Fluid-sediment interactions during carbonate diagenesis with particular reference to time-dependent behaviour

Constant stress creep tests and uniaxial (K 0) consolidation tests have been used to investigate the influence of pore fluid chemistry and magnitude of effective stress on the strain and time-dependent behaviour of a carbonate sand. Results indicate that the pore fluid chemistry can significantly affect the strength of this material with, at larger stresses, aqueous ionic pore fluids producing large strains. Under constant load, strains do increase with time but the creep rates slow with a power law decay and become increasingly independent of the type of fluid present in the pores.