Characterization of spatial porosity and mineral distribution of crystalline rock using X-ray micro computed tomography, C-14-PMMA autoradiography and scanning electron microscopy

The spatial porosity and mineral distribution of geological materials strongly affects transport processes in them. X-ray micro computed tomography (X-mu CT) has proven to be a powerful tool for characterizing the spatial mineral distribution of geological samples in 3-D. However, limitations in resolution prevent an accurate characterization of pore space especially for tight crystalline rock samples and 2-D methods such as C-14-polymethylmethacrylate (C-14-PMMA) autoradiography and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are needed. The spatial porosity and mineral distributions of tight crystalline rock samples from Aspo, Sweden, and Olkiluoto, Finland, were studied here. The X-mu CT were use…