Fracture sealing by mineral precipitation: The role of small‐scale mineral heterogeneity
Abstract Fractures are often leakage pathways for fluid in low‐permeability rocks that otherwise act as geologic barriers in the subsurface. Flow of fluids in chemical disequilibrium with fracture surfaces can lead to mineral precipitation and fracture sealing. To directly evaluate the role of small...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2016-07-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069598 |
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| author | Trevor A. Jones Russell L. Detwiler |
| author_facet | Trevor A. Jones Russell L. Detwiler |
| author_sort | Trevor A. Jones |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Fractures are often leakage pathways for fluid in low‐permeability rocks that otherwise act as geologic barriers in the subsurface. Flow of fluids in chemical disequilibrium with fracture surfaces can lead to mineral precipitation and fracture sealing. To directly evaluate the role of small‐scale mineral heterogeneity on mineral precipitation, we measured CaCO3 precipitation in a transparent analog fracture that included randomly distributed small‐scale regions of CaCO3 on one of the borosilicate surfaces. Steady flow of a well‐mixed CaCl2‐NaHCO3 solution ( log(ΩCaCO3) = 1.44) resulted in significant mineral precipitation during the 82 day experiment. Localized mineral precipitation reduced flow within regions of the fracture, but small‐scale reaction‐site heterogeneity allowed preferential flow to persist through pathways that contained 82% less area of CaCO3 regions than the fracture‐scale average. This resulted in a significant reduction in measured precipitation rate; excluding these effects results in more than an order‐of‐magnitude underestimation of fracture sealing timescales. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e22c13d4abf84bcda15effe249bdd9cd |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-e22c13d4abf84bcda15effe249bdd9cd2025-08-20T03:10:28ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072016-07-0143147564757110.1002/2016GL069598Fracture sealing by mineral precipitation: The role of small‐scale mineral heterogeneityTrevor A. Jones0Russell L. Detwiler1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of California Irvine California USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of California Irvine California USAAbstract Fractures are often leakage pathways for fluid in low‐permeability rocks that otherwise act as geologic barriers in the subsurface. Flow of fluids in chemical disequilibrium with fracture surfaces can lead to mineral precipitation and fracture sealing. To directly evaluate the role of small‐scale mineral heterogeneity on mineral precipitation, we measured CaCO3 precipitation in a transparent analog fracture that included randomly distributed small‐scale regions of CaCO3 on one of the borosilicate surfaces. Steady flow of a well‐mixed CaCl2‐NaHCO3 solution ( log(ΩCaCO3) = 1.44) resulted in significant mineral precipitation during the 82 day experiment. Localized mineral precipitation reduced flow within regions of the fracture, but small‐scale reaction‐site heterogeneity allowed preferential flow to persist through pathways that contained 82% less area of CaCO3 regions than the fracture‐scale average. This resulted in a significant reduction in measured precipitation rate; excluding these effects results in more than an order‐of‐magnitude underestimation of fracture sealing timescales.https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069598Reactive TransportPermeability AlterationFracture Flow |
| spellingShingle | Trevor A. Jones Russell L. Detwiler Fracture sealing by mineral precipitation: The role of small‐scale mineral heterogeneity Geophysical Research Letters Reactive Transport Permeability Alteration Fracture Flow |
| title | Fracture sealing by mineral precipitation: The role of small‐scale mineral heterogeneity |
| title_full | Fracture sealing by mineral precipitation: The role of small‐scale mineral heterogeneity |
| title_fullStr | Fracture sealing by mineral precipitation: The role of small‐scale mineral heterogeneity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fracture sealing by mineral precipitation: The role of small‐scale mineral heterogeneity |
| title_short | Fracture sealing by mineral precipitation: The role of small‐scale mineral heterogeneity |
| title_sort | fracture sealing by mineral precipitation the role of small scale mineral heterogeneity |
| topic | Reactive Transport Permeability Alteration Fracture Flow |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069598 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT trevorajones fracturesealingbymineralprecipitationtheroleofsmallscalemineralheterogeneity AT russellldetwiler fracturesealingbymineralprecipitationtheroleofsmallscalemineralheterogeneity |