The mechanical behavior of anhydrite and the effect of deformation on permeability development - Implications for caprock integrity during geological storage of CO2

Abstract

Maintaining caprock integrity is key to long-term geological storage of CO2, as large-scale structural trapping below a top seal is one of the most important storage mechanisms. Evaporite sequences, such as anhydrite, form the caprock of many depleted oil and gas reservoirs, as well as several current CCS sites and natural CO2 analogues. This paper is based on two studies by Hangx et al. on the mechanical and volumetric (permeability) behavior of Zechstein anhydrite.