Scholarly record

QUANTITATIVE INTEGRATION OF MODERN AUTOMATED MINERALOGY, AND LARGE-AREA SEM IMAGING TECHNIQUES TO SELECT REPRESENTATIVE REGIONS OF INTEREST FOR MICROSTRUCTURAL RESERVOIR ROCK ANALYSIS AT MICRO- AND NANO-SCALE

Dr. Andrey Kazak, Dr. Svyatoslav Chugunov, Dr. Anatolii Chashkov

Abstract

The goal of the presented study was to investigate and outline potential benefits of an integrated scientific analysis, encompassing modern automated mineralogy and largearea SEM-imaging data for the needs of multiscale geomechanical and hydrodynamical problem solving. A research was conducted on a set rock samples of a Russian promising tight gas-bearing formation, featuring nanometers-to-millimeters pore space elements, wide spectrum of mineral composition, and a complex multiscale pore-space topology. In the current study, the main efforts were dedicated to processing and analysis of QEMSCAN mineral maps (with spatial resolution 1 ?m), spatially registered large-scale SEM images, widely known as MAPS technology (with spatial resolution 135 nm), and supplementary petrophysical data, such as X-ray diffraction, thin-section petrographic analysis (1 ?m spatial resolution), etc. As the result of the scientific endeavor, a workflow for quantitative integration of QEMSCAN, MAPS, and petrophysical data was established. The workflow is based on joint interpretation of rock fabric, mineral composition, pore-space topology, and other characteristics to select representative regions on rock surface at micro-scale, for special studies running in the interest of multiscale geomechanical and hydrodynamical numerical modeling. In particular, a structural analysis, such as FIB-SEM, TEM, AFM, EDS, or nano-indentation could be conducted in the outlined regions, to acquire detailed rock parameters at nano-scale. The representative regions may also serve as the cornerstone for subsequent upscaling of rock properties at nano- and micro-scale to the scale of millimeters and centimeters. As an example, the workflow was applied to an extended dataset obtained within the framework of the research project. Studied rock surface was analyzed for spatial distribution of clay inclusions in the studied rock samples. An optimal location for FIBSEM imaging was determined and the the target clay grain was imaged in 3D at nanoscale for the needs of hydrodynamical modeling. As the general note: the proposed 2D digital rock workflow allows quantitative analysis and characterization of rock structure over millimeter-sized areas with nano-scale resolution. The developed methodology provides seamless integration of rock fabric (via MAPS data) and composition (via QEMSCAN data) for informative mapping representative regions on rock surface, subject to task-dependent selection criteria. Those include (but not limited to) mapping representative grain contacts for geomechanical characterization of rock or mapping representative pore-space elements for hydrodynamical evaluation. The automated selection process could be additionally constrained with project-based limits, such as time, budget, available processing resources, and others, still optimizing the representativeness of the suggested regions.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2017/14/s06.103

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