Land Subsidence over Oilfields in the Yellow River Delta

Remote Sensing

Peng Liu²  Qingquan Li²  Zhenhong Li⁵  Trevor Hoey⁴  Yanxiong Liu¹  Chisheng Wang²  Richard Gloaguen³ 

[1] The First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao 266061, China; E-Mail:;Key Laboratory for Geo-Environment Monitoring of Coastal Zone of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and GeoInformation & Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Spatial Smart Sensing and Services, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China;id="af1-remotesensing-07-01540">1Key Laboratory for Geo-Environment Monitoring of Coastal Zone of the National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and GeoInformation & Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Spatial Smart Sensing and Services, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, Chi;School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK; E-Mail:;COMET, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK; E-Mail:

关键词: time series InSAR;    poroelastic deformation;    subsidence;    oilfield;    the Yellow River delta;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs70201540

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Subsidence in river deltas is a complex process that has both natural and human causes. Increasing human activities like aquaculture and petroleum extraction are affecting the Yellow River delta, and one consequence is subsidence. The purpose of this study is to measure the surface displacements in the Yellow River delta region and to investigate the corresponding subsidence source. In this paper, the Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS) package was employed to process Envisat ASAR images collected between 2007 and 2010. Consistent results between two descending tracks show subsidence with a mean rate up to 30 mm/yr in the radar line of sight direction in Gudao Town (oilfield), Gudong oilfield and Xianhe Town of the delta, each of which is within the delta, and also show that subsidence is not uniform across the delta. Field investigation shows a connection between areas of non-uniform subsidence and of petroleum extraction. In a 9 km² area of the Gudao Oilfield, a poroelastic disk reservoir model is used to model the InSAR derived displacements. In general, good fits between InSAR observations and modeled displacements are seen. The subsidence observed in the vicinity of the oilfield is thus suggested to be caused by fluid extraction.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.