Geomechanics and Geology

Book excerpt: Geomechanics investigates the origin, magnitude and deformational consequences of stresses in the crust. In recent years awareness of geomechanical processes has been heightened by societal debates on fracking, human-induced seismicity, natural geohazards and safety issues with respect to petroleum exploration drilling, carbon sequestration and radioactive waste disposal. This volume explores the common ground linking geomechanics with inter alia economic and petroleum geology, structural geology, petrophysics, seismology, geotechnics, reservoir engineering and production technology. Geomechanics is a rapidly developing field that brings together a broad range of subsurface professionals seeking to use their expertise to solve current challenges in applied and fundamental geoscience. A rich diversity of case studies herein showcase applications of geomechanics to hydrocarbon exploration and field development, natural and artificial geohazards, reservoir stimulation, contemporary tectonics and subsurface fluid flow. These papers provide a representative snapshot of the exciting state of geomechanics and establish it firmly as a flourishing subdiscipline of geology that merits broadest exposure across the academic and corporate geosciences.