Workshop, "Sound of Geology", 26th-28th April, 2006

Norway, Bergen

Pore size and pore type effects on velocity – Implication for carbonate rock physic models
Gregor T. Baechle1, Ralf Weger1, Gregor P. Eberli1 and Arnout Colpaert2
1
Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory, University of Miami,4600 Rickenbacker Cswy, Miami, FL 33149
2
University of Tromsø, Norway

288 ultrasonic velocity measurements from 6 different pure carbonate provinces reveal that in carbonates sonic velocity and the
permeability are not only a function of total porosity but also of the predominant pore type. The high diagenetic potential of
carbonates result in intense alteration of the pore structure, which can lead to a decrease of effective porosity for flow and wave
propagation. There is a general porosity-velocity correlation but significant deviations occur from this relationship for certain
pore types. As a result, samples of equal porosity can exhibit widely variable permeability and velocity. Moldic and intraframe
porosity result in significantly higher velocity values than do pore types that are not embedded in a frame such as intercrystalline
and interparticle pores. Here, we focus on the size of the pores in relation to the rock compressibility.
Our deterministic approach of linking constant pore stiffness to carbonate pore types tries to find a meaningful reasoning which
fits our experimental data and quantitative/qualitative-pore structure observations. Knowledge of the pore structure is essential
for prediction of reservoir pore volume and permeability. It has been established in siliclastics that by grouping the data in
different hydraulic units accordingly to their pore space properties, a positive correlation between velocity and permeability can
be established (Prasad, 2003).

Pore space stiffness: Velocity deviation quantified

In our carbonates dataset, pore stiffness of specific pore types is constant over a wide porosity range. We propose that the ratio α
of pore space stiffness over mineral modulus [(Kpor)/(Kmin)] quantifies non-linear porosity-bulk modulus trends of specific
carbonate pore types:
1
α = 0.1
α = Kpor/Kmin
α = 0.2
0.9 microporosity

K ⋅ K min ⋅ φ
K por = −
vugy porosity
0.8
Modified Voigt boundary using Nur's

K − K min
Normalized Bulk Modulus

0.7 critical porosity concept

0.6

0.5
whereas, K = rock bulk modulus
0.4

0.3 The pore space stiffness α uniquely quantifies the velocity variability at
0.2 a given porosity. Constant αs generates trend lines in the normalized
0.1
bulk modulus-poroisyt space (Fig. 1). Trend lines generated by
specidfic αs correlate with bulk modulus of rocks containing
0
0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 endmember pore types. Recrystallized dolomites with secondary vuggy
Porosity (%) porosity and low amount of microporosity show distinctive higher α
(normalized pore space stiffness) values of around 0.2 compared to high
microporosity limestones with lower normalized pore space stiffness
Fig. 1: Carbonates dominated by microporosity
(0.1) (Fig. 1).
show lower pore stiffness than rocks with vuggy
Based on velocity and digital image analysis, we conclude that creation
porosity.
of vuggy porosity will increase porosity but not necessarily change the
pore space compressibility because acoustic energy potentially bypasses the void space in the surrounding stiff frame. In our data
set the stiffness of the rock framework of some samples is larger than the modified Voigt boundary (using Nur’s critical porosity
of 40% for dolomites and limestones). In addition, the proportion of microporosity with respect to total porosity is inversely
related to the pore space stiffness. Microporosity is defined in this study as subtracting the image macroporosity (minimum pore
diameter of 30 microns detected by the digital image analysis) from the total plug porosity..
 Workshop, "Sound of Geology", 26th-28th April, 2006
Norway, Bergen

The crossplot of compressional velocity and porosity (Fig.2)

of pure carbonate samples show a large scatter of over 2000
m/s over the entire porosity range. The pore types of these
samples are dominated by intercrystalline porosity,
interparticle porosity, intraparticle porosity, moldic porosity
and vuggy porosity. Samples with high percentages of
macroporosity (>20%) are representative of samples with
large pores, which demonstrate fast velocities at a given
porosity. The macroporosity displays a poor correlation to
the p-wave velocity. Using quantitative calculated
microporosity from digital images of thin sections, instead of
total plug porosity, the velocity uncertainty is significantly
reduced (Fig. 2). The correlation coefficient increases from
0.67 (porosity-velocity transform) to 0.86 (microporosity-
velocity transform), derived from an exponential best fit
curve. The samples with the highest amount of
microporosity (>38%) and slow velocities (~2500m/s) were
found to generally be fine-grained euhedral rhombs, referred
to as sucrosic dolomites. Samples with interparticle,
intercrystalline, vuggy and moldic porosity show increasing
velocity deviation from Wylie’s time average velocity with
increasing macroporosity at given velocity intervals.
Velocity prediction from a straight line porosity-velocity
transform results in a low correlation coefficient of 0.5. The
microporosity shows an excellent correlation to the
porosity/pore space stiffness ratio (r2=0.86).Using empirical
relationships and determining velocity from microporosity
and pore space stiffness; yields a significant increase in
velocity prediction with a correlation coefficient (r2=0.82).
The fastest velocity values at given porosity in our dataset
are caused by dissolution processes and resulting vuggy
Figure 1: Plot of porosity versus p-wave velocity (above) porosity. These vuggy pore types are reflected in constant
and microporosity versus velocity (below) at 10 MPa pore stiffness trends in samples from the Marion plateau
effective pressure. The color scheme is an indication of the (ODP Leg194).
percentage image-macroporosity. Using microporosity
instead of total porosity results in a significant better Conclusions and implications for carbonate rock physic
correlation. models
While many poroelastic models describe changes in pore
space stiffness caused by different pore shapes, cementation
and compaction, the effect of dissolution is widely ignored. Carbonate pore types follow a non-linear path in a moduli-porosity
relationship, below and above the modified Voigt boundary. Microporosity appears to have a dominant effect on reducing rock
stiffness, whereas vuggy porosity creates high apparent rock stiffness at given porosity. Recrystallized rocks with vuggy porosity
show α-value of 0.2 compared to high microporosity limestones with α-value of around 0.1. These results indicate that the non-
linear bulk moduli – porosity models, like a model of constant pore stiffness, is superior to linear models in characterizing
specific carbonate pore types. Furthermore, these findings point towards the potential for a combined pore structure - porosity
inversion in carbonate rocks, which could result in better reservoir prediction and development.

Reference
Prasad, M. (2003). Velocity-permeability relations within hydraulic units. Geophysics, v68, No.1, p.108-117