Statistical physics and applied geosciences: some results and perspectives

Abstract

In this paper, some applications of statistical physics (SP) concepts and techniques in applied geosciences are reviewed. The domain includes hydrology, oil and gas industry, nuclear or CO$_2$ waste geological disposal, massive energy storage, heat recovery from geothermal formations and many other applications. Several scales are considered: we start from applications of SP at the molecular scale to understand the effect of extreme confinements concerning the fluid transport in nanopores in clay rocks. The paper ends with coarse graining techniques that are employed to build operational models relevant at the practical scale of several kilometers, including strongly fractured geological environments. Perspectives are proposed regarding some issues about the practical use of these often over-parameterized models in connection to random matrix and graph theories and the associated quenched disorder problems and “big data” issues.

Keywords

• Statistical physics
• Applied geosciences
• Porous media
• Disorder
• Nanopores
• Upscaling
• Quenched disorder