Effect of the water–steam phase transition on the electrical conductivity of porous rocks

The effect of the water–steam phase transition on electrical conductivity was experimentally investigated in volcanic and sandstone samples to support the interpretation of resistivity data to determine changes in steam saturation in geothermal reservoirs. The measurements were performed at simulated in situ conditions with controlled pore fluid chemistry, temperature, and confining and pore pressures. At constant temperature (150 °C) and confining pressure, pore fluid was withdrawn from the sample by steadily increasing the volume of the pore fluid system. At the vapor saturation pressure, the pore water progressively boiled to steam, resulting in a continuous conductivity decrease by a factor of approximately 20. The study showed that: (1) for rocks in which conduction is controlled by the pore fluid, the concurrent changes in both electrical conductivity and pore (vapor) pressure are defined by the pore size distribution; the changes in liquid–steam saturation are approximately proportional to those in conductivity and can thus be quantified; and (2) for rocks in which surface conduction is predominant there is no direct relation between conductivity, pore pressure and drained fluid volume; this implies that the conduction mechanism controls the pattern of electrical conductivity variations as steam saturation changes.