Calcite cement distribution and AUTHORS

Shirley P. Dutton ⬃ Bureau of Economic

its effect on fluid flow in a Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson
School of Geosciences, University of Texas at
deltaic sandstone, Frontier Austin, Austin, Texas, 78713;
shirley.dutton@beg.utexas.edu
Formation, Wyoming Shirley P. Dutton received a B.A. degree from
the University of Rochester and an M.A. degree
and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin,
Shirley P. Dutton, Christopher D. White, Brian J. Willis, all in geology. She is a senior research scientist
and Djuro Novakovic at the Bureau of Economic Geology. Her
research focuses mainly on sedimentology,
sedimentary petrology, and clastic diagenesis,
particularly the effect of diagenesis on reservoir
ABSTRACT quality.
Precipitation of extensive calcite cement during burial diagenesis Christopher D. White ⬃ The Craft and
can strongly modify the depositional permeability of a sandstone Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering,
reservoir and affect fluid flow during production. To predict sub- CEBA Building Room 3516, Louisiana State
surface flow through cemented reservoirs, permeability distribu- University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70803;
cdwhite@lsu.edu
tions used in fluid-flow models must reflect this diagenetic over-
print. Calcite cements in sandstones commonly occur as irregularly Christopher White is a petroleum engineer with
research interests in reservoir engineering and
distributed concretions, which makes it difficult to predict diage-
statistics. He earned his Ph.D. from Stanford
netic permeability modifications in the subsurface from typically University in 1987. White is an assistant
spaced wells. Outcrops can provide a continuous image of hetero- professor of petroleum engineering at Louisiana
geneity produced by concretionary calcite cements. State University and formerly worked at the
The size and distribution of calcite concretions were mapped Bureau of Economic Geology and at Shell
in outcrops of the Frewens sandstone, Frontier Formation, in central Development Company.
Wyoming. Large, tabular calcite concretions in this deltaic sand- Brian J. Willis ⬃ Texas A&M University,
stone generally follow basinward-inclined bedding. Median thick- Department of Geology and Geophysics, College
ness of the concretions is 0.6 m, length is 4.2 m, and width is 5.3 Station, Texas, 77843; willis@geo.tamu.edu
m. The highest cement fraction is in the high-permeability facies at Brian Willis is an assistant professor in geology
the top of the sandstone body. Concretion centers are approxi- at Texas A&M University. His research interests
mately Poisson distributed within the sandstone. The upward-in- include understanding sequence stratigraphic
creasing cement fraction is caused by upward-increasing concretion controls on clastic deposition and quantifying
size. Lateral variation in the fraction of the sandstone cemented by sedimentologic variations to predict reservoir
heterogeneity. He received a B.S. degree from
calcite has a normal distribution, with a mean of 12% (r ⳱ 5%).
the University of Minnesota and an M.S. degree
Spatial distribution of calcite cement in the Frewens sandstone and Ph.D. from Binghamton University (New
was modeled using indicator geostatistics. Variograms were inferred York). He has been a research fellow at the
from outcrop maps of cement. Indicator semivariograms of cement Smithsonian’s Nature History Museum, a
have a range of 30 m horizontally and 2.5 m vertically, dimensions research scientist at the Bureau of Economic
that correspond approximately to the size of the largest concretions. Geology, a visiting professor at SUNY-Oswego,
Stochastic images of cement were created using indicator simula- and a geologist with BP Canada Energy
Company.
tion with vertically varying cement proportion.
Flow models indicate that concretions make flow paths more Djuro Novakovic ⬃ The Craft and Hawkins
tortuous and retard flow in the coarser facies near the top of the Department of Petroleum Engineering, CEBA
sandstone. The fastest path through the sandstone is in the lightly Building Room 3516, Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70803;
gjuro_n@hotmail.com
Copyright 䉷2002. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved. Djuro Novakovic is a petroleum engineer with
Manuscript received July 9, 2001; revised manuscript received May 15, 2002; final acceptance May 28, professional interest in reservoir engineering. He
2002.

AAPG Bulletin, v. 86, no. 12 (December 2002), pp. 2007–2021 2007

 holds an M.S. degree in petroleum engineering
and is a doctoral candidate at Louisiana State
University.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is a product of the Clastic Reser-
voirs Group at the Bureau of Economic Geology,
University of Texas at Austin, sponsored by
Amoco Production Company; BP Exploration Op-
erating Company Limited; Chevron Oil Field Re-
search Company; Conoco, Inc.; Elf Exploration
Production; Exxon Production Research Com-
pany; Intevep S.A.; Japan National Oil Company;
Maxus Energy Corporation; Occidental Interna-
tional Exploration and Production, Inc., and OXY
USA, Inc.; Oryx Energy Company; Saga Petro-
leum; Statoil; and Union Oil Company of Califor-
nia. Parts of this research were supported by the
Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum En-
gineering at Louisiana State University. Partial
support of publication costs was provided by the
Owen-Coates Fund of the Geology Foundation,
University of Texas at Austin. Janok P. Bhatta-
charya interpreted the regional stratigraphic set-
ting of the Frewens and other Frontier sand-
stones in the outcrop and adjacent subsurface
area. James Jennings provided guidance and in-
sight into geostatistical procedures. Sharon Ga-
bel, Charl Broquet, and Christopher Swezey did
fieldwork, mapped, and helped interpret the ge-
ology. Yugong Gao prepared the digitized out-
crop diagrams. Isotopic analyses were done at
the Stable Isotope Laboratory, directed by Peter
Swart, at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel
School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Res-
ervoir simulation software was provided by
Computer Modeling Group, Ltd., and Schlumber-
ger Technology Company. Illustrations were pre-
pared by the graphics staff of the Bureau of
Economic Geology under the direction of Joel
Lardon, graphics manager. Thomas L. Dunn,
Earle F. McBride, an anonymous reviewer, and
Bulletin editor John C. Lorenz provided construc-
tive reviews that improved this article. Published
by permission of the director, Bureau of Eco-
nomic Geology, University of Texas at Austin.
2008 Calcite Cement Distribution and Fluid Flow in a Deltaic Sandstone
cemented, high net-to-gross center of the sandstone body. Be-
cause the cement mainly occurs within the highest permeability
facies in the sandstone body, a model based on depositional facies
alone would overestimate upscaled permeability of the Frewens
sandstone.
INTRODUCTION
Permeability distribution in most sandstone reservoirs is influenced
not only by depositional processes, which control grain size, sorting,
and shale-bed distribution, but also by postdepositional diagenesis.
Precipitation of cements during burial adds a diagenetic overprint
to permeability distribution that must be included in reservoir mod-
els to simulate fluid flow accurately. Carbonate cement may have
a strong influence on fluid flow (for example, Kantorowicz et al.,
1987; Saigal and Bjørlykke, 1987; Bjørkum and Walderhaug,
1990a; McBride et al., 1995; Morad, 1998) because it is commonly
concentrated in layers or concretions rather than being uniformly
distributed. The influence of concretionary carbonate cement on
fluid flow in reservoirs is not easy to quantify, however, because it
is difficult to determine the distribution of this diagenetic hetero-
geneity from subsurface data.
Outcrops provide a continuous image of interwell-scale cement
distribution in reservoir analogs. In our study, calcite concretions
were mapped in a well-exposed outcrop of a deltaic sandstone, and
the effects of the concretions on fluid flow were quantified by flow
modeling. The outcrop exposes the Upper Cretaceous Frewens
sandstone, the deposit of a tide-influenced delta in the Frontier For-
mation of central Wyoming. Our goals were to (1) quantify the size
and spatial distribution of calcite concretions, (2) model the effect
of the cement on fluid flow, and (3) provide geostatistical data that
can be used to condition models of concretionary calcite-cement
distribution in the subsurface.
Our study demonstrates the importance of including diagene-
sis-modified permeability distribution in reservoir models of ce-
mented sandstones. Although concretion dimensions and distribu-
tion may be different in analog reservoirs, few geostatistical data
sets for such diagenetic features are available in the literature. In
the absence of reservoir-specific information, the Frewens data can
be used to stochastically estimate cement distribution in analogous
deltaic sandstones.
GEOLOGIC SETTING
Deposition of the Frewens Sandstone
The Frewens sandstone (Figure 1) is interpreted to be deposits of a
tide-influenced delta that prograded into the Cretaceous Interior
seaway (Willis et al., 1999; Bhattacharya and Willis, 2001). The
 WYOMING
Sevier
Orogenic
Big Horn
Belt
Powder River
Study area
Wind River
Casper
Greater
Green
River
0 100 mi
N of sandstone beds below a shale or at the base of sand-
0 100 km
Laramide basins
Figure 1. Location of the study area on the west margin of
the Powder River basin and the position of other Laramide ba-
sins in Wyoming (modified from Dutton et al., 2000).
sandstone is elongate into the basin (southeast) and
contains two upward-coarsening internal sandstone
bodies, each as much as 30 m thick, 3–4 km wide, and
about 20 km long (Willis et al., 1999). The bodies each
record delta-lobe progradation into a narrow trough
between an older wave-dominated delta lobe to the
south and a basin-floor ridge created by subtle struc-
tural uplift to the north (Bhattacharya and Willis,
2001). Both sandstone bodies have gradational bases
and sharp upper contacts with overlying shales. The
sandstone bodies are composed of meters-thick, sea-
ward-inclined beds that tend to be sandier updip and
more heterolithic downdip. Beds record deposition of
sands during rapid delta-front progradation, followed
by the more gradual aggradation of shales and tidal
reworking.
Frewens sandstones are composed of five facies
that generally occur in the following upward-coarsen-
ing succession: (1) thinly interbedded, rippled sand-
stones and mudstones; (2) decimeter-thick sandstone
beds isolated within facies 1; (3) meter-thick beds of
heterolithic cross sets; (4) meter-thick beds of rela-
tively homogeneous, cross-stratified sandstones; and
(5) meters-thick cross sets of homogeneous sandstone
(Willis et al., 1999). The abrupt top of the sandstone
bodies records transgressive ravinement during flood-
ing of the delta (Willis et al., 1999). The transgressive
unconformity above the Frewens sandstone juxtaposes
shell-bearing marine shales close to the top of the up-
per Frewens sandstone (Cobbin et al., 1994; Bhatta-
charya and Willis, 2001).
Origin of Frewens Concretions
Iron-bearing calcite is the most abundant cement in the
Frewens sandstone, ranging in volume from 0 to 36%
(average 2.6%) (Dutton et al., 2000). Most of the cal-
cite cement is localized in concretions. These large,
tabular concretions generally follow bedding but may
terminate within a bed or cut across facies. Many con-
cretions are adjacent to shale drapes, either at the top
stone beds above a shale. Calcite in many concretions
has partly dissolved, probably since being exposed in
outcrop, and hematite has precipitated in the resulting
pores. The hematite gives the concretions a reddish
color, easily distinguished from uncemented sand-
stones. The Frewens sandstone outcrops consequently
provide an excellent opportunity to map cement dis-
tribution at the interwell scale.
In a previous study, petrographic and isotopic data
were used to interpret the origin of the calcite cement
in the Frewens sandstone and the timing of its pre-
cipitation (Dutton et al., 2000). The d18O composition
of the calcite ranges from ⳮ9.3 to ⳮ12.4‰ (Peedee
belemnite [PDB]), and the d13C composition ranges
from Ⳮ0.1 to ⳮ14.2‰ (PDB). The calcite cement is
interpreted as having precipitated near maximum bur-
ial depth (1.5 km), from evolved meteoric water or
mixed meteoric-marine pore water (Dutton et al.,
2000).
The d13C composition indicates that the source of
carbon was mostly biogenic carbonate, with a contri-
bution of 13C-depleted carbon derived from oxidation
or decarboxylation of organic matter. No fossil frag-
ments or molds of dissolved fossils, and very few trace
fossils of burrowing organisms, have been observed in
Frewens sandstone, suggesting that little internal bio-
genic carbonate existed. Instead, shell-bearing marine
shales above the upper Frewens sandstone are inter-
preted to be the source of the biogenic carbonate (Dut-
ton et al., 2000).
The lack of an internal source of calcite cement
implies that the Frewens concretions formed by fluid
advection. At the relatively shallow maximum burial
depth of 1.5 km, the hydrologic regime in which
the concretions formed was probably dominated by
meteoric flow, although shallow compactional flow
Dutton et al. 2009
continued as well (Dutton et al., 2000). Compaction
of the overlying marine shale appears to have expelled
fluids containing calcium and biogenic carbonate into
the Frewens sandstone, where it mixed with meteoric
water in the regional groundwater flow system. Be-
cause permeability in the sandstone was greatest in the
plane of bedding, flow followed bedding and concre-
tions grew most rapidly in that direction, resulting in
their tabular shape (McBride et al., 1994, 1995; Moz-
ley and Davis, 1996).
DIMENSIONS AND DISTRIBUTION OF
CALCITE CONCRETIONS
Cement distribution was quantified in a 362 m–long
dip-parallel outcrop wall (Figure 2) and an adjacent
216 m–long strike-parallel wall of the upper Frewens
sandstone. Photomosaics of the two outcrop walls were
produced by digitally splicing together a succession of
photographs taken on medium-format film from a hel-
icopter. Digital maps of bedding, facies, shale beds, and
cements were made from the photomosaics (Willis and
White, 2000).
The size and spatial distribution of concretions in
the upper Frewens sandstone were measured from the
outcrop maps. Apparent length and thickness of 110
concretions were measured in the dip-parallel outcrop
wall, and apparent widths of 43 different concretions
were measured in the adjacent strike-parallel wall.
Concretions as thin as about 15 cm were mapped; thin-
ner concretions were not resolved. Concretion thick-
ness was not measured in the strike wall because the
dip of the beds and the backstepping of the outcrop
face made it difficult to determine thickness accurately.
Limits of data collection were the edges of the ex-
posed outcrop, but irregular outcrop boundaries can
cause significant artifacts in fluid-flow simulation (Wil-
lis and White, 2000). To maximize the size of a rec-
tangular flow-model interval, facies and bedding were
extrapolated short distances beyond the outcrop limits,
but cement bodies were not extrapolated. Thus, some
areas at the top of the flow model show no concretions
because that area of the outcrop was not exposed.
Calcite concretions occur in both the upper and
lower Frewens sandstone bodies, but they are consid-
erably more abundant in the upper body, particularly
in the high-permeability, cross-stratified facies in the
upper part of the sandstone. In the dip-parallel wall,
66% of the concretions occur in facies 5 and 23% in
facies 4 (Figure 2).
2010 Calcite Cement Distribution and Fluid Flow in a Deltaic Sandstone
Median dimensions of the concretions are 0.6 m in
thickness (T), 4.2 m in length (L), and 5.3 m in width
(W) (Figure 3A–C). The median aspect ratio (T/L) of
the concretions exposed in the dip section is 0.11 (Fig-
ure 3D). McBride et al. (1995) described concretions
with aspect ratios less than 1.5:1 (T/L ⬎ 0.67) as
equant and concretions with aspect ratios greater than
2.5:1 (T/L ⬍ 0.4) as elongate. Concretions of inter-
mediate dimensions are considered subequant. By that
definition, most Frewens concretions are elongate
(96%), and a few are subequant (4%). The volumes of
the concretions exposed in the dip wall were calculated
by assuming that the concretions are ellipsoids in
which relations between thickness and length and
thickness and width were the same (Dutton et al.,
2000). Most concretions are small (⬍40 m3), but a few
have volumes greater than 500 m3 (Dutton et al.,
2000). The median volume is 4.4 m3.
Concretions make up 12% of the area exposed in
the dip-parallel outcrop wall. The percentage of the
sandstone cemented by calcite ranged laterally be-
tween 0 and 27% (Figure 4); this proportion was nor-
mally distributed with a standard deviation of 5%. A
randomly drilled vertical well through the sandstone
would be cemented over 2–22% of its length in 95 out
of 100 cases (two standard deviations).
Cement abundance increases toward the top of
the outcrop (Figure 5), but this vertical trend is irreg-
ular with a standard deviation from mean values of
11%. In the lower 10 m of the sandstone only 2% of
the deposits are cemented on average, whereas in the
upper 11 m of the sandstone 21% of the deposits are
cemented on average. Although evidence for de-
creased cements in the upper 3 m of the outcrop (Fig-
ure 5) is probably an artifact of sampling across the
irregular upper outcrop edge, others have reported ex-
amples where shale-derived calcite did not precipitate
directly at the shale-sandstone contact (Sullivan and
McBride, 1991; McBride et al., 1995; Taylor et al.,
2000).
The distribution of concretions can be quantified
by plotting their centers (Figures 6, 7). Concretion cen-
ters appear to be randomly distributed across the out-
crop and are spaced on average at about one per 70
m2. A statistical test to determine if concretion centers
are randomly distributed compared variability in the
number of concretion centers exposed in specific sub-
sampled regions of the outcrop to variability predicted
assuming concretions centers are a univariate Poisson-
distributed random variable. The observed concretion
counts were compared with those predicted using a
 West

0 80 ft
0 20 m
Vertical position (m)

10

Match line
0
100 East
Match line
Vertical position (m)

10
Dutton et al.

0
200 Horizontal position (m) 300

Facies 1 Facies 2 Facies 3 Facies 4 Facies 5 Concretion

Figure 2. Dip-oriented outcrop wall of the Frewens sandstone that was used to quantify concretion size and distribution (modified from Willis and White, 2000). Concretions
2011

are the darker areas on the photomosaic within the light-colored sandstone. A graphic overlay made from the photomosaic shows distribution of facies and concretions.
 (A) (B)
99.99 99.99
99.9 99.9

99 99
Cumulative percent

Cumulative percent
95 95
90 90
80 80
70 70
50 50
30 30
20 20
10 10
5 5
Mean = 0.6 Mean = 7.4
1 Median = 0.6 1 Median = 4.2
.1 St. Dev. = 0.4 .1 St. Dev. = 8.9

.01 .01
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 0 10 20 30 40 50
Thickness (m) Length (m)
(C) (D) 1:1 2.5:1
99.99 2.5
99.9

99 2
Cumulative percent

95
90
Thickness (m)
80 1.5
70
50
30
20 1
10
5
Mean = 11.1 0.5
1
Median = 5.3
.1 St. Dev. = 15.2
.01 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 10 20 30 40 50
Width (m) Length (m)

Figure 3. Plots of (A) concretion thickness, (B) length, and (C) width vs. cumulative percent and (D) crossplot of length and thickness.
McBride et al. (1995) described concretions with aspect ratios greater than 2.5:1 (T/L ⬍ 0.4) as elongate. According to that definition,
most Frewens concretions are elongate.

0.3

Horizontal profile
0.25

0.2
Cemented fraction

Figure 4. Horizontal variation

in cemented fraction of the up- 0.15
per Frewens sandstone body.
This plot is equivalent to taking
a series of vertical wells 0.1
through the outcrop and mea-
suring the fraction of the sand-
stone thickness that is ce- 0.05

mented. The cemented fraction Running average

has a normal distribution
0
around a mean of 0.12 (r ⳱ 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
0.05). Horizontal position (m)

2012 Calcite Cement Distribution and Fluid Flow in a Deltaic Sandstone


20
15
Vertical position (m)
10
5
0 Geostatistics based on covariance is used widely to
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
Cemented fraction
Figure 5. Vertical variation in cemented fraction of the upper
Frewens sandstone body. This plot is equivalent to taking a
series of horizontal wells through the outcrop and measuring
the fraction of the sandstone thickness that is cemented. Ce-
mented fraction increases toward the top of the outcrop. The
lower 10 m of the outcrop has an average cemented fraction
of 0.02, whereas the upper 11 m has an average of 0.21. The
cemented fraction has a bimodal distribution, with a mean of
0.12 (r ⳱ 0.11).
Poisson model, where k ⳱ 0.014 mⳮ2 (0.014 mⳮ2 ⳱
1 concretion/70 m2 of outcrop) and testing against the
v2 statistic at the 90% significance level (Figure 8). The
test confirmed that concretion centers were approxi-
mately Poisson distributed. The concretion locations
are only weakly correlated spatially (C. D. White,
2001, unpublished data).
The lack of correlation in concretion centroid lo-
cations indicates that the upward increase in cement
(Figure 5) does not reflect a vertical increase in the
number of concretions. Instead, the observed trend is
caused by an upward increase in the size of the con-
cretions (Figure 9). Concretions in the lower part of
the Frewens sandstone (lower 10 m of the dip-parallel
20
Outcrop height (m)
10
0
0 100
outcrop) have an average area of 1.6 m2, whereas those
in the upper part of the outcrop average 7.7 m2. The
larger concretions at the top of the sandstone may have
been formed by the aggregation of multiple original
nucleation centers. As the individual concretions grew,
many of those at the top of the sandstone may have
grown together. The shapes of many of the largest con-
cretions (Figure 2) suggest that they formed by aggre-
gation of one or more concretions.
COVARIANCE MODELS FOR CEMENT
DISTRIBUTION
0.25 0.3 0.35
model both continuous and categorical variables.
Compared with object models, covariance models are
simpler to condition to observations and are sometimes
simpler to infer. Methods of inferring variograms and
creating stochastic images (or simulations) for contin-
uous and categorical (or indicator) variables are well
documented (e.g., Deutsch and Journel, 1998).
Computing the Indicator Semivariograms
Indicator semivariograms were calculated to show ver-
tical and horizontal anisotropy in the cement distri-
bution within the Frewens sandstone. In this calcula-
tion, cement was transformed to an indicator variable
assigned a value of 1 if cement were present at a given
location and 0 if absent. The horizontal semivariogram
has a range of about 30 m, and the vertical semivari-
ogram has a range of about 2.5 m (Figure 10). These
dimensions correspond approximately to the size of
the largest concretions in the Frewens sandstone.
The variance of the indicator variable is 0.104 [⳱
fc(1 ⳮ fc), where fc is the cement fraction]. The hori-
zontal semivariogram never reaches the total variance
because of the vertical trend in cement fraction. The
vertical semivariogram is remarkably well behaved. It
is linear at small distances, and there is a suggestion of
Figure 6. Plot showing the
centers of all concretions. The
centroid positions approximate
a univariate Poisson-distributed
random variable in both x and
z. The concretion centers tend
200 300 to be aligned along the dipping
Outcrop length (m) foresets.
Dutton et al. 2013
 (A) (B)
Figure 7. (A) Horizontal and
20 20
(B) vertical frequency distribu-
tion of concretion centers.
15 15

Outcrop height (m)

Frequency
10 10

5 5

0 0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 0 5 10 15
Outcrop length (m) Frequency

cyclicity (or a so-called hole effect) with a wavelength Distributing Cement in Reservoir Models
of approximately 3.3 m. This cyclicity is seen in the
decrease of the semivariogram at approximately 6.6 m Many deltaic sandstone reservoirs have evidence from
and the excursion above the semivariogram sill at ap- cores or geophysical logs (particularly density and neu-
proximately 10 m (Figure 10). tron logs [Walderhaug et al., 1989; Worden and Ma-
Cement distribution is clearly anisotropic; that is, tray, 1998]) that calcite concretions are present (for
its pattern of spatial variability changes with direction. example, Ambrose et al., 1995). To be realistic, a res-
The direction of greatest continuity is inclined 2.5⬚ ervoir simulation should attempt to capture the dia-
downward to the right, following depositional dip. The genetic permeability overprint, as well as facies-con-
direction of least continuity is nearly vertical. The trolled permeability trends. Reservoir-specific data
anisotropy factor for the cement, defined as the ratio from logs and core could be used to condition the mod-
of the range in the greatest and least continuity direc-
tions (Kupfersberger and Deutsch, 1999), is approxi-
mately 12. Because the horizontal and vertical semi- 20
variogram sills are not equal, the anisotropy is zonal
rather than geometric (Deutsch and Journel, 1998, p.
27–30). This feature can be modeled by using nested
structures; the horizontal range of the additional vari- 15
ance component (needed to model the zonal aniso-
Outcrop height (m)

tropy) is set to a very large value.

10
50

Observations -- Vertical Bins

40
Count Frequency

Observations -- Horizontal Bins

30 5

20

10
Poisson Model, λ = 0.014/m2 0
0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
0 1 2 3 4
Number of concretions in bin Area in dip wall (m2)

Figure 8. The frequency of concretions observed on the out-
crops is matched adequately by a Poisson model with k ⳱
0.014 mⳮ2. In the vertical and horizontal directions, the Poisson
models cannot be rejected at the 90% confidence level using
v2 tests.
Figure 9. Plot of concretion area vs. height in the outcrop wall
shows an upward increase in the size of concretions. This up-
ward increase in concretion size, not an increase in the number
of concretions, is the reason that cemented fraction increases
vertically (Figure 5).

2014 Calcite Cement Distribution and Fluid Flow in a Deltaic Sandstone

 Vertical Lag (m)
0 5 10
Sill: s2 = 0.1037 Vertical data
0.12 Model
Indicator Semivariogram
0.08 Model Horizontal data
0.04
0
0 20 40 60 80
Horizontal Lag (m)
Figure 10. Indicator semivariograms summarize the spatial
correlation of calcite cement. The vertical separation distance is
plotted on the axis at the top of the figure. Cement fraction is
correlated horizontally for at least 30 m, and the vertical range
is approximately 2.5 m. The oscillation in the vertical semivari-
ogram may be due to cyclicity in cement occurrence. The os-
cillation in the horizontal semivariogram may not be significant.
els that predict the size and spatial distribution of
concretions.
The outcrop data described in a preceding section
suggest that two different types of models could be
considered to predict the distribution of calcite con-
cretions in the subsurface: (1) a method that assumes
a Poisson distribution for concretion centers and con-
ditions concretion abundance, size, and shape from
vertical well logs, analog outcrop data, or both; or (2)
a geostatistical approach based on variography. The
Poisson approach would be similar to the way shale-
length data are used in object modeling (Begg and
King, 1985; MacDonald and Halland, 1993; Robinson
and McCabe, 1997). However, the relatively low r 2
values (Figure 9) for the dimensional correlations sug-
gest that it would be difficult to reproduce the ob-
served trends in cement using this Poisson process, and
object models may be more difficult to condition. An
indicator variogram approach may be more useful for
subsurface prediction of concretions using the Frewens
sandstone data set.
An indicator variogram model to predict subsur-
face cement distribution is developed in White et al.
(C. D. White, 2001, unpublished data) and is briefly
discussed here to demonstrate one possible use of the
type of outcrop analog data presented here. An indi-
cator variogram (for example, Figure 10) of cement
occurrence is converted to equivalent variograms for a
truncated Gaussian variable (Matheron et al., 1987).
Once cement distribution is described in terms of a
15
Gaussian variable, it is relatively easy to include ob-
served trends in cement abundance. Images of cement
concretions are created by imposing a vertically varying
truncation probability (a proportion curve) on a geo-
statistically simulated Gaussian variable. The trunca-
tion process transforms the Gaussian simulations to ce-
mented vs. noncemented indicator maps. These maps
are refined using a simulated annealing algorithm
(Deutsch and Journel, 1998) to improve conformance
between specified and simulated semivariograms. Only
100 the variogram is used in the annealing procedure, so
that the annealing could be applied in three dimen-
sions. Multipoint statistics (Caers et al., 2000) con-
densed the diffuse zones of cement predicted by Gaus-
sian simulation to compact concretions observed in
outcrop. The multipoint probabilities are more diffi-
cult to translate to three dimensions. An example im-
age is shown in Figure 11. The concretions mapped in
outcrop (Figure 11A) and those predicted by this geo-
statistical simulation (Figure 11B) share many features:
the overall proportion of cement is the same, the ver-
tical trend is the same, and the angle of inclination of
the cemented regions appears to be approximately cor-
rect. Similar images could be constructed for subsur-
face reservoirs using core-defined proportion curves
and the variograms defined from this outcrop study.
FLUID-FLOW SIMULATION
The influence that concretions would have on fluid
flow in a reservoir was demonstrated using reservoir
simulation. Flow through the dip-parallel Frewens out-
crop wall was modeled in two dimensions; develop-
ment of this reservoir-simulation model from quanti-
tative outcrop data was described in Willis and White
(2000), and methods to quantify effects of geologic
variability on reservoir-simulation predictions are de-
scribed in White et al. (2001). For the simulations
shown here, depositional permeability variations were
defined by a mean permeability for each facies type and
a decrease in transmissibility between beds with drap-
ing shales (White and Barton, 1999) (Figure 2). Per-
meability, determined from more than 2900 measure-
ments on the outcrop using a probe-style, steady-state
permeameter, ranged from 460 md in facies 1 to 3100
md in facies 5. Areas within calcite concretions were
assigned a permeability of 0.1 md. The flow models
(Computer Modeling Group, 1997; Schlumberger
Technology Company, 1997) simulated a waterflood
Dutton et al. 2015
Figure 11. (A) The reference (A)
image and (B) a geostatistical
image of cement appear to be
similar. The geostatistical image
reproduces the reference image
semivariograms and the
smoothed vertical trend in ce-
ment proportion. The geostatisti-
cal image was prepared using
truncated Gaussian simulation,
simulated annealing, and multi-
point statistics. The geostatisti- (B)
cal image is conditioned at the
two ends of the outcrop panel;
note that the two images
(A and B) match at the extreme
left and right ends.

ft m
10
30

Cement No cement
150 ft
0
0 50 m
Vertical exaggeration = 5x

displacing oil. The water is injected into the left side
of the simulation models, and oil and water are pro-
duced from the right side. The distribution of oil and
water are shown after one-half of the pore volume of
the model has been injected (Figure 12).
The effect of concretions on flow can be seen by
comparing reservoir models with and without concre-
tions. Concretions make flow paths more tortuous and
cause breakthrough to occur lower in the section.
Without concretions, breakthrough occurs first in the
coarse facies 5 interval at the top of the section (Figure
12B). With concretions, breakthrough occurs lower in
the section (in facies 3 and 4) because flow is retarded
by the abundance of cement near the top of the sand-
stone body (Figure 12C). By preferentially reducing
permeability of the coarsest grained facies, concretions
may actually improve the vertical sweep efficiency of
displacements.
Concretions significantly reduce upscaled perme-
ability compared with uncemented sandstones. The
upscaled permeability of this two-dimensional panel of
Frewens sandstone was calculated by solving the
steady-state flow equation for the permeability distri-
bution with and without concretions. The presence of
the concretions decreases the upscaled permeability of
the modeled area by about 45% compared with a sand-
stone having the same shale-bed and facies distribution
but no concretions (from 1220 to 667 md). Concre-
tions have a large impact on upscaled permeability be-
cause the cement occurs within the most permeable
part of the sandstone body. A model based on depo-
sitional facies alone would significantly overestimate
upscaled permeability, thus demonstrating the impor-
tance of including diagenetic permeability modifica-
tion in detailed reservoir models.
The upscaled permeability derived from the
steady-state flow solution was compared to the geo-
metric and arithmetic mean permeabilities. The geo-
metric mean is kg ⳱ k fcck¯ ss
1ⳮfc
, where kg is the overall
geometric mean, kc is the concretion permeability, and
kss is the upscaled permeability of the unaltered sand-
stone. The concretion fraction is fc. The heterogeneous
sandstone permeability was upscaled using a steady-
state flow solution to estimate kss. The geometric mean

2016 Calcite Cement Distribution and Fluid Flow in a Deltaic Sandstone

 (A)

Cemented zone Shale

(B)

Outlet
Inlet

(C)

Outlet
Inlet

0
Permeability (md) 2500
0 200 ft

0 50 m 0 1
Vertical exaggeration x 3 Water saturation (fraction)

Figure 12. Reservoir simulation was used to examine the influence that concretions would have on fluid flow in a reservoir. Willis
and White (2000) described preparation of the outcrop data for flow simulation. (A) Distribution of shale beds and concretions in
the dip-parallel outcrop wall that was modeled in two dimensions. (B) Simulation including shales but not concretions (modified from
Willis and White, 2000). Low-permeability, inclined shales have a pronounced effect, shunting flow along the dip of the clinoform
beds. (C) Simulation including both shales and concretions (modified from Willis and White, 2000). Cemented regions make the flow
path more tortuous and reduce effective permeability by about one-half. Concretions cause breakthrough to occur earlier and lower
in the section because they retard flow most in high-permeability facies near the top of the sandstone body.

Dutton et al. 2017

underestimates upscaled permeability (kg ⳱ 550 md (C. D. White, 2001, unpublished data). This analysis
vs. ktrue ⳱ 667 md from the steady-state flow model). showed that predictions of breakthrough time, average
The arithmetic mean, ka ⳱ fckc Ⳮ (1 ⳮ fc)kss, over- permeability, and sweep efficiency are similar for mod-
estimates the upscaled permeability (ka ⳱ 1070 md). els based on concretions mapped in the outcrop and
The arithmetic and geometric mean bound the up- those with geostatistical concretions. The difference
scaled horizontal permeability, kg ⱕ ktrue ⱕ ka (Card- between the mean responses of models with geosta-
well and Parsons, 1945; Li et al., 1999). For this case, tistical concretions and the model with outcrop con-
the bounds are wide, 550 md ⱕ ktrue ⱕ 1070 md. cretions is less than 5%, and the range of the stochastic-
Reservoir behavior was also simulated for the model responses includes those predicted by the
Frewens sandstone with calcite concretions modeled outcrop model for most responses. Unlike upscaled
by the geostatistical methods of White et al. (C. D. permeability, there are no analytic formulae to predict
White, 2001, unpublished data). The flow effects of the effects of permeability heterogeneity on break-
the outcrop-mapped concretions (Figure 13A) were through time or sweep efficiency.
compared to those of the geostatistical calcite concre-
tions (Figure 13B). To clarify comparison of concretion
effects on flow, facies permeability variations were the DISCUSSION
only depositional heterogeneity included in these res-
ervoir simulations (shales were not included). Al- In the past 15 years, considerable work has been done
though details of these flow models differ, the visual measuring horizontal permeability variation caused by
similarity of displacement predicted by these two mod- depositional processes (see articles summarized in
els is compelling. First breakthrough occurs in the cen- Kupfersberger and Deutsch [1999]), but similar stud-
ter and a secondary breakthrough occurs in the top of ies of diagenetic heterogeneity lag behind. Little quan-
both models. A statistical analysis of flow effects pro- titative information is available in the literature on the
duced by stochastic concretions has been performed on distribution of calcite concretions in deltaic sandstones,
the basis of many models and multiple realizations so it is difficult to know whether the Frewens cement

(A)

Water and oil produced from this side of model

Water injected on this side of model

(B)

Figure 13. The water satura-

tions for (A) the reference case
and (B) a geostatistical cement
image are similar. Correspond-
ing cement images are shown
in Figure 11. Breakthrough oc-
curs somewhat earlier in the ft m
10
reference case than in the geo- 30 0 1
statistical image (note the larger
Water saturation
light area in the right center of
150 ft
the reference saturation image), 0
but the overall front shapes 0 50 m
match reasonably well. Vertical exaggeration = 5x

2018 Calcite Cement Distribution and Fluid Flow in a Deltaic Sandstone

distribution is characteristic or how widely this model
can be applied to other sandstones. Many excellent in-
vestigations of calcite concretions have been published
recently (for example, Bjørkum and Walderhaug,
1990a, b; Wilkinson, 1991; McBride et al., 1995; Tay-
lor et al., 1995, 2000; Milliken et al., 1998; Walder-
haug and Bjørkum, 1998; Klein et al., 1999), but most
researchers focused on the origin of the calcite cement
rather than on quantitative data that can be used to
predict low-permeability cement bodies in reservoir
models. In addition, most of these studies have been
of shallow-marine and shoreface deposits or turbidites,
in which the concretions grew by diffusion from an
internal source of biogenetic carbonate.
Most of the Frewens concretions occur in the
coarsest, most permeable sandstones high in the sand-
stone body, above the position where shale-bed drapes
are abundant (Figure 12A). It appears that the fluids
carrying calcium and biogenic carbonate into the Frew-
ens sandstone from the overlying fossiliferous shale
precipitated calcite where fluid flow was greatest. The
flow simulation that includes only facies and shale beds
(Figure 12B) can be considered a model of fluid flow
in the Frewens sandstone before cementation began; in
a sense, the simulation provides a forward model of the
regional flow system in which we think the concretions
precipitated.
A greater concentration of cement in the most po-
rous and permeable sandstones was observed on a
larger scale as well. The Frewens sandstone bodies
show systematic trends across successive beds over
hundreds of meters, defined by an alternation of
thicker, sandier, more steeply inclined beds with thin-
ner, finer grained, more gently inclined beds (Willis et
al., 1999). Although not quantified, cement is most
abundant in the sandier beds. Similarly, cement ap-
pears to be more abundant in the sand-rich deposits at
the axes of the sandstone bodies than in the finer
grained deposits along the margins. The outcrop doc-
umented in our study was a relatively sand-rich part of
the Frewens interval, along the axis of the prograding
delta. More work is needed to demonstrate whether
the distribution of concretions observed here is also
characteristic of the more heterolithic delta-margin
deposits.
The Frewens concretion model would be most ap-
propriately applied to analogous reservoirs in upward-
coarsening, deltaic sandstones lacking internal shell
material and overlain by marine shales. The Frewens
sandstones are interpreted to have derived their sedi-
ment primarily from a tide-reworked fluvial influx on
rapidly prograding tidal-channel-mouth bars. Shells
were sparse in this brackish setting, and most of the
calcite cement was derived from overlying fossiliferous
shales. It is probably not appropriate to apply the Frew-
ens concretion model to sandstones containing abun-
dant internal biogenic carbonate. Unlike the Frewens
sandstone, the location of concretions in these sand-
stones generally reflects diffusional redistribution of
biogenic carbonate whose location was controlled by
depositional environment (Bjørkum and Walderhaug,
1990a, b; Walderhaug and Bjørkum, 1998). Clearly,
more studies like that presented in this article are re-
quired before a general model for calcite-concretion
distribution in sandstones can be advanced.
CONCLUSIONS
Frewens sandstones have been variably overprinted by
diagenesis, most significantly by precipitation of calcite
concretions whose permeability contrasts markedly
with the surrounding uncemented or poorly cemented
host sandstones. The concretions are tabular, with their
short dimension perpendicular to bedding. The calcite
occurs mainly in the coarser grained facies at the top
of the upper Frewens sandstone body. Concretion cen-
ters are randomly distributed. On average 12% of the
sandstone is cemented, but this value ranges between
2 and 22% laterally along the outcrop. Cements in-
crease upward because concretions are larger toward
the top of the sandstone. Fossiliferous intervals in the
overlying transgressive marine shale are inferred to be
the source of calcium carbonate.
Data on the spatial distribution of cement deter-
mined from the Frewens sandstone can be used to pop-
ulate permeability models of deltaic sandstones having
similar diagenetic histories if reservoir-specific data are
not available. The spatial distribution of cement in the
Frewens sandstone can be modeled using indicator
semivariograms. The presence and vertical distribution
of cement in a reservoir can generally be determined
from log and core data. This information can be used
to condition the simulation and estimate vertical trends
in cement proportion, while using the Frewens data to
model the spatial correlation of cement.
Flow models of the Frewens sandstone indicate
that modeling permeability from depositional facies
alone will overestimate upscaled permeability and in-
correctly predict flow paths. Upscaled permeability of
the upper Frewens sandstone body is reduced by about
half compared with that of an uncemented sandstone,
Dutton et al. 2019
and concretions cause fluid breakthrough to occur
lower in the section because they retard flow in the
coarser facies near the top of the sandstone body.
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