Sedimentary controls on modern sand grain coat formation

Dowey, Patrick J.; Worden, Richard H.; Utley, James E. P.; Hodgson, David M.

doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2017.03.001

Cited by 54 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…It should be noted that diatom (MPB) biofilm-producing organisms have been reported previously from other modern estuarine environments (Paterson et al, 2000) and deltaic sediments (Delgado, 1989). This has implications for a possible consistent biofilm-mediated origin for the reported similar clay-coated sand grain textures within such marginal marine sedimentary systems (Dowey et al, 2017).…”

Section: Implications For Clay-coated Sand Grains In Sandstonesmentioning

confidence: 74%

Biofilm origin of clay-coated sand grains

Wooldridge

Worden

Griffiths

et al. 2017

Geology

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The presence of clay-sized particles and clay minerals in modern sands and ancient sandstones has long presented an interesting problem, because primary depositional processes tend to lead to physical separation of fine-and coarse-grained materials. Numerous processes have been invoked to explain the common presence of clay minerals in sandstones, including infiltration, the codeposition of flocculated muds, and bioturbation-induced sediment mixing. How and why clay minerals form as grain coats at the site of deposition remains uncertain, despite clay-coated sand grains being of paramount importance for subsequent diagenetic sandstone properties. We have identified a new biofilm mechanism that explains clay material attachment to sand grain surfaces that leads to the production of detrital clay coats. This study focuses on a modern estuary using a combination of field work, scanning electron microscopy, petrography, biomarker analysis, and Raman spectroscopy to provide evidence of the pivotal role that biofilms play in the formation of clay-coated sand grains. This study shows that within modern marginal marine systems, clay coats primarily result from adhesive biofilms. This bio-mineral interaction potentially revolutionizes the understanding of clay-coated sand grains and offers a first step to enhanced reservoir quality prediction in ancient and deeply buried sandstones.

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Section: Implications For Clay-coated Sand Grains In Sandstonesmentioning

confidence: 74%

Biofilm origin of clay-coated sand grains

Wooldridge

Worden

Griffiths

et al. 2017

Geology

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“…Eodiagenesis can lead to accumulation of normally minor components such as Fe-minerals during times of reduced sedimentation. The role of eodiagenesis in sandstone reservoir quality is becoming increasingly acknowledged, for example in terms of the possible creation of coats on detrital grains that then may inhibit later quartz cement (Dowey et al 2017;Wooldridge et al 2017a, b;Daneshvar & Worden 2017;Fig. 5).…”

Section: Eodiagenesis (Early/shallow Burial Diagenesis)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Infiltration is widely cited as a control on the presence of clay minerals in granular sediments. Although there have been few studies of modern sedimentary environments where this has been proved, there is a burgeoning soil-science literature where infiltration is accepted as a major control on redistribution of fine materials in a granular matrix (Dowey et al 2017). …”

Section: Eodiagenesis (Early/shallow Burial Diagenesis)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sandstone community has more recently started using modern analogues to help develop predictive models of reservoir quality with some focus on understanding carbonate cement distribution, especially in aquifers, marginal marine settings and arid intracontinental soils (Arakel 1986;McBride et al 1995;McBride & Parea 2001). New focus on the use of clastic depositional analogues to help with reservoir quality prediction has arisen with an imperative to understand the origin and distribution of grain-coating clay minerals that serve to inhibit quartz cement and thus preserve porosity, in deeply buried sandstone reservoirs (Dowey et al 2017;Wooldridge et al 2017a, b;Daneshvar & Worden 2017), but with much work yet to be done to extend the approach to carbonate cemented marine sandstones and their relationship to modern clastic sedimentary systems. There is much still to learn about reservoir quality prediction from the study of modern clastic environments.…”

Section: Analytical Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Petroleum reservoir quality prediction: overview and contrasting approaches from sandstone and carbonate communities

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The porosity and permeability of sandstone and carbonate reservoirs (known as reservoir quality) are essential inputs for successful oil and gas resource exploration and exploitation. This chapter introduces basic concepts, analytical and modelling techniques and some of the key controversies to be discussed in 20 research papers that were initially presented at a Geological Society conference in 2014 titled 'Reservoir Quality of Clastic and Carbonate Rocks: Analysis, Modelling and Prediction'. Reservoir quality in both sandstones and carbonates is studied using a wide range of techniques: log analysis and petrophysical core analysis, core description, routine petrographic tools and, ideally, less routine techniques such as stable isotope analysis, fluid inclusion analysis and other geochemical approaches. Sandstone and carbonate reservoirs both benefit from the study of modern analogues to constrain the primary character of sediment before they become a hydrocarbon reservoir. Prediction of sandstone and carbonate reservoir properties also benefits from running constrained experiments to simulate diagenetic processes during burial, compaction and heating. There are many common controls on sandstone and carbonate reservoir quality, including environment of deposition, rate of deposition and rate and magnitude of sea-level change, and many eogenetic processes. Compactional and mesogenetic processes tend to affect sandstone and carbonate somewhat differently but are both influenced by rate of burial, and the thermal and pressure history of a basin. Key differences in sandstone and carbonate reservoir quality include the specific influence of stratigraphic age on seawater composition (calcite v. aragonite oceans), the greater role of compaction in sandstones and the greater reactivity and geochemical openness of carbonate systems. Some of the key controversies in sandstone and carbonate reservoir quality focus on the role of petroleum emplacement on diagenesis and porosity loss, the role of effective stress in chemical compaction (pressure solution) and the degree of geochemical openness of reservoirs during diagenesis and cementation. This collection of papers contains case study-based examples of sandstone and carbonate reservoir quality prediction as well as modern analogue, outcrop analogue, modelling and advanced analytical approaches.Gold Open Access: This article is published under the terms of the CC-BY 3.0 license.Porosity and permeability (reservoir quality) exert fundamental controls on the economic viability of a petroleum accumulation (Blackbourn 2012).They need to be quantified from basin access and exploration, via appraisal and field development through secondary and tertiary recovery in order to

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“…Note that this article carefully discriminates between the term ‘clay mineral’, referring to aluminium‐rich sheet silicate minerals (phyllosilicates) and the term ‘clay’, referring to sediment particles that are smaller than 2 μ m in size. With reference to modern marginal marine environments, while it is possible to start to predict the distribution of clay grade material (Dalrymple et al ., ; Dowey et al ., ; Wooldridge et al ., ,b; Griffiths et al ., ; Virolle et al ., ), it is not possible to identify areas of enrichment of one specific clay mineral (for example, chlorite) relative to other clay minerals. Fundamentally, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding on how specific clay minerals are distributed in most modern sedimentary environments and in ancient, deeply buried sandstone reservoirs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estuarine clay mineral distribution: Modern analogue for ancient sandstone reservoir quality prediction

et al. 2019

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The spatial distribution of clay minerals in sandstones, which may both enhance or degrade reservoir quality, is poorly understood. To address this, clay mineral distribution patterns and host‐sediment properties (grain size, sorting, clay fraction abundance and bioturbation intensity) have, for the first time, been determined and mapped at an unprecedentedly high‐resolution in a modern estuarine setting (Ravenglass Estuary, UK). Results show that the estuary sediment is dominated by illite with subordinate chlorite and kaolinite, although the rivers supply sediment with less illite and significantly more chlorite than found in the estuary. Fluvial‐supplied sediment has been locally diluted by sediment derived from glaciogenic drift deposits on the margins of the estuary. Detailed clay mineral maps and statistical analyses reveal that the estuary has a heterogeneous distribution of illite, chlorite and kaolinite. Chlorite is relatively most abundant on the northern foreshore and backshore and is concentrated in coarse‐grained inner estuary dunes and tidal bars. Illite is relatively most abundant (as well as being most crystalline and most Fe–Mg‐rich) in fine‐grained inner estuary and central basin mud and mixed flats. Kaolinite has the highest abundance in fluvial sediment and is relatively homogenous in tidally‐influenced environments. Clay mineral distribution patterns in the Ravenglass Estuary have been strongly influenced by sediment supply (residence time) and subsequently modified by hydrodynamic processes. There is no relationship between macro‐faunal bioturbation intensity and the abundance of chlorite, illite or kaolinite. Based on this modern‐analogue study, outer estuarine sediments are likely to be heavily quartz cemented in deeply‐buried (burial temperatures exceeding 80 to 100°C) sandstone reservoirs due to a paucity of clay grade material (<0·5%) to form complete grain coats. In contrast, chlorite‐enriched tidal bars and dunes in the inner estuary, with their well‐developed detrital clay coats, are likely to have quartz cement inhibiting authigenic clay coats in deeply‐buried sandstones.

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Sedimentary controls on modern sand grain coat formation

Abstract: This is a repository copy of Sedimentary controls on modern sand grain coat formation.

Cited by 54 publications

References 68 publications

Biofilm origin of clay-coated sand grains

Biofilm origin of clay-coated sand grains

Petroleum reservoir quality prediction: overview and contrasting approaches from sandstone and carbonate communities

Estuarine clay mineral distribution: Modern analogue for ancient sandstone reservoir quality prediction

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