Analysis of ZTE MRI Application to Sandstone and Carbonate

Techniques such as micro-tomography (µCT) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods have been used to characterize porous media for decades. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) offers direct visualization of pore architecture through a vast number of pulse sequences. In this work, we tested the MRI pulse sequence Zero Echo Time (ZTE) in the study of sandstone and carbonate. ZTE has been used previously to image highly porous geological material with relative success. In this research, ZTE was used to study porous systems tighter than those previously reported. We show that ZTE can resolve not only pore systems, but also a combination of fractures and pores simultaneously. Additionally, Pore Cluster Analysis (PCA), combined with ZTE, can be used to analyze connectivity of relatively large volume core plugs. By combining Time-Domain NMR pore-size analysis and PCA, we show that careful selection of resolution is necessary to understand transport in porous media.