The interdisciplinary use of “overpressure”

Abstract

Overpressure is a polysemic word that has a variety of meanings within and across different disciplines. This is likely to be a particular problem in analysis of geothermal resources, where reservoir engineers, volcanologists and structural geologists may each confidently use overpressure but mean different things. We suggest that, to avoid confusion, the term should be carefully and accurately defined whenever used. We also suggest that other, less ambiguous terms be used, such as supra-hydrostatic fluid pressure when fluid pressure exceeds that expected in a column of water at that depth, and supra-lithostatic fluid pressure for the situation in which fluid pressure exceeds the overburden