The Effect of Micrite Content on Porosity, Permeability, and Acoustic Velocity of Carbonate Rocks.

Carbonates are highly susceptible to physical, chemical, and biological alterations during sedimentation and post-deposition. This often results in the complexity of trends between geophysical observables and measurable rock properties. Carbonates are classified based on the amounts of allochems (transported grains and fossils), carbonate cement (sparite), and microcrystalline calcite matrix (micrite). These components can strongly affect rock properties. By examining a new dataset comprised of outcrop samples, we concentrate on the effect of micrite on the elastic-wave velocity, porosity, and permeability. The fraction of micrite is quantified from micro-CT images subject to subsequent image processing to delineate calcite grains, micrite patches, and macroscopic pore space.