Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T01:36:10.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dissolution of apatite in North Sea Jurassic sandstones: implications for the generation of secondary porosity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

A. C. Morton
A. C. Morton*
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Notts NG12 5GG
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Heavy-mineral studies on Jurassic sandstones from the central and northern North Sea areas and from the Lossiemouth Borehole (onshore NE Scotland) show that the dissolution of apatite is a function of depositional environment rather than burial depth. In the shallow marine Upper Jurassic sands of the Claymore, Clyde and Tartan Fields, and in the deeper-water Magnus sands, apatite is ubiquitous, even where burial depths exceed 3800 m. Conversely, the fluvio-deltaic sands of the Beatrice, Heather, Ninian and Murchison Fields, and of the Lossiemouth Borehole, have suffered apatite dissolution, although burial depths range from very shallow (Lossiemouth Borehole) to about 3300 m. This clearly indicates that apatite dissolution has taken place through penetration of low-pH meteoric groundwaters at a very early stage in diagenesis, and that high-temperature fluids circulating in deep burial have had little or no effect. This is in accord with patterns of mineral dissolution observed in other sedimentary basins and in the North Sea Palaeocene. Although dissolution of heavy minerals is unlikely to generate significant secondary porosity, the process is nevertheless caused by the same pore-fluids that dissolve major framework constituents. Patterns of heavy-mineral dissolution therefore provide clues to the nature of these pore-fluids. Here, the relative stability of apatite is particularly significant. The order of stability apatite > garnet > kyanite, which characterizes deep burial of North Sea sandstones, has previously been simulated experimentally using fluids of pH 8 at room temperature. This suggests that high-temperature acidic pore-fluids may not have played a significant role in the development of secondary porosity in North Sea sandstones.

Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , October 1986 , pp. 711 - 733
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1986

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

Albright, W.A., Turner, W.L. & Williamson, K.R. (1980) Ninian field, UK sector, North Sea. Pp. 173–193 in: Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade 1968-1978 (Halbouty, M. T., editor). Mem. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. 30.Google Scholar
Berridge, N.G. & Ivimey-Cook, H.C. (1967) The geology of a Geological Survey borehole at Lossiemouth, Morayshire. Bull. Geol. Surv. Gt. Britain 27, 155–169.Google Scholar
Bjorlykke, K. (1980) Clastic diagenesis and basin evolution. Revista del lnstituto de lnvestigaciones Geologicas Diputacion Provincial Universidad de Barcelona 34, 21–44.Google Scholar
Bjorlykke, K. (1983) Diagenetic reactions in sandstones. Pp. 169–213 in: Sediment Diagenesis (Parker, A. and Sellwood, B. W., editors). D. Reidel, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Bjorlykke, K. (1984) Formation of secondary porosity: how important is it?. Pp. 277–286 in: Clastic Diagenesis (McDonald, D. A. and Surdam, R. C., editors). Mem. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. 37.Google Scholar
Blackbourn, G.A. (1984) Diagenetic history and reservoir quality of a Brent Sand sequence. Clay Miner. 19, 377–389.Google Scholar
Burley, S.D., Kantorowicz, J.D. & Waugh, B. (1984) Clastic diagenesis. Pp. 189–226 in: Sedimentology: Recent Developments and Applied Aspects (Brenchley, P. J. and Williams, B. P. J., editors). Geol. Soc. London Spec. Pub. 18.Google Scholar
Curry, M.K. & Fisher, M.J. (1982) Coastal plain deposits in the Beatrice oil field, UK North Sea. IAS Abstracts of Papers, llth Int. Cong. Sedimentology, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, 150.Google Scholar
Curtis, C.D. (1983) Geochemistry of porosity enhancement and reduction in elastic sediments. Pp. 113–125 in: Petroleum Geochemistry and Exploration of Europe (Brooks, J., editor). Geol. Soc. London Spec. Pub. 12.Google Scholar
De'Ath, N.G. & Schuyleman, S.F. (1981) The geology of the Magnus oilfield. Pp. 342–351 in: Petroleum Geology of the Continental Shelf of North-West Europe (Illing, L. V. and Hobson, G. D., editors). Heyden, London.Google Scholar
Deegan, C.E. & Scull, B.J. (1977) A standard lithostratigraphic nomenclature for the Central and Northern North Sea. Rep. Inst. Geol. Sci. 77/25.Google Scholar
Freise, F.W. (193l) Untersuchungen von mineralen auf abnutzbarkeit bei verfractung im wasser. Tschermaks Mineralog. Petrog. Mitt. 41, 1–7.Google Scholar
Galehouse, J.S. (1971) Point-counting. Pp. 383–408 in: Procedures in Sedimentary Petrology (Carver, R. E., editor). Wiley-Interscience, New York.Google Scholar
Gibbs, A.D. (1984) Clyde field growth fault secondary detachment above basement faults in North Sea. Bull. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. 68, 1029–1039.Google Scholar
Gray, W.D.T. & Barnes, G. (1981) The Heather oil field. Pp. 335–341 in: Petroleum Geology of the Continental Shelf of North-West Europe (Illing, L. V. and Hobson, G. D., editors). Heyden, London.Google Scholar
Grimm, W.-D. (1973) Stepwise heavy mineral weathering in the Residual Quartz Gravel, Bavarian Molasse (Germany). Contr. Sedimentology 1, 103–125.Google Scholar
Harms, J.C., Tackenberg, P., Pickles, E. & Pollock, R.E. (1981) The Brae oilfield area. Pp. 352–357 in: Petroleum Geology of the Continental Shelf of North-West Europe (Illing, L. V. and Hobson, G. D., editors). Heyden, London.Google Scholar
Hayes, J.B. (1979) Sandstone diagenesis―the hole truth. Pp. 127–139 in: Aspects of Diagenesis (Scholle, P. A. and Schluger, P. R., editors). SEPM Spec. Pub. 26.Google Scholar
Hower, J., Eslinger, E.V., Hower, M.E. & Perry, C.A. (1976) Mechanism of burial-metamorphism of argillaceous sediments, 1. Mineralogical and chemical evidence. Bull Geol. Soc. Am. 87, 725–737.Google Scholar
Hutcheon, I., Oldershaw, A. & Ghent, E.D. (1980) Diagenesis of Cretaceous sandstones of the Kootenay Formation at Elk Valley (southeastern British Columbia). Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 44, 1425–1436.Google Scholar
Johnson, H.D. & Stewart, D.J. (1984) The role of clastic sedimentology in the exploration and production of oil and gas in the North Sea. Pp. 249–310 in: Sedimentology: Recent Developments and Applied Aspeets (Brenchley, P. J. and Williams, B. P. J., editors). Geol. Soc. London Spec. Pub. 18.Google Scholar
Lindquist, S.J. (1977) Secondary porosity development and subsequent reduction, overpressured Frio Formation sandstone (Oligocene), South Texas. Trans. Gulf Coast Assoc. Geol Soc. 27, 99–107.Google Scholar
Linsley, P.N., Potter, H.C., McNab, G. & Racher, D. (1980) The Beatrice field, Inner Moray Firth, UK North Sea. Pp. 117–129 in: Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade 1968-1978 (Halbouty, M. T., editor). Mem. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. 30.Google Scholar
Loucks, R.G., Bebout, D.G. & Galloway, W.E. (1977) Relationship of porosity formation and preservation to sandstone consolidation history―Gulf Coast Lower Tertiary Frio Formation. Trans. Gulf Coast Assoc. Geol. Soc. 27, 109–120.Google Scholar
Lundegard, P.D., Land, L.S. & Galloway, W.E. (1984) Problem of secondary porosity: Frio Formation (Oligocene), Texas Gulf Coast. Geology 12, 399–402.Google Scholar
Morton, A.C. (1979) The provenance and distribution of the Palaeocene sands of the central North Sea. J. Petrol Geol 2, 11–21.Google Scholar
Morton, A.C. (1984) Stability of detrital heavy minerals in Tertiary sandstones from the North Sea Basin. Clay Miner. 19, 287–308.Google Scholar
Morton, A.C. (1985) A new approach to provenance studies: electron microprobe analysis of detrital garnets from Middle Jurassic sandstones of the northern North Sea. Sedimentology 32, 553–566.Google Scholar
Morton, A.C. & Humphreys, B. (1983) The petrology of the Middle Jurassic sandstones from the Murchison field, North Sea. J. Petrol Geol. 5, 245–260.Google Scholar
Neves, R. & Selley, R.C. (1975) A review of the Jurassic rocks of North-East Scotland. Pp. JNNSS 5, 1–29 in: Jurassic Northern North Sea Symposium (Finstad, K. G. and Selley, R. C., editors). Norwegian Petroleum Society, Oslo.Google Scholar
Nickel, E.H. (1973) Experimental dissolution of light and heavy minerals in comparison with weathering and intrastratal solution. Contr. Sedimentology 1, 1–68.Google Scholar
Parry, C.C., Whitley, P.J.K. & Simpson, R.D.H. (1981) Integration of palynological and sedimentological methods in facies analysis of the Brent Formation. Pp. 205–215 in: Petroleum Geology of the Continental Shelf of North-West Europe (Illing, L. V. and Hobson, G. D., editors). Heyden, London.Google Scholar
Savkevich, S.S. (1969) Variation in sandstone porosity in lithogenesis (as related to the prediction of secondary porous oil and gas reservoirs). Dokl. Acad. Sci. USSR, Earth Sci. Sect. 184, 161–163.Google Scholar
Schmidt, V. & McDonald, D.A. (1979) The role of secondary porosity in the course of sandstone diagenesis. Pp. 175–207 in: Aspects of Diagenesis (Scholle, P. A. and Schluger, P. R., editors). SEPM Spec. Pub. 26.Google Scholar
Sellwood, B.W. (1972) Regional environmental changes across a Lower Jurassic stage-boundary in Britain. Palaeontology 15, 125–157.Google Scholar
Shanmugam, G. (1985) Types of porosity in sandstones and their significance in interpreting provenance. Pp. 115–137 in: Provenance of A renites (Zuffa, G. G., editor). D. Reidel, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
Simpson, R.D.H. & Whitley, P.K.J. (1981) Geological input to reservoir simulation of the Brent Formation. Pp. 310–314 in: Petroleum Geology of the Continental Shelf of North-West Europe (Illing, L. V. and Hobson, G. D., editors). Heyden, London.Google Scholar
Spark, I.S.C. & Trewin, N.H. (1986) Facies related diagenesis in the main Claymore oilfield sandstones. Clay Miner. 21, 479–496.Google Scholar
Stewart, D.J. (1986) Diagenesis of the shallow marine Fulmar Formation in the central North Sea. Clay Miner. 21, 537–564.Google Scholar
Stow, D.A.V., Bishop, C.D. & Mills, S.J. (1982) Sedimentology of the Brae oilfield, North Sea: fan models and controls. J. Petrol Geol. 5, 129–148.Google Scholar
Surdam, R.C., Boese, S.W. & Crossey, L.J. (1984) The chemistry of secondary porosity. Pp. 127–149 in: Clastic Diagenesis (McDonald, D. A. and Surdam, R. C., editors). Mem. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. 37.Google Scholar
Thiel, G.A. (1940) The relative resistance to abrasion of mineral grains of sand size. J. Sedim. Petrol. 10, 102–124.Google Scholar
Thiel, G.A. (1945) Mechanical effects of stream transportation on mineral grains of sand size (abstract). Bull Geol. Soc. Am. 56, 1207.Google Scholar
Turner, C.C., Richards, P.C., Swallow, J.L. & Grimshaw, S.P. (1984) Upper Jurassic stratigraphy and sedimentary facies in the Central Outer Moray Firth basin, North Sea. Mar. Petrol. Geol. 1, 105–117.Google Scholar