Quantitative characterization of vertical zonation of Mesozoic granite weathering reservoirs in the coastal area of eastern Fujian Province,China

Weathering crust reservoirs have obvious vertical zonation,which is the focus of weathering crust reservoir research,but there is a lack of quantitative characterization indexes.To achieve the quantitative characterization of granite weathering crust reservoir and provide the basis for oil exploration of granite weathering crust buried hill reservoir,in this paper,the vertical zonation of granite weathering crust reservoir is quantitatively divided by testing and analyzing the uniaxial compressive strength(UCS),magnetic susceptibility(MS),permeability,and chemical index of alteration(CIA)of the Mesozoic granite weathering crust in the coastal area of eastern Fujian.The results show that the granite weathering crust reservoir can be divided into four zones vertically:a soil zone(SZ),weathered and dissolved zone(WDZ),fracture zone(FZ),and bedrock zone(BZ).A cataclastic area is developed in the FZ and BZ,in which structural fractures are well-developed,the fracture surface density is usually greater than 200 m/m^(2),and the contribution to the fractures in the rock mass is up to about 50%,making this the sweet spot of the reservoir.In the SZ,the rocks are loose,and the pores are well-developed.The UCS is less than 10 MPa,and the average rate of change of the UCS(Δ_(σ))is 0.90.The average permeability is 2823.00 mD,and the average rate of change of the permeability(Δ_(κ))is 5.13.The average CIA is 74.9%.The average clay mineral content is 7%.The rocks in the WDZ have been significantly weathered by physical and chemical processes,and the weathering fractures and dissolution pores are well-developed.The average UCS is 18.2 MPa,and the averageΔ_(σ)is 0.70.The average permeability is 143.80 mD,and averageΔ_(κ)is 4.17.The average CIA is 65.3%.The average clay mineral content is 4%.Under the influence of tectonic movement and physical weathering,the rocks in the FZ have developed structural fractures and a few weathered fractures.The average UCS is 57.9 MPa,and the averageΔ_(σ)is 0.18.The average permeability is 5.50 mD,and the averageΔ_(κ)is 2.55.The average CIA is 61.6%.The average clay mineral content is 2%.In the BZ,the rocks are intact and hard.The average UCS is 69.9 MPa,and the average Ds is 0.13.The average permeability is 1.46 mD,and the averageΔ_(κ)is 1.43.The average CIA is 57.8%.The average clay mineral content is less than 1%.The multi-parameter combination of the UCS,Δ_(σ),permeability,Δ_(κ),CIA,and clay mineral content achieved good results in the division of the zones of the weathering crust.The UCS increases gradually from top to bottom,while Ds,permeability,Δ_(κ),CIA,and clay mineral content all decrease gradually.In addition,based on the petrophysical parameters of the rocks,including the density,resistivity,and acoustic velocity,a good division effect was also achieved,which can provide a basis for the vertical zonation of the granite buried-hill weathering crust reservoir.

Research on the Permeability Characteristics of Granite with Different Weathering Degrees before and after the Influence of Mining Method Construction

The influence of mining method tunnel construction on the groundwater environment is a very important and complex engineering environment problem, and the strong differential weathering of water-rich granite strata increases the difficulty of this problem. In this paper, the mineral composition and microstructure characteristics of granite with different weathering degrees before and after the influence of mining method were studied by in-situ and indoor seepage tests and theoretical calculation, and the impact of mining method tunneling on granite permeability was also analyzed. Calculation results revealed that the permeability coefficient of surrounding rock at 1.1 m away from excavation face increased 41.6 times as much as the original. The permeability coefficient of moderately and strongly weathered granite increased by 6.12 and 3.33 times, respectively and the permeability also increased. The variation of the permeability coefficient of fully weathered granite was the smallest, increasing by 1.67 times, which is due to mechanical excavation of a fully weathered layer on-site, and the disturbance was far less than that caused by blasting. The scale of the excavation damaged zone (EDZ) induced by mining method was determined by wave velocity test, which provides a basis for subsequent seepage field calculation and research.

Compounding Pattern of REE， Clay and Humic Acid in the Weathering Crust of Granites

An anomalous phase containing clays and humic acid was found while extraction humic acid from samples of weathering crust of REE-bearing granites by using 0.1 mol/L NaOH solution.Studied by chemical separation experiments,column chromatography,ion-exchange chromatography,infrared spectrum.fluorescence spectrum,polarimicroscopic testing and elemental determination by ultraviolet-visible spectrometer and atomic absorption spectrometer.it was proved to be a compound of humic acid and clays which are connected in the form of bridge by heteronuclearpolynuclear complexing ions formed by cations of RE￣(5+),Al￣(3+).Fe￣(3+) etc.The compounding pattern was further proved by the experiment for compounding humic acid,REE and kaolinite.

Impact of mica on geotechnical behavior of weathered granitic soil using macro and micro investigations

The micaceous weathered granitic soil(WGS)is frequently encountered in civil engineering worldwide,unfortunately little information is available regarding how mica affects the physico-mechanical behaviors of WGS.This study prepares reconstituted WGS with different mica contents by removing natural mica in theWGS,and then mixes it with commercial mica powders.The geotechnical behavior as well as the microstructures of the mixtures are characterized.The addition of mica enables the physical indices of WGS to be specific combinations of coarser gradation and high permeability but high Atterberg limits.However,high mica content in WGS was found to be associated with undesirable mechanical properties,including increased compressibility,disintegration,and swelling potential,as well as poor compactability and low effective frictional angle.Microstructural analysis indicates that the influence of mica on the responses of mixtures originates from the intrinsic nature of mica as well as the particle packing being formed withinWGS.Mica exists in the mixture as stacks of plates that form a spongy structure with high compressibility and swelling potential.Pores among the plates give the soil high water retention and high Atterberg limits.Large pores are also generated by soil particles with bridging packing,which enhances the permeability and water-soil interactions upon immersion.This study provides a microlevel understanding of how mica dominates the behavior of WGS and provides new insights into the effective stabilization and improvement of micaceous soils.

Digital monitoring of rotary-percussive drilling with down-the-hole hammer for profiling weathered granitic ground

Rock and geotechnical engineering investigations involve drilling holes in ground with or without retrieving soil and rock samples to construct the subsurface ground profile.On the basis of an actual soil nailing drilling for a slope stability project in Hong Kong,this paper further develops the drilling process monitoring(DPM)method for digitally profiling the subsurface geomaterials of weathered granitic rocks using a compressed airflow driven percussive-rotary drilling machine with down-the-hole(DTH)hammer.Seven transducers are installed on the drilling machine and record the chuck displacement,DTH rotational speed,and five pressures from five compressed airflows in real-time series.The mechanism and operations of the drilling machine are elaborated in detail,which is essential for understanding and evaluating the drilling data.A MATLAB program is developed to automatically filter the recorded drilling data in time series and classify them into different drilling processes in sub-time series.These processes include penetration,push-in with or without rod,pull-back with or without rod,rod-tightening and rod-untightening.The drilling data are further reconstructed to plot the curve of drill-bit depth versus the net drilling time along each of the six drillholes.Each curve is found to contain multiple linear segments with a constant penetration rate,which implies a zone of homogenous geomaterial with different weathering grades.The effect from fluctuation of the applied pressures is evaluated quantitatively.Detailed analyses are presented for accurately assess and verify the underground profiling and strength in weathered granitic rock,which provided the basis of using DPM method to confidently assess drilling measurements to interpret the subsurface profile in real time.

Application and reliability analysis of DPM system in site investigation of HK weathered granite

A drilling process monitor （DPM） for ground characterization of weathered granite is presented. The monitor is portable and can be mounted on a hydraulic rotary drilling rig to record various drilling parameters in real time during normal subsurface investigation. The identification method for dominative and subsidiary interfaces has been established. The study reveals that the monitored drilling parameters are dependent on geotechnical materials and can be further applied to characterize ground interfaces. The t-test between manual logging and DPM logging has been carried out. The results show that the DPM has high accuracy in interfaces detection and well agreement with the manual logging. The findings show that the device and data analysis method are of potential application in subsurface drilling exploration in weathered granites. It also seems to have prospective uses in the determination of orebody boundary as well as in the detection of geohazards.

REE Geochemistry in the Weathered Crust of Granites, Longnan Area,Jiangxi Province

Warm and humid climate and gentle hilly topography have provided favourable conditions for the devel-opment of the weathering crust of the granite intrusions in the Longnan area, Jiangxi Province. REE is mostlyconcentrated in an adsorption state in clay in the wholly weathered zone. The rare-earth minerals enriched inthe parent rocks provided the source material for the REE enrichment. Exchangeable REE accounts for48-86%. Extraction experiments and stable isotopic study of clay minerals suggest that the downward infiltra-tion of meteoric water and increasing gradient of pH values have played an important role in the enrichment ofREE during the progressive weathering. Slight fractionation of individual REE can not change their distribu-tion patterns in the profiles. which are inherited from the parent rocks.

Instrumented borehole drilling for interface identification in intricate weathered granite ground engineering

The successful application in drilling for HK simple weathered granite foundation has revealed its further use in instru- mented drilling system as a ground investigation tool in the detection of other lithology formations, geohazards, underground water, and boundary of orebody. To expand the further use and test the accuracy in identification of formation, an R-20 rotary-hydraulic drill rig was instrumented with a digital drilling process monitoring system （DPM） for drilling in an intricate decomposed granite site. In this test ground, the boreholes revealed that the weathered granite alternately changes between moderate and strong. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the penetrating parameters, indicates the effective thrust force, rotary speed, flushing pressure, penetrating rate, and displacement of the bit fluctuate at ground interfaces. It shows that the parameters get a good response with the change of rock strength at the interfaces, which can reveal the change of the intricate granite formation. Besides, a variable-slope method has been established, for identification of dominative and subsidiary interfaces in the granite site. The result from a t-test shows that the confi- dence of the instrumented drilling system in identification of the geotechnical interfaces is up to 99%.

Numerical Simulation of the Influence of Tunnel Construction by Mining Method on the Seepage Field in Weathered Granite Stratum

In actual space, considering the heterogeneity and anisotropy of rock and soil, the difference of hydrogeological conditions and the influence of tunnel excavation, tunnel seepage problem is a very complex three-dimensional seepage problem, which is very difficult to solve. The equivalent continuum model is one of the most commonly simplified models used in solving tunnel seepage problems. In this paper, the finite element software ABAQUS and the research results are used to establish a seepage numerical calculation model, study the influence of mining method construction on the seepage field in weathered granite, and clarify the influence of each stage of mining method construction on the groundwater environment. On this basis, the sensitivity of the seepage field to various factors such as natural environment, engineering geology and hydrogeology, tunnel construction and so on is analyzed, which provides a basis to establish the evaluation system of groundwater environment negative effect in weathered granite stratum by mining method tunnel construction.

Site observations of weathered granitic soils subjected to cementation and partial drainage using SCPTU

Because of the cementation inherited from the parent rock,weathered granitic soil is usually susceptible to disturbance,which poses considerable challenges for laboratory characterization.The cone penetration test with pore pressure measurements has long been known for its reliability in site investigations and stratigraphic profiling.However,although extensive piezocone test results and experience are available for sedimentary soil,similar advances are yet to be made for weathered granitic soil.Moreover,the experience from sedimentary soil may not be directly applicable to weathered profiles because of the essentially different natures of the two types of geomaterials.This study performs seismic piezocone tests in a weathered granitic profile comprising residual granitic soil,completely weathered granite,and highly weathered granite.Pore pressure is measured at both the cone mid-face and the shoulder,and the effects of penetrometer size and penetration rate are considered.A series of updated soil behavior type charts is proposed to interpret the test results,thereby allowing the effect of weathering to be evaluated.This paper offers an important extension to the sparse data on the in situ responses of weathered materials.

Unconfined compressive strength and failure behaviour of completely weathered granite from a fault zone

Understanding the strength characteristics and deformation behaviour of the tunnel surrounding rock in a fault zone is significant for tunnel stability evaluation.In this study,a series of unconfined compression tests were conducted to investigate the mechanical characteristics and failure behaviour of completely weathered granite(CWG)from a fault zone,considering with height-diameter(h/d)ratio,dry densities(ρd)and moisture contents(ω).Based on the experimental results,a regression mathematical model of unconfined compressive strength(UCS)for CWG was developed using the Multiple Nonlinear Regression method(MNLR).The research results indicated that the UCS of the specimen with a h/d ratio of 0.6 decreased with the increase ofω.When the h/d ratio increased to 1.0,the UCS increasedωwith up to 10.5%and then decreased.Increasingρd is conducive to the improvement of the UCS at anyω.The deformation and rupture process as well as final failure modes of the specimen are controlled by h/d ratio,ρd andω,and the h/d ratio is the dominant factor affecting the final failure mode,followed byωandρd.The specimens with different h/d ratio exhibited completely different fracture mode,i.e.,typical splitting failure(h/d=0.6)and shear failure(h/d=1.0).By comparing the experimental results,this regression model for predicting UCS is accurate and reliable,and the h/d ratio is the dominant factor affecting the UCS of CWG,followed byρd and thenω.These findings provide important references for maintenance of the tunnel crossing other fault fractured zones,especially at low confining pressure or unconfined condition.