Acoustic Anisotropy of Muderong Shale Under Tectonic Stress and High Pore Pressures

P346 ACOUSTIC ANISOTROPY OF MUDERONG SHALE UNDER TECTONIC STRESS AND HIGH PORE PRESSURES Summary 1 A triaxial testing programme was undertaken on core samples of Muderong shale. Muderong Shale is a regional top seal in the Carnarvon Basin on the Northwest Shelf of Australia. The testing programme involved stepwise increases in confining pressure with drained pore pressure conditions. During each confining pressure cycle a differential stress state was progressively applied by means of an increasing axial load under undrained conditions simulating a high horizontal stress field. Stresses and pore pressures were increased to well into the over-pressured regime. The core