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1. Understanding the effect of counterpressure buildup during syringe injections

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2021.120530  

   Shahriar, M.; Rewanwar, A.; Rohilla, P.; Marston, J.O. (April 2021, International journal of pharmaceutics)

   The pain felt during injection, typically delivered via a hypodermic needle as a single bolus, is associated with the pressure build-up around the site of injection. It is hypothesized that this counterpressure is a function of the target tissue as well as fluid properties. Given that novel vaccines target different tissues (muscle, adipose, and skin) and can exhibit a wide range of fluid properties, we conducted a study of the effect of volumetric flow rate, needle size, viscosity and rheology of fluid, and hyaluronidase as an adjuvant on counterpressure build-up in porcine skin and muscle tissues. In particular, we found a significant increase in counterpressure for intradermal (ID) injections compared to intramuscular (IM) injections, by an order of magnitude in some cases. We also showed that the addition of adjuvant affected the tissue back pressure only in case of subcutaneous (SC) injections. We observed that the volumetric flow rate plays an important role along with the needle size. This study aims to improve the current understanding and limitations of liquid injectability via hypodermic needles, however, the results also have implications for other technologies, such as intradermal jet injection where a liquid bleb is formed under the skin. 

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2. Hindcasting injection-induced aseismic slip and microseismicity at the Cooper Basin Enhanced Geothermal Systems Project

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23812-7  

   Wang, Taiyi A.; Dunham, Eric M. (November 2022, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract There is a growing recognition that subsurface fluid injection can produce not only earthquakes, but also aseismic slip on faults. A major challenge in understanding interactions between injection-related aseismic and seismic slip on faults is identifying aseismic slip on the field scale, given that most monitored fields are only equipped with seismic arrays. We present a modeling workflow for evaluating the possibility of aseismic slip, given observational constraints on the spatial-temporal distribution of microseismicity, injection rate, and wellhead pressure. Our numerical model simultaneously simulates discrete off-fault microseismic events and aseismic slip on a main fault during fluid injection. We apply the workflow to the 2012 Enhanced Geothermal System injection episode at Cooper Basin, Australia, which aimed to stimulate a water-saturated granitic reservoir containing a highly permeable ($$k = 10^{-13} - 10^{-12}$$ $k={10}^{-13}-{10}^{-12}$$$\hbox {m}{^2}$$ $\text{m}{}^2$) fault zone. We find that aseismic slip likely contributed to half of the total moment release. In addition, fault weakening from pore pressure changes, not elastic stress transfer from aseismic slip, induces the majority of observed microseismic events, given the inferred stress state. We derive a theoretical model to better estimate the time-dependent spatial extent of seismicity triggered by increases in pore pressure. To our knowledge, this is the first time injection-induced aseismic slip in a granitic reservoir has been inferred, suggesting that aseismic slip could be widespread across a range of lithologies. 

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3. Probabilistic Estimation of Levelized Cost of Electricity from Using Geologically Stored CO2 for Geothermal Energy Production

   Bielicki, Jeffrey M.; Miranda, Marcos W. (March 2021, Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, GHGT-15)

   The use of geologically stored CO2 as a geothermal heat extraction fluid can take advantage of the beneficial thermophysical characteristics of CO2 that can render it a more effective heat extraction fluid than the brine that exists in the aquifers. Some of these characteristics include a higher mobility (inverse kinematic viscosity) in reservoir conditions and a highly temperature-dependent density that can result in a naturally self-convecting thermosiphon between injection and production wells. This thermosiphon may reduce or eliminate the need for subsurface pumps—and the associated parasitic pumping power—for fluid circulation. Part of the utility of such a CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) system is the possibility to generate baseload or dispatchable electricity with levelized costs of electricity (LCOEs) that are on par with the LCOEs of other energy technologies of regional electricity systems. 

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4. Monitoring Line Hole Well Field, San Salvador Island, Bahamas, 2015-2017

   https://doi.org/10.4211/hs.bb01ce1e21214f93b197d6855823af53  

   Breithaupt, Charles; Knoll, Ronald; Gulley, Jason; Mejia, Jessica (June 2021, HydroShare)

   San Salvador Island is a small isolated carbonate platform on the southeastern edge of the Bahamian Archipelago. The Line Hole well field is located on an eogenetic karst aquifer on San Salvador Island's northern coast. The island's negative water budget and extensive lake cover have resulted in the upconing of saline water that has fragmented the once continuous freshwater lens. The Line Hole well field consists of several 15-cm diameter wells drilled into the fresh-water lens and arranged in a line perpendicular to the shore. The well field also has two monitoring wells (LH 1, and LH 13), that penetrate approximately 7 m below the water table into higher salinity groundwater. The well field was abandoned in 2016 upon saltwater intrusion to the aquifer. To evaluate the connectivity between the eogenetic karst aquifer monitored by the Line Hole well field and the ocean, we instrumented wells with HOBO U20L-04 loggers to measure pressure and temperature timeseries. We instrumented wells LH4, and LH8, in addition to the monitoring wells LH1 and LH13. 

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5. Cascading Hazards in a Migrating Forearc‐Arc System: Earthquake and Eruption Triggering in Nicaragua

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JB024899  

   Higgins, M.; La Femina, P. C.; Saballos, A. J.; Ouertani, S.; Fischer, K. M.; Geirsson, H.; Strauch, W.; Mattioli, G.; Malservisi, R. (December 2022, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth)

   Abstract Strain partitioning in oblique convergent margins results in margin‐parallel shear in the overriding plate. Margin‐parallel shear is often accommodated by margin‐parallel strike‐slip faults proximal to active volcanic arcs. Along the Nicaraguan segment of the Central American Forearc (CAFA) in the Cocos‐Caribbean plate convergent margin, there are no well‐expressed right‐lateral faults that accommodate CA‐CAFA relative motion. Instead, historical earthquakes and mapped fault orientations indicate that the ∼12 mm/yr of dextral motion is accommodated on arc‐normal, left‐lateral faults (i.e., bookshelf faults). We investigate three upper‐plate earthquakes; the 10 April 2014 (M_w6.1), 15 September 2016 (M_w5.7), and 28 September 2016 (M_w5.5), using Global Position System co‐seismic displacements and relocated earthquake aftershocks. Our analyses of the three earthquakes indicate that the 10 April 2014 earthquake ruptured an unmapped margin‐parallel right‐lateral fault in Lago Xolotlán (Managua) and the September 2016 earthquakes ruptured arc‐normal, left‐lateral and oblique‐slip faults. These earthquakes represent a triggered sequence whereby the 10 April 2014 earthquake promoted failure of the faults that ruptured in September 2016 by imparting a static Coulomb stress change (ΔCFS) of 0.02–0.07 MPa. Likewise, the 15 September 2016, earthquake additionally promoted failure (ΔCFS of 0.08–0.1 MPa) on sub‐parallel faults that ruptured in two subsequent earthquakes. We also present an instance of magma‐tectonic interaction whereby the 10 April 2014 earthquake dilated (10s of μStrain) the shallow magmatic system of Momotombo Volcano, which led to magma injection, ascent, and eruption on 1 December 2015, after ∼100 years of quiescence. 

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