Characterising the heterogeneous nature of tufa mounds by integrating petrographic, petrophysical, acoustic and electromagnetic measurements

Determination of the physical properties of subsurface geological bodies is essential for georesource management and geotechnical applications. In the absence of direct measurements, this usually passes via geophysical methods such as seismic and ground-penetrating radar. These require conversion to physical properties, and measurements at different scales to test for consistency. This approach is non-trivial in geobodies with heterogeneous patterns of properties. Tufa mounds—in-situ terrestrial carbonate buildups precipitating from geothermal waters—are characterised by high contrasts in facies and petrophysical properties from microscale to macroscale, and are therefore ideally suited to test the ability of non-invasive geophysical methods to estimate such contrasts, and to develop petrophysical models based on geophysical properties. Here, a laboratory-based study of a Pleistocene tufa mound in Spain is presented that combines (1) petrography, (2) digital 2D pore network analysis, (3) gas porosity and permeability measurements, (4) acoustic velocity measurements and (5) electromagnetic wave velocity and porosity determination from ground-penetrating radar, to develop empirical petrophysical models. These results show the consistency of petrophysical properties determined with different methods across various observational scales. Electromagnetically derived porosity positively correlates with gas porosity. Petrophysical properties depend on measurable rock fabric parameters and the degree of cementation, which provide predictive tools for subsurface geobodies. Strongly cemented peloidal-thrombolitic fabrics with intergranular and intercrystalline pores, and a dominance of small complex pores best transmit acoustic waves. Weak cementation and a significant fraction of large simple pores (framework, vegetation moulds) increase porosity and permeability of shrubby fabrics, while causing lower acoustic velocity. This study demonstrates that ground-penetrating radar models can be used in combination with direct measurements of physical subsurface properties to capture highly contrasting physical properties associated with different sedimentary facies that would not be achievable with other methods, thus improving the understanding of formational processes.