Quantifying the porosity of crystalline rocks by in situ and laboratory injection methods

Mri, A.*; Mazurek, M.*; 太田 久仁雄; Siitari-Kauppi, M.*; Eichinger, F.*; Leuenberger, M.*

Minerals (Internet), 11(10), p.1072_1 - 1072_17, 2021/10

https://doi.org/10.3390/min11101072

The porosity and pore geometry of rock samples from a coherent granodioritic rock body at the Grimsel Test Site in Switzerland was characterised by different methods using injection techniques. Results from in situ and laboratory techniques are compared by applying in situ resin impregnation techniques as well as rock impregnation and mercury injection under laboratory conditions. In situ resin impregnation of the rock matrix shows an interconnected pore network throughout the rock body, providing an important reservoir for pore water and solutes, accessible by diffusion. Porosity and pore connectivity do not vary as a function of distance to brittle shear zones. In situ porosity is about half the porosity value that was determined on rock samples in the laboratory. This could be due to that such samples were affected by artefacts created since core recovery. The extrapolation of laboratory measurements to in situ conditions requires great care and may not be feasible in all cases.