title: Xenon NMR measurements of permeability and tortuosity in reservoir rocks.
abstract: In this work we present measurements of permeability, effective porosity and tortuosity on a variety of rock samples using NMR/MRI of thermal and laser-polarized gas. Permeability and effective porosity are measured simultaneously using MRI to monitor the inflow of laser-polarized xenon into the rock core. Tortuosity is determined from measurements of the time-dependent diffusion coefficient using thermal xenon in sealed samples. The initial results from a limited number of rocks indicate inverse correlations between tortuosity and both effective porosity and permeability. Further studies to widen the number of types of rocks studied may eventually aid in explaining the poorly understood connection between permeability and tortuosity of rock cores.
authors.affiliation: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Ruopeng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pavlin
authors.forename: Matthew Scott
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: Ross William
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Mair
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Cory
authors.forename: Ronald Lee
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Walsworth
mesh_terms: D055593:Geological Phenomena; D005844:Geology; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D010539:Permeability; D016062:Porosity; D014979:Xenon Isotopes
chemical_list: D014979:Xenon Isotopes