Porosity

Porosity (total and effective)

Density (grain and bulk)

Mineral densities

Density-porosity relations

Composite grain density

Grains and pores

Packing and sorting

1
Porosity and Density
Porosity:
Porosity, f, is a measure of void space in a rock. Void space can
contain hydrocarbons!

Vp (V b V g )
f 
Vb Vb
For most sedimentary rocks f < 50% Porosity units?

Density:
m
 
V

bulk density, b
grain density, g
2
Porosity and Density
(  g  b )
Porosity-Density relationship: f
g

b  ff  1  f   g

b _ dry  1  f   g
Grain density:
n
g  c
i 1
i i
Where ci and i are the volume fraction and densities of minerals
3
present.
Selected mineral densities (gm/cc)
quartz 2.65
calcite 2.71
dolomite 2.87
siderite 3.96
muscovite 3.84
kaolinite 1.58
clay_aver. 2.57
feldspars 2.50-2.67
anhydrite 2.98
gypsum 2.35
4
salt 2.17
Clays and Micas grain densities

Illite 2.6-2.9 2.7

Montmorillonite 2-2.7 2.35

Glauconite 2.4-2.95 2.67

Muscovite 2.77-2.88 2.82

Biotite 2.8-3.4 3.09

Kaolinite 2.6 2.6

Vermiculite 2.3-2.7 2.5

Chlorite 2.6-3.3 2.9

5
Porosity
We have multiple means by which we can estimate pore volume (Vp).
Some have implicit assumptions. The true way of measuring Vp is by

1. measuring the bulk volume (Vb)

2. crushing the sample to measure grain volume (Vg)

3. use the formula: Vp = Vb -Vg

This pore volume divided by the bulk volume yields a porosity value called
the “total” porosity.

Using other measurement approaches (measuring volumes of injected gas,

water, mercury, etc.) assumes total connectivity between the pores. Thus
estimates based on these approaches typically produce smaller values
of porosity and are referred to as “effective” porosities.

Why should you measure porosity both ways?

6
 Fountainebleau Sandstone

Bourbie et al. 1987 7

Porosity: Free Porosity

The total pore space is the red + white area. The concept of “free porosity”
refers to only the white portion. The red triangular sections are considered
areas where it is more difficult to move fluids; these are adjacent to the
grains (blue).

8
 Scanning Electron Microscope

9
Berea Sandstone
Pores Grain boundaries

Pore
throat
10
 Grain boundaries==cracks?

Berea Sandstone 11
Tight Sandstone

12
Tight Sandstone
Chlorite

13
 Illite

Sandstone

14
Gas Shale

Organics
kerogen

Quartz

Clays

15
Diatoms Single cell algae

living

Skeletal material is pure SiO2! 16

Miocene Monterey Fm. , Ca.

Diatoms
SiO2

17
Ekofisk Reservoir, Paleocene
chalk made from coccoliths, Ca CO3
single cell algae

Deposit 60,000,000,000 /m2/yr Bering Sea today

18
 Limestones

Macro and Micro

porosity

19
Homework:
1. Write expressions for (1) grain density of a rock composed of
three minerals quartz, calcite, and clay, and (2) density of pore fluid
containing brine and hydrocarbon.

2. Calculate the bulk density of a rock which has 20% porosity.

The bulk mineralogy of the rock is 80% quartz, 15% calcite and 5% clay.
The pore fluid is composed of 20% brine and 80% hydrocarbon.
Density values for quartz, calcite, clay, brine and hydrocarbons are:
2.65, 2.71, 2.75, 1.0, 0.7 gm/cc, respectively.

3. A dry core sample weighing 450 gm was saturated with brine (brine = 1.05 g/cc).
The saturated weight is 475 gm. The cylindrical core sample is 12 cm long
and 4 cm in diameter. Calculate the core porosity?

4. What is the porosity of a rock which is composed of 70% quartz, 20% calcite
and 10% clay and has a dry bulk density of 2.31 gm/cc? On saturating the core with
brine of density 1.02 gm/cc the saturated density was determined to be 2.48 gm/cc.
Using this value calculate the porosity. Why does it differ from the value calculated
using dry density? Assume no errors in measurements.
20
 5. A Dean Stark experiment yields 0.862 cc of water and 1.294 cc of oil.
The water density is 1.02 g/cc and the oil density is 0.72 g/cc. Assume the
core was 100% staturated when received. A The arkosic
sandstone is 72% quartz , 15% K-feldspar and 13 % clay. The original core weight
was 30.507 gm, the length is 25.5mm and diameter is 25.55 mm. Compute the
porosity, saturated and dry bulk density, pore volume and water and oil saturations.

6. The dry weight of a core is 28.20 gm. When saturated with a brine having a
density of 1.15 gm/cc the weight increases to 31.50 gm. Calculate the apparent
porosities if the matrix is 1) quartz and 2) calcite.

7. A 1” diameter core by 1.5” long had a dry weight 56.61 gm. What is the lithology?

8. Calculate the weight in lbs of 90 feet of wet 4” diameter sandstone core.

Assume an average porosity of 15% and a grain density of 2.65 gm/cc.
Assume the saturating fluid has a density of 1.05 gm/cc. This is a typical core
acquired on a drill rig during a coring program.
21
9. Given the measured porosities and dry densities, compute the grain density
Porosity dry density
gm/cc

0.084576 2.460547
0.24969 2.100788
0.179891 2.227571
0.282789 1.940692
0.249521 1.975408
0.035086 2.55842
0.178439 2.269011
0.077004 2.576182
0.287553 1.967119
0.011593 2.808226
0.212595 2.219497
0.238577 2.017549
0.27567 1.987079
0.290814 1.937283
0.117977 2.350455
0.225802 2.192369
0.17739 2.303381
0.121253 2.448843
0.287829 1.928111
0.069798 2.455823

22
 - Grain size, shape, packing and
Factors controlling porosity distribution
- Cementation
- Compaction

23
Graton and Fraser, 1935
Factors controlling porosity: Unit cells

24
Graton and Fraser, 1935
Factors controlling porosity: Pore space

25
Graton and Fraser, 1935
Homework:

10. Compute the porosity for simple cubic packing of identical spheres.

26
27
 k  dthroat
2

d grain
 d throat
5  10

dthroat , m
28
Porosity and Packing

Note the order of magnitude

relation between grain and
pore size!

29
Beard and Weyl, 1973

30
 Grain size distributions



f(x)
f ( x )dx  1
0.4

Continuous function 
0.3  ˆ
xx
2

N 
1 
f( x )  e 2 2

 2 the area is the fraction of

0.2 measurements falling between
f(x)
x and x + dx

0.1

0
22 23 24 25 26 27 28

x x+dx
Bin size Dk
f(x) dx = probability that any one measurement 31
will give an answer between x and x + dx
Distributions:

mean
mode
median

  x  xˆ 
3

Skewness 
( N  1) 3
+

  x  xˆ 
4

kurtosis 
( N  1) 4
-

Where  is the standard deviation.

32
Controls on porosity also include the sorting of the grains.

  x  xˆ 
3

Skewness 
( N  1) 3 Tickell et al. 1933 33
Porosity-Sorting-Packing
Mixing sphere sizes
diameter ratios
Porosity

% volume of small spheres

Note minimum shifts with increasing differences in sphere sizes! 34

Porosity-Grain size

35
Porosity

Classification

Geological : Primary
Secondary

Engineering: Effective
Total

Reservoir Volumetrics:

N = C As h f Soi
where: N ---- initial oil in place at reservoir conditions, bbl
As -- surface area of the reservoir, acres (43,560 ft2)
h ---- thickness of the formation, ft
f --- porosity, fraction
Soi --- initial oil saturation, fraction
36
C ---- constant (7758)
 Pores

37
Thin-section image of a sandstone. Blue dye defines pore space.
 Grubb Formation
California, Miocene
Turbidite

Angular
Grains

38
Grimmett_613
Oklahoma

Pores

39
 100m D9V
100m

D11H

R4H
D1V
100m

100m 40
Limestones, UAE
Porosity Measurements Methods

DIRECT METHODS:
- By measurement of bulk and grain volume.
- Optical method. Use of petrographic thin section analysis.
- Imbibition method. Imbibing wetting fluid into the pore space.
- Mercury injection method. Forcing non-wetting liquid into the
pore space.
- Gas expansion method (He, N2)
- Density method.
- NMR (proton density)

Log Based Methods :

- Formation Factor
- Micro-resistivity logs
- Neutron logs
- Gamma-gamma logs
- Acoustic logs
- NMR logs 41
Calculated versus core porosity Calculated versus core porosity
(assuming constant g = 2.65 gm/cc) (using measured grain density)

42
References:

Beard, D. C. and Weyl, P. K., 1973, Influence of texture on porosity and

permeability of unconsolidated sand: AAPG Bull., 57, 349-369.
Graton , L. C. and Fraser, H. J., 1935, Systematic Packing of Spheres: With
Particular Relation to Porosity and Permeability, The Journal of Geology, Vol. 43,
No. 8, Part I, pp. 785-909

43
Miocence Monterey Fm. , Ca.

Diatoms
SiO244