Open MSc position — collaboration between Alannah, Anindita Samsu, and Schweizer Salinen (Swiss Salt Works). Quantifying permeability in the subsurface is a “holy grail” for the responsible management of underground resources — essential for geothermal systems, CO2 sequestration, and subsurface brine management, including salt solution mining and aquifer management for the Schweizer Salinen in the Basel area. In the local carbonate units, such as the Muschelkalk, relatively low matrix porosity and permeability is often enhanced by faults and fractures. Tens-to-hundred-metre-long faults can be interpreted from seismic data; sub-seismic-scale faults and fractures (shorter than 50 m) are effectively invisible in such datasets.
This project aims to identify fluid flow pathways adjacent to and between fault-damage zones within the Schweizer Salinen’s exploration area. It involves characterising fracture networks at sub-seismic scale using available drill core and logs, establishing their relationship with larger fault systems, and linking them to the tectonic evolution of northwestern Switzerland. The research will build conceptual structural models, highlight possible anisotropies, and potentially test permeability in numerical flow models — insights that help clarify the structural and permeability hierarchy available to hypersaline brine from solution mining and nearby groundwater resources.
Prerequisite: a good understanding of structural geology and interest in applied projects. Interested? Get in touch via the contact page.