Subsidence associated with the abstraction of fluids

Subsidence of the ground surface due to the withdrawal of groundwater, oil, gas or brine from sedimentary deposits has ccurred in many parts of the world. The abstraction of groundwater has been the principal cause of subsidence, primarily because more groundwater is abstracted than all the other liquids put together. Subsidences of several metres have been recorded, for example, in California due to the exploitation of oil, as well as groundwater. Such ground movements represent a notable problem in engineering geology. Generally these subsidences take place slowly but the occurrence at the surface of sinkholes as a result of water tables being lowered in limestone terrains is a rapid process. In the case of groundwater, gas or oil abstraction the reduction in pore pressure in the voids due to the decline in head leads to an increase in effective load on the sediments concerned, bringing about consolidation, which is reflected at the surface as subsidence. On the other hand when mineral deposits are worked by solution mining the rock material itself is removed which, if uncontrolled, resultsin subsidence. The removal of fluids from sediments frequently has resulted in the formation of fissures at the surface. Indeed there are cases on record where faults are alleged to have been formed. Such fissures often occur around the periphery of the subsidence trough.