Wednesday, January 28, 2015

University of Hawaii News covers our project, with video!



See the article and watch the video here  Also, a reminder that our new site for project updates is here

In the photo, Katie Mulliken uses a hand lens to closely examine a piece of rock as she logs scientific information about the core in the box.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Casing Successfully Perforated, Pump Test Soon

Apologies for the lack of updates, I can assure you that many hours of behind-the-scenes planning and preparation have occurred since the last post with regard to the project.  Additionally, we now have a new home for these updates here on the new HGGRC website via the University of Hawaii's (UH) Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP).

Near the end of last November, local and national specialists came to the drill site (see photo) to assist us with perforating the casing with directional explosives.


For the perforation job, total of ~400 quarter-sized directional charges were lowered into the borehole between 2000 and 2200 ft, and remotely detonated from the surface.  Each charge created a hole ~1/2 inch in diameter in the steel casing, allowing groundwater to freely flow through this depth region of the borehole.

The perforations are necessary for our upcoming pump test of the hole, which is projected to take place next month.  This test will provide crucial information about the recharge rate of the groundwater resource at PTA, which will help the Army decide how best to utilize this resource.  The pump test itself will also be no small feat of engineering, as we will be using a specialized cavity displacement pump to fit inside the narrow (4" diameter) casing.

I'll post another update around the dates of the pump test.  Once that test is complete, we'll be moving the rig and all our equipment ~11 km west to the second drill site for hole #2.  The concrete slab and drilling cellar for the rig have already been poured and set at the second site, and additional site preparation is currently under way.  Once drilling of the second hole begins, this site will be updated nearly every day when drilling activities are up and running.