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Environmental Quality

We unite a spectrum of methodologies and approaches to attack the difficult problems of remediating contaminated areas and maintaining the quality of the environment. These diverse environmental quality projects are similar only in that in they draw from a multidisciplinary team of expertises to identify innovative and cost-effective approaches to solving applied problems. Our team rises to the challenge of each new problem. The best way to understand what we do is to read through some of our current and recently completed projects.

Abandoned Oil Field Cleanup

Carbon Dioxide Sequestration in Geologic Media

Design, Installation, and Monitoring of Engineered Covers at a Site in the Chihuahuan Desert, Texas

Characterization of Benzene Plumes at Leaking Petroleum Storage Tank Sites in Texas

Characterization of Bedded Salt for Storage Caverns

Edwards Aquifer Recharge Zone


Recent publications in environmental quality

Paine, J. G., Dutton, A. R., Hovorka, S. D., Blüm, M. U., Mahoney, M. P., and Sullivan, E. J., 1998, Brine in the near-surface environment: determining salinization extent, identifying sources, and estimating chloride mass using surface, borehole, and airborne EM, in Bell, R. S., Powers, M. H., and Larson, Timothy, eds., Proceedings, Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Environmental and Engineering Problems: Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society, p. 215–219.

Hovorka, S. D., 2000, Characterization of bedded salt for storage caverns—a case study from the Midland Basin: Bureau of Economic Geology Geological Circular 00-1, 80 p.

Hovorka, S. D, 2000, Understanding the processes of salt dissolution and subsidence Solution Mining Research Institute Proceedings, p. 11–24 (PDF file)

Knox, P.R., and Hovorka, S.D., 2001, Geological sequestration of greenhouse gases: opportunities for Industry-Academe research partnerships, Houston Geological Society Bulletin, January, p. 26–33, 2 fig.

Hovorka, S.D., Doughty, C.A., Knox, P.R., Green, C.T., Preuss, K., and Benson, S.M., 2001, Evaluation of brine-bearing sands of the Frio Formation, Upper Texas Gulf Coast for geologic sequestration of CO2, Proceedings, First National Conference on Carbon Sequestration, May 14-17, Washington, DC, sponsored by National Energy Technology Laboratory, in press, 13 p., 7 figs. (PDF file)