Evaluation of solitary waves as a mechanism for oil transport in poroelastic media: A case study of the South Eugene Island field, Gulf of Mexico basin

Joshi, Ajit; Appold, Martin S.; Nunn, Jeffrey A.

doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2012.06.011

Cited by 15 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Despite such low permeabilities, a variety of geochemical and geophysical evidence suggests that hydrocarbons may have ascended through these sediments at rates of at least millimeters per year to as high as kilometers per year (Guerin, 2000;Haney et al, 2005;Losh et al, 1999;Nunn, 2003;Revil and Cathles, 2002;Roberts, 2001;Roberts and Nunn, 1995;Whelan et al, 2001) compared to rates of millimeters per million years predicted from Darcy's law (Joshi et al, 2012). This research and that of Lin and Nunn (1997) suggest that most of the hydrocarbon migration is likely to have been focused along the Red fault, a major growth fault along the eastern margin of the Eugene Island minibasin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…800 kg m À3 ) fluid could reach velocities of 1's to 10's of km year À1 . Joshi et al (2012) carried out a numerical modeling investigation of porosity wave behavior in highly overpressured, oil-saturated, elastic porous media. Porosity waves formed best where the hydraulic diffusivity was low relative to the rate of pore pressure generation, which was caused by compaction disequilibrium and hydrocarbon generation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Porosity waves formed best where the hydraulic diffusivity was low relative to the rate of pore pressure generation, which was caused by compaction disequilibrium and hydrocarbon generation. Joshi et al (2012) found that porosity waves having the greatest capability to transport oil formed under a narrow range of low permeabilities between 10 À25 and 10 À24 m 2 , could only ascend distances of between one and 2 km before diffusing into the background, traveled at maximum velocities of millimeters per year, and had a low frequency of formation. Thus, they concluded that porosity waves are unlikely to have been an important mechanism for transporting oil at Eugene Island.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, they concluded that porosity waves are unlikely to have been an important mechanism for transporting oil at Eugene Island. However, Joshi et al (2012) hypothesized that porosity waves may be much more effective at transporting methane because of methane's lower density and viscosity compared to oil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Joshi et al (2012) found that in order for porosity waves to reach velocities of at least millimeters per year in oilesaturated porous media, the P g /D ratio must exceed about 10 8 Pa m À2 , which results in the formation of a discrete peak in amplitude in the porosity waves. When the P g /D ratio is lower, then pore pressures diffuse away into the surroundings before pore pressure, porosity, and permeability can increase enough to form a rapidly moving porosity wave.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Potential of porosity waves for methane transport in the Eugene Island field of the Gulf of Mexico basin

Joshi

Appold

2016

Marine and Petroleum Geology

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Potential of porosity waves for methane transport in the Eugene Island field of the Gulf of Mexico basin

Joshi

Appold

2016

Marine and Petroleum Geology

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Pore Fluid Extraction by Reactive Solitary Waves in 3‐D

Omlin

Malvoisin

Podladchikov

2017

Geophysical Research Letters

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In the lower crust, viscous compaction is known to produce solitary porosity and fluid pressure waves. Metamorphic (de)volatilization reactions can also induce porosity changes in response to the propagating fluid pressure anomalies. Here we present results from high‐resolution simulations using Graphic Processing Unit parallel processing with a model that includes both viscous (de)compaction and reaction‐induced porosity changes. Reactive porosity waves propagate in a manner similar to viscous porosity waves, but through a different mechanism involving fluid release and trap in the solid by reaction. These waves self‐generate from red noise or an ellipsoidal porosity anomaly with the same characteristic size and abandon their source region to propagate at constant velocity. Two waves traveling at different velocities pass through each other in a soliton‐like fashion. Reactive porosity waves thus provide an additional mechanism for fluid extraction at shallow depths with implications for ore formation, diagenesis, metamorphic veins formation, and fluid extraction from subduction zones.

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An analytical solution for solitary porosity waves: dynamic permeability and fluidization of nonlinear viscous and viscoplastic rock

Connolly

Podladchikov

2012

Crustal Permeability

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Porosity waves are a mechanism by which fluid generated by devolatilization and melting, or trapped during sedimentation, may be expelled from ductile rocks. The waves correspond to a steady-state solution to the coupled hydraulic and rheologic equations that govern the flow of the fluid through the matrix and matrix deformation. This chapter presents an intuitive analytical formulation of this solution in one dimension that is general with respect to the constitutive relations used to define the viscous matrix rheology and permeability. This generality allows for the effects of nonlinear viscous matrix rheology and disaggregation. The solution combines the porosity dependence of the rheology and permeability in a single hydromechanical potential as a function of material properties and wave velocity. With the ansatz that there is a local balance between fluid production and transport, the solution permits the prediction of dynamic variations in permeability and pressure necessary to accommodate fluid production. The solution is used to construct a phase diagram that defines the conditions for smooth pervasive flow, wave-propagated flow, and matrix fluidization (disaggregation). The viscous porosity wave mechanism requires negative effective pressure to open the porosity in the leading half of a wave. In nature, negative effective pressure may induce hydrofracture, resulting in a viscoplastic compaction rheology. The tube-like porosity waves that form in a matrix with this rheology channelize fluid expulsion and are predicted by geometric argumentation from the one-dimensional viscous solitary wave solution.

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Evaluation of solitary waves as a mechanism for oil transport in poroelastic media: A case study of the South Eugene Island field, Gulf of Mexico basin

Cited by 15 publications

References 30 publications

Potential of porosity waves for methane transport in the Eugene Island field of the Gulf of Mexico basin

Potential of porosity waves for methane transport in the Eugene Island field of the Gulf of Mexico basin

Pore Fluid Extraction by Reactive Solitary Waves in 3‐D

An analytical solution for solitary porosity waves: dynamic permeability and fluidization of nonlinear viscous and viscoplastic rock

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