Silisciclastic Diagenisis Flashcards
At what depth, pressure and temperature does diagenesis takes place?
Ate around 6 km and at relatively low temperature (around ~300 c) and low pressure. Above 300 c and at high pressure you are altering the rock.
What is an consequence of grain compaction/burial that has huge economical consequences in the energy sector?
Decrease in porosity
What processes occur during diagenesis? (6 examples)
Compaction
Cementation
Grain repacking( distribution of grains change porosity)
Bioturbation
Pressure dissolution( sending minerals into solution at high pressure in pore water)
Authigenisis (growth of new minerals)
Difference between compaction and repacking?
Compaction is different than repacking in the sence that compaction is the increase in weight from the overlaying beds and repacking is the change in the distribution of grains in order to occupy less space, witch results in decreased porosity.
Grain repacking is a consequence of compaction.
What characteristics will dictate if diagenesis will occur?
Temperature
Pressure
Biomass (dictates who is stirring the sediment and also what is the chemistry of you sediment)
Pore water chemistry ( low ph- acidic- dissolves carbonate and high ph-alkaline-precipitate carbonate)
Sediment POROSITY and PERMEABILITY (this two dictates how your water behaves)
Lithology (mineral content)
How depth affects salinity during diagenesis?
As pressure increases, the abundance of dissolve ions increase, thus increasing the salinity or the ppm of these ions dissolved in the pore spaces.
What consequences the type of pore water can have during diagenesis ?
Fresh vs salt water?
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Fresh water is very different from salt water so the chemistry of the pore water will be also different as well as the cement deposit in this different chemistry. As a consequence, the rocks formed in a terrestrial,marine and brackish settings are very different!
What happens to carbonates in a acidic and alkaline environment?
Acidic- low pH- dissolve
Alkaline- High pH- precipitates
What water driven rxns control early diagenesis of shallow-water siliciclastic sediments/ rocks in marine basins?
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Marine vs freshwater vary different
Meteoric water-more acidic (pH~4.5-6)
Ocean water-alkaline (pH~8). Hence rxns are diff.
Different concentration of ions, hence some minerals will precipitate faster than others. Replacement rxns can also occur.
What is diagenisis?
Physical and chemical changes that alter sediment after deposition.
Typically low temperature and low pressure
What are the three types of diagenesis?
Eogenesis
Mesogenesis
Telogenisis
What dictates Eogenesis?
Pore water interacts with the detrital assemblage at shallow burial under the influence of the depositional system.
What is Eogenesis and at what level it takes place?
Shallow
- Reworking of grains (Bioturbation)
- Compaction (minimal!)
- Grain Repacking
- cementation(sometimes!)
Grain repacking
Rearrangement of grains to maximize their energy.
Explain how Caliche (hardpan) is formed?
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It is a post depositional alteration due to Eogenesis right at the surfice
Calcite-cemented soil formed by evaporation of CACO3-rich ground water. The cement was left behind when the water evaporated.
Caliche vs Silcrete
Caliche is made of water enriched in calcite. Cement is calcite.
Silcrete is made of water enriched in silica. Cement is silica
Why Silcrete deposits are rare?
Because silica is not very soluble
At what stage of diagenesis Silcrete is formed?
Eogenesis right at the surfice
Essentially same as caliche but cement is silica.
Waht is a Beachrock and at what stage o diagenesis and what type of environment it is formed?
Eogenesis right at the surfice
Early cemented limestone
“Solid” rock prior to burial (CaCO3 cement)
Tidal environment.
What are the environmental restrictions in a bechrock? (8)
pH Biomass Water depth Evolution and distribution of organisms Temperature Salinity Current strength Substrate
Mesogenesis
Deeper
- Greater compaction
- More Cementation
- chemical alteration
Chemical compaction owing to pressure dissolution
The pore water chemistry can alter the sediments that are already there.
Increase led compaction and increased temperature can change the salinity and pH, also altering the sediments around it
Pressure dissolution
How deep the sediment need to be to start the diagenetic process?
It can happen at the surface. You don’t need a lot of mass to start packing things together
What dictates mechanical compaction during early burial?
The type of sediment play an important role on how the gains are going to behave under pressure.
E.g., packing mica vs quartz
What is the consequence of mechanical packing?
Reduction in porosity
What happens to the grains as a consequence of burial compaction?
Mechanical rotation
Grain rearrangement
Brakage of thin/soft grains reduces the overall volume of the rock
Reduce porosity!!!
Differential compaction
The difference between initial porosity of I consolidated sand (25-43%) and unconsolidated mud (60-80%) causes differential compaction
Rate of compaction is a function…
… of rate of sedimentation
The more sediment - the more pressure. Also, the velocity at which the sediment id deposit is very important.
Why mud behaves different than sand during compaction?
Because the incredible amount of porosity in mud means that is will behave differently ( different compaction)
How can you minimize the lost of porosity by sediment compaction?
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EARLY CEMENTATION to minimize compaction, than when the rock comes back during Telogenesis, the carbonate is dissolved by acidic ground water hence increasing the porosity of the rock. This way, hydrocarbons can migrate upwards.
When the rock was cemented can play an important role in what porosity will look like when the rock gets back to the surface.
In comparison with sand, mud tends to compact….
…. Twice as much.
When deposited mud usually ~ 60-80% water.
T final = ~ 1/2 T original
Sends tend to be ~25-30% porosity but 0-10% porosity post-burrial
Sends tend to be …….% porosity before burial and ……% porosity after burial.
….~25-30% …… 0-10%….
Different compaction leads to …… looking deposits. ( appearance )
Strange looking deposits
Concretion
Discrete, localized cemented body within a sedimentary unit, with sharp boundaries and generally ovoid in shape and flattened parallel to bedding.
Build up of minerals around a nucleus.
How can you infer relative time of formation of concretions?
It may be inferred from its relationship with the adjacent layers.
What controls the formation of concretions?
Pore water
- Temperature
- Pressure
- pH
- Available elements
Chemical compaction
It happens during Mesogenesis. Increased overburden- increasing sub vertical stress concentrated at framework grain boundaries. Localized stress enhances dissolution at point of contact.
Feldspar is a good example. Dissolve away at stress points, adding ions into the system to be precipitated elsewhere.
Precipitated is different than….. d……..t
Deposit
What happens if you add pressure to a point-point contact?
Increase amount of pressure. You can deform de grains and suture them together. It is a compaction with a dissolution of the contact to the surrounding fluid.
What is the name given to a type of structure formed as a result of pressure dissolution?
Stylolite