Temperature, an underestimated factor in the multiscale structural interpretation of exploratory targets for energy fluids

a review

Abstract

The main characteristics and properties of temperature that contribute to the behaviour of multiscale structural control of lithologies that host energy fluids (hydrocarbons, hydrogen, water, etc.) are described. This contributes to more efficient adjustment and forecasting of the temporal-spatial interpretations that determine prospecting, exploration and production activities. Temperature is a specific physical property omnipresent in all materials, such as their degree of heat or cold, which expresses the kinetic energy of their constituent particles. Temperature variation modifies the rheological, tectonic and petrophysical characteristics of rocks and the fluids they may contain. Thus, an increase in temperature in deep environments due to the influence of the geothermal gradient will cause an increase in volume due to expansion and a decrease in resistance. In this way, a stress field that exceeds the strength limit of a rock will produce continuous deformations without fractures and will tend to homogenise the response of sets of lithologies with anisotropic properties depending on the scales involved. The morphological and volumetric variations produced by temperature depend on the anisotropic characteristics of materials, which condition three-dimensional expansion-contraction and thermal conductivity. Minimal temperature changes can influence or impede fluid-reservoir relationships and behaviours related to solubility, viscosity, density, and electrical and thermal conductivity. In addition, temperature changes modify the densities that control both igneous and sedimentary diapirism, and the position of the cryosphere determines the maximum elevation of mountain ranges.