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Permeability of Granite Including Macro-Fracture Naturally Filled with Fine-Grained Minerals

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Abstract

Information on the permeability of rock is essential for various geoengineering projects, such as geological disposal of radioactive wastes, hydrocarbon extraction, and natural hazard risk mitigation. It is especially important to investigate how fractures and pores influence the physical and transport properties of rock. Infiltration of groundwater through the damage zone fills fractures in granite with fine-grained minerals. However, the permeability of rock possessing a fracture naturally filled with fine-grained mineral grains has yet to be investigated. In this study, the permeabilities of granite samples, including a macro-fracture filled with clay and a mineral vein, are investigated. The permeability of granite with a fine-grained mineral vein agrees well with that of the intact sample, whereas the permeability of granite possessing a macro-fracture filled with clay is lower than that of the macro-fractured sample. The decrease in the permeability is due to the filling of fine-grained minerals and clay in the macro-fracture. It is concluded that the permeability of granite increases due to the existence of the fractures, but decreases upon filling them with fine-grained minerals.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by a grant from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Earth Resources Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto Daigaku Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto, 615-8540, Japan

    Yoshitaka Nara

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13 Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8628, Japan

    Masaji Kato, Daisuke Fukuda & Tsutomu Sato

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tottori University, 4-101 Koyama-Minami, Tottori, 680-8552, Japan

    Ryuhei Niri

  4. Department of Management of Social Systems and Civil Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tottori University, 4-101 Koyama-Minami, Tottori, 680-8552, Japan

    Masanori Kohno

  5. Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 432-2 Hokushin, Horonobe-cho, Hokkaido, 098-3224, Japan

    Toshinori Sato

  6. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Sciences and Technology, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8567, Japan

    Manabu Takahashi

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  1. Yoshitaka Nara
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Correspondence to Masaji Kato.

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Nara, Y., Kato, M., Niri, R. et al. Permeability of Granite Including Macro-Fracture Naturally Filled with Fine-Grained Minerals. Pure Appl. Geophys. 175, 917–927 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-017-1704-x

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