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doi:10.2204/iodp.proc.322.205.2013

Data report: permeability, compressibility, and microstructure of resedimented mudstone from IODP Expedition 322, Site C0011¹

Julia Schneider Reece,² Peter B. Flemings,³ and John T. Germaine⁴

Abstract

We conducted Atterberg limits measurements, particle size analyses, and uniaxial constant rate of strain consolidation experiments on six sediment samples, which were prepared in the laboratory using resedimentation, to characterize the material and analyze compression and flow behavior. We performed all experiments in the GeoMechanics Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin (Texas, USA). The six samples are sediment mixtures composed of varying proportions of Nankai silty claystone, which was homogenized from a large number of discrete samples that were collected during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 322 from Site C0011, and silt-size silica from US Silica. The particle size distributions vary from 56% to 32% clay-size particles with no sand present. The compression index (C_c) systematically decreases with decreasing clay-size fraction. For clay-rich mixtures, C_c also significantly decreases with vertical effective stress (σ′_v), whereas silt-rich mixtures show constant C_c. Vertical intrinsic permeability decreases with increasing σ′_v and varies log-linearly with porosity. Slopes of this log-linear relationship vary between 11.8 and 9.8 for mixtures from 56% clay to 32% clay. At a given porosity, vertical permeability increases by two orders of magnitude for clay contents ranging from 56% to 32%.

¹ Reece, J.S., Flemings, P.B., and Germaine, J.T., 2013. Data report: permeability, compressibility, and microstructure of resedimented mudstone from IODP Expedition 322, Site C0011. In Saito, S., Underwood, M.B., Kubo, Y., and the Expedition 322 Scientists, Proc. IODP, 322: Tokyo (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International, Inc.). doi:10.2204/iodp.proc.322.205.2013

² Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, University Station, Box X, Austin TX 78713, USA. Correspondence author: jschneider@utexas.edu

³ John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C1160, Austin TX 78712, USA.

⁴ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA 02139, USA.

Initial receipt: 5 June 2012
Acceptance: 14 December 2012
Publication: 14 March 2013
MS 322-205

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