THE ORIGIN OF THE OBSERVED LOW-FREQUENCY ELECTRICAL POLARIZATION IN SANDSTONES

Abstract

There has been an increasing debate regarding the mechanism controlling the low-frequency polarization (megahertz to kilohertz) in sandstones. The polarization and related electrical relaxation are extremely important because they can be used to provide a significant amount of information on length scales within the sandstone. Complex electrical measurements, in the mHz to kHz range, were made on gel-filled samples. This gel decreases the ionic mobility in the bulk pore fluid while keeping the ionic composition similar to that in a water-saturated sample. The presence of the gel was shown to have little effect on the electrical relaxation. This adds to the argument that the electrical double layer close to the grain surface is where the polarization originates. The correlation between pore-throat size and the relaxation time is consistent with the polarization mechanism of ion diffusion within the electrical double layer. The membrane-type polarization model, used previously to explain the polarization in pore-throat regions, is likely to be incorrect because of the relative thinness of the electrical double layer. © 2006 Society of Exploration Geophysicists.