The effect of pressure on ultrasonic velocity and attenuation in near‐surface sedimentary rocks

Abstract

Accurate laboratory ultrasonic measurements of velocity and attenuation were made on water-saturated samples of limestone, sandstone and siltstone as a function of effective pressure (5--60 MPa) using the pulse-echo method. Core samples were taken from Carboniferous sediments at the Whitchester shallow borehole test site; they were cut perpendicular to the horizontal bedding planes. The compressional- and shear-wave velocities and quality factors of the limestones generally showed negligible increases with pressure, while those of the siltstones and sandstones showed intermediate and significant increases with pressure, respectively. At 60 MPa, the sandstone samples generally showed a range of quality factors attributed to their differing porosities and differing proportions of rigid skeletal minerals (quartz grains) and compliant matrix materials (clay, kerogenic organic matter); at 5 MPa, they generally showed similar quality factors attributed to the presence of microcracks, which occur predominantly at grain contacts. The results show that kerogenic organic matter behaves in a similar way to other compliant matrix minerals in causing high attenuation at ultrasonic frequencies, and that caution must be exercised when applying high pressure geostatistical relationships to reservoir rocks at low effective pressures. The results indicate the presence of two types of squirt flow loss mechanisms: clay squirt flowmore » dominates at high pressures, while microcrack squirt flow dominates at low pressures. Clean sandstones and limestones can be distinguished from those with significant amounts of compliant minerals, and sandstones with cracks can be distinguished from those without cracks.« less