Publications Details
From Nanofluidics to Basin-Scale Flow in Shale: Tracer Investigations
Understanding fluid flow and transport in shale is of great importance to the development of unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs and nuclear waste repositories. Tracer techniques have proven to be a useful tool for gaining such understanding. Shale is characterized by the presence of nanometer-sized pores and the resulting extremely low permeability. Chemical species confined in nanopores could behave drastically differently from those in a bulk system and the interaction of these species with pore surfaces is much enhanced due to a high surface/fluid volume ratio, both of which could potentially affect tracer migration and chromatographic differentiation in shale. Nanoconfinement manifests the discrete nature of fluid molecules in transport, therefore enhancing mass-dependent isotope fractionations. All these effects combined lead to a distinct set of tracer signatures that may not be observed in a conventional hydrocarbon reservoir or highly permeable groundwater aquifer system. These signatures can be used to delineate flow regimes, trace fluid sources, and quantify the rate and extent of a physical/chemical process. Such signatures can be used for the evaluation of cap rock structural integrity, the postclosure monitoring of a geologic repository, or the detection of a possible contamination in a water aquifer by a shale oil/gas extraction.