Sandstones that have high porosity and permeability at great burial depth and high temperatures are of economic importance because a significant amount of hydrocarbons have been discovered in such reservoirs. The Sawan gas field, with an expected ultimate recovery of more than 1 tcf, lies in the middle Indus Basin. The reservoir rocks, Cretaceous volcaniclastic sandstones of the lower Goru Formation, show very high porosities at a reservoir temperature of 175°C and depths of 3000 to 3500 m (9842 to 11,483 ft). The sandstones are mostly feldspathic litharenites. Strongly altered volcanic rock fragments are the most important lithic component. The clay fraction consists of Fe-rich chlorite (chamosite) and illite. Diagenetic features such as compaction, quartz overgrowths, carbonate cements, and feldspar dissolution are observed. The most distinguishing feature is a double layer of authigenic chlorite, lining the pores of the sandstones. Chlorite additionally occurs as a pore-filling cement and as chloritized detrital components, all having similar chemical composition. The pore-lining cement clearly developed in two stages: an earlier, poorly crystallized, and a later, better crystallized growth. Missing rims at grain contacts show that precipitation occurred after an initial stage of compaction but early relative to other diagenetic phases. Both chlorite rims grew by direct precipitation from pore waters, using products derived

There is no consensus about the rate and style of clay mineral diagenesis in progressively buried sandstones v. interbedded mudstones. The diagenetic evolution of interbedded Miocene sandstones and mudstones from the Vienna Basin (Austria) has therefore been compared using core-based studies, petrography, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence. There was a common provenance for the coarse- and fine-grained sediments, and the primary depositional environment of the host sediment had no direct effect on illitization. The sandstones are mostly lithic arkoses dominated by framework grains of quartz, altered feldspars and carbonate rock fragments. Sandstone porosity has been reduced by quartz overgrowths and calcite cement; their pore-filling authigenic clay minerals consist of mixed-layer illite–smectite, illite, kaolinite and chlorite. In sandstones, smectite illitization progresses with depth; at 2150 m there is a transition from randomly interstratified to regular interstratified illite–smectite. The overall mineralogy of mudstones is surprisingly similar to the sandstones. However, for a given depth, feldspars are more altered to kaolinite, and smectite illitization is more advanced in sandstones than in mudstones. The higher permeability of sandstones allowed faster movement of material and pore fluid necessary for illitization and feldspar alteration than in mudstones. The significance of this work is that it has shown that open-system diagenesis is important for some clay mineral diagenetic reactions in sandstones, while closed-system diagenesis seems to operate for clay mineral diagenesis in mudstones.

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