Qualitative and Quantitative Characterization of Shale Microscopic Pore Characteristics Based on Image Analysis Technology

In order to evaluate the shale microscopic pore characteristics more economically and effectively in limited circumstances, the pore characteristics of Longmaxi Formation in Pengshui area, Sichuan Basin, were qualitatively observed and analyzed with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) with argon ion polishing method at the same time. Pore quantitative information were extracted from shale SEM and FESEM images with the help of a professional image analysis software IamgeJ2x, and combined with statistical methods, the whole pore size distribution as well as shale pore fractal dimension and the relevance between fractal dimension and organic matter content, mineral composition and pore adsorption capacity and the corresponding pore structure characteristics of Longmaxi Formation in Pengshui area were analyzed. The study shows that under SEM, there are mostly micro pores of Longmaxi Formation in Pengshui area. The main pore types include intergranular pore, clay mineral layer pore, intragranular pore and micro cracks, etc. Through argon ion polishing FESEM, there mainly develop nanoscale pores. The main pore types contain organic pore, inorganic mineral pore (pyrite intergranular pore, intragranular pore, clay mineral layer pore and intergranular pore, etc.) and micro cracks. The use of both of the two methords is more advantageous to qualitatively analyze shale pore. The whole pore size distribution of shale pore has four main peaks and the main distribution range is 3~10 nm, 10~40 nm, 100~400 nm, 1~4 μm, respectively. The shape factor of shale organic matter pore is distributed between 0.9~1 and inorganic mineral pore is distributed between 0.5~0.7. It shows that the organic matter pore is circular, nearly circular and inorganic mineral pore shape is triangle, polygon, slit shape and so on. The inorganic mineral pore shape is relativly complex because of the different pore causes. The shale pore of Longmaxi Formation in Pengshui area conforms to the fractal features, and the organic pore fractal dimension is smaller than that of inorganic mineral pore, showing that the organic matter pore structure is relatively simple. There is a certain relevance between fractal dimension and organic matter content, mineral composition, porosity, and adsorbed gas content. With the increase of the organic matter content, the shale pore fractal dimension increase, the pore structure characteristics become complicated. With the shale pore fractal dimension increasing, the biggest gas adsorption quantity increases and the ability of pore adsorption strengthens.