Events

Date: Thursday, July 17th, 2025
Time: Wine served at 11:00 am  |  Lunch & Lecture starts @ 11:30 am to 1:30 pm
Venue: Petroleum Club of Houston, 1201 Louisiana St, Houston, TX 77002

Presenter:

Dr. Kathy Knierim

The chemical composition of high salinity groundwater, or brine, is important to understand for quantifying the availability of both water and critical mineral resources. The Smackover Formation is part of a regionally important petroleum and brine system in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States (U.S.) and includes high Li concentrations (> 400 mg/L) in the brines. In this study, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment—Office of the State Geologist used published and newly (2022) collected brine Li concentration data to train a random-forest (RF) machine-learning model using geologic, geochemical, and temperature explanatory variables. Predicted brine Li concentrations from the RF model at approximately 1,000 to 3,000 meters depth across the Smackover Formation ranged from 3 to 420 mg/L. Uncertainty in the mapped RF model predictions—based on the 90th percentile prediction interval across the Li map—were used with formation thickness and porosity information to calculate the range of the Li mass in Smackover Formation brines. This study provides an example of using machine learning to predict deep brine chemistry for a critical mineral resource evaluation.

Dr. Kathy Knierim is a research hydrologist with the US Geological Survey Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. She received her B.S. in geology from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio in 2007 and her M.S. in geology and PhD in Environmental Dynamics from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2009 and 2015. Her research focuses on groundwater, water quality, and machine learning.

Date: Thursday, July 17th, 2025

Time: Wine served at 11:00 am  |  Lunch & Lecture starts @ 11:30 am to 1:30 pm
Venue: Petroleum Club of Houston, 1201 Louisiana St, Houston, TX 77002

*** 2025 Season Luncheon Pass Holders PLEASE RSVP at bottom of event page along with registration. Cost will be $0 but it lets us know you're coming. ***

**Early-bird registration ends Monday July 14th at NOON.
Late / walk-in registration tickets will be available for $65 for both members and general admission**