Deming, D., Nunn, J. A., and Evans, D. G., Thermal effects of compaction-driven groundwater flow from overthrust belts, Jour. Deming, D., Hanor, J. S., and Nunn, J. A., Method of variable bias and its application to estimating subsurface temperature, Geophys. Implications for fluid transport in Gulf of Mexico geopressured sediments, Jour. Groundwater is an important source of drinking and agricultural water, as well as a potential mechanism for the transport of contaminants and pollutants. Certain ore deposits, including gold, zinc, and lead, are formed by leaching and subsequent reprecipitation of mass by moving fluids.
Modern society depends largely upon hydrocarbons as energy sources.
Understanding subsurface hydrocarbon migration is often essential to economic exploitation. Pore fluid pressure affects the state of stress within sediments and the underlying crustal rocks and thus earthquakes and fault movement. The ability of moving subsurface fluids to transport both heat and mass implies that nearly all rocks have been diagenetically altered through interactions with pore fluids. In the absence of drilling, geophysical exploration methods are the principal means of examining the shallow subsurface for purposes of geological and hydrological characterization. These techniques are non-invasive and relatively inexpensive.