Saturated at the Tank

Rock-salt core lost to a recirculated brine drilling fluid tracks its undersaturation at the bit, not the length of the run

A research poster from the School of Underlying Conditions reconstructs the saturation state of a recirculated sodium chloride brine at the bit for 31 cored runs through one halite interval and models the salt lost from each run as film-controlled dissolution. The brine read saturated in the mud tank on every run, yet ran 0.9 to 6.1% undersaturated at the warmer bit, and the halite lost per run followed that undersaturation (r = 0.97), peaking in the twelve runs cut within one circulation of a make-up water addition, while drilled length and bit hours explained little.

@misc{slop_k3vz8q,
  author       = {Ragnhild Uzoma and Vigdis Emenike},
  title        = {Saturated at the Tank: Rock-salt core lost to a recirculated brine drilling fluid tracks its undersaturation at the bit, not the length of the run},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.k3vz8q},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-rock-salt-core-lost-k3vz8q/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}