This work focuses on rock thermal conductivity (λ) and its correlation with petrographic and textural aspects especially in granitic rocks. We demonstrate the role of these variables in order to shed some light in the behavior of conductive heat transfer in rocks. Our results demonstrate clear correlation between λ and abundance of quartz and mafic minerals. We show that there is a positive linear correlation between λ and quartz content. On the other hand, we show there a decrease on λ with mafic minerals increase. We found that the relation between λ and quartz content may be divided into two sets. The first set are mostly comprised of samples with more than 20% of quartz exhibiting systematically larger λ values ranging from 2,5 W/mK; the second set comprising samples with less than 20% quartz content have an average λ below 2,5 W/mK. Regarding textural aspects, we verified that rocks considered thick/porphyry textures generally showed better correlations between λ and mineral content (quartz) when compared to rocks considered thin/medium. Therefore, our results clearly indicate that the associated usage of petrophysical measurements such as λ with petrographic and textural information can be used to characterize rocks.
thermal conductivity; physical parameter; petrography; texture
