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Multiple-Well Monitoring Site Adjacent to the Elk Hills Oil Field, Kern County, California

Open-File Report 2023-1073
Prepared in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board
By: , , , , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20231073

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Introduction

The Elk Hills Oil Field is one of the many fields selected for regional groundwater mapping and monitoring by the California State Water Resources Control Board as part of the Oil and Gas Regional Monitoring Program (California State Water Resources Control Board, 2015, 2022b; U.S. Geological Survey, 2022a). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board, is evaluating groundwater resources near areas of oil and gas development in California, including (1) the location of groundwater resources near oil fields; (2) the proximity of oil and gas operations to groundwater, and the geologic materials between them; (3) evidence (or lack of evidence) of fluids from oil and gas sources in groundwater; and (4) the pathways or processes responsible when fluids from oil and gas sources are present in groundwater (U.S. Geological Survey, 2022a). As part of this evaluation, the USGS installed a multiple-well monitoring site near the administrative boundary of the Elk Hills Oil Field in the southern San Joaquin Valley about 6 miles northeast of Taft, California (California Department of Water Resources, 2020; fig. 1). Data collected at the Elk Hills multiple-well monitoring site (ELKH) provide information about the geology, hydrology, geophysical properties, and water quality of the aquifer system, thus enhancing the understanding of relations between adjacent groundwater and the Elk Hills Oil Field in an area where groundwater data are limited, particularly at different depths in the aquifer. This report presents construction information for the ELKH and initial geohydrologic data collected from the site. Similar sites installed on the east side of the Lost Hills Oil Field, on the east side of the North and South Belridge Oil Fields, and within the Poso Creek Oil Field were described by Everett and others (2020a, b, 2023).

Suggested Citation

Everett, R.R., Gillespie J.M., Shepherd, M.M., Morita, A.Y., Bobbitt, M., Kohel, C.A., and Warden, J.G., 2023, Multiple-well monitoring site adjacent to the Elk Hills Oil Field, Kern County, California: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2023–1073, 11 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20231073.

ISSN: 2331-1258 (online)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Study Area
  • Drilling and Well Installation
  • Sediment and Drilling Fluid Analysis
  • Hydrology
  • Water Quality
  • Accessing Data
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Multiple-well monitoring site adjacent to the Elk Hills Oil Field, Kern County, California
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 2023-1073
DOI 10.3133/ofr20231073
Year Published 2023
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) California Water Science Center
Description 11 p.
Country United States
State California
County Kern County
Online Only (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details