Andras Fall

Andras  Fall
Research Associate Professor, Jackson School of Geosciences

Email: andras.fall@beg.utexas.edu
Work: +1 512 471 8334
Office: BEG
Mailcode: E0630

Interested in the nature, distribution, and role of fluids in geologic environments, with focus on the interaction of geochemical and mechanical processes. I combine analytical and experimental methods (fluid inclusions, SEM, Raman spectroscopy, hydrothermal experiments) to examine fracturing and vein formation, and their role in mass and heat transport during deformation processes, as applied to energy production and storage (hydrocarbon, geothermal, carbon mineralization, hydrogen).

Areas of Expertise

Fluids in diagenetic and hydrothermal systems, Fluid inclusions, Fractures, Structural diagenesis


Research Locations



Tinker Family BEG Best Publication Award - Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin (2016)

EMD President's Certificate for Excellence in Presentation Award, Co-Author - Energy Minerals Division, AAPG (2011)

Certificate of Recognition, Excellence in Technical Presentation, Co-Author - Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) (2011)

Structural Diagenesis Fellowship - The GDL Foundation (2010)

Geosciences Graduate Research Fellowship - Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech (2008)

C.G. Tillman Teaching Excellence Endowed Award - Department of Geosciences, Virginia Tech (2006)

Visiting Student Scholarship at Eotvos Lorond University, Budapest, Hungary - Departments of Education of Hungary and Romania (2000 - 2001)

Associate Editor, AAPG Bulletin (2018 - 2019)

Combined effects of overpressure and bed-parallel contraction on the formation of bed-parallel and vertical fractures in the Vaca Muerta formation, Argentina, GSA Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington (2017)

Bed-parallel beef veins and cross-cutting vertical fractures in the Vaca Muerta Formation, Argentina: a fracture opening and cementation history, 24th European Current Research on Fluid Inclusions, Nancy, France (2017)

Invited: Processes and timing of natural hydraulic fracture opening and cementation in deeply buried sandstones, ConocoPhillips, Houston, Texas (2016)

Invited: Natural hydraulic fracturing: processes and timing of fracture opening and cementation in deeply buried sandstones, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London, London, UK (2015)

Dauphiné twin planes in quartz trap fluid inclusions and indicate paleostress in deeply buried sandstones, 23rd European Current Research on Fluid Inclusions, Leeds, United Kingdom (2015)

Propagation rate and timing of natural fractures in deep reservoirs, GSA Annual Meeting, Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada (2014)

Invited talk: Timing and processes of fracture formation in tight-gas sandstone reservoirs, BHP Billiton, Houston, Texas (2014)

A chronicle of natural fracture propagation using fluid inclusions, South-Central Section 47th Annual GSA Meeting, Austin, texas (2013)

A 48 m.y. history of fracture propagation, AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2013)

Timing and processes of fracture formation in tight-gas sandstone reservoirs using fluid inclusions, Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC), Denver, Colorado (2013)

Invited talk: Natural hydraulic fracturing of tight-gas sandstone reservoirs, Workshop on Unconventional Energy, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (2013)

A history of natural fracture propagation in deep gas reservoirs using fluid inclusions, 22nd European Current Research on Fluid Inclusions, Antalya, Turkey (2013)

Invited talk: Opening-mode fracturing and cementation during hydrocarbon generation in mudrocks: an example from the Barnett Shale, West Texas, Goldschmidt 2012 Conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (2012)

Diagenetic controls on carbonate fracture cementation in tight-gas sandstones, 11th Pan-American Current Research on Fluid Inclusions 2012, Windsor, Ontario, Canada (2012)

Assessment of pore fluid pressure history in basin-centered gas accumulations using fluid inclusions, Goldschmidt 2011 Conference, Prague, Czech Republic (2012)

Timing and duration of gas charge-driven fracturing in tight-gas sandstone reservoirs based on fluid inclusion observations: Piceance Basin, Colorado, 2012 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, California (2012)

Coupled pore fluid pressure oscillation and natural fracture opening in tight-gas sandstone reservoirs: Piceance Basin, Colorado, 21st European Current Research on Fluid Inclusions Conference, Leoben, Austria (2011)

Natural fracture opening and cementation in tight-gas reservoirs, Unconventional Resources Conference ConocoPhillips-Schlumberger, Houston, Texas (2011)

Testing the basin-centered gas model using fluid inclusion observations, AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Houston, Texas (2011)

Crack-seal cementation of natural fractures recording pore-fluid evolution in tight-gas sandstone reservoirs, 20th General Meeting of the International Mineralogical Association, Budapest, Hungary (2010)

Pore fluid evolution in tight-gas sandstone reservoirs based on crack-seal cementation of natural fractures, 10th Pan-America Current Research on Fluid Inclusions, Las Vegas, Nevada (2010)

Fluid inclusion insights into the opening history of synkinematically cemented fractures: Mamm Creek results, Piceance Basin, EnCana Oil & Gas, Denver, Colorado (2010)

Tracking fluid evolution using fluid inclusions in synkinematic fracture cements: Piceance Basin, Colorado, GSA Annual Meeting, Portland, Oregon (2009)

Combined microthermometric and Raman technique for determination of salinity of H2O-CO2-NaCl fluid inclusions, 9th Pan-America Current Research on Fluid Inclusions, Reston, Virginia (2008)

How precisely can the temperature of a geological event be constrained using fluid inclusions, 9th Pan-America Current Research on Fluid Inclusions, Reston, Virginia (2008)

Precision of thermal history reconstruction with fluid inclusions, 19th European Current Research on Fluid Inclusions, Bern, Switzerland (2007)

Nepheline syenites and related magmatic fluids in the Ditrau Alkaline Massif, Transylvania, Romania, Gordon Research Conference on Inorganic Geochemistry, Andover, New Hampshire (2005)

Fluid evolution in the nepheline syenites of the Ditrau Alkaline Massif, Transylvania, Romania, 18th European Current Research on Fluid Inclusions, Siena, Italy (2005)

Fluid evolution in the nepheline syenites of the Ditrau Alkaline Massif, Transylvania, Romania, AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California (2004)

The role of fluids in post-solidus transformation in the nepheline syenites of the Ditrau Alkaline Massif, Transylvania, Romania, 17th European Current Research on Fluid Inclusions, Budapest, Hungary (2003)

Fluid inclusions in nepheline: the role of the fluids in the petrologic evolution of the nepheline syenites of the Ditrau Alkaline Massif, GEO 2002 Conference,The University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania (2002)