DI AGENESI S

DI AGENESI S
DEFINITION:
THOSE NATURAL CHANGES WHICH OCCUR IN
SEDIMENTS BETWEEN THE TIME OF INITIAL
DEPOSITION AND METAMORPHISM
COMMON CARBONATE MINERALOGIES COMMON CARBONATE MINERALOGIES
MINERAL FORMULA CHARACTERISTICS
ARAGONITE CaCO
3
TRACE IMPURITIES;
ORTHORHOMBIC
MG-CALCITE CaCO
3
4-25% Mg IMPIRITIES;
HEXAGONAL
CALCITE CaCO
3
TACE IMPURITIES;
HEXAGONAL
DOLOMITE CaMg(CO
3
)
2
50% or so Mg;
HEXAGONAL
DIAGENETIC PHENOMENA
AFFECTI NG CARBONATES
MINERALOGIC STABILIZATION
ARAGONITE, CALCITE
NEOMORPHISM (REPLACEMENT)
CALCITE, CALCITE
DOLOMITIZATION
CALCITE, DOLOMITE
CEMENTATION
VOID-FILLING CALCITE,
DOLOMITE or
EVAPORITES
SILICIFICATION
PRESSURE SOLUTION /
COMPACTION
DISSOLUTION /
KARSTIFICATION
BRECCIATION / FRACTURING
FRESH WATER VADOSE
ENVIRONMENT
CEMENTS TEND TO BE
MENISCUS
PENDULOUS
EQUANT CALCITE
RHOMBIC CALCITE
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS
LEACHING OF ARAGONITE
SLIGHT CEMENTATION
COMMON POROSITY
FRESH WATER PHREATIC
ENVIRONMENT
CEMENTS TEND TO BE
ISOPACHOUS BLADED
EQUANT CALCITE
INTERLOCKING CRYSTALS
COARSER TO PORE CENTER
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS
SOME LEACHING OF ARAGONITE; LEACHING MAY BE ACCOMPANIED BY
CALCITE REPLACEMENT.
LOW POROSITY
RAPID CEMENTATION
SYNTAXIAL OVERGROWTHS ON ECHINODERMS
MARINE PHREATIC
ENVIRONMENT
CEMENTS TEND TO BE
ISOPACHOUS ARAGONITE NEEDLES
MICRITIC Mg-CALCITE
COMMONLY INTERBEDDED WITH INTERNAL SEDIMENT
SOMETIMES BOTRYOIDAL
SOMETIMES BORED
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS
NO LEACHING
SLOW CEMENTATION EXCEPT WHERE TIDES PUMP WATER
THROUGH SEDIMENT
POLYGONAL BOUNDARIES
MANY MINOR DISCONFORMITIES
DEEP SUBSURFACE
ENVIRONMENT
CHARACTERISTICS:
DISSOLUTION or CEMENTATION POSSIBLE
SLOW RATES OF DIAGENESIS CAUSED BY:
NEAR-SURFACE STABILIZATION OF ARAGONITE & Mg-CALCITE TO
FORM CALCITE
NEAR-SURFACE CEMENTATION REDUCES POROSITY &
PERMEABILITY WHICH INHIBITS WATER MOVEMENT IN THE
DEEP SUBSURFACE
BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR
DOLOMITE FORMATION

SOURCE OF Mg
SOURCE OF Mg
SEAWATER
Mf-RICH CLAYS FOR CEMENT
SKELETAL Mg CALCITE

FLUID FLOW SYSTEM

FLUID FLOW SYSTEM

SUITABLE Mg/ Ca RATIO

SUITABLE Mg/ Ca RATIO
Effects of early Effects of early diagenesis diagenesis on reservoir quality, on reservoir quality,
Burial Burial diagenesis diagenesis will modify reservoir Quality (RQ) will modify reservoir Quality (RQ)
further information required in purple further information required in purple
INITIALLY POROUS
AND PERMEABLE UNIT
(Sedimentology)
MARINE DIAGENESIS following deposition
Cementation, little effect on poroperm.
no dissolution
EXPOSED
(Sedimentology)
Close to
unconformity
METEORIC PHREATIC
limited dissolution,
cementation by low Mg
calcite around grains
METEORIC VADOSE
Extensive dissolution
limited but patchy cementation
(especially at pore throats)
Poropermdecrease, framework
resistant to mechanical compaction
during burial
Porosity increase, permeability
lowered, framework resistant to
mechanical compaction
COMPACTI ON
LIMITED?
RQ poor RQ good RQ moderate RQ moderate RQ moderate - good
no
yes
no yes
no yes
yes no
Effects of Burial diagenesis on reservoir quality
COMPACTION
(Effective Stress)
CEMENTATION
(Petrography)
DISSOLUTION
(Petrography)
BURIAL DOLOMITISATION
(Petrography)
FRACTURI NG
(Well Data)
UPLIFT AND EXPOSURE
(Seismic)
Quantification
of effects?
Source of cement
Extent of cement
Cementation
Yes
(compartmentalise)
No source of cement?
Hydrocarbon filling?
(Geochemistry)
local
(Gheochemistry)
regional
Reprecipitation as cement
Elsewhere in basin
No
(inc. permeability)
Import of Ca MgCO
3
Yes
No
mechanical
chemical
further information required in purple
RQ
REDUCED
RQ
REDUCED
RQ
I MPROVED
RQ
REDUCED
RQ
I MPROVED
RQ MAY
I MPROVED
RQ
MAI NTAI NED
RQ
REDUCED
RQ
REDUCED
RQ
I MPROVED
RQ
MAI NTAI NED
Process 1 2A 2B 3A 3B 4A 4B 5A 5B
Por. -ve -ve 0 +ve -ve -ve 0 0 0
Perm. -ve -ve 0 +ve -ve -ve +ve -ve +ve
1
yes
no
2A
2B
3A 3B
4A
4B
5A
5B
COMPARISON OF MAJ OR SUBSURFACE
DIAGENETIC CONTROLS
IMPORTANT UNIMPORTANT TEMPERATURE
VERY IMPORTANT UNIMPORTANT PRESSURE
LONG PERIOD SHORT PERIOD TIME OF RESIDENCE
LOW VERY HIGH RATE OF WATER
INFLUX
SLIGHT VARIATION WIDE VARIATION EQUILIBRIUM
CONDITIONS
MINIMAL
IMPORTANCE
VERY IMPORTANT MINERAL
STABILIZATION
VERY IMPORTANT MINIMAL
IMPORTANCE
STRUCTURAL
CONTROL
BURIAL DIAGNESIS NEAR-SURFACE
PROBLEMS with
CARBONATE RESERVOI R
Heterogeneous porosity and
permeability complex depositional
environments diagenetic overprints
What are the most important controls on
What are the most important controls on
reservoir quality in carbonate sequences?
reservoir quality in carbonate sequences?
The main controls on reservoir quality (porosity and
permeability)
in carbonate sequences are :
depositional fabric (primary lithofacies, texture)
mineral dissolution (creation of secondary porosity)
mineral precipitation (cementation and replacement)
karstification (an important from of mineral
dissolution/precipitation)
compaction
fracturing
Effects of meteoric
Effects of meteoric
diagenesis
diagenesis
on reservoir quality
on reservoir quality
Effects on RQ
if yes
Meteoric Diagenesis
Was there an aragonite precursor? (I.e. of Pre-
Cambrian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic or
Tertiary age)
Was it a humid climate at time of exposure?
(Palaeogeographic position)
Was there a high rate of water drainage? (elevation,
climate, size of hinterland)
Was reprecipitation of dissolved CaCO
3
as cement
limited (due to high drainage)?
+ve
+ve
+ve
+ve
Effects of
Effects of
karstification
karstification
on reservoir quality
on reservoir quality
Effects on RQ
if yes
Sequence Boundary Karst
Is there a joint/fracture system which may have had
high water throuhput? (may be so if in faulted/folded
terrain, if uplifted or recognizable on seismic)
Was there an aragonite precursor? (I.e. of Pre-
Cambrian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic or
Tertiary age)
Is the reservoir close to the unconformity/above the
water table?
Is the pore system matrix dominated? (vuggy porosity
may have poor permeability, caverns may be detrimental
to drilling)
Can overlying clays/shales be ruled out? (May infiltrate
porous zone beneath)
+ve
+ve
+ve
+ve
+ve
RESERVOIR QUALITY
< 10 md < 5 % POOR
10 50 md 5 15 % FAIR
> 50 md > 15 % GOOD
> 100 md > 20 % EXCELLENT
PERM POROSITY
Recurrent carbonate reservoir types
(after Wilson, 1983)
MIDDLE-SHELF GRAINSTONE BARS WITH PRIMARY (or
MODIFIED PRIMARY) POROSITY
MIDDLE- and OUTER-SHELF REEFS
2a. PRIMARY POROSITY IN BOUNDSTONES and
ASSOCIATED GRAINSTONES
2b. INTERCRYSTALLINE POROSITY and FRACTURE
POROSITY if dolomitized
GRAINSTONES AND BRECCIAS of SLOPE DEPOSITS
INNER-SHELF DOLOMITES (INTERCRYSTALLINE POROSITY
and VUGGY POROSITY) WITH ANHYDRITE SEALS TIDAL
FLAT DEPOSITS
DISSOLUTION, PALEOKARST DEVELOPMENT and
DOLOMITIZATION BELOW REGIONAL UNCONFORMITIES
FRACTURED CARBONATE RESERVOIRS
CHALKS with INTERCRYSTALLINE POROSITY and FRACTURE
POROSITY
PERMEABILITAS OF ROCKS
AND SEDIMENTS
Tightly cemented criniodal limestone 10 md
Uncemented carbonate mud 0.01 10 md
Sucrosic dolomite 0.1 150 md
Cemented quartz or sandstone
or carbonate grainstone 10 300 md
Poorly cemented quartz sandstone
or carbonate grainstone 300 500 md
Unconsolidated quartz sandstone
or carbonate grainstone >1000 md
Fractured sandstone or carbonate >1000 md
WP POROSITY
intraparticle porosity
Refers to pores formed where soft body parts lived in
body cavities (e.g., gatropods) or pores where
internal partitioning in otherwise solid material (e.g.,
rudist wall structures)
may add considerably to the total porosity of
grainstones and packstones
are commonly enlarged by dissolution to form moldic
or vuggy porosity
an example follows of 10 perm plugs measured from
three coral heads (Holocene), yielding average
porosities of 47, 63 and 53 %
BC POROSITY
intercrystalline porosity
Forms between crystals of dolomite or
limestone
provides one of the most evenly distributed
types of porosity in carbonates (except for
vugs)
occurs as mesoporosity and macroporosity in
dolomites
occurs as microporosity in limestone (within
the lime mud matrix
BP POROSITY
interparticle porosity
Intergranular pores from spherical triangles
between packed spheres and irregular
between platy grain shapes
rare in lithified rock--not commonly preserved
due to cementation
commonly is modified by thin isopachous rim
cements that form in the marine phreatic
common in jurassic carbonate of the Middle
East and accounts for the success of these
giant reservoirs
KV POROSI TY
keystone vugporosity
Forms by the natural bridging of sand
grains to form a keystone arch with
pore space below it
forms in the swash zone of beaches
relatively rare porosity type
recognized in the Pleistocene of the
Bahamas
FENESTRAL POROSI TY
A porosity type commonly associated with
algal stromatolite lithofacies
voids formed within algal laminations by
algae forming bridges and growing over other
algal layers or by air/gas pockets within algal
layers
fenestra means window in latin and refers
to the window-like openings within algal
layers
fenestral porosity may not be effective
porosity
GF POROSITY
growth framework porosity
associated with boundstone fabrics and reefs
created by branches or tubes winding and
bridging together to form pore space between
their framework elements (not within them)
one of the most difficult pore types to indentify
may be relatively unimportant, since detritus
commonly fills such spaces at the time of
deposition
MO and VUG POROSITY
moldic and vuggy porosity
molds retain original particle shape
vugs are irregular in shape
aragonite grains are subject to dissolution and
the formation of molds and vugs
molds can leach further to form vugs
the term MV porosity is coined for moldic-vuggy
porosity combinations that are often difficult to
separate
moldic porosity (especially oomoldic) may
represent isolated pores with non-effective
porosity
FR POROSITY
fracture porosity
Brittle versus ductile behavior: dolomites fracture
more readily than limestones
Orientation of most natural fractures is verticle
Maximum amount of porosity due to fracturing (e.g.,
in the Monterrey Shale of California) is about 6 %
It is commonly beneficial to induce fracturing in the
area surrounding the borehole to increase daily
production rates: acid-fracs with propants
Presence of fractures is critical for reservoir facies
development in tight boundstones that grade to
wackestones and in chalk deposits (coccolith
mudstones)