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INFLUENCE OF AUTHIGENIC CLAY MINERALS ON PERMEABILITY

JAMES J HOW ARD


Departmellt of Geology and Geophysics Yale University New Haven Connecticl
t 06511

ABSTRAcr Quantitative models of the reduction of permeability in reservoir sandstones due to the growth of authlge mc cI ay mInera I s
In th e pore space arc base d on the ablltly to esltmate t permeabi lity f the original clay free rock Simple physical models based on
Carman Kozeny relaltons are used to calculate permeability for the tdeallzed sandstone pore space Values or the surf ace area parameter I

In th e odId etermIned from proton MR longitudInal relaxation times and area perimeter ratios extracted by petrogra hic ima e
e s are
r
analysIs Althou h the agmtude of the dtffere ce between measured and calculated permeabilities is model dependent differe tte t

models charactenze relaltve behavtor for each sutle of sandstones The normalized
permeability differences correlate e kl th s

easures of to al clay abundance This indicates that permeability reduction is influenced more by clay distrib ti n Yt tn anc
abundance Calton exchange capactly C C measurements made by flow
through the intact rock are lower than values determi ed bY
y
of flow bulk CEC values decreases
standard methods on
powders As the ralto to fewer of the clays In th e pore space are accessed
by I he flUI d S ampI es wtlh Increased fractal dtmenstons or surface roughness have lower CEC rattos t ndtcatl ng th at Increase d roug hness
rtml t t he access I bT
II
ty 0f exch ange stles Samples with lower fractal dtmensions have more authigenic kaolinite than fibrous illite in
ddllton to gre ater dlff rences In measured and calculated permeability This suggests that physical constrictions caused by cia y gro th
In the throats tS more tmportant than surface roughness effects in reducing permeability in sandstones

and
INTRODUCTION porosity permeability Fig I B The data scatter from
these different
It is that the presence of authi sample suites suggests that other factors be
commonly recognized sides t e abundance and morphology of authigenic clays
in the pores of reservoir sandstones reduces per
genic clays determIne porosity permeability relations Other studies have
which has the dimensions of area
meability Permeability
8 shown that different clay types result in different porosity
1 darcy 10 cm2 is a property of the porous medium
of the fluid conditions Its measurement pro permeability relations Stadler 1973 Nagtegaal 1979 The
I
dependent key point that is missed in these porosity permeability cross
level of fluid flow inside
VIdes a
macroscopic description
medium that is how the fluid flux plots however is how much did the presence of the au
t e through a rock of
thigenic clay reduce the permeability in each sample
gIven permeability varies with the pressure gradient across Several laboratory based studies illustrate the importance
the sample The effect of clays in reducing permeability is f sample preparation in the measurement of permeability
believed to result from the constriction of pore throats and
In sa dstones that contain certain types of clay The pres
increased turbulence by roughening the pore wall surface
ervatIOn of delicate illite fibers by critical point drying
The
lves 1987question considered here is whether cer methods results in permeabilities three to ten times less than
tain reduce
clays permeability more than others by virtue
of their different morphologies and distributions within the permeability measured on the same sample that was air
dried pallat and others 1984 deWaal and others 1988
pores and if this difference in permeability reduction due Similar permeability reduction was observed for measure
to
clays can be quantified
There are a number of studies that link qualitative ob
ments
using both air and brine as the permeating fluid The
amount of
servations of authigenic clays in sandstones and their mea permeability reduction in the various samples
sured permeability Often the goal is to predict the potential
was not
dependent upon the amount of clay Pallat and oth
ers 1984 found similar permeability reduction for two
for formation damage during production Perhaps the most
samples containing 0 5 and 10 illite They suggested that
prominent study separates authigenic clays into several distribution in critical pathways is more important than
morp logic groups and defines regions on a porosity per amount of
clay in influencing permeability
meabIlity cross plot that are typical of those groups Neas Other studies have measured the reduction in permeabil
ham 1977 Fig lA Groups of pore bridging pore lining
and dIscrete particles of clay are commonly associated with Ity caused by fine particle migration Lever and Dawe 1984
lves 1987 In most of these the fine particles are authi
illite fibers chlorite and smectite rims and kaolinite books
e ic kaolinite books
dislodged from pore walls by changes
respectively Neasham 1977 proposed that the distribution In IOnIC strength of the fluid Fresh water low ionic strength
of Iay morph l ogies significantly affected sandstone po
greatly expands the electric double layer causing defloc
rosIty permeabIlity relations capillary pressure curves and culation and provides the material for
well log shaliness indicators The simple idea was that migration and ac
cumulation in pore throats The constriction of pore throats
patchy discrete clay particles have less effect on fluid flow
than clays lining the entire pore or throat A comparison of by these particles is largely reversible Permeability can be
restored to 90 of the introduction
original permeability by
petrophysical properties for sandstones that contain anyone of brines which reduces the thickness of the
high salinity
type of clay however illustrates that these morphology
electrical double layer and causes flocculation and attach
groups do not fit into well defined porosity permeability ment of kaolinite the pore wall
fields Several suites of sandstones all with 10 particles to Permeability
roughly also be restored in these The
wide range of
can cases by backflushing
authigenic pore filling kaolinite display a
amount of reduction is not associated with
permeability
of
amo t
Iay n the p res Both critical point drying and
kaolImte mlgratlOn studIes measure
Present Address Phillips Petroleum Research 116 GB Bartlesville permeability reduction
due to laboratory technique but the
Oklahoma 74004
underlying question of

Origin Diagenesis and Petrophysics of Clay Minerals in Sandstones SEPM Special Publication No 47

1992 SEPM SocIety for Sedimentary Geology


Copynght ISBN 0 918985 95 1
258 JAMES J HOWARD

10000
Permeability was measured by the flow of brine through
A the long axes of the plugs while enclosed in a stainless steel
1000 00 0 core holder The core holder had a rubber inner sleeve that
C
0
E
0
was
pressurized on the outside forming a tight seal be
100 tween the liner and core
plug Permeability was measured
by the fluid flux Is at several different pressure gra
cm

c
llI
10 dients atm
slope of the best fit line is k v where
cm The
GI k is the permeability constant in cm2 and v is the dynamic
ore n glng
E
GI Pore Lining viscosity in poise Linear behavior between flux and pres
sure gradient and a y intercept of zero define Newtonian
a
0 Discrete Particle
1 flow and is required for acceptable measurements Repli
cate measurements indicated an error of 5 and a lower

limit of measurement at 0 01 md measured


01 Porosity was

0 1 0 20 30 40
by standard buoyancy methods Formation factor was mea

Porosity sured on the saturated plugs at only one salinity with a four
terminal electrode cell
10000 made
Proton NMR measurements were on water satu
W I 8 rated plugs in a desk top instrument operating on the Lar
1000 X
C mor resonance frequency of 10 MHz The experiment mea
E YO
100
sured the longitudinal relaxation or T curve using a standard
0 r inversion recovery procedure A stretched exponential model
10 was also fitted to the longitudinal relaxation curve
c
llI
GI
0
M t Mo exp t T1at 1
0
E 0 0

where is the magnetization at recovery time t Mo is


GI 0
o t
M
1
the initial
a
8
0
magnetization and Tla is the mean TI value
Howard and others 1990
01
0 1 0 20 30 40 Other estimates of pore dimensions were obtained from

Porosity
image analysis ofthin section micrographs and mercury po
r
simetry Kenyon and others 1989 An average area pe
FIG 1 A P rosity permeability relations for different authigenic clay nmeter A P value for each sample was determined for all
mme a dlstnbutlOns modified from Neasham 1977 B Porosity per the measurable pores Mercury porosimetry curves were
meability relatIOns for reservoir sandstones designated by letter all con

taining authigenic kaolinite generated over a pressure range of I to 60 000 psi 413
MPa Cylindrical samples were used instead of irregularly
how did the growth of clay contribute to the original per shaped chips to minimize intrusion into surface pores at low
pressures Mean pore throat diameters and inflection points
meability remains unanswered
were extracted from the intrusion curve
The purposes of this
study are 1 to quantify the amount made two
of Cation exchange measurements were following
permeability reduction created by the presence of authi The standard method used NH4 as the ex
procedures
genic clay in the pore space and 2 to determine the rel
ative importance of clay abundance versus distribution in change cation which in turn
replaced on the exchange
was

sites by Na The sample was prepared by grinding for only


reducing permeability A simple experiment would be to several minutes to minimize grinding effects that are com
take a clean sandstone precipitate clay in the pore space
mon in CEC measurements The collected NH4 then was
and determine the change in permeability Lacking the abil
titrated in distillation apparatus
a Kjeldahl Ridge 1983
ity to do this we estimated what the permeability in a res This method gave results that are comparable to other tra
ervoir sandstone would be if all the clays were removed
ditional CEC techniques The other procedure employed a
Estimates of permeability for the clean sandstones are
fluid flow apparatus and the original permeability plug
based on several simple physical models that utilize pore
Crocker and others 1983 The sample was saturated ini
size information This study also proposes a clay sensitive

property measured by static and dynamic methods as a means


tially with I N CaCI2 then flushed with2
distilled water at

of quantifying the importance of clay distribution on rela


low flow rates to remove excess Ca and CI Flushing
continued until CI in the effluent was not detected roughly
tive amounts of permeability reduction
10 pore volumes Immediately a 1 N LaCI solution was

introduced at moderate flow rates A 10 ml aliquot of ef


METHODS 2
fluent was collected and the Ca in solution was measured

Petrophysical Measurements with a Ca selective electrode

made plugs 2
Petrophysical measurements were on cm
Samples
in diameter and 3 75 cm in length most oriented with long
All of the had been in The first group of included five suites of
axes parallel to bedding samples samples res

dried water ervoir sandstones that wide range of


storage and were oven to remove any excess cover a petrophysical
INFLUENCE OF AUTHIGENIC CLAY MINERALS ON PERMEABILITY 259

properties All had similar distinguished by a


lithologies TABLE 2 DESCRIPTION OF PETROPHYSICAL STANDARDS
SANDSTONES
quartz and
feldspar predominantly in
rich framework and
with small amounts of microporosity
tergranular porosity
associated with authigenic clay minerals filling some of the Formation Framework Clay Minerals
Table 1 Suite A sandstones hadwide range
a
pore space
of and and contained small amounts
porosity permeability
of well formed kaolinite books in the pore space Several Berea Otz Kfeld Kaol III
Massillon 65 Otz Kfeld Kaol llI
A samples also had trace amounts of fibrous illite The
Massillon 85 Otz Kfeld Kaol lII
clay distribution in the A sandstones appeared to be ir

were clean whereas a few were com Nugget Otz Kfeld III
regular many pores Portland Qtz Kfeld Cal Kaol
pletely filled with kaolinite The E group sandstones were
Coconino Otz III
very well sorted quartz arenites with large intergranular pores
and small amounts less than 5 of kaolinite and illite in
the pores and throats Group 0 sandstones exhibited a

scale of the SANS measurement is sensitive to variations


wide range of porosity and permeability values 6 18 and
in the in surface roughness on a pore scale
0 01 to 100 md respectively The dominant clay
pore space of group 0 samples was
authigenic kaolinite
Permeability Models
Several of the porous and permeable samples had au
more

thigenic chlorite that lined the entire pore space Groups Permeability estimates for an idealized clay free sand
B and C were classified as shaly sands because of stone were
generated by assuming that the pore system can
their greater clay content as much as 20 Abundant au be represented by an equivalent homogeneous system in
illite and kaolinite were observed in the pores
thigenic some which the flow channels are identical cylinders or tubes with
however there were also significant amounts of detrital clay radius r A number of simple physical models generally
based on criteria of Wilson and Pittman 1977 Most of called hydraulic radius models are available The models
the sandstones in this study had log normal pore size dis differ primarily in how the critical length information is ob
tributions determined by proton nuclear magnetic
as res
tained from measurements of the rock Brace 1977 The

onance measurements Howard and others 1990 of these used models are their theoretical
advantages widely
A second set of six sandstones was used in the CEC flow
simplicity and their utility in identifying the essential ele
experiments Table 2 These sandstones are commonly used ments of
permeability Paterson 1983 More complex the
in petrophysical studies by a number of laboratories with oretical models often fail largely because the intricate pore
their prime attraction being with the
exception of Portland geometry of the connected pore space defies quantitative
sandstone a low clay content Kaolinite is the dominant characterization Oullien 1979
clay mineral in Berea Massillon and Portland sandstones The Carman Kozeny parallel tubes model is most com
with minor amounts of illite whereas the Nugget and Co
monly used for estimating permeability in sandstones The
conino sandstones contain mostly illite This set of petro model assumes a bundle of uniform capillary tubes with a

physical standards is the same as is used in a small angle total cross sectional areaequal to the sample porosity In
neutron scattering SANS study Wong and others 1986 its form Carman Kozeny model includes
simplest a

In the SANS the


study scattering intensity data taken over 3
a length scale range of 5 to 500A were fitted with a power k 4 CIS2 2

law This exponent value is related to


exponential function where 4 is the fractional porosity S is the surface area to
the fractal dimension d with greater surface roughness as
volume ratio and CI is shape factor
sociated with higher fractal dimension values The
a
plus tortuosity term
length which equals 2 to 3 for simple packing geometries Wyllie
and 1952 Best fits of rock data increase the value
Splanger
of CI to 5 Wong and others
1986 Most studies using the
TABLE I DESCRIPTION OF RESERVOIR SANDSTONES Carman Kozeny model employ surface areas determined by
BET gas adsorption To emphasize the enhanced contri

Total Clay bution to by larger pores this study used an areal


fluid flow

Formation Framework 1
XRO Clay Minerals2 perimeter A ratio determined by image analysis of thin
P
sections This A P ratio estimates the effective pore sur
Ehr
face area volume for predicting transport properties
lich and others 1984 Ooyen 1988
A Otz Kfeld 7 Kaol
B Otz Kfeld Cal 15 III Kaol permeability estimate
The second also used the Carman

C Otz Kfeld Cal 20 III Kaol Kozeny hydraulic radius formalism but obtained the sur

0 Otz 4 Kaol volume information from proton NMR TJ relax


face area

E Otz Kfeld 9 Kaol Chlor


ation curves The model predicts permeability from
2m 2
k TJa 3
4
10tz Ouartz Kfeld K feldspar Cal Calcite
and
2Kaol Kaolinite III Illite ChlorChlorite
p S
I V 4
TJa
260 JAMES J HOWARD

where m is the Archie cementation exponent TJa is the mean TABLE 3 PETROPHYSlCAL MEASUREMENTS OF A SANDSTONES

relaxation time determined from the stretched


longitudinal
fit and p is the surface relaxation strength param AlP4
exponent Porosity Perm 1 T1 Ic2
eter insec For many reservoir sandstones empirical
cm md Form F3
Sample ms ijLm m

observations indicate that m is equal to two For these res


4
ervoir sandstones the 4 relation generates a NMR based
A2 20 8 1160 569 36 7 14 3 18 1
estimator and others 1988 Howard
permeability Kenyon A3 23 6 1170 395 15 5 17 7
and others 1990 For unimodal size glass bead A4 24 3 1160 393 37 8 15 5 17 2
packs a

AS 20 2 10 81 2 6 8 8
to clean sandstones results of
simple analogy experimental A6 4
23 26 134 50 18 8 9 9
m 3 2 are supported by theoretical arguments based on
A7 23 2 115 146 6 1 15 8 10 0
network resistor models Wong and others 1984 A9 19 2 346 299 27 2 16 6 11 8
Al0 23 6 769 448 35 9 14 8 16 7
The pore size information obtained from A P and TJ A11 20 0 334 351 29 0 4
17 14 5
measurements focusesbody dimensions rather
on the pore A13 23 7 19 181 88 4
23 13 9
than the smaller pore constrictions that ultimately have more A14 20 7 391 345 25 3 19 9 20 0
A15 23 2 408 365 34 1 17 3 21 0
effect on permeability A percolation based model of fluid
A16 21 6 1030 473 18 9 16 1 17 7
flow was also evaluated in this study This model attempts A17 21 1 514 346 59 0 19 2 17 8
to account for more heterogeneity in the
pathways and pore
dimensions than the simpler Carman Kozeny model 1Measured permeability

Thompson and others 1987 The percolation model also 2Critical throat radius mercury porosimetry
suggests that the interconnectedness of the pore network is 3Formation factor
4Area
porosity independent perimeter

k czlc F 5

where Ie is the threshold conductance for network


length
percolation F is the formation factor which accounts for Pore dimensions determined by image analysis and mer

cury porosimetry also resulted in a range of values The


tortuosity and Cz is a geometrical constant Throat diam
eters the threshold obtained from the in
A sandstones illustrated the range of pore dimensions ob
or
length were
flection of a served Table 3 Mercury porosimetry curves for the higher
point mercury injection curve
in
sandstones tended to be unimodal with
porosity sharp
RESULTS points which characterized Ie The A sandstones
flection
had mean throat diameters between 2 6 and 37 8 f
Lm cor

There was a wide range of measured permeability and


responding to entry pressures of 400 and 3 psi 2 76 and
values for the various sandstone suites
2
porosity Fig 0 02 MPa respectively The lower permeability samples
For a given porosity value permeability varied by as much found in suites B and C had throat dimensions deter
as four orders of magnitude The A suite had permea mined low 0 1
by mercury porosimetry as as
Lm
f equiv
bilities that ranged from 10 to 1 200 md whereas porosities alent to entry pressure of 1 000 psi 6 89 MPa
an

ranged from 19 to 24 Table 3 Formation factor for these Area perimeter values for the A samples represented
A sandstones was significantly less variable 14 to 23 the high range for all the samples 10 20 fLm Table 3
than measured permeabilities even though both were per The 0 and E sandstone samples had intermediate A
colation based properties P values of 8 to 13 Lf The lower
m porosity permeability
B and C sandstone had A P values of 3 to 8
samples
104 Lm
f
NMR TJn values for the A sandstones varied between
All 80 and 570 ms with
103 a strong correlation between long re
t
laxation times and values Table 3 The
C B 1 high permeability
E 102 0 liCit
E sandstones had Tla values between 200 and 400 ms

with much less variation than the A sandstones The B


1 0 Oil 0 4
10 sandstones had TJa values between 100 and 200 ms whereas
0
E
o t1
0
the lower permeability C sandstones had values between
100 8 o
c
ca g 00 10 and 100 ms In addition to determining mean TJ values

Q 0 the measured NMR inversion recovery curve was trans


1
10 0
E 0 formed into a population density distribution of relaxation
Q times with shorter times to smaller pores
0 10
2 0 corresponding
and times to and others 1989
00
longer larger pores Kenyon
3 The sandstone suites in this characterized
10 study were by
1 normal distributions of TJ which to
o 0 20 30 log s corresponded log
normal pore size distributions Howard and others 1990
Porosity The Carman models
two Kozeny produced permeability
FIG 2 Porosity permeability relations for the five suites of reservoir estimates that especially for the higher porosity
are similar
and
sandstones designated by letter in this study permeability samples Permeability estimates based on
INFLUENCE OF AUTHIGENIC CLAY MINERALS ON PERMEABILITY 261

the models of the pore radius


simple physical hydraulic 104
NMR T and A P two to three times greater
generally
were C

E
than the measured permeability for the A sandstones Ta
103
ble 4 The greatest discrepancy between measured and es
timated permeability occured with the percolation model that
102
utilized pore dimensions from mercury porosimetry Many c
llI

of the estimates from the percolation model were less than GI


1 IIAII
E 10
to the measured
or equal permeability For the lower po GI B
B C and 0 sandstone samples the perme a
rosity 100 0 lie
0
ability predicted from image analysis A P pore dimensions C
GI 0 0
had a maximum value of 50 md For these same low po
llI 1
10
sandstones the estimated from the NMR liE
rosity permeability l
lJ
based model was less than I md
llI 2
10
For the reservoir sandstone data set the NMR based es o
10 310 210 1100101102103104
timated two to times greater than
permeability was seven

the measured value with most of the samples being within Measured Permeability md
a factor of three of the measilred value Fig 3 The rel
FIG 3 Comparison of measured permeability with values calculated
ative difference between measured and calculated perme from the Carman Kozeny model using NMR T results as the hydraulic
most of the
ability was the same through permeability range radius parameter Line represents I I relation
with greater differences at the lowest permeability values
The difference in measured and calculated permeability was

evaluated as both the normalized difference between the two surface areas 6 to 8 m2 gm that corresponded to large Ii
values and the difference between the logk but several other C samples with large surface areas
permeability as log
lik and Ii had very small differences between measured and calcu
values log k
lated relations observed for
The difference in permeability values is compared later permeability Similar were ca

to various measurements of clay content in the sandstones tion exchange capacity


Standard X ray powder diffraction XRO methods of de The fractal dimensions d of the petrophysical standards

termining total clay content were limited in this study by samples obtained from SANS measurements Wong and
others 1986 varied between 4 for the Berea and Mas
2
low levels of precision t 5 absolute abundance which
sillon 85 sandstones to 2 9 for Coconino sandstone Table
corresponds to as much as 100 relative error for these
The
clay poor samples Because surface area and CEC mea
5 samples rich in fibrous illite Nugget and Cocon
ino had higher fractal dimension values than the kaolinite
surements are not
clay specific there is greater analytical
filled Berea and Massillon samples Fig 5 For these sam
precision if not accuracy Newer XRO methods that im
prove precision were not used Moore and Reynolds 1989 ples the presence of fibrous illite resulted in a larger d value
and greater surface roughness Clay abundance did not ap
Surface area measured by gas adsorption methods corre
lated poorly with the difference in log permeability Fig pear to affect the fractal dimension significantly Portland
sandstone had an intermediate fractal value of 2 54 despite
4 Most of the samples clustered around low surface area
values A few samples from the C sandstones had high having more clay mostly kaolinite than the other samples
The flow CEC experiments on the same petrophysical
standards samples generated CEC values less than those de
TABLE 4 PERMEABlLITY ESTIMATES FOR A
SANDSTONES

2
0
NMR T1 AreaPerimeter Percolation A

Sample md md md liB

0 ett
c
0
A2 2915 1477 726 llI

GI ocJ 0
0

A3 2059 2057 E o 0

A4 2361 2260 709 GI

A5 55 323
a
ta
Cl o oo
A6 231 625 10
A7 268 631 18 J 0 0
l
A9 632 490 344
A10 2640 1836 670 11 o
o

0
0

0
0

A11 986 846 372


A13 440 1290 25 0
0 2 4 6 8 10
A14 966 1621 248
A15 1666 2756 518
Surface Area m2 g 1
A16 2260 1572 171
A17 1124 1494 1398 of surface
FIG 4 Cross plot area vs
log k for suites of sandstones
used in this See text for additional explanation
study
262 JAMES J HOWARD

TABLE 5 CATION EXCHANGE CAPACITY MEASUREMENTS FOR 0


PETROPHYSICAL STANDARDS SANDSTONES

Bulk CEC Flow CEC Fractal III 08


a
Sample meq l00 g meq l 00 g dimension
0
W
0 0 6
Berea 1 0 0 7 41
2
II
Massillon 65 4
0 0 2 2 62
Massillon 85 0
4 0
4 2 36 CD
1 8 04
Nugget 0 8 2 68
0
Portland 2 9 1 5 2 54
ii
Coconino 1 0 0 3 2 92
I

02
2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0

Fractal Dimension d
termined standard bulk methods Table 5 The ratio of
by
flow bulk CEC values compared to the fractal dimension FIG 6 Cross plot of fractal dimension d vs flow bulk CEC ratio

1
indicates that more occured in
complete cation exchange for petrophysical standards sandstones

with lower fractal dimension Fig 6 As the


samples sur

face increased the of the 10 ml of col


roughness ability
rl

lected pore fluid to exchange cations decreased significantly


w

2 J

A
r
f iirII Measured permeability for the petrophysical standards
Y r
tlii t
n
d
f
samples varied between 0 1 and 2 233 md Table 6 T1a
values ranged from 13 to 580 ms The NMR based per

q
r
1
1 vi I
meability model estimated permeability values 2 to 5 times
greater than measured An increase in Li log permeability

r t
f
i 1
corresponded with higher values of flow bulk CEC ratio
Fig 7

i t
DISCUSSION

d
t

r
The difference between measured and calculated per
ij
L h
meability Lik is a quantitative estimate of how much per
r

y t
t
r
4

C lit
4a rfiI
t
t J
meability reduction is due to clays in a given sandstone
r t J 1 t
This interpretation of course is overly simplistic because
1

l J 1i it does not account for any other diagenetic processes such


0K
11
n i lit b l 2 HP R8 5 However for these
as cementation that reduce permeability

that have limited and carbonate cements


fJ U C E T I F f 4 samples quartz
this usage of Lik as a clay sensitive term will suffice
4
1

B fI
4
1
Physical models for estimating permeability should be
simple with estimated permeability generally being greater
1
than the measured value High permeability estimates com

monly result from pore dimension measurements that are


skewed toward larger pore sizes The absolute value of the
r
o
J
t
r

o
calculated permeability contains less information than the
difference in measured and calculated be
f
permeability
TABLE 6 PERMEABILITY VALUES FOR PETROPHYSICAL
STANDARDS SANDSTONES
r J

v Porosity T1a Permeability Calc Perm


t

Sample ms md md

Berea 4
18 236 103 347
07 II 0 Massillon 65 23 8 407 1242 2233
Massillon 85 24 3 581 2590 4844
FIG 5 A SEM micrograph of Berea sandstone with abundant small Nugget 6 3 21 0 1 0 1

particles of kaolinite d 42
2 and CEC ratio 0 7 B SEM micro Portland 20 0 13 0 85 1 4

graph of Nugget sandstone sample was prepared by critical point drying Coconino 13 9 135 62 5 48 9
d 2 68 and CEC ratio 4
0 Width of each micrograph is 300 fLm
INFLUENCE OF AUTHIGENIC CLAY MINERALS ON PERMEABILITY 263

suitable determine sandstone


06 models are not to original
permeability
does not correlate well with k The
05 Clay abundance llog
results to date suggest that the amount of permeability re
c
01 duction in clay bearing sandstones is not dependent on the
Gl 04

E abundance of clay One problem is estimating clay abun


Gl
dance in sandstones that contain low volumes of clay less
Q
03 than 10 The observation that abundance does not
Cl clay
2 affectpermeability reduction is in agreement with labora
l
02 tory based permeability reduction studies Pallat and oth
ers 1984 Ives 1987 In turn this conclusion suggests
that the distribution of in the pore be the
0 1 clay space might
more important parameter

00
This study attempted quantify distribution of clay by
to

0 2 0 4 0 6 0 8 1 0 comparison of static and


dynamic measurements of cation
Flow or dynamic CEC measurements
Flow Bulk CEC Ratio exchange capacity
reflect the accessibility of flowing fluid to the exchange
FIG 7 Cross plot of flow bulk CEC ratio vs d log k for the petro sites Clays that are more directly in the flow path at the
physical standards sandstones See text for additional explanation centers of the pore spaces and throats exchange cations
more efficiently than clays along the edges of pore spaces
Less than 10 minutes was required for the collection of the
2
it reflects deviations from flow behavior through an that diffusion of Ca from these inac
cause 10 ml suggesting
idealized pore geometry cessible sites the main flow the scale of 10
to paths on

original clay free


Is there a best model that estimates the flm should be negligible
permeability The answer if one is possible may lie more The relation between flow bulk CEC ratio and fractal
in the nature and quality of the measurements used as input dimension suggests that as the pore surface becomes rougher
in any theoretical construction of pore Coconino and Nugget with their mostly fibrous il
parameters than e g

For the two Carman Kozeny models the hy lite the flow is less efficient in
geometry experiment exchanging
draulic radius parameter determined from A
pore diP cations The low flow bulk CEC value suggests that these
mensions is skewed toward larger sizes than the NMR based fibrous pore lining clays are less accessible to the overall
term due to the limited
optical resolution of a microscope flow In a given pore
path most of the flow occurs in its

For if the surface relaxation term is 0 001


example p cm center whereas the pore walls are in a no slip boundary
Howard and others 1990 then 85 to
s ms
corresponds a condition Dullien 1979 In contrast the Berea sample

spherical pore diameter of 5 flm roughly the lower limit has kaolinite books located more toward the central por
of optical resolution Because several of the low porosity tions of pores and a higher flow bulk CEC ratio Most of

permeability samples have mean TJ values less than 85 ms the exchangeable cations in kaolinite are accessed by the
this suggests that image analysis results for these samples flow that traverses the pores The CEC results suggest that
utilize only a few measurable pores Despite the limited the kaolinite books are in the central portions of pores and
number of pores measured by image analysis A P results throats whereas fibrous illite is found on the edges of the
are still useful because the largest pores contribute the most pores
to fluid flow Dullien 979 Therefore all the smaller pores The difference in measured and NMR calculated per
detected by NMR have appreciable effect for the
no on perme meability petrophysical standards samples indicates
Future research could be to utilize the TJ distribu
ability that greater permeability reduction occurs in the samples
tions along with area perimeter distributions to
optimize with highest flow bulk CEC ratio and lower fractal dimen
these permeability models sion Intuition might suggest that the samples with more

The percolation model gives a significantly larger range fibrous illite would have
authigenic greater loss of per
a

of permeability values with greater variation in l log k but these results indicate that authigenic kaolin
meability
Many of the estimates from the percolation model are equal ite reduces permeability more This is opposite of the pro
to or less than measured
permeabilities This results from posal by Neasham 1977 who suggested that authigenic
the throat sensitive nature of the input critical length pa kaolinite filled pores would have the least effect on trans
rameter for the
percolation model that is obtained from port properties This suggests that the permeability reduc
mercury porosimetry A mercury injection curve is the re tion mechanism is actual physical constraint and constric
sult of percolation phenomena and is dependent on the throats rather than
tion in the pore drag and increased
connectivity of the porous network Mercury data reflect turbulence of the laminar flow created by roughened surfaces
dynamic behavior and therefore contrast with the NMR and
image analysis measures of pore length that are indepen CONCLUSIONS
dent of network considerations The precipitation of small
amounts of authigenic clay does little to change pore di Simple physical models are used to estimate permeability
ameters yet dramatically alters transport properties This for idealized reservoir sandstones with no
authigenic clays
that
suggests permeability estimates from percolation based in the pore space Comparison of these estimated values
264 JAMES J HOWARD

and actual measured permeabilities suggests the magnitude DULLlEN F A 1979 Porous Media Fluid Transport and Pore Structure
New York Academic Press 396 p
of permeability reduction caused by the growth of authi EHRLICH R KENNEDY S CRABTREE S AND CANNON R 1984 Pe
genic clays The absolute magnitude of permeability re
trographic image analysis I Analysis of reservoir pore complexes
duction is model dependent however the models consis Journal Sedimentary Petrology v 54 p 1365 1378

tently yield permeability values for clay free sandstones HOWARD J KENYON W AND STRALEY C 1990 Proton magnetic res

greater than measured values The most consistent esti onance and pore size variations in reservoir sandstones Society of Pe
values derived from Carman Koz troleum Engineers Paper 20600 p 733 742
mated permeability are
IVES K 1987 Filtration of clay suspensions through sand Clay Min
eny based models which employed surface area terms gen erals v 22 p 49 61
erated from NMR and image analysis
TI area perimeter KENYON W DAY P STRALEY c AND WJLLEMSEN J 1988 A three
measurements
part study of NMR longitudinal relaxation studies of water saturated

The relative difference in measured and calculated sandstones Society of Petroleum Engineers Formation Evaluation v

4 p 622 636
is correlated with different
permeabilities poorly measures
KENYON W HOWARD J SEZGlNER A STRALEY c MATIESON A
of clay abundance The absence of a good correlation be HORKOWITZ K AND EHRLICH R 1989 Pore size distribution and NMR
tween
permeability reduction and clay abundance suggests in microporous cherty sandstones Transactions Society of Profes
that the distribution of sional Well Log Analysts Annual Meeting Paper LL 24 p
clays in pore space is the more im
LEVER A AND DAWE R 1984 Water sensitivity and migration of fines
portant factor in controlling flow properties in the reservoir
in the Hopeman sandstone Journal of Petroleum Geology v 7 p 97
Quantitative measurements of clay distribution in pore 108

space include dynamic CEC and SANS measurements The MOORE D M AND REYNOLDS R c 1989 X ray Diffraction and the
reduction in flow bulk CEC ratio demonstrates that clay in Identification and Analysis of Clay Minerals New York Oxford Uni

central pathways has more effect on reducing permeability versity Press 332 p
NAGTEGAAL P 1979 Relationship of facies and reservoir quality in Ro
than clays along pore edges Rough surfaces associated with
tliegendes desert sandstones southern North Sea region Journal of Pe
authigenic illite for these samples has less effect on re troleum Geology v 2 p 145 158

ducing permeability than smoother kaolinite filled pores NEASHAM J W 1977 The morphology of dispersed clay in sandstone

This suggests that the mechanism of permeability reduction reservoirs and its effect on sandstone shaliness
pore space and fluid
flow properties Society of Professional Engineers Paper 6858 8 p
by authigenic clay minerals is associated more with phys PALLAT N WILSON 1 AND MCHARDY W 1984 The relationship be
ical constrictions than drag induced turbulence and the
tween permeability morphology of diagenetic illite in reservoir
rocks Journal of Petroleum Technology v 25 p 2225 2227
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PATERSON M 1983 The equivalent channel model for permeability and

The laboratory assistance of L McGowan P Dryden resistivity in fluid saturated rock a re


appraisal Mechanics Mate
rials v 2 p 345 352
and C Straley is gratefully noted Petrographic image anal
RIDGE M 1983 A combustion method for
measuring the cation ex
ysis results were provided by E Etris and R Ehrlich Uni change capacity of minerals
Log Analyst v 3 p 6 11
clay
versity of South Carolina D Houseknecht J Janks K STADLER P 1973 Influence of
crystallographic habit and aggregate
Gerety and W Kenyon are thanked for comments and structure of
authigenic clay minerals on sandstone permeability Geo
discussion logie en Mijnbouw v 52 p 217 220
THOMPSON A KATZ A AND KHRON C 1987 The microgeometry and

transport properties of sedimentary rock Advances in Physics v 36


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resistivity shape
of Geophysical Research v 82 p 3343 3349 Recognition and influence on reservoir properties and paleoenviron
CROCKER M DONALDSON E AND MARClUN L 1983 Comparison and mental analysis Journal of Sedimentary Petrology v 47 p 1 31

analysis of reservoir rocks and related clays Society of Petroleum En WONG P HOWARD 1 AND LIN J 1986 Surface roughening and the

gineers Paper 11973 8 p fractal nature of rocks Physics Review Letters v 57 p 637 640
DEWAAL J BIL K KANTOROWICZ J AND DICKER A 1988 Petro WONG P KOPLlK J AND TOMANIC 1 1984 Conductivity and per

physical core
analysis of sandstones containing delicate illite Log An meability of rocks Physics Review B v 30 p 6606 6614
alyst v 8 p 317 330 WYLLIE M AND SPANGLER M 1952 Application of electrical resistiv
DOYEN P 1988 Permeability conductivity and pore geometry of sand ity measurements to the problem of fluid flow in porous media Amer
stone Journal of Geophysical Research v 93 p 7729 7740 ican Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin v 36 p 359 403

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