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The effects of burial diagenesis on multiscale porosity in the St. Peter Sandstone: An imaging, small-angle, and ultra-small-angle neutron scattering analysis

Journal Article · · Marine and Petroleum Geology
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [5]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Univ. of Illinois, Champaign, IL (United States); Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Univ., Greifswald (Germany)
  3. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
  4. Forschungszentrum Julich GmbH, Garching (Germany)
  5. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
To examine the effects of burial diagenesis on heirarchical pore structures in sandstone and compare those with the effects of overgrowth formation, we obtained samples of St. Peter Sandstone from drill cores obtained in the Illinois and Michigan Basins. The multiscale pore structure of rocks in sedimentary reservoirs and the mineralogy associated with those pores are critical factors for estimating reservoir properties, including fluid mass in place, permeability, and capillary pressures, as well as geochemical interactions between the rock and the fluid. The combination of small- and ultra-small-angle neutron scattering with backscattered electron or X ray-computed tomographic imaging, or both, provided a means by which pore structures were quantified at scales ranging from aproximately 1 nm to 1 cm—seven orders of magnitude. Larger scale (>10 µm) porosity showed the expected logarithmic decrease in porosity with depth, although there was significant variation in each sample group. However, small- and ultra-small-angle neutron scattering data showed that the proportion of small-scale porosity increased with depth. Porosity distributions were not continuous, but consisted of a series of log normal-like distributions at several distinct scales within these rocks. Fractal dimensions at larger scales decreased (surfaces smoothed) with increasing depth, and those at smaller scales increased (surfaces roughened) and pores become more isolated (higher lacunarity). Furthermore, data suggest that changes in pore-size distributions are controlled by both physical (compaction) and chemical effects (precipitation, cementation, dissolution).
Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1435954
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1545184
OSTI ID: 1775253
Journal Information:
Marine and Petroleum Geology, Journal Name: Marine and Petroleum Geology Journal Issue: C Vol. 92; ISSN 0264-8172
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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