A Contribution to the Geological Characterization of a Potential Caprock-Reservoir System in the Sulcis Coal Basin (South-Western Sardinia)

Silvana Fais, Giuseppe Casula, Francesco Cuccuru, Paola Ligas, Maria Giovanna Bianchi, Alberto Plaisant and Alberto Pettinau
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Silvana Fais: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e Architettura (DICAAR), Università di Cagliari, Via Marengo 2, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Giuseppe Casula: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Bologna, Via Donato Creti 12, 40128 Bologna, Italy
Francesco Cuccuru: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e Architettura (DICAAR), Università di Cagliari, Via Marengo 2, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Paola Ligas: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e Architettura (DICAAR), Università di Cagliari, Via Marengo 2, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Maria Giovanna Bianchi: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Bologna, Via Donato Creti 12, 40128 Bologna, Italy
Alberto Plaisant: Sotacarbo, Grande Miniera Serbariu SS126, 09013 Carbonia, Italy
Alberto Pettinau: Sotacarbo, Grande Miniera Serbariu SS126, 09013 Carbonia, Italy

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 23, 1-37

Abstract: The results provided by this study contribute to the geological characterization of a potential caprock-reservoir system for CO 2 storage in the experimental area of the mining district of the Sulcis Coal Basin (south-western Sardinia, Italy). The work is aimed to improve the knowledge of the petrographic and petrophysical characteristics of the siliciclastic and carbonate geological formations that make up the potential caprock-reservoir system. Core samples from a number of wells drilled in the study area for mining purposes were analyzed especially for texture and physical properties (longitudinal velocity, density, porosity, and permeability). The preliminary integrated petrographic and petrophysical characterizations indicate that the Upper Paleocene to Early Eocene potential carbonate reservoir is heterogeneous but presents suitable reservoir zones for CO 2 . A preliminary analysis of the potential caprock siliciclastic lithologies of the Middle Eocene to Lower Oligocene suggests that they appear suitable for CO 2 confinement. Finally, to account for the stability of the investigated area, an accurate geodynamical study of south-western Sardinia was carried out using global navigation satellite system and advanced differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar methodologies in order to estimate vertical and horizontal crustal displacements. The study area results stable, since it is characterized by surface crustal horizontal and vertical velocities smaller than 1 mm/year and few mm/year, respectively.

Keywords: petrophysical properties; carbonates; siliciclastics; GNSS DinSAR; crustal displacements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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