Identifying oil-field salinity sources with airborne and ground-based geophysics: A West Texas example

Abstract

Salinization of soil and groundwater resources is a common problem in the central and southwestern United States where infiltration of saline water into the shallow subsurface impacts wildlife habitat, restricts or eliminates agricultural uses of land, and pollutes aquifers and surface water bodies. Public concern about the environmental effects of saline water has increased interest in identifying salinity sources and determining whether oil-field brine has been introduced into the subsurface, where it has migrated, and whether it is the cause of specific problems on the land surface, in water wells, and in surface water bodies.