Publications Details
Groundwater flow velocity measurements in a sinkhole at the Weeks Island Strategic Petroleum Reserve Facility, Louisiana
In 1992, a sinkhole was discovered above a Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage facility at Weeks Island, Louisiana. The oil is stored in an old salt mine located within a salt dome. In order to assess the hydrologic significance of the sink hole, an In Situ Permeable Flow Sensor was deployed within a sand-filled conduit in the salt dome directly beneath the sinkhole. The flow sensor is a recently developed instrument which uses a thermal perturbation technique to measure the magnitude and direction of the full 3-dimensional groundwater flow velocity vector in saturated, permeable materials. The flow sensor measured substantial groundwater flow directed vertically downward into the salt dome. The data obtained with the flow sensor provided critical evidence which was instrumental in assessing the significance of the sinkhole in terms of the integrity of the oil storage facility.