PITOP Borehole Geophysical Test Site
Host Institution:
Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), Italy
Description:
Located in Italy in the foothills of Eastern Alps, 110 km NW from OGS headquarters in Trieste, this facility mainly consists of a scaled-down version of a drilling yard in which four wells were drilled in Quaternary alluvial sediments lying on Miocene conglomerates.
The site was designed and developed with the aim of providing a facility for the study and testing of geophysical methods, technologies, and well/surface tools under realistic conditions.
The site is equipped with new permanent laboratories for the acquisition of geophysical data and provides 5 wells of different depths (max. 450 m) and different diameters.
The wells are cemented, two at the bottom-hole and two up to 250 m with a further 150 - 180 m of uncovered hole. The last well (PITOP5) is equipped with geoelectrical instrumentation.
One of the wells offers the possibility of being further drilled, offering the possibility of performing seismic while drilling (SWD) experiments. Two wells are equipped with permanent sensors (geophones and DAS (Distributed Acoustic Sensing)), cemented in the casing, for geophysical measurements. Buried in a trench at 50 and 100 cm deep, two orthogonal lines of fiber optic cables (DAS) are installed to test this innovative technology in seismic data acquisitions.
Several sources for active seismics are available, both vibrational and impulsive for both surface and borehole acquisitions.
There are sensors in well for measuring gases (CO2 and radon) and a piezometer for measuring the height of the water table and other environmental parameters, including electrolytes. The data comply with the FAIR data policy (Findable Accessible Interoperable Reusable), being available and downloadable online at https://pitop.ogs.it.
A weather station is installed for possible real-time online monitoring.
Thanks to the opportunity offered by the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), PITOP has been enhanced with the purchase of new equipment. DAS fiber optic cables and their new generation interrogators were purchased, which enables the acquisition of seismic data with a better signal/noise ratio, high sensitivity, and high spatial sensor density.
A new wireless system for electrical tomography at great depths is also available: the 3D wireless IRIS Instruments Full Waver, which will make it possible to obtain highly reliable images. An array of electrodes has been cemented in PITOP5, and another array is available for investigations up to 450 m, making surface-to-well and cross-hole investigations possible between wells.
The PITOP test site represents a significant advancement for the scientific and technical community, offering a versatile platform for multidisciplinary studies.
Areas of Research:
Geology/Geophysics, Mechanics/Geomechanics, Monitoring, Modelling
STORAGE technologies: Pressure/injection, Migration, Caprock/well integrity, Microseismicity, Static modelling, Dynamic modelling, Monitoring
Target community/Users:
scientific and industrial communities
More information:
Contact person:
primary contact: Andrea Schleifer aschleifer
inogs.it
secondary contact: Cinzia De Vittor cdevittorinogs.it