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Adsorption Preceding Wetting Front Controls Seismic Velocity
Adsorption Preceding Wetting Front Controls Seismic Velocity
Rui Wu
(CCTEG Coal Mining Research Institute Beijing China)
Hongpu Kang
(CCTEG Coal Mining Research Institute Beijing China)
Fuqiang Gao
(CCTEG Coal Mining Research Institute Beijing China)
Xiangyuan Peng
(CCTEG Coal Mining Research Institute Beijing China)
Shuangyong Dong
(CCTEG Coal Mining Research Institute Beijing China)
Chenxi Zhao
(CCTEG Coal Mining Research Institute Beijing China)
Bing Qiuyi Li
(Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Western University London ON Canada)
Kerry Leith
(Earth Sciences New Zealand Lower Hutt New Zealand)
Qinghua Lei
(Department of Earth Sciences Uppsala University Uppsala Sweden)
Gennady Y. Gor
(Otto H. York Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering New Jersey Institute of Technology NEWARK NJ USA)
Paul A. Selvadurai
(Swiss Seismological Service Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences ETH Zürich Zürich Switzerland)
Xiaoping Jia
(Institut Langevin ESPCI Paris Université PSL CNRS Paris France)
Journal: Geophysical Research Letters
•
• Wiley
• ISSN: 1944-8007
Abstract
Abstract Rock elasticity varies with both humidity and water saturation, yet their combined effects remain poorly understood, although in nature vapor adsorption and liquid infiltration occur simultaneously. Here, we present experimental data of P‐wave velocity and volume expansion in a free‐standing sandstone subject to progressive wetting. Elastic softening, evidenced by P‐wave velocity reduction, precedes the wetting front, followed by stiffening as liquid infiltration reverses this trend. To reconcile these softening/stiffening behaviors, vapor migration ahead of the wetting front is captured by numerical simulation of moisture transport constrained by experimental data. Initial softening is explained by a micromechanical model governed by surface energy reduction at grain contacts and validated by independent vapor adsorption tests. Subsequent stiffening is attributed to water infiltration, consistent with patchy saturation theory. We propose softening and stiffening are transitional processes governed by the advancing wetting front, with implications for seismic imaging of progressive wetting processes in crustal rocks.