The frequency and intensity of earthquakes has increased dramatically in the United States. This is attributed to disposal of liquid waste from fracking and tertiary oil recovery activities, especially in the plain states. Kansas experienced a spate of quakes in fall 2014, and TBirdie Consulting was tasked with addressing the risk of seismicity in order to address EPA’s concern regarding injection of anthropogenic carbon dioxide in southern Kansas. We successfully developed a methodology to address the risk of seismicity within six months and our findings were shared with the scientific community at the Geological Society of America conference in spring 2015. Since then, the company has continued to improve methodologies for mitigating the risk of induced seismicity, which can assist our clients in developing operational strategies for liquid waste disposal in saline aquifers to prevent earthquakes.  The following information is needed to address seismic risk at a site:

We utilize the various geophysical logs and injection tests to determine the stress field at a site. Seismic surveys can be conducted to identify faults in addition to utilizing motion sensors, such as seismometer and geophone, to delineate fault zones.  Advanced three dimensional stress analysis is conducted to calculate the slip potential of suspected faults so as to establish safe injection rates and volumes to prevent earthquakes. Scaling relationship between faults size and earthquakes are also utilized to estimate the magnitude of earthquake under the worst-case fault slippage scenario in order to characterize the ultimate seismic risk.

We specialize in developing sophisticated fate and transport models for simulating the movement and chemical alteration of contaminants in the subsurface.  These models can account for complex biophysicochemical process including advection, dispersion, diffusion, sorption/desorption, decay, and chemical-biological and nuclear reactions within deterministic and probabilistic frameworks.

We provide HVAC consulting and design services focusing on energy conservation and environmental sustainability by utilizing Ground-Coupled Heat Pump (GCHP) systems.  This is a climate change mitigation technology that relies on the thermal capacity of the subsurface to store heat during summer and release the same during winter for heating purposes. TBirdie Consulting is focused on the optimal design and operations of shallow geothermal systems by capitalizing on its expertise and knowledge in geohydrothermics. We also conduct soil thermal surveys and assess heat flow in shallow zones for establishing the subsurface energy balance in order to design cost-effective and efficient geothermal systems.

Whether your application involves extensive spatial analysis, geocoding, or data mining among other tasks, we can build highly efficient customized solutions for better decision making, data analysis and interpretation, visualization, and map presentation in the following areas:

Municipalities across the globe are faced with depleting freshwater resources due to growing demand, climate change, and deteriorating water quality in aquifers. Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) is a viable technology to address this problem in an ecologically responsible manner. It involves storage of treated water from surface runoff in aquifers during periods of low demand, and withdrawing the stored water during dry and peak-demand periods. ASR is a highly economical option to supplement water supply as it can be implemented for a fraction of the cost to store water in above-ground reservoirs. The technology also assists in restoration of streams in stressed agricultural regions, and in managing storm water in urban areas.

Our team has decades of experience in the all aspects of design and operations of an ASR system including aquifer testing and characterization, geochemical analysis, geophysical and well surveys, injection well and wellhead design, storage capacity evaluation, chemical and biological treatment, groundwater flow and geochemical modeling, permitting, and optimization of energy and injection schedule. We assist our clients in planning, developing, and operating effective ASR wellfields by conducing feasibility studies and economic analyses, selecting suitable site(s), implementing pilot-sale initiatives, developing monitoring and operating plans, provide construction oversight, analyze/interpret monitoring data, and conduct post-injection audits to optimize operations.