Collaborative Research: Evolution of Pore Structure and Permeability of Rocks Under Hydrothermal Conditions

Abstract

The physical and transport properties of porous rocks can be altered by a variety of diagenetic, metamorphic, and tectonic processes, and the changes that result are of critical importance to such industrial applications as resource recovery, carbon dioxide sequestration, and waste isolation in geologic formations. These inter-relationships between rocks, pore fluids, and deformation are also the key to understanding many natural processes, including: dynamic metamorphism, fault mechanics, fault stability, and pressure solution deformation. Here, we propose work to investigate the changes of permeability and pore geometry owing to inelastic deformation by solution-transfer, brittle fracturing, and dislocation creep. The work would study the relationship of deformation and permeability reduction in fluid-filled quartz and calcite rocks and investigate the effects of loading configuration on the evolution of porosity and permeability under hydrothermal conditions. We would use a combination of techniques, including laboratory experiments, numerical calculations, and observations of rock microstructure. The laboratory experiments provide mechanical and transport data under conditions that isolate each particular mechanism. Our apparatus are designed to provide simultaneous measurements of pore volume, permeability, axial and volumetric strain rates while being loaded under isostatic or conventional triaxial loading. Temperatures up to 1400 K may be obtained, while confining pressures and pore pressures are maintained independently up to 500 MPa. Observations of the structure will be made with standard optical, scanning electron, and laser confocal scanning optical microscopes. The data obtained will be used to quantify changes in surface roughness, porosity, pore dimensions, and their spatial fluctuations. The results of the experiments and the image data are then used in network, finite-difference and other numerical models to verify the validity of experimentally established relations between permeability and other rock properties.