skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: 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
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1];  [4]; ORCiD logo [5]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, Greifswald (Germany)
  3. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
  4. Forschungszentrum Jülich 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:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division; National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; ERKCC72; DMR-0944772; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1775253
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1435954; OSTI ID: 1545184
Journal Information:
Marine and Petroleum Geology, Vol. 92; ISSN 0264-8172
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 14 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (81)

Fractal analysis of quartz grain boundary sutures in a granite (Malanjkhand, Central India) — Implications to infer regional tectonics journal March 2009
Notes on the compressibility of clays journal January 1944
Scattering by an Inhomogeneous Solid. II. The Correlation Function and Its Application journal June 1957
Morphology of intergranular pores and wetting angles in pelitic schists studied by transmission electron microscopy journal August 2001
Mechanical and chemical compaction model for sedimentary basin simulators journal October 1996
Exponential approximations to compacted sediment porosity profiles journal July 2001
Interfacial energy effects and the evolution of pore size distributions during quartz precipitation in sandstone journal June 2010
Stages of textural maturity in sedimentary rocks journal September 1951
Fractal dimension of Apollonian packing of spherical particles journal September 2012
The dynamics of shale compaction and evolution of pore-fluid pressures journal September 1971
Mechanical and thermodynamic constraints on fluid distribution in partial melts journal January 1979
Fast and Slow Compaction in Sedimentary Basins journal January 1998
The Compaction of Sediments and its Bearing on some Geophysical Problems journal March 1960
Oxygen diffusion in a fine-grained quartz aggregate with wetted and nonwetted microstructures journal January 1992
Role of Fluid Pressure in Mechanics of Overthrust Faulting journal January 1959
Influence of deformation on melt topology in peridotites journal May 1997
Stress-induced anisotropy of partially molten rock analogue deformed under quasi-static loading test journal January 2010
Optically continuous silcrete quartz cements of the St. Peter Sandstone: High precision oxygen isotope analysis by ion microprobe journal August 2007
Equilibrium fluid distribution in an ultramafic partial melt under hydrostatic stress conditions journal January 1979
A mathematical model for compaction in sedimentary basins journal September 1992
KWS-3: Very small angle scattering diffractometer with focusing mirror journal June 2015
The effect of pore size on cementation in porous rocks journal February 2001
Fluid supersaturation and crystallization in porous media journal January 1995
General Purpose Small-Angle Neutron Scattering Instrument on HFIR Oak Ridge journal July 2008
Connectivity of melt phase in a partially molten peridotite journal January 1986
Fluids in the lithosphere, 1. Experimentally-determined wetting characteristics of CO2H2O fluids and their implications for fluid transport, host-rock physical properties, and fluid inclusion formation journal October 1987
Irena : tool suite for modeling and analysis of small-angle scattering journal February 2009
Multifractal measures, especially for the geophysicist journal January 1989
Systematic diagenetic changes in the grain-scale morphology and permeability of a quartz-cemented quartz arenite journal June 2011
Evolution of quartz cementation during burial of the Cambrian Mount Simon Sandstone, Illinois Basin: In situ microanalysis of δ18O journal December 2011
Consequences of viscous anisotropy in a deforming, two-phase aggregate. Part 1. Governing equations and linearized analysis journal October 2013
Ion microprobe analysis of 18O/16O in authigenic and detrital quartz in the St. Peter Sandstone, Michigan Basin and Wisconsin Arch, USA: Contrasting diagenetic histories journal December 1996
Space-filling bearings journal December 1990
The fractal shape of sutured quartz grain boundaries: application as a geothermometer journal January 1996
NIH Image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis journal June 2012
Diagenetic changes in macro- to nano-scale porosity in the St. Peter Sandstone: An (ultra) small angle neutron scattering and backscattered electron imaging analysis journal February 2013
Multifractal analysis of the microdistribution of elements in sedimentary structures using images from scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X ray spectrometry journal January 1991
Factors controlling the kinetics of crystallization: supersaturation evolution in a porous medium. Application to barite crystallization journal November 1990
The effect of particle size distribution on packing density journal June 1968
X. Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe . journal January 1788
Grain boundary diffusion of oxygen, potassium and calcium in natural and hot-pressed feldspar aggregates journal January 1995
Low pore connectivity in natural rock journal May 2012
Microanalysis of carbonate cement δ18O in a CO2-storage system seal: Insights into the diagenetic history of the Eau Claire Formation (Upper Cambrian), Illinois Basin journal June 2016
Modeling the impact of nano-pores on mineralization in sedimentary rocks: IMPACT OF NANO-PORES ON MINERALIZATION journal April 2009
Fractal properties of Apollonian packing of spherical particles journal May 2006
The effect of fluid chemistry on wetting textures in novaculite journal January 1991
An SEM study of porosity and grain boundary microstructure in quartz mylonites, Simplon Fault Zone, Central Alps journal March 1998
Scattering by inhomogeneous systems with rough internal surfaces: Porous solids and random-field Ising systems journal December 1985
Alleghanian episode of K-bentonite illitization in the southern Appalachian Basin journal January 1987
Quartz grain boundaries as fluid pathways in metamorphic rocks: QUARTZ GRAIN BOUNDARIES journal May 2013
Precipitation in Pores: A Geochemical Frontier journal January 2015
Melt distribution in mantle rocks deformed in shear journal May 1999
Serrated quartz grain boundaries, temperature and strain rate: testing fractal techniques in a syntectonic granite journal January 2010
K-Ca-Ar systematics of authigenic sanidine from Waukau, Wisconsin, and the diffusivity of argon journal January 1986
The influence of uniaxial compression upon pore size distribution in bi-modal soils journal March 2006
A new approach to quantification of metamorphism using ultra-small and small angle neutron scattering journal December 2009
General Theory of Three‐Dimensional Consolidation journal February 1941
Three-Dimensional Apollonian Packing as a Model for Dense Granular Systems journal December 1995
Numerical simulation of salt precipitation in the fractures of a CO2-enhanced geothermal system journal October 2012
Origin of illite in the lower Paleozoic of the Illinois basin: Evidence for brine migrations journal August 2001
Design and performance of a thermal-neutron double-crystal diffractometer for USANS at NIST journal November 2005
Mechanical behaviour of fine grained sediments: experimental compaction and three-dimensional constitutive model journal March 1998
Diagenetic modeling to assess the relative timing of quartz cementation and brittle grain processes during compaction journal June 2006
Time-resolved phenomena in cements, clays and porous rocks journal October 1991
Episodic potassic diagenesis of Ordovician tuffs in the Mississippi Valley area journal January 1988
Depositional and diagenetic controls on anomalously high porosity within a deeply buried CO2 storage reservoir—The Cambrian Mt. Simon Sandstone, Illinois Basin, USA journal December 2016
Reduction and analysis of SANS and USANS data using IGOR Pro journal November 2006
Surface Roughening and the Fractal Nature of Rocks journal August 1986
Direct Observation of Near-Equilibrium Pore Geometry in Synthetic Quartzites at 600°-800°C and 2-10.5 Kbar journal November 1991
Evolution of quartz cementation and burial history of the Eau Claire Formation based on in situ oxygen isotope analysis of quartz overgrowths journal September 2014
Influence of particle size distribution on random close packing of spheres journal August 2014
Characterization and Analysis of Porosity and Pore Structures journal January 2015
Pore-Scale Controls on Reaction-Driven Fracturing journal January 2015
Permeabilities, interfacial areas and curvatures of partially molten systems: Results of numerical computations of equilibrium microstructures journal January 1986
Effect of quartz overgrowth precipitation on the multiscale porosity of sandstone: A (U)SANS and imaging analysis journal June 2015
Effects of pore-size controlled solubility on reactive transport in heterogeneous rock journal January 2007
Selective nucleation in porous media journal January 2013
The timing and extent of illite formation in Ordovician K-bentonites at the Cincinnati Arch, the Nashville Dome and north-eastern Illinois basin journal June 1993
A chemical kinetic model of vitrinite maturation and reflectance journal October 1989
Pore pressure generation in sedimentary basins: Overloading versus aquathermal journal January 1986
Multi-scale characterization of pore evolution in a combustion metamorphic complex, Hatrurim basin, Israel: Combining (ultra) small-angle neutron scattering and image analysis journal November 2013

Cited By (2)