Mineralogical and Geochemical Assessment of the Eagle Ford Shale

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2014-08

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The Ohio State University

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Abstract

The South Texas Eagle Ford shale play is a large reservoir of oil and natural gas, and it is also among the more recent gas and oil shale plays currently being developed in the United States for hydrocarbon extraction. For this reason, the physical and chemical characteristics of the rock formation remain largely unknown outside of private corporations. The objective of this research is to determine the relative abundances of different minerals in samples obtained from 5 separate wells, and the concentration of total organic carbon (TOC) contained in them. The mineralogy is determined by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) of randomly oriented powder mounts in conjunction with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of unpolished fragments, mechanically polished thin sections, and ion milled slope cut fragments. Analysis shows that there is substantial variation in mineralogical composition among the samples analyzed, including the relative quantities and types of phyllosilicates and carbonate minerals. These data, along with data provided by Chesapeake Energy Corporation, show a relationship between TOC and the amount of illite and calcite. This relationship is also evident in the SEM images that show significant amounts of organic matter infilling the carbonate microfossils.

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Eagle Ford Shale, Mineralogy, Total Organic Carbon, Ion Milling, X-Ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy

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