UDC 532.546:550.820.7
N. K. Korsakova and V. I. Pen'kovskiiA condition of equilibrium between charged clay particle surfaces and the solution contained in the pore space of the rock is derived using electrical double layer theory. This condition is the relation linking the cation concentration in the middle surface of the pores with the exchange capacity of the clay, the total ion charges, and the specific surface area of the particles.Introduction. The occurrence of a self-polarization potential in clay-containing rocks is often associated with diffusion and adsorption (membrane) effects [1, 2], which are described by Nernst theory for semipermeable membranes. By the membrane is meant a certain boundary between solutions with different salt concentrations.There is also another approach based on the theory of the electrical double layer [3-5] formed on the surface of charged clay particles. Some aspects of using this theory were studied, for example, in [6-9] and other papers.Clays of various types, constituting half of all sedimentary rocks of the Earth's crust, have special properties that distinguish them from the other minerals. The clay-mineral skeleton is formed of thin (about a few tens of angstroms) flakes. Clays, while exhibiting fairly high porosity, are poorly permeable to native fluids [10]. Their crystal lattice contains molecules of Al 2 [Si 4 O 10 (OH) 2 ]nH 2 O. Instead of aluminum the molecules can contain iron atoms or, much more rarely, other metal atoms.Because clay molecules contain a large amount of oxygen atoms, the flake surface has a stationary negative charge related to the crystal lattice. In the presence of fresh water, the flakes are hydrated similarly to salt ions in electrolytes, leading to a volume increase (swelling) of the clay. Conversely, if the pore space of a clay mineral is filled with a solution of salts, some of the water molecules adsorbed on the flake surface can pass into the solution, thus diluting it, and the active centers (vacancies) that have become free are occupied by cations from the pore solution. An excessive number of negative charges (anions) appear in the solution. This phenomenon was called anion displacement or negative adsorption [6].Thus, the displacement of fresh water from a clay bed by a salt solution gives rise to a negative potential difference in the penetration region. With time, the excessive negative charge "drains" into the ambient rocks under the action of the generated electric field and diffusion until general equilibrium is established, i.e., until the electric potentials of the bed are equalized.Obviously, the equilibrium is also disturbed if re fresh water is injected in a clay bed saturated with an electrolyte solution. As a result, the initially neutral infiltrate is saturated with the cations desorbed from the clay particle surface, and the vacancies are filled by dipole water molecules. A potential with a positive sign occurs in the penetration region.In the construction of a mathematical model for the formation and decay of the self...