Pantelis Soupios

Pantelis Soupios
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals | KFUPM · Department of Earth Sciences

Applied Geophysics

About

262
Publications
136,665
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
3,568
Citations
Introduction
I am currently a Professor of Applied Geophysics at the Department of Geosciences and Program Leader in Geophysics, College of Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Over my career, I have repeatedly worked at the interface between applied geophysics, environmental and engineering geology, rock physics, petroleum engineering and chemistry. I should also mention that I have about 6 years’ industry experience.
Additional affiliations
September 2018 - present
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
Position
  • Professor (Full)
Description
  • Near Surface Geophysics
April 2017 - July 2017
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Position
  • Professor
August 2014 - August 2018
Hellenic Mediterranean University
Position
  • Professor (Full)

Publications

Publications (262)
Article
Different varieties of scales, such as iron sulfide (FeS) scale, and calcium carbonate (CaCO 3), commonly precipitate within oil and gas production tubing, posing operational challenges and production losses. It is essential to implement efficient mitiga-tion strategies and preserve production integrity to detect and characterize these scales in an...
Conference Paper
There is a strong emphasis in Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030 on developing renewableenergy sources, including geothermal resources, to diversify the energy mix. Al-Lith area in western SaudiArabia has geothermal surface manifestations such as hot springs, and its geothermal reserve is consideredthe most prominent site of Saudi Arabia’s geothermal resou...
Article
Al-Hassa, located in eastern Saudi Arabia, hosts the world's largest oasis and naturally irrigated land. Historically, 280 natural springs irrigated farms, with varying water quality suggesting a complex subsurface regime. To explore this, a multi-geophysical approach was applied in a remote part of the Al-Hassa National Park, where minimum cultura...
Article
Al-Hassa region in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia is well-known for its geological and hydrogeological importance since it has historically hosted over 280 natural springs, which were used to irrigate the largest oasis in the world. Al-Hassa is located near the renowned Ghawar oil field, the largest conventional oil field globally, which represen...
Article
Identifying and characterizing low resistivity pay (LRP) zones within hydrocarbon-rich formations has long been challenging in the petroleum industry due to their complex mineral composition, microporosity, and diminished resistivity contrasts. Traditional methods, such as resistivity measurements, struggle to effectively pinpoint LRP zones, prompt...
Article
Western Saudi Arabia is a promising area for geothermal energy exploration. Its geothermal wealth is attributed to the ongoing Red Sea rift evolution and crust thinning. Several hot springs in the region indicate the presence of potential geothermal resources. The present study aimed to characterize the geothermal system of a hot spring in the regi...
Article
Due to increased urbanization, the development of new areas, construction of new houses and buildings and uncontrolled dumpsites (UDSs) are becoming a challenge facing local authorities in Saudi Arabia. UDSs pose health risks to the public, potentially deteriorating the environment around them and reducing the value of ongoing development areas. Th...
Conference Paper
This paper aims to unravel the geological complexities of the region, focusing on identifying key tectonic features and fracture orientations using gravity and magnetotelluric methods. A significant aspect of the study is the correlation found between these geological structures and groundwater quality, highlighting the impact of subsurface formati...
Poster
This study focuses on the area of Wadi Al Lith, in which several hot springs indicate the presence of potential resources. An integrated land geophysical survey that included the gravity, magnetic, and electromagnetic methods, was conducted in the area around the most promising of the hot springs, to characterize the geothermal reservoir by definin...
Article
The Axios-Thermaikos basin in northern Greece is a sedimentary composite depocenter that developed tectonically during the Neogene. It has been considered promising for hydrocarbon resources, with a proven offshore gas field. Several geological and geophysical surveys, including drilling, were conducted in previous decades. However, a complete mode...
Article
This research focuses on optimizing geothermal reservoir modeling tackling issues related to non-uniqueness, subsurface uncertainties, and computational intensity. The proposed workflow integrates Bayesian Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and a Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Unit (BiGRU) network to enhance the efficiency of history matching in the...
Article
Full-text available
The Al-Lith geothermal field, in western Saudi Arabia is a characteristic medium-high enthalpy geothermal system, exhibiting features associated with tectonic activities linked to the Red Sea rifting. Ain Al-Harrah hot spring is located in the Al-Lith field, with discharge temperatures varying from 56 to 81 °C. The determination of water temperatur...
Poster
Western Saudi Arabia is a promising area for geothermal energy exploration since it has many prospective areas related to the ongoing evolution of the Red Sea Rift. This study focuses on the area of Wadi Al Lith, located in the southern part of the Arabian Shield, where several hot springs in which the water reaches surface temperatures of up to 96...
Article
Full-text available
Al-Hassa city, located in Eastern Saudi Arabia, boasts the world's largest oasis and the most expansive naturally irrigated lands. Historically, a total of 280 natural springs facilitated significant groundwater discharge and irrigation of agricultural land. Furthermore, the water in certain springs formerly had a high temperature. The spatial vari...
Poster
Al-Hassa area features Saudi Arabia's largest oasis and one of the world's largest naturally irrigated land. Moreover, Al-Hassa area is very close to Ghawar, known as the largest conventional oil-field in the world. Additionally, more than 280 natural springs used in the past to water the farmland where the water in some of the springs, is used to...
Article
Full-text available
In order to ensure sustainability in the agricultural sector and to meet global food needs, a particularly important challenge for our time is to investigate the possibility of increasing agricultural production in areas with extreme hyper-arid environments. Warming air temperatures and sandy soils significantly influence tree root water uptake (RW...
Article
Full-text available
Pore pressure prediction is a critical parameter in petroleum engineering and is essential for safe drilling operations and wellbore stability. However, traditional methods for pore pressure prediction, such as empirical correlations, require selecting appropriate input parameters and may not capture the complex relationships between these paramete...
Chapter
This laboratory-scale study investigates the capacity of using raw and Fe-impregnated biochar-based liquid activated carbon (LAC and LAC-Fe) in adsorbing Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) and benzene pollutants from contaminated water. The LAC and LAC-Fe synthesized from palm residues were coated on Ottawa sand (OS), limestone (LS), and a 1:1 of O...
Presentation
This work aims to investigate and explore the prospect of geothermal resources around the Ain Al-Harrah hot spring in the Al-Lith area, which is located in western Saudi Arabia, in a more comprehensive manner. To acquire deep geophysical data that can be used for imaging the geothermal system, we carried out a 3D magnetotelluric (MT) survey surroun...
Presentation
This study focuses on a geothermal field of a hot spring in Western Saudi Arabia. The geothermal activity of the field is related to the tectonic processes connected with the evolution of the Red Sea Rift. The hot spring is geothermally promising as surface temperatures reach more than 80 οC. We conducted a gravity survey over the focused hot sprin...
Presentation
Al-Hassa city contains the largest oasis in Saudi Arabia and one of the world's largest naturally irrigated land. 280 natural springs provided massive groundwater discharging and watering of agricultural land. Moreover, the water in some of the springs is used to be warm. The quality was also spatially varied. The characteristics above indicate a c...
Presentation
Western Saudi Arabia is a promising area for geothermal energy exploration since it has many fields related to the ongoing evolution of the Red Sea Rift. Several hot springs indicate the presence of potential geothermal resources as the water reaches temperatures greater than 80 οC. The aim of the present study is to characterize the geothermal sys...
Poster
Hydraulic fracturing operations have gained global significance due to the rising demand for oil and gas resources and the need for sustainable energy supplies. These operations involve pumping a viscofied fluid with sand particles (proppant) into shale and tight sands to extract unconventional hydrocarbon resources. The proppant is crucial for enh...
Poster
Low resistivity pay zones (LRPZ) continue to pose a challenge in the formation evaluation, causing a significant impact on the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas. The presence of geological and engineering factors that influence conductivity measurements often leads to masking or overlooking of these potential zones when applying conventio...
Poster
The onshore Axios-Thermaikos basin in northern Greece developed during the Neogene. An offshore gas field has been verified in the area, indicating significant potential for hydrocarbon resources. Although many surveys have been conducted, a complete model of its subsurface remains unpublished. The primary goal of this study is to increase the over...
Article
Global groundwater resources have been threatened by both climate change and anthropogenic activities. Both factors could lead to groundwater depletion that might seriously threaten the living environment and food security. As one of the world’s most water-stressed countries, Saudi Arabia has experienced long-term groundwater depletion due to exces...
Presentation
In the past ten years, significant progress has been made in developing geophysical technologies specifically designed for mining exploration directly relevant to Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS) exploration. The utilization of different geophysical methods, such as seismic, DC, EM, gravity, and magnetic, has proven to have a significant practica...
Presentation
Al-Hassa city contains the largest oasis in Saudi Arabia and one of the world's largest naturally irrigated land. 280 natural springs provided massive groundwater discharging and watering of agricultural land. Moreover, the water in some of the springs is used to be warm. The quality was also spatially varied. The characteristics above indicate a c...
Conference Paper
This study focuses on one of the most seismically active regions within the Aegean area, where microzonation studies play a crucial role in earthquake engineering design. The study's purpose is to enhance understanding of the seismic behavior of the Chania basin, contributing valuable insights into its tectonic regime. Given the region's high seism...
Conference Paper
Estimating the strong motion parameters for the shallow geological formations is essential for engineering seismology, earthquake hazard assessment, design of structures, soil mechanics, and development of ground motion prediction equations. These parameters provide valuable information that helps engineers and seismologists design earthquake-resis...
Conference Paper
The presence of iron sulfide (FeS) scale poses a substantial threat to oil and gas (O&G) production, with significant potential for operational disruption. Unfortunately, current monitoring approaches fail to detect the FeS scale at its early stages, rendering timely remediation impractical. Spectral Induced Polarization (SIP), an established geoph...
Conference Paper
In recent years, more attention was given to the use of the in-situ injection of liquid activated carbon (LAC) to clean contaminated groundwater sources. This lab-scale study is carried out to investigate the capacity of synthetic and natural-based LAC adsorbents coated on solid materials (i.e. sand and limestone) for the removal of organic compoun...
Presentation
Geothermal energy presents a sustainable and promising alternative to fossil fuels, mitigating the negative impact of energy production on the environment. The geothermal fields along the eastern coast of the Red Sea have significant potential for exploration and development. This research focuses on the Al-Lith geothermal field in western Saudi Ar...
Article
Full-text available
The Controlled-Source ElectroMagnetic (CSEM) method provides crucial information about reservoir fluids and their spatial distribution. Carbon dioxide (CO2) storage, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), geothermal exploration, and lithium exploration are ideal applications for the CSEM method. The versatility of CSEM permits its customization to specific r...
Article
A couple of studies show that Saudi Arabia has promising geothermal resources. The most prominent sites are located around Al-Lith, with four hot springs, where Ain Al-Harrah has the highest temperature. Previous studies suggest that this hot spring's geothermal reservoir is promising and may provide the Al-Lith region with long-term electricity. O...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
With its 2030 vision, Saudi Arabia initiated reducing its dependence on fossil-based energy with renewable energy development, including geothermal resources, a very high priority. Previous studies have shown that Saudi Arabia has promising geothermal resources. The most prominent sites are located around Al-Lith, with four hot springs, where Ain A...
Article
Full-text available
Incorporating anisotropy is crucial for accurately modeling seismic wave propagation. However, numerical solutions are susceptible to dispersion artifacts, and they often require considerable computational resources. Moreover, their accuracy is dependent on the size of discretization, which is a function of the operating frequency. Physics informed...
Article
Iron sulfide (FeS) scale is a known problem that can significantly impact oil and gas (O&G) production. However, current monitoring methods cannot detect the problem at early stages, not until it is too late for any meaningful remedial action. Spectral induced polarization (SIP) is an established geophysical method increasingly used in near-surface...
Conference Paper
Up to the present moment, the approach for identifying the reservoir net pay zones is determined by conventional resistivity measurements integrated with other logs, owing to their fluid sensitivity and depth of penetration. Nevertheless, this technique has demonstrated its limitation in low resistivity pay (LRP) zones, which represent hydrocarbon-...
Presentation
Along the Saudi Arabian coastal plains, the Al-Lith region is situated around 250 kilometers southeast of Jeddah. The research area has a 620 m elevation, lies on a tectonic plate border, and is severely dissected by wadis that flow into the Red Sea. The rugged mountains of the Arabian Shield surround the northern region, which is made up of mafic...
Presentation
The onshore Axios-Thermaikos basin in northern Greece is a sedimentary composite depocenter of 4km depth, that developed tectonically during the Cenozoic extending over the alpine basement of the Internal Hellenides. It consists of Lower Eocene to Quaternary sediments deposited unconformably over the Mesozoic emplaced ophiolite and sedimentary rock...
Conference Paper
With its ambitious vision of 2030, Saudi Arabia has understood and initiated to reduce its dependence on fossil-based energy. Renewable energy development, including geothermal resources, occupies a very advanced rank in the priorities. The main target is to increase the share of renewable energy in the total energy mix by 2030. Based on a couple o...
Conference Paper
Global groundwater resources have been threatened by both climate change and anthropogenic activities. Both factors could lead togroundwater depletion that might increase serious threat to living environment and food security. As one of the world’s most water-stressedcountry, Saudi Arabia has experienced long term of groundwater depletion due to ex...
Article
Global optimization methods have recently become an essential option in the processing and interpretation of geophysical data sets. In this study, we compared the optimization capability of five global optimization techniques in terms of their ability to localize a global solution and computation cost using objective functions for direct current re...
Article
Historic manure stockpiled (active from 1935 through 2018) in a repository mound approximately 15 m high with a 31,415.93 m2 footprint was sampled from various depths at six locations in an environmental assessment framework. The manure samples were analyzed for nutrient content to investigate potential application as a soil amendment to local fiel...
Article
Full-text available
Careful sensor placement is crucial in electromagnetic imaging experiments as it significantly impacts the quality and accuracy of the measurements. This study examines the placement of a network of sensors to advance the Bayesian learning with the aim of achieving a minimal level of uncertainty in a qualitative imaging regime. The quality of the m...
Article
Full-text available
The main geological structures in the Dammam Dome are defined by integrating geophys-ical measurements and applying new methodological approaches. Dammam Dome is characterized by a well-developed fracture/joints system; thus, high complexity of the subsurface is expected. Direct Current Resistivity (DCR) and Seismic Refraction (SR) geophysical surv...
Article
Full-text available
Fuel components such as benzene, toluene, and methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) are frequently detected pollutants in groundwater resources. Ex-situ remediation technologies by activated carbon have been used for treatment for many years. However, due to high cost of these technology, more attention has been given to the in-situ remediation method...
Article
Full-text available
Most geophysical inversions face the problem of non-uniqueness, which poses a challenge in the mapping and delineation of the subsurface anomalies. To tackle this challenge, a combined local and global optimization approach is considered for jointly inverting two-dimensional direct current resistivity (DCR) and seismic refraction (SR) data that aim...
Article
Full-text available
This study investigates the mineralogical, elemental, and spatial variability from source (proximal) to sink (distal) of Merapi basalt-andesitic stratovolcano (Java, Indonesia) to better constrain volcaniclastic mineral sorting in fluvial, aeolian, and coastal environments. Merapi volcaniclastics are products of an active volcano with an ongoing qu...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Groundwater resources in Mediterranean coastal aquifers are under threat due to overexploitation of the water resources. Efficient management and monitoring of groundwater systems require interpreting all available data sources. Geostatistics and geophysics can be successfully combined to interpretating the hydrogeological characteristics of an aqu...
Article
Full-text available
We conducted an initial high-power CSEM (controlled-source electromagnetic method) survey in a coastal salt-flat area in the broader area of Half Moon Bay, in the southern part of Dammam Peninsula in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The primary purpose of this work was to verify the technology, but we were also able to detect and characterize...
Conference Paper
Fluid imaging technologies are used in a wide range of E&P applications. Among geophysical methods, electromagnetics (EM) determines subsurface resistivities and thus responds to fluid changes. On the path to zero carbon footprint, the most significant potential for EM lies in monitoring geothermal, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), a...
Article
Full-text available
Thorough knowledge of soil lithology and its properties are of considerable importance to agriculture. These parameters have a direct impact on water permeability and the content of the water in soil, which represent significant factors in crop yield, decisively determining the design of irrigation systems and farming processes. In the framework of...
Article
The aim of this paper is the creation of an integrated and free-access web platform for parcel irrigation water management on a large spatial scale (Water District of Crete, in Greece) in order to: a) accurately determine the irrigation needs of the main crops for Crete such as olives, citrus, avocados and vineyards, b) design strategies, for optim...
Chapter
Full-text available
This paper focuses on the line-segment Bembo-Saint Francis of the masonry walls of Chandakas in the city of Heraklion, Greece. The construction of the wall was decided in 1462, but 100 years were needed until the design was finalized and construction began at the beginning of the 16th century. The line-segment was constructed as part of the fortifi...
Article
Full-text available
This paper presents an underground silver mining operation outside Gomez Palacio, Du-rango, Mexico, which terminated around the 1930s, of which previous knowledge of its operations was poor. Durango's current silver exploration campaigns are likely to overlook historic silver mining sites due to interest in specific prospect regions. A two-dimensio...
Article
Full-text available
Sustainable agriculture management typically requires detailed characterization of physical, chemical, and biological aspects of soil properties. These properties are essential for agriculture and should be determined before any decision for crop type selection and cultivation practices. Moreover, the implementation of soil characterization at the...
Article
Full-text available
Food and water security are considered the most critical issues globally due to the projected population growth placing pressure on agricultural systems. Because agricultural activity is known to be the largest consumer of freshwater, the unsustainable irrigation water use required by crops to grow might lead to rapid freshwater depletion. Precisio...
Article
Full-text available
The focus on exploiting natural gas resources has been increased in the recent years since it was characterized as the transitional fuel to a net-zero era. Consequently, a reevaluation of the gas resources under a new perspective seems to be logical. Within this context, the gas-bearing Miocene sediments of the Messara basin in Crete (Greece) are d...
Conference Paper
Geophysical inversion is usually carried out to quantitatively analyze the earth model and estimate its physical properties. Successful delineation of these properties such as layer boundaries, or other near-surface structures are crucial to understand the near-surface inhomogeneity. In this study, we focus on the use of joint inversion of seismic...
Article
Full-text available
This work demonstrates the potential of Fe-modified biochar for the treatment of arsenic (As) simulated wastewater and the monitoring of adsorption in real-time. Specifically, we propose the utilization of date-palm leaves for the production of biochar, further modified with Fe in order to improve its adsorption function against inorganic pollutant...
Article
Full-text available
A detailed gravity survey with 235 measurements was carried out at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals campus, which is located at the crest of the oil-bearing Dammam Dome (Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia). This survey allows us to better understand the geometry of the underlying Dammam Dome and its tectonic regime. The acquired dat...
Article
Full-text available
This paper presents the application of two artificial intelligence (AI) approaches in the prediction of total organic carbon content (TOC) in Devonian Duvernay shale. To develop and test the models, around 1250 data points from three wells were used. Each point comprises TOC value with corresponding spectral and conventional well logs. The tested A...
Conference Paper
Seismic waves are often strongly attenuated in the near-surface. As a measure of attenuation, the quality factor (Q) is usually estimated by frequency-based methods. However, most common approaches are limited or affected by the various assumptions, frequency band selection, and noise. We propose an extended centroid frequency shift method without...
Conference Paper
The study area is a part of Dammam Dome that is situated at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) campus, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The gravity survey was conducted as a pilot case study to explore part of Dammam Dome in greater detail. Gravity data were collected solely during night hours due to low noise levels. A significa...