Sequential permeability and chemical osmosis experiments on Wakkanai mudstones were performed to explore the relationships between the semipermeability of clayey rocks and the hydraulic and diffusion parameters as well as the pore structure characteristics. The wide ranges in osmotic efficiency (0.0004-0.046) and intrinsic permeability (8.92 × 10 À20 to 1.24 × 10 À17 m 2 ) reflect the variation in the pore size distributions of the Wakkanai mudstones. A regression analysis between osmotic efficiency and permeability shows that the osmotic efficiency is proportional to the inverse of permeability, suggesting that the permeability is indeed indicative of the degree of semipermeability. Osmotic efficiency was determined invariant with the effective diffusion coefficient for the Wakkanai mudstones (3.59-8.36 × 10 À11 m 2 /s) due to their small osmotic efficiencies (≤0.046). The wide variation in osmotic efficiencies and pore structure characteristics of Wakkanai mudstones indicates that the nanoscale pores enable semipermeability in Wakkanai mudstones. However, the pressure evolution caused by chemical osmosis is limited by the connected wide pores that are the main conduits for water, thus dissipating the osmotic pressure buildup induced by the semipermeability of nanoscale pores.

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Diffusion anisotropy is a critical property in predicting migration of substances in sedimentary formations with very low permeability. The diffusion anisotropy of sedimentary rocks has been evaluated mainly from laboratory diffusion experiments, in which the directional diffusivities are separately estimated by through-diffusion experiments using different rock samples, or concurrently by in-diffusion experiments in which only the tracer profile in a rock block is measured.To estimate the diffusion anisotropy from a single rock sample, this study proposes an axisymmetric diffusion test, in which tracer diffuses between a cylindrical rock sample and a surrounding solution reservoir. The tracer diffusion between the sample and reservoir can be monitored from the reservoir tracer concentrations, and the tracer profile could also be obtained after dismantling the sample. Semi-analytical solutions are derived for tracer concentrations in both the reservoir and sample, accounting for an anisotropic diffusion tensor of rank two as well as the dilution effects from sampling and replacement of reservoir solution.The transient and steady-state analyses were examined experimentally and numerically for different experimental configurations, but without the need for tracer profiling. These experimental configurations are tested for in-and out-diffusion experiments using Koetoi and Wakkanai mudstones and Shirahama sandstone, and are scrutinized by a numerical approach to identify favorable conditions for parameter estimation. Page 2 of 31The analysis reveals the difficulty in estimating diffusion anisotropy; test configurations are proposed for enhanced identifiability of diffusion anisotropy. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the axisymmetric diffusion test is efficient in obtaining the sorption parameter from both steady-state and transient data, and in determining the effective diffusion coefficient if isotropic diffusion is assumed. Moreover, measuring reservoir concentrations in an axisymmetric diffusion experiment coupled with tracer profiling may be a promising approach to estimate of diffusion anisotropy of sedimentary rocks.

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