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Gravity-driven controls on fluid and carbonate precipitation distributions in fractures
Many challenges related to carbon-dioxide ([Formula: see text] ) sequestration in subsurface rock are linked to the injection of fluids through induced or existing fracture networks and how these fluids are altered through geochemical interactions. Here, we demonstrate that fluid mixing and carbonat...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10256864/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37296283 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-36406-8 |
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author | Xu, Zhenyu Cao, Hongfan Yoon, Seonkyoo Kang, Peter K. Jun, Young-Shin Kneafsey, Timothy Sheets, Julia M. Cole, David Pyrak-Nolte, Laura J. |
author_facet | Xu, Zhenyu Cao, Hongfan Yoon, Seonkyoo Kang, Peter K. Jun, Young-Shin Kneafsey, Timothy Sheets, Julia M. Cole, David Pyrak-Nolte, Laura J. |
author_sort | Xu, Zhenyu |
collection | PubMed |
description | Many challenges related to carbon-dioxide ([Formula: see text] ) sequestration in subsurface rock are linked to the injection of fluids through induced or existing fracture networks and how these fluids are altered through geochemical interactions. Here, we demonstrate that fluid mixing and carbonate mineral distributions in fractures are controlled by gravity-driven chemical dynamics. Using optical imaging and numerical simulations, we show that a density contrast between two miscible fluids causes the formation of a low-density fluid runlet that increases in areal extent as the fracture inclination decreases from 90[Formula: see text] (vertical fracture plane) to 30[Formula: see text] . The runlet is sustained over time and the stability of the runlet is controlled by the gravity-driven formation of 3D vortices that arise in a laminar flow regime. When homogeneous precipitation was induced, calcium carbonate covered the entire surface for horizontal fractures (0[Formula: see text] ). However, for fracture inclinations greater than 10[Formula: see text] , the runlet formation limited the areal extent of the precipitation to less than 15% of the fracture surface. These insights suggest that the ability to sequester [Formula: see text] through mineralization along fractures will depend on the fracture orientation relative to gravity, with horizontal fractures more likely to seal uniformly. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10256864 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-102568642023-06-11 Gravity-driven controls on fluid and carbonate precipitation distributions in fractures Xu, Zhenyu Cao, Hongfan Yoon, Seonkyoo Kang, Peter K. Jun, Young-Shin Kneafsey, Timothy Sheets, Julia M. Cole, David Pyrak-Nolte, Laura J. Sci Rep Article Many challenges related to carbon-dioxide ([Formula: see text] ) sequestration in subsurface rock are linked to the injection of fluids through induced or existing fracture networks and how these fluids are altered through geochemical interactions. Here, we demonstrate that fluid mixing and carbonate mineral distributions in fractures are controlled by gravity-driven chemical dynamics. Using optical imaging and numerical simulations, we show that a density contrast between two miscible fluids causes the formation of a low-density fluid runlet that increases in areal extent as the fracture inclination decreases from 90[Formula: see text] (vertical fracture plane) to 30[Formula: see text] . The runlet is sustained over time and the stability of the runlet is controlled by the gravity-driven formation of 3D vortices that arise in a laminar flow regime. When homogeneous precipitation was induced, calcium carbonate covered the entire surface for horizontal fractures (0[Formula: see text] ). However, for fracture inclinations greater than 10[Formula: see text] , the runlet formation limited the areal extent of the precipitation to less than 15% of the fracture surface. These insights suggest that the ability to sequester [Formula: see text] through mineralization along fractures will depend on the fracture orientation relative to gravity, with horizontal fractures more likely to seal uniformly. Nature Publishing Group UK 2023-06-09 /pmc/articles/PMC10256864/ /pubmed/37296283 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-36406-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Article Xu, Zhenyu Cao, Hongfan Yoon, Seonkyoo Kang, Peter K. Jun, Young-Shin Kneafsey, Timothy Sheets, Julia M. Cole, David Pyrak-Nolte, Laura J. Gravity-driven controls on fluid and carbonate precipitation distributions in fractures |
title | Gravity-driven controls on fluid and carbonate precipitation distributions in fractures |
title_full | Gravity-driven controls on fluid and carbonate precipitation distributions in fractures |
title_fullStr | Gravity-driven controls on fluid and carbonate precipitation distributions in fractures |
title_full_unstemmed | Gravity-driven controls on fluid and carbonate precipitation distributions in fractures |
title_short | Gravity-driven controls on fluid and carbonate precipitation distributions in fractures |
title_sort | gravity-driven controls on fluid and carbonate precipitation distributions in fractures |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10256864/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37296283 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-36406-8 |
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