Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

QAB2033
2. Properties of Carbonates

Introduction
Carbonate Oil & Gas Reservoirs Carbonate Petroleum Basins in the World Carbonate Platforms Carbonate Reservoirs at Outcrop Carbonate Minerals Carbonate Properties & Characteristics Factors Controlling Carbonate Production & Deposition

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Oil Reservoirs in the World: Production plus Proven Reserves

Carbonates Clastics

53%
QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

47%

Middle East

Compiled by P.M. Harris

Gas Reservoirs in the World: Production plus Proven Reserves

Carbonates Clastics

33%
Middle East
QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

67%

Compiled by P.M. Harris

Petroleum Basins with a high production from Carbonate Reservoirs

USA : - Michigan Basin (Silurian) West Texas (Permian) East Texas and Gulf of Mexico (Jurassic and Cretaceous) USSR : Timan-Pechora Basin (Devonian) Caspian (Devonian) Canada : Western Alberta Basin (Devonian) Italy & Sicily (Triassic and Jurassic) Arabian gulf (Mesozoic) Mexico (Cretaceous) Europe: North Sea (Cretaceous) North Africa (Eocene) Indonesia, Malaysia (Miocene)

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Petroleum Basins with Carbonate Reservoirs

Jordan & Wilson, 1994

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

0m

Carbonate Platforms

500

Atoll in The Maldives

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Atoll in French Polynesia

Carbonate Platforms

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Florida

Present-Day Carbonate Province

Cuba The Bahama Banks

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Exuma Islands, Bahamas

Present-Day Carbonate Deposits

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Present-Day Carbonate Deposits

Island and beach in the Maldives

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Present-Day Carbonate Platforms

Carbonate platforms in East Sabah

Present-Day Carbonate Deposits

Beach on Sibuan Island, Sabah, Malaysia

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Miocene Carbonate Platforms of Central Luconia, Sarawak

Shelf Edge
G10

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Carbonate Reservoirs Exposed at Outcrops

Cretaceous limestone sequence exposed at Wadi Miaidin, Oman

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Carbonate reservoirs in the Arabian Gulf area are mainly Jurassic and Cretaceous

Jurassic limestone sequence exposed near Quriyat, Oman

Carbonate Reservoirs Exposed at Outcrops

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

The Cretaceous carbonate sequence exposed at Wadi Miaidin, Oman Contains some of the most prolific reservoirs on the Arabian Peninsula.

Carbonate Reservoirs at Outcrop or in the Subsurface

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Lower Cretaceous Rudist limestone, Wadi Miaidin, Oman Lower Cretaceous rudist limestone, Subsurface (1,800 m), Abu Dhabi

A few Initial Remarks on Carbonate Reservoirs

Carbonate Reservoirs are usually complex and difficult to predict. Exposed limestones commonly look tight and have misled many geologists in believing that they could not be good reservoirs for petroleum. Why are limestones, even those made of the same components, so different at outcrop or in the subsurface? Diagenesis.

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Are carbonates difficult ?

Usually boring at outcrop on first inspection....challenge to describe.
Black, grey, white or yellow Usually lacking in sedimentary structures Bedding may be absent or false

Under the microscope....... bigger challenge to describe

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Monomineralic Numerous different grains Some difficult to identify..................many impossible ! Complex diagenetic fabrics.

Terminology...even bigger challenge to describe

Several classification schemes Different environments of deposition each with its own terminology Specialist techniques each with its own terminology

Carbonate Minerals
3 main minerals:
CALCITE: CaCO3, rhombohedral, colorless to white. High-Mg and Low-Mg varieties. Reacts to acid (HCl). Chemically stable. ARAGONITE: CaCO3, orthorhombic, brown to colorless. Reacts to acid (HCl). Chemically metastable DOLOMITE: CaMg(CO3)2, rhombohedral, white to yellow. Does not react to HCl. Chemically stable.

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

1 cm

Calcite

5 mm 1 cm

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

1 cm

1 mm

Aragonite

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Dolomite

Carbonate Properties
Carbonates are soluble in cold water. Solubility decreases with increasing temperature and salinity. Aragonite is more soluble than calcite. Carbonate (CO3--), bicarbonate (HCO3-), and calcium (Ca++) ions are very abundant in seawater. These ions are used to make carbonate sediments components.

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Characteristics of Carbonates
Carbonate sediments are created in-situ, either by carbonate-producing organisms or by chemical precipitation Carbonate systems depend, for a large part on tropical eco-systems Most carbonates are produced in warm, tropical marine waters Most carbonates are produced in shallow marine waters

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Factors Controlling Carbonate Formation

Temperature: Tolerance of carbonate-producing organisms to seawater temperature (23-26 C for corals) Salinity: Tolerance level close to 36
QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Light: Prerequisite for life; Photosynthesis of algae and microbial forms of life Wind: Transport of nutrients Water energy: circulation, tidal currents Turbidity level: fine clastics detrimental

Carbonate-Producing Organisms vs. Latitude

Sea water temperature is determined by latitude: warm between equator and tropics, cooling down at higher latitudes.

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Distribution of Present-Day Carbonates

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Bahama Platforms Carribbean

Arabian Gulf

40
South China Sea 20 Pacific 0 Atolls

30

Australia

20 30 40

Reefs Shelf carbonate

QAd2398c Wilson (1975)

Tolerances of Reef-Building Corals

50

TEMPERATURE (C)

40

EXTREME LIMITS (Porites only) ARABIAN GULF

30

OPTIMUM
ATLANTIC & INDO-PACIFIC

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

20

10 20 25 30 35 SALINITY () 40 45 50
Kinsman, 1964

Carbonate Production vs. Light

Surface level
Light saturated zone

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

10-30m

60-80m

Base of photic

zone

Carbonate Production with Depth

Cool water carbonate factory
Sediment production Primarily Low-Mg and High-Mg Calcite Sediment production from organisms such as red algae (photophilic), bryozoa, barnacles and ahermatypic corals (non-photophilic) Rates of production lower than in tropical settings; variation with depth not known 100

Warm water carbonate factory

Sediment production Photic zone compressed in turbid water Primarily Aragonite Base of photic zone Decrease in water temperature causes replacement of tropical biota by non-tropical biota

Depth in m

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

200 ??

300
Ahermatypic corals down to 1000 m along with planktonic foraminifera Primarily Low-Mg and High-Mg Calcite

400

500

Primarily Low-Mg and HighMg Calcite

After Jones & Desrochers, 1992

Sediment below base of photic zone composed primarily of planktonic organisms

Carbonate solubility with depth

The depth at which the rate of carbonate (calcite) sedimentation equals the rate of carbonate dissolution is called Calcite Compensation Depth or CCD The Lysocline is the depth at which the rate of dissolution of carbonates increases dramatically.
Increasing rate of dissolution

0 1 Depth (Km) 2 3 4 5 6

dissolution

Sediment supply

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

lysocline CCD

Pacific Ocean

CCD and ACD

CCD is determined by temperature, pressure, dissolved CO2 gas content. CCD is at about 5,000 m in Atlantic Ocean and 4,200 to 4,500 m in the Pacific Ocean, because of differences in dissolved CO2 contents.
QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

ACD (aragonite Compensation Depth) is at less than 4,200 m in the Atlantic Ocean. Below the CCD, calcitic particles dissolve faster than they accumulate. Abyssal plains deeper than 5,000 m are covered with clay and other silica particles with no calcareous fossils.

Wind Controls Carbonate Growth

Reef Apron
Back-reef

Lagoon
QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson

Reef

Photo by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Factors Controlling Carbonate Deposition

Water Energy: Currents, Tidal range, etc. Atmospheric Conditions: winds, storms,.. Water Depth: Wave base, submarine currents Submarine topography Basin morphology Relative sea level fluctuations

QAB2033 Carbonate Sedimentology & Stratigraphy/Dr. Bernard Pierson