Geosciences

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The overall goal of this Special Issue of Geosciences is to explore and evaluate how gas-water-rock reactions impact subsurface and emerging technologies. Geochemical gas-water-rock reactions can modify rock properties such as porosity and permeability, affect water chemistry or leakage to drinking water aquifers, or can cause reservoir scaling and loss of productivity. They may also lead to benefits such as resealing cap-rock through mineral precipitation, or enhancing gas shale permeability through calcite dissolution from fractures.

Specifically, this Special Issue aims to provide an outlet for rapid, widely accessible publication of peer-reviewed studies utilizing gas-water-rock reactions to understand, alteration of subsurface properties. This special issue aims to cover, without being limited to, the following areas:

CO₂ storage: CO₂ rock reactivity, impure CO₂ reactions including SO₂, NOx, O₂, changes in porosity and permeability, water chemistry, and geomechanical changes after reaction etc.
Shale or coal stimulation: acid, CO₂, or hydraulic stimulation of gas or oil shales or coals and reaction associated changes.
Reservoir or wellbore scaling reactions including brine injection, EOR, EGR, and geothermal.
Gas-water-rock or other reactions associated with energy storage including nuclear energy etc.

Dr. Julie Pearce
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geosciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Related Special Issues

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

19 pages, 8848 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental and Modelled Reactions of CO₂ and SO₂ with Core from a Low Salinity Aquifer Overlying a Target CO₂ Storage Complex

by Julie K. Pearce, Grant K.W. Dawson, Silvano Sommacal and Suzanne D. Golding

Geosciences 2019, 9(12), 513; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9120513 - 12 Dec 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2804

Abstract

CO₂-induced reactions in low salinity aquifers overlying CO₂ storage sites are of interest to understand potential reactions or impacts in the possible case of a leak. Previous investigations of overlying aquifers in the context of CO₂ storage have focused on pure CO₂ streams, however captured industrial CO₂ streams may contain ancillary gases, including SO₂, O₂, NOx, H₂S, N₂, etc., some of which may be more reactive than CO₂ when dissolved in formation water. Eight drill cores from two wells in a low salinity sandstone aquifer that overlies a target CO₂ storage complex are characterised for porosity (helium, mercury injection, or micro CT), permeability, and mineral content. The eight Hutton Sandstone cores are variable with porosities of 5.2–19.6%, including carbonaceous mudstones, calcite cemented sandstones, and quartz rich sandstones, common lithologies that may be found generally in overlying aquifers of CO₂ storage sites. A chlorite rich sandstone was experimentally reacted with CO₂ and low concentrations of SO₂ to investigate the potential reactions and possible mineral trapping in the unlikely event of a leak. Micro CT characterisation before and after the reaction indicated no significant change in porosity, although some fines movement was observed that could affect permeability. Dissolved concentrations of Fe, Ca, Mn, Cr, Mg, Rb, Li, Zn, etc., increased during the reaction, including from dissolution of chlorite and trace amounts of ankerite. After ~40 days dissolved concentrations including Fe, Zn, Al, Ba, As and Cr decreased. Chlorite was corroded, and Fe-rich precipitates mainly Fe-Cr oxides were observed to be precipitated on rock surfaces after experimental reaction. Concentrations of Rb and Li increased steadily and deserve further investigation as potential monitoring indicators for a leak. The reaction of chlorite rich sandstone with CO₂ and SO₂ was geochemically modelled over 10 years, with mainly chlorite alteration to siderite mineral trapping 1.55 kg/m³ of CO₂ and removing dissolved Fe from solution. Kaolinite and chalcedony precipitation was also predicted, with minor pyrite precipitation trapping SO₂, however no changes to porosity were predicted. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geochemical and associated Changes with Gas-Water-Rock Reactions)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

37 pages, 34453 KiB

Open AccessArticle

High Resolution Characterization of Lithological Heterogeneity of the Paaratte Formation, Otway Basin (Australia), a Coastal to Shallow-Marine Deposit

by Achyut Mishra, Lukas Pajank and Ralf R. Haese

Geosciences 2019, 9(6), 278; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences9060278 - 24 Jun 2019

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3959

Abstract

Coastal to shallow-marine deposits are inherently highly heterogeneous in sediment composition due to variable depositional conditions. Representation of heterogeneity at sub-seismic scales is required for understanding flow and geochemical processes and poses two challenges: Firstly, the representation of different rock types in geological models requires high resolution sampling vertically and laterally. Secondly, the heterogeneity in petrophysical, flow and mineralogical properties within each rock type needs to be sufficiently characterized in order to support (multiphase) flow and reactive transport simulations. This study addresses these challenges for the Paaratte Formation, Otway Basin (Australia), at the CO2CRC’s Otway Research Facility to enable detailed simulations of CO₂ flow and reactions. Based on the analysis of wireline logs, hyperspectral core logs and discrete samples from wells CRC-2 and CRC-3, five rock types are defined and characterized for two coastal to shallow-marine parasequences comprising four depositional facies. A combination of wireline logs is used to derive rock type logs for the wells CRC-2 and CRC-3 at 10 cm vertical resolution and allows high resolution cross-well correlation providing insights into the lateral extent of deposits. Findings of this study will inform future desktop and field studies at the CO2CRC’s Otway Research Facility requiring information on sub-seismic lithological heterogeneity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geochemical and associated Changes with Gas-Water-Rock Reactions)

► Show Figures