Modeling marine mud: A four phase system

Fine-grained marine sediment consists of up to four phases: (1) clay Minerals often with some silt and sand, (2) saline water, (3) free gas, and (4) organic matter (OM). Shallow-water, shelf, and slope muds often have all four phases present. The clay minerals are the “building blocks” of mud deposits; these consist of multi-plate face-to-face domains. There are only three possible modes of domain contact (termed signatures): (1) edge-to-face (EF), (2) edge-to-edge (EE), and (3) face-to-face (FF), usually offset. The domain faces are negatively charged and have a large surface area and the edges are both negative and positive charged. OM is usually expressed as total organic carbon (TOC) in percent total dry mass and can range from <0.5% to several percent and the OM can occupy a significant portion of pore volume. OM is usually attached to clay domain signatures and faces with the location partially dictated by electrostatic potential energy fields. When several percent TOC is present, the OM drives up w...