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Early carbonate diagenesis within Phanerozoic shales and sandstones of the NW European Shelf

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

J. G. Gluyas
J. G. Gluyas*
Affiliation:
BP Petroleum Development Ltd, Farburn Industrial Estate, Dyce, Aberdeen AB2 0PB, UK
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Abstract

Continuous nodular limestone beds in north-west European shale sequences developed during early diagenesis via anaerobic, bacterial catabolysis of organic matter which yielded both carbonate and sulphide. The high carbonate content of the nodular limestones (50–90%) demonstrates that they developed in the upper tens of metres of the sediment column. In addition, each of the nodular limestones displays a centrifugal decrease in carbonate, indicating that growth was synchronous with compaction of the host ooze. The chemistry of the carbonate changed with time, becoming more rich in magnesium and iron and reflecting a progressive change in the porewater chemistry from its initially marine composition. The earliest precipitate was calcite containing < 1 mole% MgO; later precipitates contained several percent MgO and ultimately dolomite was precipitated. Similarly, iron content of the carbonate increased as precipitation continued and sulphate reduction, and thus pyrite production, declined. The early diagenetic cementation of many marine sandstones followed a pattern similar to that of nodular limestones and much of the carbonate was also derived from organic matter via bacterial oxidation. Thus, early diagenetic bacterial oxidation of organic matter may not only reduce the source potential of shales but also reduce the reservoir potential of associated sandstones, or those more distant which lie along compactional-fluid pathways.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , June 1984 , pp. 309 - 321
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1984

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