Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T23:44:51.165Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Controls on mineral authigenesis in Coal Measures sandstones of the East Midlands, UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

J. M. Hugget*
Affiliation:
BP Petroleum Development Limited, Exploration Department, Britannic House, Moor Lane, London EC2Y 9BU

Abstract

Authigenic clay mineral formation in fluvial sandstones and one brackish sandstone from the lower and middle Coal Measures of the East Midlands has been studied using XRD, optical microscopy and a variety of electron optical techniques. The sandstones are quartz-rich with minor feldspar and mica. The clay minerals present are kaolinite, chlorite and illite; they form 10–15% by volume of most of the sandstones. Both detrital and authigenic illite and chlorite are present but the kaolinite is entirely authigenic. Kaolinite and illite authi-genesis has been important in all the sandstones but authigenic chlorite is only abundant in the phyllosilicate-rich Silkstone sandstone. The controlling factors in the diagenesis of the sandstones were primary composition, environment of deposition, bed thickness, pore-fluid migration and composition, pressure and temperature. These interacting factors have been of varying importance in time and space in the diagenesis of the sandstones. Authigenic clay morphology appears to have been controlled by time and environment of formation, pore-fluid chemistry and, possibly, parent minerals.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1984

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

Biscaye, P.E. (1965) Mineralogy and sedimentation of recent deep sea clays in the Atlantic Ocean. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 76, 803831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calver, M.A. (1968) Distribution of Westphalian marine faunas in northern England and adjoining areas. Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc. 37, 172.Google Scholar
Dick, A. (1888) On kaolinite. Mineral. Mag. 8, 1527.Google Scholar
Downing, R.A. & Howitt, F. (1968) Saline ground waters in the Carboniferous of the English East Midlands in relation to the geology. Q.J. Engng. Geol. 1, 241269.Google Scholar
Folk, R.L. (1966) Petrology of Sedimentary Rocks, Hemphills, Austin, Texas, 170 pp.Google Scholar
Hawkins, P.J. (1972) Carboniferous sandstone oil reservoirs, East Midlands, England. PhD thesis, Univ. London, UK.Google Scholar
Hawkins, P.J. (1978) Relationship between diagenesis, porosity reduction, and oil emplacement in late Carboniferous sandstone reservoirs, Bothamsall oil field, E. Midlands. J. Geol. Soc. London 135, 724.Google Scholar
Howitt, F. & Brunstrom, R.G.W. (1966) The continuation of the East Midlands Coal Measures into Lancashire. Proc. Yorks. Geol. Soc. 35, 549569.Google Scholar
Hugoett, J.M. & White, S.H. (1982) High-voltage electron microscopy of authigenic clay minerals in sandstones. Clays Clay Miner. 30, 232236.Google Scholar
Kübler, B. (1966) La crystallinité de l'illité et les zones tout a fait superieures du metamorphisme. Etages tectonique, Colloque de Neuchatel, 105122.Google Scholar
Sylvester-Bradley, P.C. & Ford, T.D. (1968) Geology of the East Midlands. Leicester Univ. Press, Leicester.Google Scholar
Wollast, R. (1967) Kinetics of the alteration of K-feldspar in buffered solutions at low temperature. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 31, 635648.Google Scholar