Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618

Mechanical compaction of deeply buried sandstones of the

North Sea
Quentin J. Fisher*, Martin Casey, M. Ben Clennell 1, Robert J. Knipe
Rock Deformation Research, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
Received 30 January 1999; received in revised form 2 August 1999; accepted 6 August 1999

Abstract

Sandstones experience mechanical compaction when the overburden load exceeds the compressive strength. Petrographic
evidence is rarely sucient to determine the timing of mechanical compaction. It is often assumed from indirect evidence, such
as regional porosity-depth trends, that mechanical compaction is a process that occurs exclusively during shallow or intermediate
burial (<2.5 km). However, mechanical compaction, with or without extensive grain fracturing, may also aect more deeply
buried sediments.
Mechanical compaction without grain fracturing may occur at depth following pervasive framework grain dissolution and/or
if anomalously high porosity has been preserved due to the presence of small amounts of cement. We describe examples from
the Fulmar Sandstone Formation of the Central Graben, North Sea that experienced late stage mechanical compaction
following sponge spicule dissolution and microcrystalline quartz cementation.
Deep burial mechanical compaction involving grain crushing may occur if the rate of grain-contact quartz dissolution and/or
quartz overgrowth development cannot compete with the rate of stress increase at grain contacts. Some Rotliegendes sandstones
of the Southern North Sea that have been buried to > 4.5 km oer a good example where the suppression of chemical
compaction, due to the presence of grain-coating clays, resulted in pervasive grain fracturing.
Mineral veins are frequently associated with sandstones that have experienced pervasive mechanical compaction during deep
burial. These may reect the sudden development of overpressure resulting from the transfer of load to the uid during collapse
of the sandstone framework. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Mechanical compaction; Porosity collapse; quartz cement; Rotliegendes sandstone; Fulmar sandstone

1. Introduction compaction usually becomes the dominant process

Compaction can occur as a result of chemical and
mechanical processes (e.g. Lundegard, 1991; Ramm,
1992). Mechanical compaction is usually considered to
occur during early to intermediate burial (02.5 km)
and involves the rearrangement of grains and the
crushing of soft lithoclasts (Berner, 1980). Chemical
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-113-233-5208; fax: +44-113-
245-6233.
E-mail address: quentin@rdr.leeds.ac.uk (Q.J. Fisher)
1
Present address: Centro de Pesquisa em Geof sica e Geologia,
IGEO, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Caetano Moura 123,
Salvador, 40.170-290, Bahia, Brazil.
during deeper burial (Giles, 1997; Ramm, 1992; Ramm
& Bjrlykke, 1994); it involves the dissolution of ma-
terial at grain contacts (``pressure solution'') and its
reprecipitation on grain surfaces adjacent to free pore
space (e.g. Heald, 1956; Thompson, 1959). Constraints
on the depth range over which mechanical compaction
occurs are provided by porosity-depth trends (e.g.
Giles, 1997; Ramm, 1992), theoretical models (e.g.
Rittenhouse, 1971) and mechanical testing (e.g.
Pittman & Larese, 1991).
Mechanical compaction sometimes aects reservoir
sandstones during deep burial in response to hydro-
carbon production (Donaldson, Chilingarian & Rieke,
1995; Schutjens, de Ruig & van Munster, 1994). In

0264-8172/99/$ - see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 4 - 8 1 7 2 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 4 4 - 6
606 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618
these cases, mechanical compaction occurs because hy-
drocarbon production lowers the pore pressure and
hence increases the eective stress on the sandstone
framework. Occasionally, this process can result in a
dramatic reduction of pore volume and is referred to
as porosity collapse (Smits, de Waal & van Kooten,
1988). As we show later, this can occur with or with-
out grain fracturing. Porosity collapse, and the subsi-
dence of the reservoir that commonly accompanies it,
is usually regarded an engineering problem and not as
a naturally occurring process. Here we address the
question of whether natural mechanical compaction
can aect sandstones during deep burial. If so it has
not hitherto been widely recognised possibly because
the standard petrographic studies, which are used to
constrain the diagenetic history of sandstones, rarely
provide unequivocal evidence to constrain the timing
of mechanical compaction.
We aim to demonstrate that late stage mechanical
compaction can be an important process in the densi-
cation of sandstones under particular conditions. We
begin by reviewing experimental results on sandstone
compaction and the diagenetic processes that increase
sandstone strength. A physico-chemical model for
quartz cementation is then used to show that most
sandstones should not experience pervasive late stage
mechanical compaction. Petrographic evidence is pre-
sented, which suggests that natural late stage mechan-
ical compaction has aected some sandstones from
Rotliegendes and Fulmar Formation hydrocarbon
reservoirs of the North Sea. Finally, the paper high-
lights the diagenetic processes that have allowed late
stage mechanical compaction to occur and identies
types of sandstones that are likely to experience severe
mechanical compaction during hydrocarbon pro-
duction.
1.1. Deformation behaviour of sands and sandstones
Numerous uniaxial (oedometric) and triaxial exper-
iments have been conducted to understand the micro-
mechanical processes involved in the compaction of
sands and sandstones (e.g. Handin, Hager, Friedman
& Feather, 1963; Jones, Leddra, Berget, Goldsmith &
Tappel, 1990; Sasitharan, Robertson, Sego &
Morgenstern, 1993; Wong, David & Zhu, 1997;
Zhang, Wong & Davis, 1990; Zoback & Byerlee,
1976). The majority of sands deform in a non-linear,
anelastic, manner at low (e.g. <5 MPa) mean eective
stresses (Zhang et al., 1990). At higher eective stres-
ses, sands and sandstones compact elastically (linear
compaction) until their yield point at which they ex-
perience a rapid increase in their compressibility.
Typical yield points for sands under hydrostatic com-
pression (i.e. s1=s3) lie between 2 and 70 MPa, while
for cemented sandstones yield occurs from 40 to
Fig. 1. Plot showing typical stressstrain curves obtained during
sandstone deformation experiments. Curve (i) is from sands and
sandstones that deformed by distributed cataclastic ow (based on
Wong et al, 1997). Curve (ii) is from a weak sandstone that probably
deformed by independent particulate ow (based on Jones et al.,
1990). C is the yield point whereas C' is the minimum eective
stress that was reached following yield and the transference of stress
from grain-contacts to the pore uid.
>1200 MPa (Wong et al., 1997). Two end-member
modes of deformation may be identied based on the
macroscopic structure of the sample following yield
(e.g. Jamison & Stearns, 1982). The rst, localised de-
formation, results in the formation of discrete slip
planes, which accommodate most of the strain. The
second, distributed deformation, does not result in the
formation of discrete slip surfaces, instead strain is
accommodated throughout the sample.
The stressstrain paths of samples that yield by dis-
tributed deformation vary signicantly. In many pub-
lished accounts of the high pressure distributed
deformation of sands and sandstones, the yield point
is marked by strain hardening (C in Fig. 1). On the
other hand, in experiments to investigate the collapse
behaviour of porous weakly cemented sandstones,
yield is marked by rapid strain softening until a further
inection is reached on their stressstrain path (C' in
Fig. 1) after which the samples strain hardened (e.g.
Jones et al., 1990; Sasitharan et al., 1993).
Microstructural analysis suggests that the samples that
experienced post-yield strain hardening deformed by
distributed microcracking (Menendez, Zhu & Wong,
1996). The deformation mechanism for the samples
experiencing post-yield strain softening is likely to be
independent particulate ow considering the low mean
eective stresses at which it occurs.
Analogies may be drawn between these experimental
results and the natural deformation processes that
aect reservoir sandstones. The pre-yield anelastic and
elastic deformation of the samples is akin to the gra-
dual decrease in porosity that occurs during shallow
 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618
burial by processes such as grain re-arrangement and
the crushing of soft lithoclasts. On the other hand,
localised deformation is directly analogous to faulting.
Natural analogues to post-yield distributed defor-
mation of reservoir sandstones have not been widely
discussed in the literature, although porosity collapse
during hydrocarbon production appears to be a similar
but articial process. As a purpose of this paper is to
demonstrate that porosity collapse can also occur
naturally both with and without grain-fracturing, it is
worthwhile to consider briey the experimental con-
ditions under which this occurs.
1.1.1. Conditions required for porosity collapse by grain-
crushing
Zhang et al. (1990) analysed the results from hydro-
static deformation experiments on a wide range of
sands and sandstones. In their analysis, the product of
grain-radius and porosity was plotted against the criti-
cal pressure required for grain-crushing (cataclastic
ow). In loglog space this relationship shows an
inverse linear correlation, with a best-t line having a
slope of 03/2. Zhang et al. (1990) used a fracture
mechanics model assuming spherical grains with
Hertzian contacts to explain this relationship. A pro-
blem with this model is that many of the samples used
to construct the empirical relationship have experi-
enced signicant chemical compaction, so the individ-
ual grains do not have pure Hertzian contacts.
Instead, stress is distributed along sutured grain con-
tacts formed by quartz cementation and grain contact
dissolution.
Experimental work has shown that sandstone
strength increases with increased grain contact area
(Dyke & Dobereiner, 1991). It is therefore likely that
the correlation identied by Zhang et al. (1990) partly
reects the inverse relationship between grain contact
area and sandstone porosity, while the correlation with
grain-size and strength reects the fact that coarse
grained sandstones become quartz cemented more
slowly than ne grained sandstones due to their smal-
ler reactive quartz surface area (e.g. Walderhaug,
1996). It should be noted that these experimental stu-
dies were conducted on relatively clean sandstones.
The presence of clays within sandstones reduces poros-
ity but does not increase mechanical strength signi-
cantly. It therefore seems reasonable that, if present in
small quantities (<10%), phyllosilicates should be
included as ``eective porosity'' when using corre-
lations such as those presented by Zhang et al. (1990).
We consider that given these provisos the correlation
between the product of porosity and grain-radius and
the critical stress required for grain crushing oers a
valid way to estimate sandstone strength.
The application of a dierential stress during sand-
stone compaction experiments results in a reduction in
607
the critical mean eective stress required for porosity
collapse by a process known as shear-enhanced com-
paction (Curran & Carroll, 1979; Wong et al., 1997;
Zhang et al., 1990). In the context of the present
paper, an important nding is that the imposition of a
dierential stress can lower the mean eective stress
for the onset of distributed grain-fracturing by up to
50% of the stress required under hydrostatic con-
ditions (Wong et al., 1997). Deformation usually only
occurs by shear localisation under higher dierential
stress conditions.
1.1.2. Conditions required for porosity collapse by
independent particulate ow
The steady monotonic decrease in porosity of sands
during shallow to intermediate burial (Ramm &
Bjrlykke, 1994) and during the experimental consoli-
dation of sand prior to grain-fracturing (e.g. Pittman
& Larese, 1991) suggests that large-scale, non-linear,
compaction by independent particulate ow is rare.
Indeed, the critical state theory of soil mechanics
suggests that rapid increases in the compressibility of
incohesive granular materials should not occur (with-
out grain fracturing) during continued loading because
the porosity of the material cannot reach higher levels
than dictated by the critical state line (Jones, 1994).
The weak sandstones that experience rapid increases in
compressibility at low conning pressures are not dis-
obeying critical state theory. Instead, bonding or
cementation between particles is allowing the sand-
stones to retain far higher porosities than would be
expected for an incohesive granular material (Jones,
1994). The rapid increase in compressibility occurs
when the bonds between the grains are broken result-
ing in the production of an incohesive granular ma-
terial that compacts in accordance with critical state
theory (Jones, 1994; Jones & Leddra, 1989; Petley,
Jones, Leddra & Kageson-Loe, 1994). Empirical re-
lationships that allow the prediction of yield in such a
material are not available. Indeed, subtleties in the
amount and distribution of cements are likely to make
the onset of yield in such a material intrinsically
unpredictable.
1.2. Diagenetic controls on the mechanical behaviour of
sandstone
The results of deformation experiments highlight the
fact that sandstone strength is often closely related to
its porosity, which possibly reects the relationship
between sandstone strength and grain-contact area
(Dyke & Dobereiner, 1991). The grain-contact area of
many sandstones is particularly dependent upon the
amount of chemical compaction experienced. This
relaxation of stress foci and increase in cohesion mas-
sively increases the strength of a chemically compacted
sandstone relative to a poorly lithied sand. Recent
608 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618

work suggests that chemical compaction processes are

largely temperature-controlled and do not become per-
vasive until temperatures of >908C (Giles, 1997;
Oelkers, Bjrkum & Murphy, 1996; Walderhaug,
1996). At higher temperatures, the extent of chemical
compaction increases with both time and temperature,
resulting in very compact sandstones unless some
mechanism acts to ``protect'' the porosity and maintain
a small grain-contact area. A number of mechanisms
have been proposed to account for the preservation of
anomalously high porosity at depth, including: (i) the
presence of minerals on the surface of detrital quartz
grains, such as chlorite (Ehrenberg, 1993), illite
(Fisher, Knipe & Worden, 2000) and microcrystalline
quartz (Aase, Bjrkum & Nadeau, 1996; Ramm,
1992); (ii) overpressure development (see Ramm,
1992); and (iii) the emplacement of hydrocarbons
(Worden, Oxtoby & Smalley, 1998).

2. A mechanical and chemical model of sandstone

porosity and strength evolution during burial

To gain an understanding of the mechanical strength

evolution of sandstones during burial, we have used
the quartz cementation model of Walderhaug (1996) to
calculate how the product of grain-size and porosity
varies as a function of its time-temperature history.
We have then compared the results of this model with
the empirical relationship of Zhang et al. (1990) to
provide information on the factors that are likely to
render a sandstone susceptible to late stage mechanical
compaction. This simple model allows sandstone
strength to be estimated as a function of burial depth
for dierent geothermal gradients, grain-sizes and sedi-
mentation rates without having to perform detailed
analyses of stress distributions or concern ourselves
with the details of the underlying geochemistry or sol-
ution-transport-deposition mechanisms.
Walderhaug (1996) showed that at a constant tem-
perature, the volume of quartz cement, Vq (in cm3),
Fig. 2. Plots of the product of grain-radius and porosity (Rf )
that can be precipitated in 1 cm3 of sandstone can be against eective stress. The straight line is from Zhang et al. (1990)
related to the quartz surface area A (in cm2) present and represents an empirical relationship between Rf and the critical
and time t (in s) using the equation: stress required for grain fracturing during hydrostatic mechanical
tests. The dashed line represents the stress required for grain crush-
Vq MrAt=r 1 ing if a deviatoric stress is applied. On this graph are plots of the
product of porosity and grain-radius against the eective stress for
where M is the molar mass of quartz (60.09), r is the various sandstones based on the model of Walderhaug (1996). (A) is
rate of quartz precipitation (moles/cm2/s), and r is the a plot of the evolution of sandstone strength that is buried in a
geothermal gradient of 358C/km at a rate of 1 km per 17.5 Ma for
density of quartz (2.65 g/cm3). This was dierentiated
grain-radii of 0.05 mm, 0.15 mm and 0.25 mm. (B) is a plot of the
with respect to time to give: evolution of sandstone strength with a grain-radius of 0.15 mm, bur-
ied at 1 km per 35 Ma at geothermal gradients of 15, 35 and 608C/
dVq=dt MrA=r 2 km. (C) is a plot of the evolution of sandstone strength with a grain-
radius of 0.15 mm, a geothermal gradient of 358C/km buried at rates
Walderhaug (1996) also showed that the surface area of 1 km per 3.5, 17.5 and 70 Ma. The mechanical stability of the
of quartz, A, can be related to the surface area A0 and sandstones during burial may be estimated by observing how closely
the porosity, f0, at the start of quartz cementation they approach the failure criteria of Zhang et al. (1990).
 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618
and Vq by the equation:
A A0 f0 Vq=f0 3 compaction than in any other time in their burial his-
This can be substituted into Eq. (2) to give the follow-
ing ordinary dierential equation for Vq:
dVq=dt A0 f0 VqMr=f0 r 4 sandstones approach the critical eective stress for
The relationship between A0 and grain-size presented
by Walderhaug (1996), and the quartz cementation
rates calculated by Walderhaug (1994) were substituted
in Eq. (4), which was solved by a fourth order Runge
Kutta method. It should be emphasised that the model
of Walderhaug (1996) is a simplication in that it
assumes that silica is supplied by local processes and
that the amount of quartz cement is controlled by its
precipitation kinetics. In some situations the rate of
cementation may, however, be governed by factors
such as quartz dissolution kinetics (e.g. Fisher et al.,
2000) and the rate of silica transport (Worden et al.,
1998).
The mean eective stress at each burial depth was
assumed to be equal to the weight of the overburden,
which was calculated by assuming hydrostatic con-
ditions and a lithostatic pressure gradient of 22 MPa/
km. The mechanical stability of the sandstone at each
burial depth was tested plotting the product of grain-
radius and porosity against eective stress and com-
paring this to the empirical relationship highlighted by
Zhang et al. (1990). In accordance with the results of
Wong et al. (1997), the eective stress at yield has
been reduced by 50% to account for porosity collapse
by shear enhanced compaction.
2.1. Model results
The rst models used parameters that are typical of
Middle Jurassic sandstones from the northern North
Sea. A geothermal gradient of 358C/km and a burial
rate of 1 km per 17.5 Ma (equivalent to an increase in
temperature of 28C/Ma) were used and the model was
run for grain-radii of 0.05, 0.15 and 0.25 mm. The
results (Fig. 2a) show that the strength evolution of
sandstones varies in a systematic manner with respect
to the eective stress experienced during burial. In par-
ticular, during shallow burial the eective stress experi-
enced is very low compared to the stress required to
induce grain fracturing. The eective stress on the
grains increases as burial increases and approaches,
but does not intersect, the yield stress. At the onset of
chemical compaction, the strength of the sandstone
(indicated by the product of grain-size and porosity)
increases with respect to the eective stress required
for grain fracturing. These results suggest that: (i) por-
osity collapse by grain-fracturing should not occur
during burial under the conditions simulated; (ii) sand-
609
stones are weaker, relative to the prevalent eective
stress conditions, just prior to the onset of chemical
tory; (iii) a close relationship exists between grain-size
and the manner in which the mechanical strength of
the sandstone evolves during burial. Coarser grained
porosity collapse far more closely than ner grained
sandstones. These results reect the higher quartz sur-
face area within ne grained sandstones, which allows
them to undergo more rapid quartz cementation than
coarser grained equivalents.
A second series of models were run to investigate
how geothermal gradient aects the evolution of sand-
stone strength during burial. Models were run using a
grain-radius of 0.15 mm, a burial rate of 1 km per 35
Ma at geothermal gradients of 15, 35 and 608C/km.
The results (Fig. 2b) show that the eective stress
imposed on the sandstone is always lower than that
required for porosity collapse to occur. The results
also show that the weakest sandstone is that deposited
under the lowest geothermal gradient, because tem-
perature is the key control on quartz cementation.
To investigate the eect of sedimentation rate on the
evolution of sandstone strength during burial, models
were run using a grain-radius of 0.15 mm, a geother-
mal gradient of 358C/km and burial rates of 1 km per
70, 17.5 and 3.5 Ma. The results (Fig. 2c) show that
the sandstone strength in these models is always higher
than the eective stress required for yield. The results
also show that the sandstone that remains weakest
during burial is that which is buried the fastest. These
models suggest that relative sandstone strength is less
sensitive to burial rate than it is to grain-size and
geothermal gradient.
The results from these models are useful in that they
show the exceptional circumstances required for poros-
ity collapse to occur by grain-fracturing during burial.
We should therefore look for something out of the
ordinary in terms of composition, burial history, ther-
mal structure and diagenetic paragenesis in areas
where the process is documented.
3. Mechanical compaction of reservoir sandstones during
deep burial: natural examples from the North Sea
The examples described in this section are drawn
from Fulmar sandstone reservoirs in the Central
Graben of the northern North Sea and Rotliegendes
sandstone reservoirs in the southern North Sea. These
examples are drawn from examination of 02000 sand-
stone samples, collected from 045 hydrocarbon elds
that we have examined. The features described were
identied in all three Fulmar sandstone reservoirs we
have studied, but in only two out of around 20
610 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618

Table 1
Modal compositions of samples that experienced late stage mechanical compaction in ve petroleum reservoirs from the North Sea. The standard
deviations of the analyses are given in brackets. It should be noted that clay includes detrital and authigenic illite. The quartz content includes
authigenic mesocrystalline quartz

Field Quartz K-feldspar Plagioclase Clay Dolomite Micro-quartz Porosity

Rot. A 79 (3.5) 1.4 (0.8) 3 (1.7) 7.4 (3.0) 3.2 (1.0) 0 6.6 (1.9)
Rot. B 81 (4.2) 1.9 (0.7) 2.1 (1.1) 5.7 (3.2) 3.1 (1.2) 0 5.8 (2.1)
Fulmar A 49.8 (6.3) 8.3 (2.0) 15.4 (2.8) 10.2 (2.0) 2.5 (0.83) 5.6 (2.7) 8.8 (1.7)
Fulmar B 58.4 (3.6) 4.2 (2.2) 6.3 (3.3) 10.6 (3.6) 1.0 (0.9) 6.4 (1.7) 10.6 (5.3)
Fulmar C 50 (9.4) 15.7 (3.9) 1.5 (0.54) 7.5 (2.0) 7.5 (4.9) 7.2 (3.0) 9.6 (3.4)

Rotliegendes reservoirs. In the Fulmar sandstones
examined, the features described were identied in
020% of the 82 examined. In the two Rotliegendes
reservoirs they were identied in 030% of the 38
samples analysed.
The Fulmar sandstone samples were taken from
depths between 3 and 5.5 km, which represents their
maximum depth of burial. These reservoirs are cur-
rently overpressured by 02055 MPa, experiencing
eective vertical stresses of 01540 MPa and have
temperatures of between 01108C and 1808C. It is
believed that overpressure development in the Fulmar
reservoirs began in the Late Tertiary when they rst
experienced rapid burial (Gaarenstroom, Tromp, de
Jong & Brandenberg, 1993).
The Rotliegendes sandstone samples are from the
center of the Sole Pit Basin in the southern North Sea.
The sandstones are now hydrostatically pressured at a
depth of 03 km, and a temperature of 01008C, but
vitrinite reectance and sonic velocity data suggest
that they have experienced burial to depths of >4.5 km
and hence experienced temperatures of >1508C. It is
thought that the Rotliegendes in the Sole Pit Basin
reached its maximum depth of burial during the Mid
to Late Cretaceous before basin inversion in the Late
Cretaceous to Early Tertiary (Archard, Staord,
Bardwell & Bagge, 1998).
The microstructure of samples was examined by sec-
ondary electron (SE), back-scattered electron (BSE)
and cathodeluminescence (CL) imagery using a
Camscan CS44 scanning electron microscope. The
modal composition of the sandstones was determined
by image analysis of BSE and CL micrographs as well
as elemental X-ray dot maps, as outlined in Fisher et
al. (2000). Point counting was used to quantify mineral
phases that could not be discriminated using image
analysis.
3.1. Deeply buried Rotliegendes sandstones of the
southern North Sea
Sandstones examined from two Rotliegendes reser-
voirs in the Sole Pit area have average porosities of
06% and permeabilities of 00.01 mD, peak pore aper-
ture diameters of 00.5 mm, Hg-air threshold pressures
of 0300 psi and are composed predominantly of
quartz with up to 07% illite (Table 1 and Table 2).
Detrital K-feldspar is not abundant in these samples
(<2%) and secondary pores created by its dissolution
occupy <2% of the rock volume. Grain contacts are
highly sutured, but syntaxial quartz overgrowths are
not present (Fig. 3a). Instead, the only authigenic
quartz identied using SE imagery occurs as 020 mm
outgrowths (Fig. 3b). Comparison of CL and BSE
images reveals that the grains within the sandstones
contain abundant quartz-lled microfractures (Fig. 3c
and d) with a similar dull CL signal to the quartz out-
growths. The microfractures occasionally extend
through several grains showing unequivocally that they
formed in situ and were not inherited (Fig. 3e and f).
The microfractures in the Rotliegendes sandstone
appear to have a random orientation.
The sandstones contain both cataclastic faults and
veins. The fractured quartz grains with the cataclastic
faults do not contain fragments of healed microfrac-
tures identied within the host sandstone. The veins

Table 2
Petrophysical properties of sandstones that experienced late stage mechanical compaction in ve petroleum reservoirs from the North Sea. The
standard deviations of the analyses are given in brackets

Field Permeability (mD) Hg-air threshold (psi) Peak pore apeture (mm)

Rot. A 0.012 (0.017) 295 (91) 0.6 (0.2)

Rot. B 0.009 (0.14) 320 (130) 0.5 (0.2)
Fulmar A 0.015 (0.019) 395 (80) 0.4 (0.2)
Fulmar B 0.60 (0.73) 130 (94) 1.8 (2.1)
Fulmar C 0.72 (1.1) 130 (133) 2.3 (1.8)
 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618 611

Fig. 3. Micrographs of Rotliegendes sandstones from the southern North Sea showing: (A) BSE image of a sutured grain contact. Note the lack
of syntaxial quartz overgrowths. (B) SE image of authigenic quartz. Note that it is an outgrowth and not a syntaxial overgrowth. (C) and (D)
BSE and CL images respectively of the same area of sandstone. Note the fractured quartz grains and the authigenic cement which lls the micro-
fractures. (E) and (F) BSE and CL images of the same area showing a microfracture that extends through several grains.

contain ankerite, anhydrite and barite cement, which
are also sometimes present in the adjacent sandstone
where they overgrow detrital quartz grains containing
quartz-cemented microfractures. One sandstone con-
tained abundant barite cement. The quartz grains
within this sandstone also contain quartz cemented
microfractures but their abundance is less than in the
uncemented sandstones. The minus-barite cement por-
osity of this sample (015%) is far higher than the pre-
sent-day porosity of sandstones from the same well
that have experienced pervasive grain-fracturing.
3.2. Fulmar sandstone Central North Sea
The Fulmar sandstone in the Central Graben exhi-
bits large variations in its porosity, permeability and
612 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618

Fig. 4. Micrographs of the Fulmar sandstone from the central North Sea showing: (A) BSE image with fossilised sponge spicules and secondary
pores created by their dissolution. (B) SE image showing grain coating microcrystalline quartz. (C) BSE image showing a high permeability
Fulmar sandstone. Note the abundant secondary porosity. (D) BSE image showing an highly disrupted sandstone. Note the bent mica grains.
(E) BSE image showing a low permeability fault rock adjacent to the high permeability microcrystalline quartz-rich sandstone from which it
formed. (F) BSE micrograph showing cryptocrystalline quartz cemented sandstone vein.

microstructure. Much of the variation is due to the
presence of horizons that originally contained high
concentrations of sponge spicules (Stewart, 1986).
During burial, some spicules were fossilised whereas
others were dissolved, creating secondary porosity
(Fig. 4a). The silica produced by sponge spicule dissol-
ution precipitated nearby as a grain-coating (Fig. 4b)
and occasionally pore-bridging microcrystalline quartz
cement. Syntaxial quartz overgrowths are not well
developed within samples containing high concen-
trations of grain coating microcrystalline quartz, but
are abundant where microcrystalline quartz is absent.
Sandstones that experienced extensive sponge spicule
dissolution and microcrystalline quartz precipitation
 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618
sometimes have porosities of >30% and permeabilities
of >500 mD (Fig. 4c). Other sandstones appear highly
disrupted and lack macroporosity. In particular, frac-
tured detrital grains, fractured carbonate cements and
bent mica grains are present (Fig. 4d). Quartz cemen-
ted microfractures are present but are not as abundant
as within the Rotliegendes samples. These disrupted
sandstones frequently have low porosities (<10%),
permeabilities of <1 mD, peak pore aperture diam-
eters of 00.6 mm, Hg-air threshold pressures of 100
300 psi, and contain 314% microcrystalline quartz,
which partly lls the intergranular volume (Table 1
and Table 2). The microcrystalline quartz probably
precipitated as a product of the dissolution of sponge
spicules that were once present.
Low oset faults (<1 mm) within the high per-
meability horizons contain large amounts of secondary
porosity and microcrystalline quartz, and often have
very similar microstructures (Fig. 4e) and petrophysical
properties to the highly disrupted low permeability
sandstones. These fault rocks have exactly the same
framework composition as their surrounding sand-
stone, but have far lower porosity. It therefore seems
likely that the compacted fault rocks formed by the
shear deformation of the surrounding high porosity
sandstone.
Spicule-rich horizons frequently contain microcrys-
talline and cryptocrystalline quartz veins (Fig. 4f) as
well as soft-sediment injection features (Stewart, 1986).
Microstructural evidence, such as the fossilisation of
sponge spicules in and around these features, suggests
that they formed during shallow burial. The veins fre-
quently show evidence of compaction, which again
suggests that they are of an early origin.
4. Discussion
4.1. Evidence for mechanical compaction during deep
burial
Cataclastic faults formed in North Sea hydrocarbon
reservoirs at burial depths of between 1 and 2.5 km do
not experience such extensive post-deformation quartz
cementation as those that form during deeper burial
(Fisher & Knipe, 1998). This is probably because
newly created fracture surfaces provide kinetically-
favourable sites for quartz precipitation in faults
formed during deep burial. On the other hand, fracture
surfaces within cataclastic faults formed during shal-
lower burial become covered by clays or other surface
pollutants such as Al3+ prior to quartz cementation
(i.e. before the temperature has reached 0908C).
Likewise, the crushed detrital grains in the
Rotliegendes are extensively quartz cemented and
probably formed during deep burial. Indeed, the
613
observed lack of quartz fragments containing quartz-
cemented microcracks within the cataclastic faults
suggests that faulting occurred before grain fracturing
within the host sandstone. The cataclastic faults within
the Rotliegendes are believed to have formed at depths
of 023 km (Fisher & Knipe, 1998) suggesting that
mechanical compaction must have occurred beyond
this depth.
The anhydrite, barite and ankerite cements associ-
ated with the veins partly overgrow the microfractured
quartz grains, suggesting that they precipitated follow-
ing, or during, grain fracturing. These late-stage
cements are thought to have precipitated during basin
inversion (e.g. Sullivan, Haszeldine, Boyce, Rogers &
Fallick, 1994) suggesting that microfracturing occurred
at around the maximum burial depth. Mechanical
compaction during deep burial is consistent with the
observation that Rotliegendes sandstones from outside
the (once deeply buried) Sole Pit Basin have not in
general experienced pervasive grain fracturing.
The highly disrupted nature some Fulmar sand-
stones suggests that they have experienced extensive
mechanical compaction. The abundant microcrystalline
quartz present within the most disrupted sandstones
also indicates that they probably once contained
sponge spicules that dissolved during shallow burial
(<1 km) leaving secondary porosity (Hendry &
Trewin, 1995), which collapsed during deeper burial.
The depth at which this mechanical compaction
occurred is dicult to assess. Disrupted sandstones are
present within even the most shallowly buried Fulmar
Sandstone Formation reservoirs examined, suggesting
that some mechanical compaction must have occurred
at <3 km depth. The presence of the occasional
quartz-cemented microfracture may, as with the
Rotliegendes, indicate that some mechanical compac-
tion also occurred during deep burial. Petrographic
data by itself does not therefore provide unequivocal
evidence as to the timing of mechanical compaction
within the Fulmar Formation. However, porosity-
depth trends clearly show that the Fulmar sandstone
did not compact normally: the Fulmar interval often
has far higher porosity than other Jurassic sandstones
buried to equivalent depths (e.g. Ramm & Bjrlykke,
1994).
Considering the eective stress evolution of the
Fulmar sandstone provides some indication as to when
it was susceptible to mechanical compaction. Holm
(1996) considered that overpressure within the Fulmar
sandstone of the Central Graben developed due to hy-
drocarbon generation in the Kimmeridge Clay
Formation during the Late Tertiary. Hence the eec-
tive stress within the reservoir may have continued to
increase up to, and even beyond, the Late Tertiary. In
which case, mechanical compaction could have
occurred very recently. For example, Wilkinson,
614 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618
Fig. 5. Porosity-depth evolution of the Fulmar and Rotliegendes
sandstone samples that experienced late stage mechanical compac-
tion. For comparison, a typical depth-porosity prole for sandstones
from the Northern North Sea adapted from Ramm and Bjrlykke
(1994).
Darby, Haszeldine and Couples (1997) suggest that
overpressure development did not begin within the
Fulmar Formation of the Central Graben until 010
Ma ago, at which time much of the sandstone was
buried to >3 km.
The mechanical instability of highly porous, moder-
ately sorted, Fulmar sandstones, such as shown in Fig.
4c, is highlighted by the observation that they were
able to deform by independent particulate ow to pro-
duce very low porosity fault rocks such as shown in
Fig. 4e. Exposing such sandstones to increasing eec-
tive stress conditions until failure, as may occur in the
geological future as overpressures subside (or over en-
gineering timescales if the reservoir pressure is drawn
down excessively), would probably result in mechanical
compaction. An implication that highly porous
Fulmar sandstones are likely to experience deep burial
mechanical compaction in the future can be used to
infer that similar sandstones may well have experi-
enced deep burial mechanical compaction in the past.
In other words, the presence of anomalously porous
sandstones at depth provides indirect evidence that
mechanical compaction following deep burial is a feas-
ible process, since a combination of high porosity and
high overburden stress are a prerequisite for it to
occur.
4.2. Reasons for late stage mechanical compaction and
the manner in which it occurred
The severe late stage mechanical compaction experi-
enced by the Rotliegendes and Fulmar Formation
examples is an extreme situation; most reservoir rocks
appear to experience far less, or even negligible, late
stage mechanical compaction. As the examples pre-
sented are relatively rare it is worth elucidating why
they experienced such extensive late stage compaction.
It is also worthwhile considering whether mechanical
compaction occurred gradually or catastrophically.
Fig. 6. Plot of the product of grain-size and porosity (Rf ) against
pressure. The straight line is from Zhang et al. (1990) and represents
an empirical relationship between Rf and the critical pressure
required for grain fracturing. The dashed line represents the stress
required for grain crushing if a deviotoric stress is applied. On this
graph have been placed representative values for an illitic
Rotliegendes sandstone that has been buried 36 km.
The collapsed sandstones discussed dier in that mech-
anical compaction in the Rotliegendes occurred when
the strength of the quartz grains was exceeded by an
increasing eective load, while the Fulmar Sandstone
experienced mechanical compaction when the eective
stress was sucient to cause pervasive grain rearrange-
ment. Thus we approach the collapse criterion on
dierent trajectories through porosity-burial depth
space (Fig. 5).
4.2.1. Porosity collapse with the Rotliegendes sandstone
The Rotliegendes examples have grain-sizes and
have had burial and thermal histories well within the
range used in the models described in Section 2. The
Rotliegendes sandstones examined are, however, fun-
damentally dierent from those we modelled in that
grain-coating illitic clays have reduced the amount of
quartz cementation and grain-contact quartz dissol-
ution. In addition, quartz cements within the
Rotliegendes tend to occur as ``outgrowths'' (Fisher et
al., 2000), which do not increase the grain contact
area, and hence the mechanical strength, of sandstone
to the same extent as syntaxial overgrowths. It may
also be relevant that, despite having upwards of 6%
illite, the collapsed Rotliegendes sandstones never con-
tain equivalent amounts of secondary porosity created
by K-feldspar dissolution. It is possible that this
existed at one time but collapsed during deep burial.
Indeed, the replacement of framework supporting K-
feldspar to create grain-coating illite may have contrib-
uted to the mechanical instability of this sandstone.
 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618
The mechanical stability of Rotliegendes sandstone
during deep burial may be estimated by considering
the porosity and grain-size of sandstones that were
deeply buried but not to depths that resulted in poros-
ity collapse. Rotliegendes sandstones that have been
buried to depths of 04 km frequently have a grain-size
of 00.20.5 mm and eective porosities of 02535%
(i.e. not including authigenic clays that do not support
the framework). Using the failure criterion adapted
from Zhang et al. (1990) such sandstones would be
prone to porosity collapse under hydrostatic con-
ditions at depths of 05 km (Fig. 6). This is remarkably
similar to the actual burial depths of sandstones that
did experience pervasive grain-fracturing.
The cataclastic ow experiments discussed in section
1, which closely simulate the way in which the
Rotliegendes samples deformed, all experienced post-
yield strain hardening. In other words, although yield
marked a sudden increase in their compressibility,
further compaction only occurred if eective stress
increased. It seems likely, by comparison, that once
grain-fracturing started in the Rotliegendes further
increases in stress were required for compaction to
continue. As such increases in eective stress are most
likely to have been caused by further burial it seems
likely that compaction may have been a gradual and
not a sudden catastrophic process.
4.2.2. Late stage mechanical compaction of the Fulmar
Sandstone
Overpressure development, secondary porosity gen-
eration and the presence of grain-coating microcrystal-
line quartz may all have contributed to either the
preservation of porosity at depth or the creation of a
mechanically unstable framework within the Fulmar
Sandstone Formation. Consideration of the way in
which these processes preserve porosity provides an in-
dication as to which was responsible for late stage
mechanical compaction and the manner in which it
occurred.
Overpressure development may suppress mechanical
compaction (Ramm, 1992) but does not create sand-
stone that has anomalously high porosity with respect
to the eective stress that it has experienced (Bolton,
Maltman & Clennell, 1998). Mechanical compaction of
overpressured sediment occurs when the eective stress
is increased by either increasing the overall stress or
reducing the pore pressure. If overpressure develop-
ment were the only process responsible for preser-
vation of porosity at depth, it would be expected that
subsequent compaction would occur in a similar man-
ner to how a hydrostatically pressured, uncemented,
sand compacts during shallow burial in response to
increasing eective stress conditions. Release of over-
pressure should therefore not lead to large scale, non-
linear, deformations similar to those simulated in ex-
615
periments such as those discussed by Jones (1994).
Overpressure development in the Fulmar Formation
may have not developed until the Late Tertiary and
since that time eective stress within the reservoir has
continued to decrease (Gaarenstroom et al., 1993). It
therefore seems likely that late stage mechanical com-
paction occurred prior to the overpressure develop-
ment and another process is required to have
preserved porosity prior to mechanical compaction.
Sponge spicule dissolution creates a sandstone with
oversized pores, that can resist compaction due to the
presence of microcrystalline quartz cement. An indi-
cation of the impact of microcrystalline quartz cement
on the mechanical strength of the Fulmar Sandstone is
gained by the observation that it is well lithied
despite sometimes having porosities of >30%. In com-
parison, typical Brent sandstone with a porosity of
>30% is often poorly lithied and can easily be bro-
ken in the hand. The preservation of anomalously high
porosity by the presence of small quantities of cement
is important in that such sandstones are most suscep-
tible to extensive, catastrophic mechanical compaction.
As the eective stress increases, the strength of the ma-
terial is lost suddenly and pore pressures are increased
as the load is transferred to the uid (Jones, 1994).
Early microcrystalline quartz cementation seems the
most likely process that allowed highly porous Fulmar
sandstones to experience deep burial prior to extensive
mechanical compaction.
4.3. Signicance of veins and uid escape structures in
collapsed sandstones
The timing of vein formation in the Rotliegendes
appears to coincide with porosity collapse. Many of
the uid escape structures and veins within the Fulmar
sandstone examined during this study appear to have
formed early. Fluid inclusion and oxygen isotope stu-
dies (Macaulay, Boyce, Fallick & Haszeldine, 1997;
Sverdrup & Bjrlykke, 1997) have, however, suggested
that some microcrystalline quartz veins in spicule-rich
Upper Jurassic sandstones may also have formed
during deep burial (01208C) possibly at a similar time
to late stage mechanical compaction. The microstruc-
tural, isotopic and uid inclusion data need not be
contradictory, but instead can be taken as evidence
that vein formation may have occurred throughout the
burial history of the Fulmar sandstone. This raises the
possibility that porosity collapse and vein formation/
uid escape are in some way connected.
It is often suggested that high pore pressures may
induce tensile fracture development (e.g. Lorenz,
Teufel & Warpinski, 1991; Miller, 1995; Secor, 1965,
1969). High pore pressures may occur if the rate of
sediment compaction is rapid in relation to the rate at
which pore uids are expelled. It seems entirely feasible
616 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618
that the porosity collapse identied within the Fulmar
and Rotliegendes sandstones may have occurred su-
ciently rapidly for transient overpressures to have been
generated, resulting in open fracture development. This
is particularly true of the Fulmar sandstone in which
slight cementation allowed large amounts of porosity
to be preserved at depth. Such sandstones are particu-
larly sensitive to deformation by very small strain
events (even the passing of seismic waves) resulting in
the generation of very high pore-pressures which may
allow the disaggregated sandstone to behave almost as
though it had experienced liquefaction (Jones, 1994).
The cataclastic ow experiments discussed in Section
1, which are otherwise akin to the manner in which
the Rotliegendes samples deformed, were conducted
under fully drained conditions, meaning there is no
pore uid pressure increase when the framework col-
lapses. In nature, however, such ecient draining is
less likely to occur and therefore decreases in pore
volume will be associated with increases in pore press-
ure as seen in the undrained tests reported by Jones
(1994). Clearly, the extent to which overpressures, and
hence open fractures, may develop would be dependent
upon the drainage capacity of the sediment sequence
as a whole i.e., the diusivity (dictated by per-
meability, bulk compressibility) and path length for
drainage with respect to the rate of increase of the
eective load.
4.4. Consequences for hydrocarbon production
The results presented above highlight certain situ-
ations which, in the geological past, have caused mech-
anical compaction of sandstones during deep burial
resulting in signicant porosity loss and permeability
reduction. In all cases, mechanical compaction
occurred when the eective vertical stress exceeded the
load bearing capacity of the sandstone. The focus of
the paper has been mainly on the reasons why the con-
ned load bearing strength of sandstone has remained
low. The problem can however be posed the other way
what processes could cause the eective stress of
the sandstone to be increased? The most widely recog-
nised is hydrocarbon production. For example,
Gurevich and Chilingarian (1995) reported that surface
subsidence resulting from hydrocarbon production
(and resulting sandstone compaction) can reach as
much as 10 m. We have identied certain types of
sandstones that are susceptible to mechanical compac-
tion by this mechanism. Early recognition of sandstone
susceptible to porosity collapse may allow the reser-
voirs to be carefully managed which may benet pro-
duction eciency in two ways. Firstly, preferential
compaction of high permeability, coarse grained, hor-
izons can suppress early water break-through.
Secondly, reservoir-wide collapse during draw-down
can act to maintain the pressure drive and delay or
reduce the need for secondary recovery (water injec-
tion, gas drive etc.).
At present many high-temperature, high-pressure
elds in the North Sea are in the process of develop-
ment. The presence of anomalously high porosity in
these reservoirs is the reason for their economic poten-
tial, and reects either the development of overpres-
sures (protection from load) or the presence of grain-
coating clays and/or microcrystalline quartz which
have suppressed normal chemical compaction (preser-
vation of porosity). Production of such elds must be
undertaken with caution as reduction in pore pressure
could result in liquifaction and sand production, rapid
overpressuring and the irreversible destruction of high
permeability pay zones.
5. Conclusions
1. Constraints on the depth range over which mechan-
ical compaction occurs are usually provided by por-
osity-depth trends (e.g. Giles, 1997; Ramm, 1992),
theoretical models (e.g. Rittenhouse, 1971) and
mechanical testing (e.g. Pittman & Larese, 1991).
Petrographic studies rarely, if ever, provide unequi-
vocal evidence to constrain the timing of mechanical
compaction. Instead, the timing of mechanical com-
paction is usually assumed based on regional poros-
ity-depth trends. Sandstones that do not compact in
a normal fashion can therefore be easily over-
looked.
2. Late stage mechanical compaction can be an im-
portant process responsible for the densication of
sandstones.
3. Rapid porosity collapse may generate overpressure
leading to the development of tensile fractures,
veins and sand injections.
4. Sandstones susceptible to mechanical compaction
during deep burial are those that maintain a high
porosity and small grain contact area at depth.
Processes that lead to high porosities being present
during deep burial include: (i) the generation of sec-
ondary porosity, (ii) the suppression of grain-to-
grain quartz dissolution and quartz overgrowth pre-
cipitation; the presence of grain-coating clays and
microcrystalline quartz is the most common reason
why the latter processes are suppressed. It is how-
ever also possible that processes such as early hy-
drocarbon charge, low geothermal gradients and
large grain-sizes could retard quartz cementation
and pressure solution suciently to allow porosity
collapse to occur.
5. Pore pressure reduction during hydrocarbon pro-
duction increases eective stress and so could trigger
 Q.J. Fisher et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 16 (1999) 605618
porosity collapse on engineering rather than geo-
logical time scales. Porosity collapse as a result of
hydrocarbon production can lead to sea oor subsi-
dence and a reduction in the reservoir properties of
sandstones. On the other hand, carefully managed
porosity collapse may benet production eciency
for two reasons. Firstly, preferential compaction of
high permeability, coarse-grained horizons can sup-
press early water break-through. Secondly, reser-
voir-wide collapse during draw-down can act to
maintain the pressure drive and delay or reduce the
need for secondary recovery (water injection, gas
drive etc.).
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Prof. Andy Aplin
and Prof. David Roberts for providing thorough
reviews of this manuscript.
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