Energy and Mineral Resources

GGE faculty are engaged in research pertaining to exploration and production of energy resources including petroleum, natural gas, and geothermal resources. Research activities include management of water resources associated with the production of hydrocarbons and investigations of rock properties that affect hydraulic fracturing performance and results. Research activities also address underground storage of hydrocarbons and hydrogen energy resources in salt caverns.

• Hydrocarbon resource evaluations
  -- Carbon dioxide sequestration in geologic formations
  -- Methane hydrate-bearing sediments
  
• Reservoir rock characterization
  -- Lithologic controls on stress-strain and creep
  -- Petrophysical and geomechanical characterization
  -- Reservoir geo-modeling using geostatistics
  -- Production data history matching in reservoir simulation
  
• Geothermal resources
  -- Evaluation of geothermal anomalies in south central South Dakota
  -- Enhanced geothermal system
  
• Water management
  -- Monitoring subsidence induced by fluid extraction using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR)
  -- Source and migration of stray gas in shallow aquifers
  -- Wastewater-injection-induced seismicity
  

  -- Natural attenuation of hydraulic fracturing additives in groundwater

• Underground energy storage
  -- Salt cavern monitoring with InSAR and downhole surveys
  -- Modeling salt cavern creep
  -- Storage of Hydrocarbons and H₂ in salt caverns
  -- Energy transition

Faculty Expertise

• Kurt Katzenstein
  InSAR, Geohazards, Geomechanics
  
• Liangping Li
  Groundwater, Geostatistics, Data assimilation
• Tim Masterlark 
  Underground energy storage, Salt caverns, Energy transition, Hydrofracking, Geothermal models and EGS, Monitoring with InSAR, Injection and induced seismicity
  
• Larry Stetler
  Geological Engineering, Site characterization, 3D imaging
  
• Nuri Uzunlar
  Field geology, Energy resources (petroleum and geothermal), Economic geology
• Zhi Ye
  Geo-Energy and storage, Geothermal and EGS, Unconventional petroleum resources
  

Emeritus Faculty

• James Fox
  Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, Petroleum geology
• Colin Paterson
  Economic geology, Mineral resources, Petrology
• William Roggenthen
  Engineering geophysics
• Foster Sawyer
  Groundwater, Petroleum, Sedimentation
  

URLs

• http://homestake.sdsmt.edu/Resources.htm
• http://sanfordlab.org/
  
• http://www.sdsmt.edu/Academics/Mining-Hub
• Solution Mining Research Institute (SMRI)