Spatial Heterogeneity Length Scales in Carbonate Rocks

Abstract

Spatially resolved distributions of T 2 relaxation times in carbonate rocks are measured with slice-selective multiple spin echo magnetic resonance imaging to study the length scales of heterogeneity in these samples. Single-voxel Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill decays are fit to double exponential functions, and the results of those fits are combined into a histogram. We describe a novel qualitative method of assessing the importance of different length scales of heterogeneity, involving comparing various aspects of these histograms to the full-core T 2 distributions. Using this technique, it is found that almost all individual voxels relax not only with more than one time constant but indeed with a range of relaxation times that approximates the full breadth of relaxation times for the entire core, indicating significant subvoxel heterogeneity. In addition, different voxels are found to exhibit relaxation times that differ by orders of magnitude, indicating significant heterogeneity between the scale of a voxel (1 mm) and that of the entire core (several centimeters). These results reflect the importance of a broad range of length scales of heterogeneity in these carbonate rocks.