Permeability profiles in the crust‐mantle sequences of the Samail ophiolite were constructed based on onboard measurements of the electrical resistivity of cores recovered during the Oman Drilling Project. For each sample, we measured dry and brine‐saturated resistivity during the description campaign on the drilling vessel Chikyu. Owing to the conductive brine in the pore space, wet resistivity is systematically lower than dry resistivity. The difference between dry and wet resistivity is attributed to the movement of dissolved ions in brine that occupies the pore space. We applied effective medium theory to calculate the volume fraction of pores that contribute to electrical transport. Using an empirical cubic law between transport porosity and permeability, we constructed permeability profiles for the crust‐mantle transition zone and the serpentinized mantle sections in the Samail ophiolite. The results indicate that (1) the gabbro sequence has a markedly lower permeability than the underlying mantle sequence; (2) serpentinized dunites have higher permeability than serpentinized harzburgites; and (3) discrete sample permeability is correlated with ultrasonic velocity, suggesting that the permeability variations predominately reflect crack density and geometry.
Geophysical properties of oceanic crust are strongly influenced by the presence of cracks. We studied the effects of cracks on the physical properties of oceanic crustal rocks collected from the ICDP Oman Drilling Project Hole GT3A. Electrical resistivity and P‐ and S‐wave velocities were measured under dry and brine‐water‐saturated conditions for each sample. The experimental results reveal that electrical resistivity and elastic wave velocities are differently correlated with porosity. We performed joint inversion of the measured electrical and elastic properties combining an effective medium model by Kachanov and a statistical crack fluid flow model by Guéguen and Dienes with percolation theory. As a result, the variations in electrical and elastic properties can be related to the crack microstructural parameters: crack density and aspect ratio, as well as connectivity of cracks evaluated from crack density. To understand the influence of in situ conditions of oceanic crust, the joint inversion using the proposed cross‐property relationship was performed for geophysical properties obtained by logging measurements at IODP Hole 1256D. Results show the depth variations of resistivity and sonic velocities can be successfully interpreted by decreasing crack porosity and connectivity. Our data and analysis can provide new insights into the interpretation of geophysical data from the oceanic crust at which pore‐fluid plays key roles in various geodynamic activities.
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