The applied geochemistry of caprocks and wellbore cements requires integration of basic geochemical principles with engineered subsurface systems that are spatially and temporally dynamic and operate at various scales. This volume will provide a unique opportunity and an exchanging platform for scientists and engineers to contribute towards solutions of current environmental issues in the field of energy industry, from fracking to geological sequestration, to nuclear waste disposal, enhanced oil recovery, etc. Equally, we hope the book will serve to connect engineers and geochemists and provide motivation for a new generation of interdisciplinary scientists/engineers. Furthermore this project may spark basis for a novel approach by encouraging a new discipline: geochemical-engineering for the planet earth, as we enter an era of more demands from the limited resources currently known. Collaborations that include geochemistry and subsurface engineering are needed not only to find solutions of current issues with subsurface fluids leakage but also to provide basis for a more sustainable utilization of geothermal energy and other energy resources from our living environment.
The primary aims of this volume are (1) to provide a comparative and integrative study on how wellbore materials and caprocks evolve when exposed to demanding geochemical conditions, and (2) to introduce how to utilize geochemical concepts and knowledge to help solving geomechanical and environmental issues associated with subsurface fluid-solid interactions. In this book, an overview of the current knowledge on the fluid-solid interactions in wellbores and caprock materials will be presented along with their effect on the overall durability of the seal and on the environment, including current technology in imaging and modeling these processes from the pore scale to the reservoir scale. Through case studies that are presented in the different contributions, authors will discuss challenges that we are facing today and this will emerge and open questions we need to address. This book will be about the broad area of applied geochemistry for environment and energy-related problems, area for which no book has been published yet; consequently, we thus want to make the scope of this project as wide as possible.
