| Literature DB >> 30147198 |
Piercarlo Giacomel1,2, Elena Spagnuolo3, Manuela Nazzari3,4, Andrea Marzoli1, François Passelegue5, Nasrrddine Youbi6,7, Giulio Di Toro1,3.
Abstract
The safe application of geological carbon storage depends also on the seismic hazard associated with fluid injection. In this regard, we performed friction experiments using a rotary shear apparatus on precut basalts with variable degree of hydrothermal alteration by injecting distilled H2O, pure CO2, and H2O + CO2 fluid mixtures under temperature, fluid pressure, and stress conditions relevant for large-scale subsurface CO2 storage reservoirs. In all experiments, seismic slip was preceded by short-lived slip bursts. Seismic slip occurred at equivalent fluid pressures and normal stresses regardless of the fluid injected and degree of alteration of basalts. Injection of fluids caused also carbonation reactions and crystallization of new dolomite grains in the basalt-hosted faults sheared in H2O + CO2 fluid mixtures. Fast mineral carbonation in the experiments might be explained by shear heating during seismic slip, evidencing the high chemical reactivity of basalts to H2O + CO2 mixtures.Entities:
Keywords: CO2 storage in basalts; fast mineral carbonation; fault reactivation
Year: 2018 PMID: 30147198 PMCID: PMC6099243 DOI: 10.1029/2018GL078082
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Geophys Res Lett ISSN: 0094-8276 Impact factor: 4.720
Figure 1Experiments conducted under fluid pressure control at constant τ (blue in color curve) and σn (black curve) for (a) distilled H2O, (b) pure CO2, (c) H2O + CO2 mixture, and (d) pure argon. In all the experiments the Pf (green curve) was increased stepwise to trigger the main instability MI. Short lived slip bursts (grey arrows in the red curve), occurred before the onset of the MI. At MI the slip velocity was limited to 0.3 m/s.
Figure 2Dependence of the main frictional instability on the fluid pressure at a given normal stress, with fluid composition and LOI (wt %) content of the most altered samples of the fault pairs (i.e., the ones with the highest LOI; see section 3.1). The black, red, and blue best fit lines are obtained by linear regression of the plotted Pf MI‐σn MI data of the experiments sheared in CO2 and Ar, H2O, and H2O + CO2 with LOI > 1.7%, and in H2O and H2O + CO2 with LOI < 1.7%, respectively. Experimental errors are smaller than symbol size.
Figure 3Cohesive slip surfaces of the experimental faults and evidence of carbonation of basalts. (a) Slip surface of a basalt sheared in H2O + CO2 mixture. Evidence of adhesive wear (AW, white arrow). During frictional sliding, especially at 0.3 m/s, wear debris remained welded to the slip surfaces. (b and c) Close up of the slip surface with calcite and dolomite microcrystals (Raman microprobe image). (d and e) Raman spectra of microcrystals of calcite and dolomite. Numbers are the characteristic intensity micro‐Raman peaks of the two minerals.