Influence of Organic Matter Type on Porosity Development in Organic-Rich Shales: Combining Microscopy, Neutron Scattering and Physisorption Approaches

Abstract

Shales are economically significant fine-grained sedi-mentary rocks, acting as sources and seals for energy resources, seals for underground carbon sequestration, and can contain metal enrichments up to low-grade ore lev-els. Critical to the accurate evaluation of shale prospec-tivity as reservoirs for energy resources and as seals for long-term underground retention of fluids and radioac-tive waste is the evaluation of their porosity and pore size distribution to help elucidate and appropriately model the mechanisms of gas/liquid transport and trapping over time and space.