A remote sensing study was performed to quantify current soil brine contamination across the historic Smackover Oil Field in south-central Arkansas, United States. The oil field was established in 1922 and was not subject to the future waste regulations created by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission. Brine is a waste product of oil manufacturing which contains water with high salt levels. The storage and transport of brine in the oil field created landscape scarring across the study area.
Landsat 9 multispectral digital imagery was utilized to create supervised classification maps based on earthen pits and creek scarring across the Smackover Oil Field. The results from these maps were compared to a previously completed brine contamination study which used Landsat 7 digital imagery to quantify brine contamination from oil production in west Texas.
Upon completion of this brine quantification study, it was determined that the scattered small areas of brine contamination identified as training sites for the supervised classifications of brine and non-brine areas of the Smackover Oil Field could not be quantified using the same classification methods as were used for the west Texas study that utilized larger, more uniform training sites representative of brine contamination. Classifications to quantify brine contamination are scene dependent and for oil fields similar to the Smackover Oil Field, a higher spatial resolution dataset than the 30m Landsat data used would be needed to more precisely quantify brine contamination.
","abstract_html":"<p>A remote sensing study was performed to quantify current soil brine contamination across the historic Smackover Oil Field in south-central Arkansas, United States. The oil field was established in 1922 and was not subject to the future waste regulations created by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission. Brine is a waste product of oil manufacturing which contains water with high salt levels. The storage and transport of brine in the oil field created landscape scarring across the study area.</p> <p>Landsat 9 multispectral digital imagery was utilized to create supervised classification maps based on earthen pits and creek scarring across the Smackover Oil Field. The results from these maps were compared to a previously completed brine contamination study which used Landsat 7 digital imagery to quantify brine contamination from oil production in west Texas.</p> <p>Upon completion of this brine quantification study, it was determined that the scattered small areas of brine contamination identified as training sites for the supervised classifications of brine and non-brine areas of the Smackover Oil Field could not be quantified using the same classification methods as were used for the west Texas study that utilized larger, more uniform training sites representative of brine contamination. Classifications to quantify brine contamination are scene dependent and for oil fields similar to the Smackover Oil Field, a higher spatial resolution dataset than the 30m Landsat data used would be needed to more precisely quantify brine contamination.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Williams, Victoria"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science - Environmental Sciences","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Environmental Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Daniel Unger","I-Kuai Hung","David Kulhavy"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-12-08T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-12-08T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:45Z","subjects":["Landsat","Brine","Oil","Remote Sensing","Drone","Environmental Monitoring","Geographic Information Sciences","Oil, Gas, and Energy","Soil Science"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/524","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Daniel Unger","I-Kuai Hung","David Kulhavy"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Williams, Victoria"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-12-11T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Environmental Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science - Environmental Sciences"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Landsat","Brine","Oil","Remote Sensing","Drone","Environmental Monitoring","Geographic Information Sciences","Oil, Gas, and Energy","Soil Science"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/524"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["A remote sensing study was performed to quantify current soil brine contamination across the historic Smackover Oil Field in south-central Arkansas, United States. The oil field was established in 1922 and was not subject to the future waste regulations created by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission. Brine is a waste product of oil manufacturing which contains water with high salt levels. The storage and transport of brine in the oil field created landscape scarring across the study area.
Landsat 9 multispectral digital imagery was utilized to create supervised classification maps based on earthen pits and creek scarring across the Smackover Oil Field. The results from these maps were compared to a previously completed brine contamination study which used Landsat 7 digital imagery to quantify brine contamination from oil production in west Texas.
Upon completion of this brine quantification study, it was determined that the scattered small areas of brine contamination identified as training sites for the supervised classifications of brine and non-brine areas of the Smackover Oil Field could not be quantified using the same classification methods as were used for the west Texas study that utilized larger, more uniform training sites representative of brine contamination. Classifications to quantify brine contamination are scene dependent and for oil fields similar to the Smackover Oil Field, a higher spatial resolution dataset than the 30m Landsat data used would be needed to more precisely quantify brine contamination.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["QUANTIFYING CURRENT SOIL BRINE CONTAMINATION WITHIN THE SMACKOVER OIL FIELD IN ARKANSAS USING MULTISPECTRAL DIGITAL IMAGERY"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Daniel Unger","I-Kuai Hung","David Kulhavy"],"dc:creator":["Williams, Victoria"],"dc:date.available":["2023-12-11T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["A remote sensing study was performed to quantify current soil brine contamination across the historic Smackover Oil Field in south-central Arkansas, United States. The oil field was established in 1922 and was not subject to the future waste regulations created by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission. Brine is a waste product of oil manufacturing which contains water with high salt levels. The storage and transport of brine in the oil field created landscape scarring across the study area.
Landsat 9 multispectral digital imagery was utilized to create supervised classification maps based on earthen pits and creek scarring across the Smackover Oil Field. The results from these maps were compared to a previously completed brine contamination study which used Landsat 7 digital imagery to quantify brine contamination from oil production in west Texas.
Upon completion of this brine quantification study, it was determined that the scattered small areas of brine contamination identified as training sites for the supervised classifications of brine and non-brine areas of the Smackover Oil Field could not be quantified using the same classification methods as were used for the west Texas study that utilized larger, more uniform training sites representative of brine contamination. Classifications to quantify brine contamination are scene dependent and for oil fields similar to the Smackover Oil Field, a higher spatial resolution dataset than the 30m Landsat data used would be needed to more precisely quantify brine contamination.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/524"],"dc:subject":["Landsat","Brine","Oil","Remote Sensing","Drone","Environmental Monitoring","Geographic Information Sciences","Oil, Gas, and Energy","Soil Science"],"dc:title":["QUANTIFYING CURRENT SOIL BRINE CONTAMINATION WITHIN THE SMACKOVER OIL FIELD IN ARKANSAS USING MULTISPECTRAL DIGITAL IMAGERY"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Environmental Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science - Environmental Sciences"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:45Z"}