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A b a lt S o lu t io n s
After studying this module, consulting other relevant documents and discussions with
your tutor, you will be able to:
Where:
: clay porosity at depth Z
o : surface porosity (Z = 0)
• c: a constant, the value of the slope of normal compaction
(with plotted on a logarithmic scale)
Summary
• The overburden effect is defined as the result of the action
of subsidence on the interstitial fluid pressure of a formation.
• If fluids can only be expelled with difficulty relative to burial
conditions, they must support all or part of the weight of
overlying sediments.
• Porosity decreases less rapidly than it should with depth, and
clays are then said to be undercompacted.
• Formation pressure intensity is controlled as much by the
rate of subsidence as by the dewatering efficiency.
• Imbalance between these two factors is the most frequent
cause of abnormal pressure.
Summary
• It is an effect producing increased pressure in sedimentary
sequences due to a temperature rise in a closed system.
• The effect is governed not only by thermal conditions and
water density, but more particularly by the permeability of
the environment and the time factor.
• Its overall contribution is therefore not easy to quantify.
Mineralogy
• Argillaceous minerals form part of the phyllosilicates group
(the sheet or lattice-layer silicates).
• They are characterised by alternately arranged sheets of
T2O5 tetrahedra (where T = Si, Al or Fe3+) and octahedra.
Al2Si4O10 OH 2
• Pyrophyllite:
Mineralogy
• The structure of pyrophyllite is electrically neutral.
• Substitution of Si4+ cations in the tetrahedral layer by Al3+
creates a negative charge which is compensated by the
adsorption of cations and interlayer water.
• This new structural type is characteristic of, for instance,
montmorillonite (smectite family).
• A strong cation exchange capacity, or water adsorption
capacity, gives this type of clay its swelling-behaviour on
contact with water.
Smectites
Si4x Alx O10 Al 2xR2x OH 2ECxnH2O
• R2+ = Mg, Fe, Mn, Cr etc.
• EC = exchangeable cations
• Further substitution of Si4+ cations by Al3+ increases the
electrical imbalance.
• The clay loses its capacity to adsorb water and may
gradually change to another type of mineral, Illite, which
belongs to the mica family.
K y Al4 Si8 yAly O20 OH 4
with 1 < y < 1.5
Kaolinite
• It is a purely aluminous variety like pyrophyllite, with the
difference that its structure is asymmetric and its
interreticular distance is 0.71 nM.
• It has better thermodynamic stability than the smectites.
• Relative percentages of the two types of mineral may vary
considerably, and they may alternate in a regular or random
fashion.
Osmotic pressure
• It is virtually proportional to the concentration differential.
• For a given differential it increases with temperature.
Reference:
• http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/index_tj.asp?objID=NUR4004
Dependent Factors
• The flow of water through a clay bed is dependent on:
• differential pressure,
• differential concentration,
• differential electrical potential,
• temperature.
• We should also add:
• the thickness of the clay,
• the size of the micropores and
• the degree of fissuring.
Reverse osmosis
• It consists of the migration of water from strongly saline
areas towards areas of weaker salinity under the influence of
a pressure differential.
• It is possible that in certain sedimentary basins fluid flows
generated by compaction and gravity may be either
accentuated or attenuated by the effects of osmosis or
reverse osmosis.
Summary
• Although laboratory tests have proven that osmotic effects
are real, the evidence for their existence in nature is far less
certain.
• The capacity for osmosis to generate abnormal pressure is
limited to:
• Sharply contrasting salinity,
• Proximity to salt-domes, and
• Lenticular series.
• In most instances of abnormal pressure, the role of osmosis
is difficult to prove and must be thought of as minor.
Passive role
• Evaporites are totally impermeable.
• They are almost perfect seal.
• Because of their inherent plasticity they also have a degree of mobility,
and any fractures which occur can repair themselves.
• This is especially true of rock salt (halite).
Summary
• The sealing efficiency of evaporite deposits plays a major
role in the generation and maintenance of abnormal
pressure.
• Undercompaction is likely to occur in interlayered or
underlying argillaceous series.
• It is also possible for abnormal pressure to develop in badly
drained reservoirs (which are often carbonate in nature) due
to their association with evaporites.
• Although diagenetic processes cause a significant increase
in water volume, the part they play in the creation of
abnormal pressure remains to be proven, but is probably
only marginal.
Gas migration
• As compaction proceeds and less water is expelled,
decomposing organic matter tend to cause the water to
become saturated in gas and eventually produce free gas.
• If this gas is unable to escape it causes abnormal pressure.
Summary
• Over and above the fact that undercompaction is often
accompanied by gas shows rich in heavy components,
thermal cracking of organic matter can be a cause of
abnormal pressure.
• It can develop in either shaly sand series or carbonate
series, provided organic matter is present and the system is
sufficiently confined.
Tectonic stress
• Where deformations occur due to tectonic stress, they cause
modifications in fluid pressures and in the distribution of
masses.
• This may create positive pressure anomalies or restore
pressure to normal.
Palaeopressures
• Deep-lying series may be uplifted and part of the overlying
strata then eroded.
• In this way zones of high pressure could be brought closer to
the surface, which would make them appear anomalous.
Overthrust zones
• Some abnormal pressures are associated with overthrust faulting.
• Fluids at high pressure and temperature act as a lubricant for the
movement of the overthrust block.
• Rapid loading occurs, causing abnormal pressure in underlying
confined sequences.
Normal Faults
• They are the result of a stress field where S1 is vertical and
S3 is horizontal.
• As they tend to be open, they are often effective drains, and
provide links between reservoirs which help to equalise
pressure gradients.
• In the presence of saturated fluids the fault plane becomes a
site for premature crystallization of calcite, quartz, anhydrite
or dolomite, none of which is very permeable.
• If this happens faults will act as a barrier or seal to a
reservoir.
Reverse Faults
• They are the result of a stress field where S1 is close to
horizontal and S3 nearly vertical and are thus more likely to
be closed.
• They tend to be a barrier to fluid circulation.
Tear Faults
• They are the result of a stress field where S 1 and S3 are horizontal and S2 is
vertical.
• As with normal faults, whether they act as barrier or drain depends on
whether there is syntectonic mineral crystallization.
• Their impact is affected by the relative displacement of the compartments on
either side of the fault.
Fault Displacement
• It is an essential factor in the distribution of fluid pressure.
• If a fault is to isolate a section of reservoir, it needs to
displace its walls in such a way as to bring the porous layer
into contact with an impervious zone.
• If the movement brings reservoirs into contact at some
point, pressure conditions in the two compartments will
equalise.
Joints
• They are fractureswith little or no displacement.
• They are capable of depriving impervious rocks of their
ability to act as a seal.
• Fracture intensity depends on:
• the stress field (ie. the type of tectonic activity) and
• the mechanical behaviour of the layers.
• Overpressure may be laterally induced by the juxtaposition,
by fault movement, of formations with different pressure
regimes.
Deltaic areas
• The development of a delta depends on:
• the balance between sedimentation rate,
• subsidence rate and
• eustatic variations in the sea level.
• It is possible to observe:
• a proximal zone, where growth faults will develop preferentially,
• a distal zone with shale domes and ridges
Growth Faults
• They are known as synsedimentary or listric faults.
• This plane is nearly vertical in its upper part, then tends
gradually to conform to the dip of the strata as its slope
decreases towards its base.
• The downstream compartment displays thickening of the
sediments in the form of a "roll-over" (compensation
anticline) near the fault
Shale Diapirism
• Shale domes are the result of intrusive flow from underlying
layers (shale diapirism).
• They are always undercompacted, and therefore abnormally
pressured.
Subduction Zones
• Argillaceous sediments are often buried rapidly in
geosynclinal zones and in subduction zones where two
tectonic plates converge.
• Undercompacted argillaceous layers are favourable to the
development of overlying deformation because they act as
lubricants, amplifying the movement.
Summary
• Tectonics and fluid pressures interact to give a variety of
effects.
• Tectonic mechanisms:
• Extension open fractures pressure dissipation
• Compression:
• easy expulsion of fluids compaction normal pressure
• difficult expulsion undercompaction abnormal pressure
compaction possible hydraulic fracturing expulsion
compaction
Permafrost
• It is when water changes into ice and its volume increases.
• Water contained in surface sediments of permafrost regions
is frozen, but in certain conditions, pockets of ground
surrounded by permafrost can exist in an unfrozen state.
• Such pockets are known as taliks.
Summary
• This account of the various ways in which abnormal pressure
can arise.
• Time is the determining factor in fluid dispersal, which
explains why abnormal pressure is more commonly found in
association with young sediments.
• High pressure may result from a combination of various
causes, and these are more likely to be found in clay-
sandstone sequences because of the mechanical, physical
and chemical properties of clays.
• The lithological changes which some of the causes bring
about can be used for detection purposes during drilling
operations.