Insights into the pore structure and pore development pattern of subaqueous volcanic rocks in the Santanghu Basin, western China

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Pore structure plays an important role in controlling the oil migration and accumulation mechanism of subaqueous volcanic rocks (SVRs). The Santanghu Basin in western China is a unique region for providing insight into the pore structure characteristics of SVRs; however, little attention has been given to them. Thin-section analysis, scanning electron microscopy, low-temperature nitrogen adsorption (LTNA), pressure-controlled porosimetry, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments are performed on SVRs in the Santanghu Basin to reveal their pore structure characteristics and pore development patterns. The results show that the SVRs are dominated by ink bottle-shaped pores and have the characteristics of rather low matrix permeabilities (the Swanson parameters are mainly <4.0%/MPa), fine pore throats (rapex mainly <0.5 μm) and high capillary pressures (P50 > 14.0 MPa). An effective method, namely, integrating NMR and LTNA experiments, is proposed to estimate the full-range pore size distribution (PSD) of the SVRs. In the full-range PSD, three peaks are identified at pore sizes of <1 μm, 1–10 μm and >10 μm, mainly corresponding to intercrystalline pores (IPs), dissolved pores (DPs), and residual vesicles (RVs), respectively. The storage space of SVRs is dominated by IPs, while the contents of DPs and RVs are the key to SVRs becoming effective reservoirs. The content of RVs is mainly controlled by the depth of the water body during deposition and the distance from the volcanic strata boundary. The higher the content of K and Na in the original composition and the closer the distance to the source rock is, the higher the proportion of DPs. In accordance with the original composition and the depth of the water body during deposition, the SVRs are divided into four types. Moreover, we propose the pore development patterns of the four types of volcanic rocks. RVs mainly exist in type I and type II SVRs, while DPs are important storage spaces in type I and type III SVRs. Finally, type IV SVRs only develop IPs and a few nanoscale DPs.