Episodic fluid venting from sedimentary basins fueled by pressurized mudstones

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kearney, Luke M.; Katz, Richard F.; Macminn, Christopher W.; Kirkham, Chris; Cartwright, Joe
• 署名单位: University of Oxford; University of Oxford
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-13073
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2312152121
• 发表日期: 2024-02-20
• 关键词: carbon-dioxide; constraints; storage; overpressures; DISSIPATION; magnitude; stress; pipes

摘要

Subsurface sandstone reservoirs sealed by overlying, low -permeability layers provide capacity for long-term sequestration of anthropogenic waste. Leakage can occur if reservoir pressures rise sufficiently to fracture the seal. Such pressures can be generated within the reservoir by vigorous injection of waste or, over thousands of years, by natural processes. In either case, the precise role of intercalated mudstones in the long-term evolution of reservoir pressure remains unclear; these layers have variously been viewed as seals, as pressure sinks, or as pressure sources. Here, we use the geological record of episodic fluid venting in the Levant Basin to provide striking evidence for the pressuresource hypothesis. We use a Bayesian framework to combine recently published venting data, which record critical subsurface pressures since similar to 2 Ma, with a stochastic model of pressure evolution to infer a pressure -recharge rate of similar to 30 MPa/Myr. To explain this large rate, we quantify and compare a range of candidate mechanisms. We find that poroelastic pressure diffusion from mudstones provides the most plausible explanation for these observations, amplifying the similar to 3 MPa/Myr recharge caused primarily by tectonic compression. Since pressurized mudstones are ubiquitous in sedimentary basins, pressure diffusion from mudstones is likely to promote seal failure globally.