ZTE MRI in high magnetic field as a time effective 3D imaging technique for monitoring water ingress in porous rocks at sub-millimetre resolution

Zero echo time magnetic resonance imaging (ZTE MRI) at 9.4 T was used to assess the local distribution of water in dolomite rocks under different saturation conditions. The results were compared with the industry standard Single Point Imaging (SPI) at 0.6 T. 3D maps of the local amount of water saturating heterogeneous rock were obtained from the imaging data, and correlated with the corresponding structural images from high resolution micro-CT (μCT). The method can be applicable in the investigation of spatial kinetics of water saturation processes in porous, heterogeneous rocks where imaging methods based on spin echo, such as RARE, have failed due to short T2, while SPI is often impractical due to its long acquisition time.