Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-23T19:07:50.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Kaolinite growth during pore-water mixing: isotopic data from Palaeocene sands, North Sea, UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

R. N. T. Stewart ,
A. E. Fallick  and
R. S. Haszeldine
R. N. T. Stewart
Affiliation:
CRAG-Centre for Research into Applied Geoscience, Department of Geology and Applied Geology, University of Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
A. E. Fallick
Affiliation:
Isotope Geology Unit, Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre, East Kilbride
R. S. Haszeldine
Affiliation:
CRAG-Centre for Research into Applied Geoscience, Department of Geology and Applied Geology, University of Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Stable isotopic and petrographic data have been used to interpret conditions for the formation of authigenic kaolinite within Lower Palaeocene sands, Central North Sea. Two wells within the Witch Ground Graben were sampled (1975 m to 2795 m). Texturally early calcite concretions have isotopic compositions (δ18O = 18.3–21.6‰ SMOW) which indicate that they were precipitated in predominantly meteoric waters. The isotopic composition of later vermiform kaolinite (δ18O = 14.8–17.7‰ SMOW and δD = −53 to −71‰ SMOW) indicates that kaolinite precipitated at around 45–70°C, from a mixed meteoric-marine pore-water (δ18O = −5 to −3‰ SMOW). These modelled precipitation temperatures are consistent with the paragenetic sequence and consequently post-precipitation hydrogen isotope exchange between kaolinite and the pore-waters is presumed not to have occurred. It is inferred that the original depositional marine pore-waters were flushed out during the late Palaeocene (54.8 Ma) by a head of meteoric water from the East Shetland Platform. The Lower Palaeocene aquifer became closed to meteoric influx after marine transgression during the late Palaeocene (54.0 Ma). The remaining meteoric pore-waters in the sandstones became mixed with water from compacting marine muds surrounding the hydrostatically pressured sandstones.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , October 1994 , pp. 627 - 636
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbotts, I.L. (editor) (1991) United Kingdom Oil and Gas Fields, 25 Years Commemorative Volume. Geol. Soc. Memoir No. 59, London.Google Scholar
Barnard, P.C. & Bastow, M.A. (1992) Hydrocarbon generation, migration, alteration, entrapment and mixing in the Central and Northern North Sea. Pp. 167-190 in: Petroleum Migration (England, W.A. & Fleet, A.J., editors). Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. No. 59, London.Google Scholar
Bigeleisen, J., Perlman, M.L. & Prosser, H.C. (1952) Conversion of hydrogenic materials to hydrogen for isotopic analysis. Anal. Chem. 24, 1356.Google Scholar
Bird, M.I. & Cmvas, A.R. (1988) Stable isotope evidence for low temperature kaolinitic weathering and postformational hydrogen exchange in Permian kaolinites. Chem. Geol. 72, 249–265.Google Scholar
Brennand, T.P., Van Hoorn, B. & James, K.H. (1990) Historical Review of North Sea Exploration. Pp. 133 in: Introduction to the Petroleum Geology of the North Sea (Glennie, K.W., editor) Blackwell Scientific Publications, London.Google Scholar
Carman, G.J. & Young, R. (1981) Reservoir geology of the Forties Oilfield. Pp. 371-379 in: Petroleum Geology of North West Europe (Brooks, J. & Glennie, K.W., editors). Graham & Trotman, London.Google Scholar
Clayton, R.N. & Mayeda, T.K. (1963) The use of bromine pentafluoride in the extraction of oxygen from oxides and silicates for oxygen analysis. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 27, 43–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deegan, C.E. & Scull, B.J. (1977) A standard lithostratigraphic nomenclature for the central and northern North Sea concretions, Inst. Geol. Sci. Bull. Norwegian Petrol. Direct. Report. 77/25.Google Scholar
Den Hartog Jager, D., Giles, M.R. & Griffiths, G.R. (1993) Evolution of Paleogene submarine fans of the North Sea in time and space. Pp. 59-71 in: Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe (Parker, J.R., editor). Geological Society, London.Google Scholar
Folk, R.L. (1974) Petrology of Sedimentary Rocks. Hemphill Publishing Company, Austin.Google Scholar
Forester, R.A.W. & Taylor, H.P. (1977) 18O/16O, D/H, and 13C/12C studies of the Tertiary igneous complex of Skye, Scotland. Am. J. Sci. 277, 136–177.Google Scholar
Giles, M.R., Stevenson, S., Martin, S.V., Cannon, S.J.C., Hamilton, P.J., Marshall, J.D. & SAMWAYSG.M. (1992) The reservoir properties and diagenesis of the Brent Group: a regional perspective. Pp. 289-327 in: Geology of the Brent Group (Morton, A.C., Haszeldine, R.S., Giles, M.R. & Brown, S., editors). Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. No. 61, London.Google Scholar
Haszeldine, R.S., Brint, J.F., Fallick, A.E., Hamilton, P.J. & Brown, S. (1992) Open and restricted hydrologies in Brent Group diagenesis: North Sea. Pp. 401–419 in: Geology of the Brent Group (Morton, A.C., Haszeldine, R.S., Giles, M.R. & Brown, S., editors). Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. No. 61, London.Google Scholar
Huggett, J.M. (1992) Petrography, mineralogy, and diagenesis of overpressured Tertiary and Late Cretaceous mudrocks from the East Sheltand Basin. Clay Miner. 27, 487–506.Google Scholar
Jackson, M.L., (1979) Soil Chemical Analyses Advanced Coarse 2nd edition. Published by the author, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.Google Scholar
Jacque, M. & Thouvenin, J. (1975) Lower Tertiary tufts and volcanic activity in the North Sea. Pp. 455-465 in: Petroleum and the Continental Shelf of Noah-West Europe (Woodland, A.W., editor). John Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Knox, R.W.O'B., Morton, A.C. & Harland, R. (1981) Stratigraphical relationships of Palaeocene sands in the UK sector of the central North Sea. Pp. 267-281 in: Petroleum Geology of the Continental Shelf of North West Europe (Illing, L.V. & Hobson, G.D., editors). Institute of Petroleum, Heyden & Son Ltd, London.Google Scholar
Longstafre, F.J. & Avalon, A. (1990) Hydrogen-isotope geochemistry of diagenetic clay minerals from Cretaceous sandstones, Alberta, Canada: evidence for exchange. Appl. Geochem. 5, 657–68.Google Scholar
Macaulay, C.I., Fallick, A.E. & Haszeldine, R.S. (1993) Textural and isotopic variations in diagenetic kaolinite from the Magnus Oilfield Sandstones. Clay Miner. 28, 625–539.Google Scholar
Milton, N.J., Bertram, G.T. & Vann, I.R. (1990) Early Palaeogene tectonics and sedimentation in the Central North Sea. Pp. 339-351 in: Tectonic Events Responsible for Britain's Oil and Gas Reserves (Harman, R.F.P. & Brooks, J., editors). Geol. Soc. Spec. Publ. No. 55, London.Google Scholar
Morton, A.C. (1987) Influences of provenance and diagenesis on detrital garnet suites in the Paleocene Forties Sandstone, Central North Sea. J. Sed. Pet. 57, 1027–1032.Google Scholar
Morton, A.C., Halsworth, C.R. & Wilkinson, G.C. (1993) Stratigraphic evolution of sand provenance during Palaeocene deposition in the Northern North Sea area. Pp. 73-84 in: Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe (Parker, J.R., editor). Geol. Soc., London.Google Scholar
Mudge, D.C. & Copestake, P. (1992) Revised Lower Palaeocene lithostratigraphy for the Outer Moray Firth, North Sea. Mar. Petrol. Geol. 9, 53–69.Google Scholar
O'Neil, J.R. & Kharaka, Y.K. (1976) Hydrogen and oxygen isotope exchange reactions between lay minerals and water. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 40, 241–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pagan, M.C.T. (1980) Diagenesis of the Forties Field Sandstone. MPhil thesis, Univ. Edinburgh, UK.Google Scholar
Pearson, M.J. (1990) Clay mineral distribution and provenance in Mesozoic and Tertiary mudrocks of the Moray Firth and Northern North Sea. Clay Miner. 25, 519–541.Google Scholar
Savin, S.M. & Lee, M. (1988) lsotopic studies of phyllosilicates. Pp. 188-233 in: Hydrous Phyllosilicates (Exclusive of Micas) (Bailey, S.W., editor). Reviews in Mineralogy 16, Mineralogical Society of America, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sclater, J.G. & Christie, P.A.F. (1982) Continental stretching: an explanation of the post-mid Cretaceous subsidence of the Central North Sea. Geophys. Res. 85, 3711–3739.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J. & Kennet, J.P. (1974) Paleotemperature history of the Cenozoic and the initiation of Antarctic glaciation: oxygen and carbon isotope analysis in DSDP sites 277, 279, 281. Pp. 743-755 in: Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 29 (Kennet, J.P. et al., editors). Washington (U.S. Government Printing Office).Google Scholar
Sheppard, S.M.F. & Charef, A. (1986) Eau organique: characterisation isotopique et evidence de son role dans le gisement Pb-Zn de Fedj-el-Adoum, Tunisie. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris. t. 302, serie lI, 19, 1189–1192.Google Scholar
Shewart, I.J. (1987) A revised stratigraphic interpretation of the Early Palaeogene of the Central North Sea. Pp. 557-577 in: Petroleum Geology of North West Europe (Brooks, J. & Glennie, K.W., editors). Graham & Trotman, London.Google Scholar
Stewart, R.N.T., Haszeldine, R.S., Fallick, A.E., Andersron, R. & Dixon, R. (1993) Shallow Calcite Cementation in a Submarine Fan; Biodegradation of Vertically Migrating Oil? Abstract in: AAPG Ann. Con. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. 186.Google Scholar
Tonkin, P.C. & Fraser, A.R. (1991) The Balmoral Field. Pp. 237-243 in: United Kingdom Oil and Gas Fields, 25 Years Commemorative Volume. (Abbots, I.L., editor). Geol. Soc. Memoir No. 14, London.Google Scholar
Timbrell, G. (1993) Sandstone architecture of the Balder Formation depositional system, UK Quadrant 9 and adjacent areas. Pp. 107-12l in: Petroleum Geology of Northwest Europe (Parker, J.R., editor). Geol. Soc., London.Google Scholar
Walker, R.G. (1978) Deep-water sandstone facies and ancient submarine fans; models for exploration for stratigraphic traps. Bull. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. 62, 932–966.Google Scholar
Watson, R.S. (1993a) The Diagenesis of the Tertiary Sands from the Forth and Balmoral Fields, Northern North Sea. PhD thesis, Univ. Aberdeen, UK.Google Scholar
Watson, R.S. (1993b) The Forth Field, British Sector, North Sea: evidence of palaeo-oil leakage in a near surface reservoir. Abstract in: AAPG Ann. Con., Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. 198.Google Scholar