Provenance, Depositional and Diagenetic Reconstruction of the Early Palaeozoic Succession in Kupwara District, Kashmir, North-western Himalaya

Early Palaeozoic succession in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir, North-western Himalaya comprise of sandstone, shale, carbonates and slate. The petrological properties of these rocks were used to work out the provenance, depositional environment and their diagenetic history. The siliciclastic sediments with interbedded carbonate rocks indicate shifts in sea level and consequent changes in energy conditions of the basin as well as biogenic interferences leading to carbonate precipitation in a shallow marine depositional environment. Provenance of these rocks has been of mixed nature with monocrystalline quartz dominant in sandstones indicating greater contribution from igneous sources.

A Novel Machine-Assisted Technique for Extracting Multiscale Vugs and Fractures in Heterogeneous Carbonates Sequence

Predicting petrophysical properties in carbonate reservoirs is challenging due to the deposition and diagenetic history, which creates pore-scale features and heterogeneity at multiple-length scale. Non-fractured carbonate rocks with monomodal pore distribution often provide weak transportation properties compared to carbonates with multimodal pore system. The behaviour of such formations is subject to percolation effect where the connectivity of vug clusters control the poro-perm relationship which can be explained with high-resolution microresistivity images and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data. A machine-assisted processing technique, defined as "thresholding," was applied to high-resolution microresistivity images, resolving vugs and fractures with similar resistivity. Other objects of interest are removed using object-oriented filters and thresholding, resulting in a "sculptured image" containing only vugs and fractures. The image is analysed to quantify formation porosity. A Laplacian of Gaussian filter is used to avoid highlighting features of no interest. Step two analyses T1 and T2 relaxations allowing portions of signal from a pore-size group to spill across the discrete boundaries. The pore-size takes on a fuzziness near the discrete relaxation time cut-offs corresponding to pore radii breakover points. High poro-perm layers of grainstone in overall thinly bedded sequences of packstone and wackestone were successfully identified and subsequently shed light upon the ambiguities observed in mobility values obtained from formation tester across the same lithocolumn. This novel technology helps in deciphering high-resolution integrated lithofacies. The histogram from the image porosity binning demonstrates a different response within vugular zones compared to fractured zones. Where the vugs sizes are variable, they exhibit a multi-pore system nature in NMR. For the fractured interval, the images and NMR exhibit weak distribution. The resistivity independent image pixel-based filtration technique helps to define interesting features on images which can be enhanced and measurable at various scales. Machine assisted technique in NMR complement the results in aiding to characterize the heterogeneous carbonate rocks.

Genesis and pore evolution of dolomite reservoir in the Majiagou Formation, Ordos Basin, China

In gypsum–carbonate rock assemblages, multistage and complex fluids control the formation of dolomite reservoirs that are a focus of hydrocarbon exploration. It is difficult to determine the types of dolomite reservoirs and their formation mechanisms due to the diverse rock assemblages and multiple stages of diagenesis. In this study, we investigated the petrology, reservoir physical properties, and geochemistry of the 6th sub-member of member five of the Majiagou Formation (i.e. Ma56) in the Ordos Basin, China. These data were used to determine the nature and types of gypsum–carbonate rocks, and constrain their reservoir characteristics and diagenetic history, and fluid-related mechanisms that led to dolomite reservoir development and preservation. The Ma56 was deposited on a restricted evaporatic platform in the North China Craton, and contains three main types of dolomite reservoirs with variable types of reservoir space. Dolomite reservoir formation was closely related to penecontemporaneous dolomitization, karstification, and differential cementation. Early large-scale dolomitization produced dolomitized carbonate sediments that were resistant to compaction and dissolution, which was conducive to the preservation of primary and secondary pores. The intermittent exposure and dissolution of mound–shoal facies sediments, due to high-frequency sea-level fluctuations, was the dominant mechanism for formation of secondary dissolved pores and high-quality reservoirs. During burial, differential cementation occurred due to interaction between fluids and pore size, which determined the extent of reservoir preservation. In general, the studied dolomite reservoirs have undergone multistage diagenesis and alteration, which led to complex and multistage development of the reservoir porosity. However, the reservoir lithology and pore space developed mostly in the depositional to penecontemporaneous stages. Our results provide new insights into the origins of deeply buried dolomite reservoirs in carbonate–evaporite successions.

Evolution of diagenetic conditions and burial history in Buntsandstein Gp. fractured sandstones (Upper Rhine Graben) from in-situ δ18O of quartz and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of K-feldspar overgrowths

In-situ δ18O measured in the quartz overgrowths help identify temperature and fluid origin variations responsible for cementation of the pore network (matrix and fracture) in the Buntsandstein Gp. sandstone reservoirs within the Upper Rhine Graben. The overgrowths record two types of the evolution of δ18O: 1) a monotonous decrease of the δ18Oovergrowth interpreted as linked to an increasing burial temperature and 2) random fluctuations, interpreted as pointing out the injection of allochthonous fluids in faulted areas, on the cementation processes of the pore network (both intergranular and fracture planes). Fluids causing the quartz cementation are either autochthonous buffered in 18O from clay illitisation; or allochthonous fluids of meteoric origin with δ18O below − 5%. These allochthonous fluids are in thermal disequilibrium with the host sandstone. The measured signal of δ18Oovergrowth measured from samples and calculated curves testing hypothetic δ18Ofluid are compared to T–t evolution during burial. This modelling proposes the initiation of quartz cementation during the Jurassic and is validated by the in-situ 40Ar/39Ar dating results obtained on the feldspar overgrowths predating quartz overgrowths. A similar diagenetic history is recorded on the graben shoulders and in the buried parts of the basin. Here, the beginning of the pore network cementation predates the structuration in blocks of the basin before the Cenozoic graben opening.

Palaeozoic stromatoporoid diagenesis: a synthesis

Palaeozoic stromatoporoids, throughout their 100-million + year history (Middle Ordovician to Late Devonian and rare Carboniferous), are better preserved than originally aragonite molluscs, but less well-preserved than low magnesium-calcite brachiopods, bryozoans, trilobites and corals. However, the original mineralogy of stromatoporoids remains unresolved, and details of their diagenesis are patchy. This study of approximately 2000 stromatoporoids and the literature recognises three diagenetic stages, applicable throughout their geological history. Timing of processes may vary in and between stages; some components are not always present. Stage 1, on or just below sediment surface, comprises the following: micrite filling of upper gallery space after death, then filling of any remaining space by non-ferroan then ferroan calcite in decreasing oxygen of pore-waters; partial lithification of associated sediment from which stromatoporoids may be exhumed and redeposited, evidence of general early lithification of middle Palaeozoic shallow-marine carbonates; microdolomite formation, with the Mg interpreted to have been derived from original high-Mg calcite (HMC) mineralogy (likely overlaps Stage 2). Stage 2, short distance below sediment surface, comprising the following: fabric-retentive recrystallisation (FRR) of stromatoporoid skeletons forming fabric-retentive irregular calcite (FRIC), mostly orientated normal to growth layers, best seen in cross-polarised light. FRIC stops at stromatoporoid margins in contact with sediment and bioclasts. FRIC geometry varies, indicating some taxonomic control. Evidence that FRIC formed early in diagenetic history includes syntaxial continuation of FRIC into some sub-stromatoporoid cavities (Type 1 cement), although others were pre-occupied by early cement fills (Type 2 cement) formed before FRR, preventing syntaxial continuation of FRIC into cavities. Likely contemporaneous with FRIC formation, stromatoporoids in argillaceous micrites drew carbonate from adjacent sediment during reorganisation of argillaceous micrite into limestone–marl rhythms that are also early diagenetic. Stage 3, largely shallow burial, comprises the following: dissolution and silicification, but these may have occurred earlier in stromatoporoid diagenetic histories (more data required); burial pressure dissolution forming stylolites.

REE and Sr–Nd Isotope Characteristics of Cambrian–Ordovician Carbonate in Taebaek and Jeongseon Area, Korea

Carbonate formations of the Cambro-Ordovician Period occur in the Taebaek and Jeongseon areas, located in the central–eastern part of the Korean Peninsula. This study analyzed the rare earth element (REE) contents and Sr–Nd isotope ratios in these carbonates to elucidate their depositional environment and diagenetic history. The CI chondrite-normalized REE patterns of the carbonates showed negative Eu anomalies (EuN/(SmN × GdN)1/2 = 0.50 to 0.81), but no Ce anomaly (Ce/Ce* = CeN/(LaN2 × NdN)1/3 = 1.01 ± 0.06). The plot of log (Ce/Ce*) against sea water depth indicates that the carbonates were deposited in a shallow-marine environment such as a platform margin. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios in both Taebaek and Jeongseon carbonates were higher than those in the seawater at the corresponding geological time. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios and the values of (La/Yb)N and (La/Sm)N suggest that the carbonates in the areas experienced diagenetic processes several times. Their 143Nd/144Nd ratios varied from 0.511841 to 0.511980. The low εNd values and high 87Sr/86Sr ratios in the carbonates may have resulted from the interaction with the hydrothermal fluid derived from the intrusive granite during the Cretaceous Period.