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Authigenic illite within northern and central North Sea oilfield sandstones: evidence for post-growth alteration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2018

M. Wilkinson ,
R. S. Haszeldine  and
A. E. Fallick
M. Wilkinson*
Affiliation:
School of GeoSciences, The University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, The King’s Buildings, West Mains Road. Edinburgh EH9 3JW, UK
R. S. Haszeldine
Affiliation:
School of GeoSciences, The University of Edinburgh, Grant Institute, The King’s Buildings, West Mains Road. Edinburgh EH9 3JW, UK
A. E. Fallick
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride G75 0QF, UK
*
*E-mail: mark.wilkinson@ed.ac.uk
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Abstract

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It has been previously reported that late diagenetic fibrous illite, separated out from oilfield sandstones for dating by the K-Ar method, has systematically shown an increasing K-content with burial depth in the UK northern and central North Sea. This is surprising as fibrous illite is believed to form rapidly, in response to a geological event such as oil charging, and to retain its composition during subsequent burial. If the composition of the illite is related to present-day conditions, rather than the conditions of initial formation, then argon loss may have occurred, making K-Ar ages of questionable validity. Variations in crystal chemistry of the illite and their fundamental particle size and shape (length/width) distribution suggest alteration of the illite from the time of formation. The extent to which K-Ar ages of illite might need to be re-interpreted as a result of this post-formation alteration is not quantifiable at present; however there is evidence to suggest that the ages may be interpreted in terms of burial models involving both crystal nucleation and growth, and that a high proportion of Ar within the crystals may be retained during post-growth recrystallization.

Keywords

authigenic illiteK-Ar age datafundamental particleNorth Seadiagenesis
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 229 - 246
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2014 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2014

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