COULD MAGMA TRANSPORT AND ACCUMULATION BE A USEFUL ANALOGUE TO UNDERSTAND HYDROCARBON EXTRACTION?

The process of magma transport and accumulation is proposed as an analogue for oil and gas extraction from their source rocks and oil shales. Magma accumulation is a highly-dynamic stepwise process, where magma moves inside and with hydrofractures. This may lead to a self-organized critical state, which cannot be described by classical Darcian-type models for flow through intergranular pores or fractures. It was suggested that the same could occur in natural oil and gas extraction, and may perhaps be applied to improve fuel production from oil shales.