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Permeability of rock samples from Cajon Pass, California
Author(s) -
Morrow C.,
Byerlee J.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/gl015i009p01033
Subject(s) - permeability (electromagnetism) , geology , mineralogy , geotechnical engineering , composite material , materials science , genetics , membrane , biology
Room temperature, steady‐state flow measurements of permeability were conducted on 15 unfractured core samples collected at depths between 270 and 2100 m in the Cajon Pass drillhole. Confining and pore pressures were set to the lithostat and hydrostat for each depth. The first 500 m encountered in the drill hole is composed of sandstones with typically high permeabilities of around 10 −17 m². The crystalline rocks between 500 and 2100 m show a systematic decrease in permeability with depth from 10 −19 to less than 10 −21 m². These values are particularly low relative to the applied effective stresses of only 10‐30 MPa, and may be a result of the extensive crack healing that was observed in most samples.