Hydrologic characterization of four cores from the Geysers Coring Project
Conference
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OSTI ID:889832
Results of hydrologic tests conducted on four representative core plugs from Geysers Coring Project drill hole SB-15-D have been related to detailed mineralogic and textural characterization of the plugs to yield new information about permeability, porosity, and capillary-pressure characteristics of the uppermost Geysers steam reservoir and its immediately overlying caprock. The core plugs are all fine- to medium-grained, Franciscan-assemblage (late Mesozoic) metagraywacke with sparse Franciscan metamorphic quartz-calcite veins and late Cenozoic, hydrothermal quartz-calcite-pyrite veins. The matrices of three plugs from the caprock are rich in metamorphic mixed-layer illite/smectite and disseminated hydrothermal pyrite; the reservoir plug instead contains abundant illite and only minor pyrite. The reservoir plug and one caprock plug are sparsely disrupted by latest-stage, unmineralized microfractures which both follow and crosscut veinlets but which could be artifacts. Porosities of the plugs, measured by Boyles-law gas expansion, range between 1.9 and 2.5%. Gas permeability and Klinkenberg slip factor were calculated from gas-pressure-pulse-decay measurements using a specially designed permeameter with small (2 mL) reservoirs. Matrix permeabilities in the range 10-21 m² ( = 1 nanodarcy) were measured for two plugs that included mineral-filled veins but no unfilled microfractures. Greater permeabilities were measured on plugs that contained microfractures; at 500 psi net confining pressure, an effective aperture of 1.6 µm was estimated for one plug. Capillary pressure curves were determined for three cores by measuring saturation as weight gain of plugs equilibrated with atmospheres in which the relative humidity was controlled by saturated brines.
- Research Organization:
- Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Earth Sciences and Resources Institute, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 889832
- Report Number(s):
- SGP-TR-151-46
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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