Siliciclastic Diagenesis and Fluid Flow: Concepts and Applications is a collection of 16 papers that treat aspects of water-rock interaction in siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. The contributions are divided equally between Part I "Concepts" and Part II "Applications." While the pace of breakthroughs in this field has slowed somewhat since the late 1970's and 1980's, several papers in this volume report new insights and findings that should be of interest to many sedimentary geologists and petroleum geoscientists.
In an illuminating lead paper, J. S. Hanor discusses chemical mass balance calculations, indicating that changes in dissolved chloride can induce changes in concentrations in rock-buffered cations, and thereby control important reactions involving silica and alumina. Hanor's simulations show that by varying chloride concentrations, significant quantities of quartz can be precipitated or dissolved without resorting to changes in temperature and pressure, or involving large volumes of fluids. In a paper on late-stage diagenesis of Mississippian shales from the Ouachita fold belt, M. W. Totten and H. Blatt conclude that illite is not an end-member mineral, but is a clay phase that is transitional to muscovite.
Authors of several papers stress the importance of organic-inorganic reactions in siliciclastic diagenesis. L. K. Smith, T. L. Dunn, and R. C. Surdam provide evidence that cation geothermometers (which are very good predictors of temperature in geothermal systems) predict temperatures poorly in oil fields, due to the influence of carboxylic acid anions on cation ratios. V. C. Hover, D. R. Peacor and L. M. Walter suggest that smectite-to-illite diagenesis in Devonian shales of the Illinois and Michigan basins is promoted by the generation of organic acids during thermal maturation of kerogen; these authors argue that organic acids increase the solubility and/or rate of dissolution of aluminum and potassium bearing mineral reactants, thereby providing cations needed for illitization. P. D. Hays, S. D. Walling, and T. T. Tieh have written a detailed account of "Organic and authigenic mineral geochemistry of the Permian Delaware Mountain Group", in which they contend that complexing by organic acids has contributed to late-stage diagenesis, including the precipitation of abundant titanium oxides.
The role of allochthonous pore fluids in sandstone diagenesis is explored in papers by T. R. Taylor and L. S. Land on deeply buried, Miocene sandstones at Picaroon field in the Gulf of Mexico and O. M. Mclaughlin, R. S. Haszeldine, and A. E. Fallick on diagenesis in South Brae oilfield in the North Sea. Taylor and Land argue that porosities of sandstones at Picaroon field were enhanced through leaching of calcite by hot, acidic waters that rose from Mesozoic strata along growth faults. Mclaughlin and co-authors present isotopic and fluid inclusion evidence that quartz overgrowths in Brae sandstone reservoirs precipitated from a compaction-driven fluid that moved laterally and upward out of the basin. They determined that fluids within Brae oil field are "layered", as controlled by the stratigraphy.
The influence of stratigraphy and depositional texture on diagenesis are treated in papers by Y. I. Lee and J. R. Boles ("Depositional controls on carbonate cement in the San Joaquin Basin, California"), J. L. Loomis and L. J. Crossey ("Diagenesis in a cyclic, regressive siliciclastic sequence: The Point Lookout Sandstone, San Juan Basin, Colorado"), and M. L. Barrett and R. W. Mathias ("Production-induced diagenesis during thermal heavy oil recovery: Grain size as a predictor of reservoir alteration").
The quality of this volume is quite high. In addition to those contributions mentioned, there are six other papers in this volume that are well worth reading. Papers are well illustrated (there is a section of color plates from various papers), and they are generally well written, although a number of syntax, typographical, and grammatical errors slipped by the editors. Overall, this collection of papers is a fine contribution to the body of knowledge on diagenesis in siliciclastic basins. At a price of $109 ($84 to SEPM members), all who are interested in how sand and mud become rock will want to own a copy.
ARTHUR S. TREVENA
Unocal E&P Technology
14141 Southwest Freeway
Sugar Land, Texas 77478 USA
Source
http://archives.datapages.com/data/sepm/journals/v66-67/data/068/068003/0519.HTM