Articles | Volume 7, issue 1/2
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-7-1-2000
© Author(s) 2000. This work is licensed under
the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.Nonlinear viscoelastic compaction in sedimentary basins
Abstract. In the mathematical modelling of sediment compaction and porous media flow, the rheological behaviour of sediments is typically modelled in terms of a nonlinear relationship between effective pressure pe and porosity Φ, that is pe = pe (Φ). The compaction law is essentially a poroelastic one. However, viscous compaction due to pressure solution becomes important at larger depths and causes this relationship to become more akin to a viscous rheology. A generalised viscoelastic compaction model of Maxwell type is formulated, and different styles of nonlinear behaviour are asymptotically analysed and compared in this paper.