Measurement of elastic properties of kerogen

Abstract

To have good understanding of elastic properties of organic shale, it is fundamental to know the elastic properties of its mineral components. Kerogen is the most important component of organic shale, but information about its elastic properties is scarce. We have measured ultrasonic velocities on 9 laboratory isolated kerogen samples from Green River shale in Colorado. From data measured on both dry and saturated samples, we can invert the bulk modulus of kerogen using the Gassmanm equation, Reuss bound and Voigt bound. The bulk modulus of kerogen is estimated to lie around 3.5-5 GPa. We have also argued that the shear modulus of kerogen is around half of the bulk modulus.