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Project Number 18
Date of Summary September 30, 1983
Subject Overpressured Marine Sediments
Performing Activity Texas A&M Research Foundation
Principal Investigator Dr. L. Thompson
Contracting Agency Minerals Management Service
Estimated Completion Complete
Description To study the formation of overpressured marine sediments to predict their occurrence during drilling operations.
Progress Complete. A consolidation theory was developed which applied to the progressive burial of ocean bottom sediment, describing porosity as a function of depth and time of various rates of deposition. Laboratory experiments conducted by the principal investigator confirm the theoretical formulations which challenge Terzaghi's time honored effective stress principle. Thompson contends that pore water pressures in marine sediments can substantially exceed geo static pressures. A review panel of Thompson's peers (see below report of Schiffman and 11 others) have stated that the evidence is not convincing but that the implications of his theory, if correct, have far reaching practical importance. The project was concluded and referred to the National Science Foundation.
Reports
AA File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (3.322 KB) Thompson, L. J., Chen, R. M., Bryant, W. R., Overpressured Marine Sediments, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, January 1977.
ABFile in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) .  (5.055 KB) Thompson, L. J., Overpressured Marine Sediments; The Thermomechanics of Progressive Burial, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, July 1979.
AC File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (568 KB) Thompson, L. J., Soil and Rock Contact Areas Revisited, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, October 1980. (Unpublished)
AD File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (3.949 KB) Lee, H. T., Compressibility and Permeability of Clays at High Pressure, Masters Degree Thesis, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, August 1980.
AE File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (8.434 KB) Callanan, M. J., The Prediction of Hydrofracture Pressure and K, During Drilling, Masters Degree Thesis, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, August 1980.
AF File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (650 KB) Schiffman, R. L., and 11 others, Report on Research Being Conducted by Dr. Louis Thompson on Overpressured Marine Sediments, March 10, 1981.
AG File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (5.337 KB) Thompson, L. J., Callanan, M. J., Overpressured Marine Sediments, Volume I: The Prediction of Hydrofracture and K, During Drilling, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, Mary 5, 1981.
AI File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (3.130 KB) Miller, J. W., The Thermal Conductivity of Sediments as a Function of Porosity, A Thesis, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, August 1979.
AK File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (1.251 KB) Huang, C. S., Childs, S. B., and Thompson, L. J., Computer Analysis of the Consolidation of Ocean Bottom Sediments (draft), Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, August 1982.
AL File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (1.162 KB) Morita, Nobuo. Gray, K. E. Effective Stress Concepts, Definitions, and Restriction. Center for Earth Science and Engineering University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas.
AM File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (1.034 KB) Morita, Nobuo. Gray, K. E. A Constructive Equation for Nonlinear Stress-Strain Curves in Rocks and Its Application To Stress Analysis Around a Borehole During Drilling SPE 9328.
AN File in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) . (411 KB) Scgiffman, Robert L. Effective Stress Concept Texas A&M University Civil Engineering Department April 13, 1981.
 

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