Using the High-Resolution Magnetic Method to
Locate Abandoned Brine Wells in Hutchinson, Kansas
Jianghai Xia
Abstract
The City of Hutchinson designed seven sites with a total area of 512,000 ft2
to search for abandoned brine wells after the City researched literature of
the salt mining history in Hutchinson area. A high-resolution magnetic survey
was conducted on these seven sites in May 2002. Twenty-three anomalies were
verified by excavation with a backhoe, of which are five were identified as
brine wells, four as suspected brine wells, one probable water well, and one
probable gas pipe. A monopole anomaly with more than 12,000 nT in amplitude
is a basic criterion to identify a well with a metal case. A monopole anomaly
with several thousand nanoteslas in amplitude is a basic criterion to identify
a 2.5-inch well. The high-resolution magnetic method was successful in locating
the abandoned brine wells.
Introduction
On January 17, 2001, a natural gas explosion and fire destroyed two downtown
Hutchinson businesses. The next day another explosion occurred at a mobile home
park three miles away. Two residents died of injuries from the explosion, which
forced the evacuation of hundreds of people as gas geysers began erupting in
the area. The geysers spewed a mixture of natural gas and saltwater. The pathways
to the land surface at both the explosion sites and the geysers were abandoned
brine wells used for solution mining of salt (http://www.kgs.ukans.edu/Hydro/Hutch/Background/index.html,
Allison, 2001).
To find these abandoned brine wells is a part of the Hutchinson Response Project.
Some known wells in the mobile home park had steel cased pipes. The length of
vertical steel pipe normally is 400 – 700 ft. The maximum magnetic signal
caused by this pipe can be higher than 15,000 nT on the top of the normal geomagnetic
field in Hutchinson, Kansas (Appendix A). This huge anomaly shows promise in
locating brine wells in the City noise environment.
Full Paper KGS-2002-46.PDF 4.51MB
Related Text
"Using the Electromagnetic Method to Locate Abandoned Brine
Wells in Hutchinson, Kansas"
SEGEEP 2002 Presentation
"Using the Electromagnetic Method to Locate Abandoned Brine
Wells in Hutchinson, Kansas"
KGS-2001-17 Abstract