0000000000715485
AUTHOR
Ludmila Adam
Three-Dimensional Separation and Characterization of Fractures in X-Ray Computed Tomographic Images of Rocks
Open fractures can affect petrophysical properties of their host rock masses, as well as fluid transport and storage, so characterization of them is important to both industrial and research scientists. X-ray Computed Tomography (CT), a non-destructive technique for 3D imaging of various materials, shows such fractures well in rock samples. However, separation and characterization of fractures in CT data is complicated when a scanned sample contains narrow and intersecting fractures, because narrow fractures become blurred when thinner than the scanner resolution and their value approximates the one of the matrix, and because intersecting features are difficult to individually characterize.…
Seismic anisotropy and its impact on imaging the shallow Alpine Fault : an experimental and modeling perspective.
The transpressional Alpine Fault in New Zealand has created a thick shear zone with associated highly anisotropic rocks. Low seismic velocity zones (LVZ) and high seismic reflectivity are recorded in the Alpine Fault Zone, but no study has explored the underlying physical rock parameters of the shallow crust that control these observations. Protomylonites are the volumetrically dominant lithology of the fault zone. Here we combine experimental measurements of P‐wave speeds with numerical models of elastic wave anisotropy of protomylonite samples to explore how the fault zone can be seismically imaged. Numerical models that account for the porosity‐free real samples' fabric elastic tensors f…
Fracture Shape and Orientation Contributions to P-Wave Velocity and Anisotropy of Alpine Fault Mylonites
P-wave anisotropy is significant in the mylonitic Alpine Fault shear zone. Mineral- and texture-induced anisotropy are dominant in these rocks but further complicated by the presence of fractures. Electron back-scattered diffraction and synchrotron X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) data are acquired on exhumed schist, protomylonite, mylonite and ultramylonite samples to quantify mineral phases, crystal preferred orientations, microfractures and porosity. The samples are composed of quartz, plagioclase, mica and accessory garnet, and contain 3-5% porosity. Based on the micro-CT data, the representative pore shape has an aspect ratio of 5:2:1. Two numerical models are compared to calculate the…