Sarah Titus, professor of geology, and Joshua Davis, lecturer in mathematics, statistics, and computer science, have received a grant from the National Science Foundation (#2419208) in support of their collaborative research project, “Characterizing borehole breakouts in anisotropic materials in the laboratory and in nature.”
Formed in wells drilled to obtain oil, gas, and water, borehole breakouts can be used to understand stresses within the Earth’s shallow crust. Together with Jacqueline Reber, associate professor at Iowa State University, Titus and Davis will employ a two-pronged approach to study how rock layering impacts stress breakouts from boreholes. The research team will utilize materials such as sand, gelatin, and wax to create models in the lab where rock layering conditions can be controlled, while also studying well logs—information collected at the time wells were drilled—from central California to assess how breakouts across an area relate to rock layering. A graduate student at Iowa State and several Carleton undergraduates will support these efforts, as well as the development of new statistical tools to compare datasets from the project.