Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Chemo-mechanical Alteration of Silicate-Rich Shale Rock after Exposure to CO2-Rich Brine at High Temperature and Pressure

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Owing to their application in rock weathering concerning geostructural stability, enhanced geothermal systems, carbon sequestration, and enhanced oil recovery, the effect of rock–brine–CO2 interactions on the microstructural and mechanical properties of rocks has become a prevalent topic. Understanding the interplay among chemical, microstructural, and mechanical processes is essential to comprehend how they affect rock mechanical alteration. In this study, we examined the effects of chemo-mechanical loading on the microstructural features and mechanical alterations of individual components within the rock. Experiments involved exposing the Permian rock samples to either CO2 or N2-rich brine (a control condition) at a temperature and pressure of 100 °C and 1800 Psi, respectively, for varying duration (14 and 28 days). The ionic strength of the solution was adjusted to 1 M using NaCl. Micro-CT image analysis showed the dissolution of clay- and quartz-rich phases followed by their precipitation. After 14 days, the depth of the outer reacted zone reached roughly 1100 µm, and after 28 days, the depth increased to 1500 µm. Microscale mechanical analysis showed decreased indentation modulus of the clay- and quartz-rich phases after reacting with CO2-rich brine. This decrease in indentation modulus was more than 50% for quartz-rich phases for 28 days of reaction and was lower adjacent to the reacted surface. The decrease in mechanical properties was more pronounced at a distance of 400–600 µm from the reacted surface after 14 days of reaction with CO2-rich brine due to the pore-size controlled solubility phenomenon. Experiments conducted at a greater distance from the reacted surface (approximately 5 mm) revealed a weaker clay–quartz interface, possibly due to the formation of microcracks induced by the swelling of clay particles. Results for the N2 condition show a superficial mechanical alteration of the rock constituents limited to a depth of 200 µm from the reacted surface.

Highlights

  • Study investigates chemo-mechanical and microstructural alteration of silicate-rich shale rock by CO2/ N2-rich brines.

  • Dissolution of clay and quartz-rich phases followed by the precipitation of clay and quartz from the transformation of feldspar grains in CO2 condition.

  • The modulus of clay- and quartz-rich zones decreased in reacted areas but increased near the surface in CO2 samples.

  • N2 condition causes superficial mechanical alteration, minimal dissolution.

  • Pore-size-controlled solubility play an important role in the evolution of porosity in the context of rock-fluid interaction.

  • Experiments conducted at a greater distance from the reacted surface indicated a weakened clay–quartz interface under CO2 conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
Fig. 22

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The datasets produced or analyzed in the present study can be obtained from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

References

  • Abedi S, Slim M, Hofmann R, Bryndzia T, Ulm F-J (2016a) Nanochemo-mechanical signature of organic-rich shales: a coupled indentation–EDX analysis. Acta Geotech 11(3):559–572

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abedi S, Slim M, Ulm F-J (2016b) Nanomechanics of organic-rich shales: the role of thermal maturity and organic matter content on texture. Acta Geotech 11(4):775–787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aman M, Espinoza DN, Ilgen AG, Major JR, Eichhubl P, Dewers TA (2018) CO2-induced chemo-mechanical alteration in reservoir rocks assessed via batch reaction experiments and scratch testing. Greenh Gas Sci Technol 8(1):133–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arson C, Vanorio T (2015) Chemomechanical evolution of pore space in carbonate microstructures upon dissolution: linking pore geometry to bulk elasticity. J Geophys Res Solid Earth 120(10):6878–6894

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson BK (1984) Subcritical crack growth in geological materials. J Geophys Res Solid Earth 89(B6):4077–4114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett P, Siegel D (1987) Increased solubility of quartz in water due to complexing by organic compounds. Nature 326(6114):684–686

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjorkum PA, Gjelsvik N (1988) An isochemical model for formation of authigenic kaolinite, K-feldspar and illite in sediments. J Sediment Res 58(3):506–511

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjørlykke K, Aagaard P (1992) Clay minerals in North Sea sandstones. SEPM, Tulsa

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bjørlykke K, Jahren J (2012) Open or closed geochemical systems during diagenesis in sedimentary basins: Constraints on mass transfer during diagenesis and the prediction of porosity in sandstone and carbonate reservoirs. AAPG Bull 96(12):2193–2214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buades A, Coll B, Morel JM (2005) A non-local algorithm for image denoising. In: 2005 IEEE computer society conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (CVPR'05)

  • Chancey RT, Stutzman P, Juenger MC, Fowler DW (2010) Comprehensive phase characterization of crystalline and amorphous phases of a Class F fly ash. Cem Concr Res 40(1):146–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ciantia MO, Castellanza R (2016) Modelling weathering effects on the mechanical behaviour of rocks. Eur J Environ Civ Eng 20(9):1054–1082

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark AC, Vanorio T (2016) The rock physics and geochemistry of carbonates exposed to reactive brines. J Geophys Res Solid Earth 121(3):1497–1513

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Correns CW (1949) Growth and dissolution of crystals under linear pressure. Discuss Faraday Soc 5:267–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dewers T, Ortoleva P (1990) A coupled reaction/transport/mechanical model for intergranular pressure solution, stylolites, and differential compaction and cementation in clean sandstones. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 54(6):1609–1625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Earle S (2018) Physical geology

  • Fick AV (1855) On liquid diffusion. Lond Edinb Dublin Philos Mag J Sci 10(63):30–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu Q, Lu P, Konishi H, Dilmore R, Xu H, Seyfried W Jr, Zhu C (2009) Coupled alkali-feldspar dissolution and secondary mineral precipitation in batch systems: 1. New experiments at 200 C and 300 bars. Chem Geol 258(3–4):125–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gastal ES, Oliveira MM (2012) Adaptive manifolds for real-time high-dimensional filtering. ACM Trans Gr (TOG) 31(4):1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giles M, De Boer R (1990) Origin and significance of redistributional secondary porosity. Mar Pet Geol 7(4):378–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glasmann JR (1992) The fate of feldspar in Brent Group reservoirs, North Sea: a regional synthesis of diagenesis in shallow, intermediate, and deep burial environments. Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 61(1):329–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He W, Hajash A, Sparks D (2002) A model for porosity evolution during creep compaction of sandstones. Earth Planet Sci Lett 197(3–4):237–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helgeson HC (1978) Summary and critique of the thermodynamic properties of rock-forming minerals. Am J Sci A 278:1–229

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang W, Keller W (1970) Dissolution of rock-forming silicate minerals in organic acids: simulated first-stage weathering of fresh mineral surfaces. Am Mineral J Earth Planet Mater 55(11–12):2076–2094

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang W, Kiang W (1972) Laboratory dissolution of plagioclase feldspars in water and organic acids at room temperature. Am Mineral J Earth Planet Mater 57(11–12):1849–1859

    Google Scholar 

  • Hubbell JH, Seltzer SM (1995) Tables of X-ray mass attenuation coefficients and mass energy-absorption coefficients 1 keV to 20 MeV for elements Z= 1 to 92 and 48 additional substances of dosimetric interest. National Inst. of Standards and Technology-PL, Gaithersburg

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kampman N, Busch A, Bertier P, Snippe J, Hangx S, Pipich V, Di Z, Rother G, Harrington J, Evans JP (2016) Observational evidence confirms modelling of the long-term integrity of CO 2-reservoir caprocks. Nat Commun 7:12268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawano M, Tomita K (1996) Amorphous aluminum hydroxide formed at the earliest weathering stages of K-feldspar. Clays Clay Miner 44(5):672–676

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kutchko BG, Strazisar BR, Huerta N, Lowry GV, Dzombak DA, Thaulow N (2009) CO2 reaction with hydrated class H well cement under geologic sequestration conditions: Effects of flyash admixtures. Environ Sci Technol 43(10):3947–3952

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu S, Jacques D (2017) Coupled reactive transport model study of pore size effects on solubility during cement-bicarbonate water interaction. Chem Geol 466:588–599

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lydon J (2005) The measurement of the modal mineralogy of rocks from SEM imagery: the use of Multispec© and ImageJ freeware. Geol Surv Can Open File 4941:37

    Google Scholar 

  • Martogi D, Abedi S (2020) Microscale approximation of the elastic mechanical properties of randomly oriented rock cuttings. Acta Geotech 15(12):3511–3524

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mashhadian M, Verde A, Sharma P, Abedi S (2018) Assessing mechanical properties of organic matter in shales: results from coupled nanoindentation/SEM-EDX and micromechanical modeling. J Petrol Sci Eng 165:313–324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nabika H, Itatani M, Lagzi I (2019) Pattern formation in precipitation reactions: the Liesegang phenomenon. Langmuir 36(2):481–497

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naik Parrikar P, Mokhtari M, Saidzade A (2022) Measurement of deformation heterogeneity during shale swelling using digital image correlation. J Energy Res Technol 144(6):063002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver WC, Pharr GM (2004) Measurement of hardness and elastic modulus by instrumented indentation: advances in understanding and refinements to methodology. J Mater Res 19(1):3–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Otsu N (1979) A threshold selection method from gray-level histograms. IEEE Trans Syst Man Cybern 9(1):62–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prakash R, Abedi S (2022) Computational modeling of creep behavior in shales induced by fluid-rock interaction. In: 56th US rock mechanics/geomechanics symposium

  • Prakash R, Kana Nguene P, Seers T, Noshadravan A, Abedi S (2019) Chemo-mechanical investigation of CO2-fluid-rock interaction in CO2 storage and CO2-EOR processes in unconventional reservoirs. In: 53rd US rock mechanics/geomechanics symposium

  • Prakash R, Nguene PCK, Benoit D, Henkel K, Abedi S (2021) Assessment of local phase to mechanical response link: application to the chemo-mechanical identification of rock phases subjected to reactive environments. J Nat Gas Sci Eng 89:103857

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prakash R, Nguene PCK, Noshadravan A, Abedi S (2022) Chemical reactions of carbonate-rich mudstones with aqueous CO2 and their impacts on rock’s local microstructural and chemo-mechanical properties. J Nat Gas Sci Eng 103:104587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reesman A, Keller W (1965) Calculation of apparent standard free energies of formation of six rock-forming silicate minerals from solubility data. Am Mineral J Earth Planet Mater 50(10):1729–1739

    Google Scholar 

  • Reesman A, Keller W (1968) Aqueous solubility studies of high-alumina and clay minerals. American Mineralogist: Journal of Earth and Planetary Materials 53(5–6):929–942

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter E (1983) Pressure solution in nature, theory and experiment. J Geol Soc 140(5):725–740

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scientific TF (2015) Avizo Software 9.0 release notes. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Hillsboro

    Google Scholar 

  • Scientific TF (2018) Amira-Avizo Software. Thermo Scientific™ Amira‐Avizo Software

  • Shao H, Ray JR, Jun Y-S (2010) Dissolution and precipitation of clay minerals under geologic CO2 sequestration conditions: CO2−brine−phlogopite interactions. Environ Sci Technol 44(15):5999–6005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma P, Prakash R, Abedi S (2019) Effect of temperature on nano-and microscale creep properties of organic-rich shales. J Petrol Sci Eng 175:375–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soong Y, Jones R, Hedges S, Knoer J, Thompson R, Harrison D, Baltrus J (2002) CO2 sequestration using brines. In: Abstracts of papers of the american chemical society

  • Tada R, Siever R (1989) Pressure solution during diagenesis. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 17:89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ulmer-Scholle DS, Scholle PA, Schieber J, Raine RJ (2014) Diagenesis: iron sulfide, oxide & hydroxide cements, pp 347–360

  • Vanorio T (2015) Recent advances in time-lapse, laboratory rock physics for the characterization and monitoring of fluid-rock interactions. Geophysics 80(2):WA49–WA59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanorio T (2018) Challenges and recent advances in rock physics. In: International geophysical conference, Beijing, China, 24–27 April 2018

  • Varzina A, Cizer Ö, Yu L, Liu S, Jacques D, Perko J (2020) A new concept for pore-scale precipitation-dissolution modelling in a lattice Boltzmann framework–application to portlandite carbonation. Appl Geochem 123:104786

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vialle S, Vanorio T (2011) Laboratory measurements of elastic properties of carbonate rocks during injection of reactive CO2‐saturated water. Geophys Res Lett 38(1)

  • Wang L, Bornert M, Yang D, Héripré E, Chanchole S, Halphen B, Pouya A, Caldemaison D (2015) Microstructural insight into the nonlinear swelling of argillaceous rocks. Eng Geol 193:435–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang L, Zhang G, Hallais S, Tanguy A, Yang D (2017) Swelling of shales: a multiscale experimental investigation. Energy Fuels 31(10):10442–10451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wawersik WR, Rudnicki JW, Dove P, Harris J, Logan JM, Pyrak-Nolte L, Orr FM, Ortoleva PJ, Richter F, Warpinski NR (2001) Terrestrial sequestration of CO2: an assessment of research needs. Advances in geophysics, vol 43. Elsevier, New York, p 97

    Google Scholar 

  • Westenberger P (2008) AVIZO-3D visualization framework. In: Geoinformatics conference

  • Yuan G, Cao Y, Schulz H-M, Hao F, Gluyas J, Liu K, Yang T, Wang Y, Xi K, Li F (2019) A review of feldspar alteration and its geological significance in sedimentary basins: From shallow aquifers to deep hydrocarbon reservoirs. Earth Sci Rev 191:114–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng X, Wang Z, Wang L, Xu Y, Liu J (2017) Mineralogical and geochemical compositions of the lopingian coals and carbonaceous rocks in the Shugentian coalfield, Yunnan, China: With emphasis on Fe-bearing minerals in a continental-marine transitional environment. Minerals 7(9):170

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the use of the Materials Characterization Facility at Texas AandM University. Acknowledgment is made to the National Science Foundation (Grant CMMI-2045242) and to the donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (PRF 60545-ND9) for supporting this work.

Funding

This article was funded by National Science Foundation (CMMI-2045242) and American Chemical Society (PRF 60545-ND9).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Ravi Prakash, Samah A. Mahgoub & Sara Abedi

  2. Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Sara Abedi

Authors
  1. Ravi Prakash
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Samah A. Mahgoub
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sara Abedi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sara Abedi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest associated with this publication.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Prakash, R., Mahgoub, S.A. & Abedi, S. Chemo-mechanical Alteration of Silicate-Rich Shale Rock after Exposure to CO2-Rich Brine at High Temperature and Pressure. Rock Mech Rock Eng (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-023-03664-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-023-03664-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation