Workshop “Shales at All Scales: Exploring Coupled Processes” Is a Success

This workshop, held June 9–11 in Santa Fe, explored physical and geochemical processes in shale controlled by diagenesis; nano-confinement and pore-scale coupled processes in shale; fracture and coupled processes of shale; and multi-scale, multi-physics behavior of shale.

Shales at All Scales gathered 47 participants from many institutions.

• Academia (University of Texas; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Ohio State, Purdue, Stanford, and Texas A&M universities)
• Department of Energy management (Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory)
• Geological surveys (United States Geological Survey, New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources, Texas Bureau of Economic Geology)
• Industry (Fracture Studies, Halliburton-Pinnacle, Occidental Petroleum, Schlumberger, Shell)
  

  Shales at All Scales workshop participants examine Mancos shale, contact metamorphism features, and mineralized fractures.

  DOE national labs (National Energy Technology Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley, Los Alamos, and Sandia national laboratories)

During the breakout sessions, participants mapped out research gaps to be filled in geomechanics and fractures; geochemistry; and geology, fluid flow, and transport. The workshop identified key research needed to characterize, understand, and predict multiscale-coupled processes in shale.

The workshop also included a field trip to the Cerrillos Hills area, New Mexico, which included examples of shale heterogeneity, lithofacies, and fractures in the Mancos shale.