confined fluid behavior

What is it about?

Throughout Earth’s crust and upper mantle, fluids play the dominant role in transporting and concentrating Earth’s energy and mineral resources (Liebscher and Heinrich 2007). Fur- thermore, the flux of fluids, which act as both reaction media and reactants, strongly influences the genesis and evolution of many different kinds of rocks. Among many different types of flu- ids, those containing volatile carbon, hydrogen and oxygen (C-H-O) species tend to dominate in the lithosphere along with various electrolytes and silica. These fluids commonly contain meth- ane as both a major constituent and an important energy source. Conventional natural gas de- posits reside in sedimentary basins where fluid overpressure often results in brittle failure of the confining rocks. Industry exploration and exploitation of shale gas (e.g., the Marcellus, Utica, and Barnett formations) has refocused attention on understanding the fundamental behavior of volatile hydrocarbon—rock interactions. Recent observations of hydrocarbons emanating from non-sedimentary systems (abiogenic), such as mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal systems or occur- ring within some crystalline rock-dominated Precambrian shield environments have challenged the view that organic rich sediments provide the only significant source of crustal hydrocarbons (Potter and Konnerup-Madsen 2003; Sleep et al. 2004; Sherwood Lollar et al. 2006; McCol- lom 2013; Sephton and Hazen 2013). Geopressured-geothermal regimes contain C-H-O fluids with vast energy potential in the form of methane and hot water at high pressure. Even fluid inclusions from both metamorphic and igneous terrains record the presence of methane-bearing fluids reflecting reduced redox state conditions of formation.

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