, this article focuses on the economic benefits to be made from native title agreements with mining companies rather than other concerns with the use of Indigenous areas of country. The use of the quote from Forrest serves to imply that Indigenous peoples are not “wonderful participating Australians” unless they are able to contribute in an economic sense, and overlooks many contributions made by Indigenous peoples in other areas such as environmental protection. Such definitions also measure ‘success’ in Western terms rather than Indigenous ones and force Indigenous peoples into a relationship to country based on Western notions of resource extraction and profit rather than Indigenous notions of custodianship and sustainability. This construction of Indigenous economic involvement as only rendered valid on particular terms echoes findings from previous work on constructions of Indigenous people in the media, such as that by LeCouteur, Rapley and Augoustinos. Theorising ‘Country’ The examples provided above illustrate the fact that the rhetoric and dichotomies of ‘country’ are at the very heart of the native title process. The process of recognising Indigenous rights to land through native title invites the question of how ‘country’ is conceived in the first place. Goodall writes that there are tensions within definitions of ‘country’ which indicate the ongoing presence of Indigenous people’s connections to their land despite colonisation. She writes that the word ‘country’: may seem a self-evident description of rural economy and society, with associations of middle-class gentility as well as being the antonym of the city. Yet in Australia there is another dimension altogether. Aboriginal land-owners traditionally identify themselves by the name of the land for which they were the custodians. These lands are often called, in today’s Aboriginal English, their ‘country’. This gives the word a tense and resonating echo each time it is used to describe rural-settler society and land. (162) Yet the distinctions usually drawn between those defined as ‘country’ people or ‘locals’ and the traditional Indigenous people of the area suggest that, as Schlunke states, in many cases Indigenous people are “too local to be ‘local’” (43). In other words, if white belonging and rights to an area of country are to be normalised, the prior claims of traditional owners are not able to be considered. As such, Indigenous belonging becomes too confronting as it disrupts the ways in which other ‘country’ people relate to their land as legitimately theirs. In the media, constructions of ‘country’ frequently fell within a colonial definition of country which overlooked Indigenous peoples. In many of these articles land was normatively constructed as belonging to the crown or the state. This was evidenced in phrases such as, “The proceedings [of the Noongar native title claim over the South Western corner of Australia] have been watched closely by other states in the expectation they might encounter similar claims over their capital cities” (Buckley-Carr 2). Use of the word their implies that the states (which are divisions of land created by colonisation) have prior claim to ‘their’ capital cities and that they rightfully belong to the government rather than to traditional owners. Such definitions of ‘country’ reflect European rather than Indigenous notions of boundaries and possession. This is also reflected in media reports of native title in the widespread use of European names for areas of land and landmarks as opposed to their traditional Indigenous names. When the media reported on a native title claim over an area of land the European name for the country was used rather than, for example, the Indigenous name followed by a geographical description of where that land is situated. Customs such as this reflect a country which is still bound up in European definitions of land rather than Indigenous ones (Goodall 167; Schlunke 47-48), and also indicate that the media is reporting for a white audience rather than for an Indigenous one whom it would affect the most. Native title debates have also “shown the depth of belief within much of rural and regional Australia that rural space is most rightfully agricultural space” (Lockie 27). This construction of rural Australia is reflective of the broader national imagining of the country as a nation (Anderson), in which Australia is considered rich in resources from which to derive profit. Within these discourses the future of the nation is seen as lying in the ‘development’ of natural resources. As such, native title agreements with industry have often been depicted in the media as obstacles to be overcome by companies rather than a way of allowing Indigenous people control over their own lands. This often appears in the media in the form of metaphors of ‘war’ for agreements for use of Indigenous land, such as development being “frustrated” by native title (Bromby) and companies being “embattled” by native title issues (Wilson). Such metaphors illustrate the adversarial nature of native title claims both for recognition of the land in the first place and often in subsequent dealings with resource companies. This was also seen in reports of company progress which would include native title claims in a list of other factors affecting stock prices (such as weak drilling results and the price of metals), as if Indigenous claims to land were just another hurdle to profit-making (“Pilbara Lures”). Conclusion As far as the native title process is concerned, the answers to the questions considered at the start of this paper remain within Western definitions. Native title exists firmly within a Western system of law which requires Indigenous people to define and depict their land within non-Indigenous definitions and understandings of ‘country’. These debates are also frequently played out in the media in ways which reflect colonial values of using and harvesting country rather than Indigenous ones of protecting it. The media rarely consider the complexities of a system which requires Indigenous peoples to conceive of their land through boundaries and definitions not congruent with their own understandings. The issues surrounding native title draw attention to the need for alternative definitions of ‘country’ to enter the mainstream Australian consciousness. These need to encompass Indigenous understandings of ‘country’ and to acknowledge the violence of Australia’s colonial history. Similarly, the concept of native title needs to reflect Indigenous notions of country and allow traditional owners to define their land for themselves. In order to achieve these goals and overcome some of the obstacles to recognising Indigenous sovereignty over Australia the media needs to play a part in reorienting concepts of country from only those definitions which fit within a white framework of experiencing the world and prioritise Indigenous relations and experiences of country. If discourses of resource extraction were replaced with discourses of sustainability, if discourses of economic gains were replaced with respect for the land, and if discourses of white control over Indigenous lives in the form of native title reform were replaced with discourses of Indigenous sovereignty, then perhaps some ground could be made to creating an Australia which is not still in the process of colonising and denying the rights of its First Nations peoples. The tensions which exist in definitions and understandings of ‘country’ echo the tensions which exist in Australia’s historical narratives and memories. The denied knowledge of the violence of colonisation and the rights of Indigenous peoples to remain on their land all haunt a native title system which requires Indigenous Australians to minimise the effect this violence had on their lives, their families and communities and their values and customs. As Katrina Schlunke writes when she confronts the realisation that her family’s land could be the same land on which Indigenous people were massacred: “The irony of fears of losing one’s backyard to a Native Title claim are achingly rich. Isn’t something already lost to the idea of ‘Freehold Title’ when you live over unremembered graves? What is free? What are you to hold?” (151). If the rights of Indigenous Australians to their country are truly to be recognised, mainstream Australia needs to seriously consider such questions and whether or not the concept of ‘native title’ as it exists today is able to answer them. Acknowledgments I would like to thank Damien Riggs and Andrew Gorman-Murray for all their help and support with this paper, and Braden Schiller for his encouragement and help with proof-reading. I would also like to thank the anonymous referees for their insightful comments. References Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. 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