Graphic Representation of Oil-Field Brines in Kansas

Abstract

This brief paper relates the density of Kansas oil-field brines to the major dissolved constituents so as to permit rapid and inexpensive estimation of the composition of these Paleozoic brines when only the density is known. By use of graphs given in the paper, reasonably accurate estimates of the concentrations of sodium, calcium, magnesium, and dissolved solids may be made readily after determining the density. These relationships seem essentially similar regardless of depth, age, or composition of the producing formation. Minor constituents seem not related consistently to the density.

A comparison of the density-concentration relationships of the Kansas brines with those from the Appalachian area indicates that the eastern brines differ significantly in percentages of dissolved constituents.