Micro-Continuum Approaches for Modeling Pore-Scale Geochemical Processes

The recent profusion of microscopic characterization methods applicable to Earth Science materials, many of which are described in this volume (Anovitz and Cole 2015, this volume; Noiriel 2015, this volume), suggests that we now have an unprecedented new ability to consider geochemical processes at the pore scale. These new capabilities offer the potential for a paradigm shift in the Earth Sciences that will allow us to understand and ultimately quantify such enigmas as the apparent discrepancy between laboratory and field rates (White and Brantley 2003) and the impact of geochemical reactions on the transport properties of subsurface materials (Steefel and Lasaga 1990, 1994; Steefel and Lichtner 1994; Xie et al. 2015). It has only gradually become apparent that many geochemical investigations of Earth materials have suffered (perhaps inadvertently) from the assumption of bulk or continuum behavior, leading to volume averaging of properties and processes that really need to be considered at the individual grain or pore scale. For example, a relationship between reaction-induced porosity and permeability change can perhaps be developed based on bulk samples, but ultimately a mechanistic understanding and robust predictive capability of the associated geochemical and physical processes will require a pore-scale view. The question still arises: Do we need pore-scale characterization and models in geochemistry and mineralogy? The laboratory–field rate discrepancy (or enigma) is a good example of where a pore-scale understanding may provide insights not easily achievable with bulk characterization and models. If the reasons for this apparent discrepancy between laboratory and field rates cannot be explained, then it appears unlikely that scientifically defensible and quantitative models for a number of important Earth Science applications ranging from chemical weathering and its effects on atmospheric CO2, to subsurface carbon sequestration, to nuclear waste storage, to contaminant remediation and transport, …