Distribution of report, "Stress Determination by Hydraulic Fracturing in Subsurface Waste Injection"


               UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
                           GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
                        RESTON, VIRGINIA  22092

                                                      GW Branch

                                               October 28, 1975
                                                      4351 5016

GROUND WATER BRANCH TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM NO. 76.4

Subject:  PUBLICATIONS - Distribution of report, "Stress
                         Determination by Hydraulic Fracturing in
                         Subsurface Waste Injection" by Wolff,
                         R. G., Bredehoeft, J. D., Keys, W. S.,
                         and Eugene Shuter, in Journal AWWA,
                         Sept. 1975, p. 519-523.

Limited distribution of the subject report is being made to call
your attention to this discussion of a potentially important
factor in subsurface waste injection.  The paper also gives a
practical example of the application of a relatively new borehole
tool, the acoustic televiewer.

The potential for creating vertical fractures in the injection
zone and confining beds is very real, but until recently no method
was available to easily determine the critical pressure and the
orientation of induced fractures.  As the paper points out, under
usual stress conditions at depths of most injection zones, induced
fractures will be vertical.



                         (s) Leonard A. Wood
                         Coordinator, Subsurface Waste Studies
                         Water Resources Division

Enclosure

WRD Distribution: A, FO-LS, S