Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-thh2z Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-07T17:59:41.941Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diagenetic alterations in a silt- and clay-rich mudstone succession: an example from the Upper Cretaceous Mancos Shale of Utah, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2018

K. G. Taylor  and
J . H. S. Macquaker
K. G. Taylor*
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
J . H. S. Macquaker*
Affiliation:
School of Geology, Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada
*
*E-mail: kevin.taylor@manchester.ac.uk
†Current address: ExxonMobil Production Research, Houston, Texas, USA
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

An understanding of the nature and scales of diagenetic variability within organic-rich mudstones is critical to the accurate assessment of shale-gas reservoir properties, as well as for elucidating chemical evolution pathways within mudstones. Here we integrate field observations with thin section descriptions (optical and electron optical techniques) and mineralogical data for the Blackhawk Member time-equivalent Mancos Shale in Book Cliffs, Utah, to determine the impacts of early and burial diagenesis on this mudstone succession.

The detrital assemblage in the Mancos Shale comprises quartz-silt, feldspar, clay minerals, dolomite and organic matter (TOC of 1 to 2.5%). Biogenic silica is negligible. Field mapping reveals laterally continuous (km scale), ferroan dolomite cemented units up to 0.3 m thick, are present. These cemented units cap both coarsening-upward units (1 to 3 m thick), and stacked successions of coarsening-upward units (5 to 15 m thick). These upward-coarsening sediment packages, capped by dolomite cemented strata, correlate to bedsets and parasequences in updip settings. Pervasive cementation in these dolomite-cemented units is likely to have occurred prior to compaction as a result of bacterially mediated respiratory processes. Cementation at these levels is particularly evident because cement precipitation occurred during breaks in sediment accumulation below marine flooding surfaces. The abundance of dolomite cements highlights the importance of macroscopic-scale diagenetic carbonate mobility in these mudstones.

In addition to carbonate-cements, diagenetic alteration and precipitation of quartz and alumina-silicate minerals are also important in these mudstones. Kaolinite is present both in uncompacted test of organisms and as vein fills in septarian concretions. Kaolinite precipitation is interpreted to have occurred prior to significant compaction and indicates that both silicon and aluminium were mobile during early diagenesis. We interpret the abundance of early diagenetic kaolinite cement to be the result of Al-mobilization by organic acids generated during organic matter oxidation reactions, with the Al sourced from poorly crystalline detrital aluminium oxides and clay minerals. There is also indirect evidence for burial diagenetic kaolinitization of feldspar grains. Quartz cement takes the form of quartz overgrowths and microcrystalline quartz crystals. Textures and CL spectra for the quartz microcrystalline cement suggests that recrystallization of biogenic silica (opal-A) was likely to have been an important source for quartz cements, although smectite-to-illite transformation may have contributed some. These mineral phases highlight that microscopic-scale diagenetic mobility of silica is important, even within mudstones lacking obvious sources of biogenic silica and is likely to be an important processes in a wide range of mudstones.

Keywords

diagenesismudstoneshaleCretaceousMancos ShaleUtah
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 213 - 227
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2014 This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2014

References

Abouelresh, M.O. & Slatt, R.M. (2012) Lithofacies and sequence stratigraphy of the Barnett Shale in the east-central Fort Worth Basin, Texas. AAPG Bulletin, 96, 1–22.10.1306/04261110116Google Scholar
Awwiller, D.N. (1993) Illite/smectite formation and potassium mass-transfer during burial diagenesis of mudrocks: a study from the Texas Gulf Coast Paleocene- Eocene. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 63, 501–512.Google Scholar
Barcelona, M.J. (1980) Dissolved organic-carbon and volatile fatty-acids in marine sediment pore waters. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 44, 1977–1984.10.1016/0016-7037(80)90197-0Google Scholar
Behl, R.J. (2011) Chert spheroids of the Monterey Formation, California (USA): Early-diagenetic structures of bedded siliceous deposits. Sedimentology, 58, 325–351.10.1111/j.1365-3091.2010.01165.xGoogle Scholar
Bjorlykke, K. (2011) Open-system chemical behaviour of Wilcox Group mudstones. How is large scale mass transfer at great burial depth in sedimentary basins possible? A discussion. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 28, 1381–1382.10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2011.01.009Google Scholar
Bohacs, K.M. & Fraticelli, C. (2008) Paleo-environmental reconstruction and analysis (paleogeography, paleoclimate, plaeo-oceanography, paleobiology) as part of integrated source rock prediction. International Petroleum Conference, IPTC 2008, 2, 1130–1139.Google Scholar
Boles, J.R. & Franks, S.G. (1979) Clay diagenesis in Wilcox sandstones of southwest Texas. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 49, 55–70.Google Scholar
Burchfiel, B.C., Cowan, D.S. & Davis, G.A. (1992) Tectonic overview of the Cordilleran orogen in the western United States. Pp. 407–480 in: The Cordilleran Orogen: Conterminous U.S. The Geology of North America (B.C. Burchfiel, P.W. Lipman & M.L. Zoback, editors). The Geological Society of America, vol. G3.Google Scholar
Burley, S.D. & Macquaker, J.H.S. (1992) Authigenic clays, diagenetic sequences and conceptual diagenetic models in contrasting basin-margin and basincentre North Sea Jurassic sandstones and mudstones. Pp. 81–110 in: Origin, Diagenesis, and Petrophysics of Clay Minerals in Sandstones (D.W. Houseknecht & E.D. Pittman, editors). SEPM Special Publication, 47.Google Scholar
Coleman, M.L. (1985) Geochemistry of diagenetic nonsil icate minerals: kinet ic considerat ions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A315, 39–56.Google Scholar
Curtis, C.D. (1995) Post-depositional evolution of mudstones 1: early days and parental influences. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 152, 577–586.10.1144/gsjgs.152.4.0577Google Scholar
Curtis, C.D. & Spears, D.A. (1971) Diagenetic development of kaolinite. Clays and Clay Minerals, 19, 219–227.10.1346/CCMN.1971.0190403Google Scholar
Curtis, C.D., Coleman, M.L. & Love, L.G. (1986) Porewater evolution during sediment burial from isotope and mineral chemistry of calcite, dolomite and siderite concretions. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 50, 2321–2334.10.1016/0016-7037(86)90085-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Day-Stirrat, R.J., Milliken, K.L., Dutton, S.P., Loucks, R.G., Hillier, S., Aplin, A.C. & Schleicher, A.M. (2010) Open-system chemical behaviour in deep Wilcox Group mudstones, Texas Gulf Coast, USA. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 27, 1804–1818.10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2010.08.006Google Scholar
Deconinck, J.-F. & Bernoulli, D. (1991) Clay mineral assemblages of Mesozoic pelagic and flysch sediments of the Lombardian Basin (Southern Alps): implications for palaeotectonics, palaeoclimate and diagenesis. Geologische Rundschau, 80, 1–17.10.1007/BF01828765Google Scholar
Fein, J.B. (1994) Porosity enhancement during clastic diagenesis as a result of aqueous metal-carboxylate complexation: Experimental studies. Chemical Geology, 115, 263–279.10.1016/0009-2541(94)90191-0Google Scholar
Götze, J., Plötze, M. & Habermann, D. (2001) Origin, spectral characteristics and practical applications of the cathodoluminescence (CL) of quartz – a review. Mineralogy and Petrology, 71, 225–250.Google Scholar
Hammes, U., Hamlin, H.S. & Ewing, T.E. (2011) Geologic analysis of the Upper Jurassic Haynesville Shale in east Texas and west Louisiana. AAPG Bulletin, 95, 1643–1666.10.1306/02141110128Google Scholar
Hampson, G.J., Howell, J.A. & Flint, S.F. (1999) A sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic reinterpretation of the upper Cretaceous Prairie Canyon Member (“Mancos B”) and associated strata, Book cliffs area, Utah, USA. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 69, 414–433.Google Scholar
Hayes, M.J. & Boles, J.R. (1992) Volumetric relations between dissolved plagioclase and kaolinite in sandstones: implications for aluminium mass transfer in the San Joaquin Basin, California. Pp. 111–123 in: Origin, diagenesis, and petrophysics of clay minerals in sandstones (D.W. Houseknecht & E.D. Pittman, editors) SEPM Special Publication, 47.Google Scholar
Hesselbo, S.P., Deconininck J.-F., Huggett, J.M. & Morgans-Bell, H.S. (2009) Late Jurassic palaeoclimatic change from clay mineralogy and gamma-ray spectrometry of the Kimmeridge Clay, Dorset, UK. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 166, 1123–1133.10.1144/0016-76492009-070CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howell, J.A. & Flint, S.F. (2003) Sequences and systems tracts in the Book Cliffs. Pp. 179–197 in: Sedimentary Record of Sea-Level Change (A.L. Coe, editor). Cambridge University Press and Open University.Google Scholar
Hower, J., Eslinger, E.V., Hower, M.E. & Perry, E.A. (1976) Mechanism of burial metamorphism of argillaceous sediment 1. Mineralogical and chemical evidence. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 87, 725–737.10.1130/0016-7606(1976)87<725:MOBMOA>2.0.CO;22.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irwin, H., Coleman, M.L. & Curtis, C.D. (1977) Isotopic evidence for source of diagenetic carbonates formed during burial of organic-rich sediments. Nature, 269, 209–213.10.1038/269209a0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamola, D.L. & Huntoon, J.E. (1995) Repetitive stratal patterns in a foreland basin sandstone and their possible tectonic significance. Geology, 23, 177–180.10.1130/0091-7613(1995)023<0177:RSPIAF>2.3.CO;22.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, J.S., Mozley, P., Campbell, A. & Cole, R. (1999) Spatial distribution of carbon and oxygen isotopes in laterally extensive carbonate-cemented layers: implications for mode of growth and subsurface identification. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 69, 184–191.10.2110/jsr.69.184Google Scholar
Land, L.S. & Milliken, K.L. (2000) Regional loss of S.O. and gain of K2O during burial diagenesis of Gulf coast mudrocks, USA. Pp. 183–197 in: Quartz Cementation in Sandstones (R.H. Worden & S. Morad, editors). International Association of Sedimentologists.Google Scholar
Lash, G.G. & Engelder, T.J. (2011) Thickness trends and sequence stratigraphy of Middle Devonian Marcellus Formation, Appalachian Basin: Implications for Acadian foreland basin evolution. AAPG Bulletin, 95, 61–103.10.1306/06301009150CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKay, J.L., Longstaffe, F.J. & Plint, A.G. (1995) Early diagenesis and its relationship to depositional environment and relative sea-level fluctuations (Upper Cretaceous Marshybank Formation, Alberta and British Columbia. Sedimentology, 42, 161–190.10.1111/j.1365-3091.1995.tb01276.xGoogle Scholar
Mackin, J.E. & Aller, R.C. (1984a) Dissolved, A. in sediments and waters of the East China Sea: Implications for authigenic mineral formation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 48, 281–297.Google Scholar
Mackin, J.E. & Aller, R.C. (1984b) Diagenesis of dissolved aluminum in organic-rich estuarine sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 48 299–313.10.1016/0016-7037(84)90252-7Google Scholar
Macquaker, J.H.S. & Jones, C.R. (2003) A sequencestratigraphic study of mudstone heterogeneity: a combined petrographic/wireline log investigation of Upper Jurassic Mudstones from the North Sea (U.K.). Pp. 123–141 in: Geological Applications of Well Logs (M. Lovell & N. Parkinson, editors). AAPG Methods in Exploration, Series 13.Google Scholar
Macquaker, J.H.S. & Taylor, K.G. (1996) A sequence stratigraphic interpretation of a mudstone-dominated succession: the Lower Jurassic Cleveland Ironstone Formation, U.K. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 153, 759–770.10.1144/gsjgs.153.5.0759Google Scholar
Macquaker, J.H.S., Taylor, K.G., Gawthorpe, R.L. & Oates, M.J. (1998). Heterogeneity, stacking patterns and sequence stratigraphic interpretation in distal mudstone successions: examples from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation, U.K. Pp. 163–186 in: Recent Progress in Shale Research (Schieber, J., Zimmerle, W. & Sethi, P.S., editors). Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, Germany.Google Scholar
Macquaker, J.H.S., Taylor, K.G. & Gawthorpe, R.L. (2007) Spatial expression of architectural elements and packages in a large-scale outcropping siliciclastic mudstone succession: The Mancos Shale, Book Cliffs, Utah. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 77, 324–339.Google Scholar
Macquaker, J.H.S., Bentley, S.J. & Bohacs, K.M. (2010) Wave-enhanced sediment-gravity flows and mud dispersal across continental shelves: Reappraising sediment transport processes operating in ancient mudstone successions. Geology, 38, 947–950.10.1130/G31093.1Google Scholar
Miall, A.D. & Arush, M. (2001) The Castlegate Sandstone of the Book Cliffs, Utah: sequence stratigraphy, paleogeography and tectonic controls. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 71, 537–548.10.1306/103000710537Google Scholar
Michalopoulos, P. & Aller, R.C. (2004) Early diagenesis of biogenic silica in the Amazon delta: Alteration, authigenic clay formation, and storage. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 68, 1061–1085.10.1016/j.gca.2003.07.018Google Scholar
Muller, A. (2000) Cathodoluminescence and characterization of defect structures in quartz with applications to the study of granitic rocks. PhD thesis Der Georg-August-Universität, Gö ttingen, Göttingen, Germany, 229 pp.Google Scholar
O’Byrne, C.J. & Flint, S.F. (1995) Sequence, parasequence, and intraparasequence architecture of the Grassy Member, Blackhawk formation, Book cliffs, Utah. Pp. 225–255 in: Sequence Stratigraphy of Foreland Basin Deposits: Outcrop and Subsurface Examples from the Cretaceous of North America (J.C. Van Wagoner & G.D. Bertram, editors). AAPG Memoir, 64.Google Scholar
Pattison, S.A.J. (2005) Isolated highstand shelf sandstone body of turbiditic origin, lower Kenilworth Member, Cretaceous western interior, Book cliffs Utah, USA. Sedimentary Geology, 177, 131–144.10.1016/j.sedgeo.2005.02.005Google Scholar
Peltonen, C., Marcussen, O., Bjorlykke, K. & Jahren, J. (2008) Mineralogical control on mudstone compaction: a study of late Cretaceous to early Tertiary mudstones of the Voring and more basins, Norwegian Sea. Petroleum Geoscience, 14, 127–138.10.1144/1354-079308-758Google Scholar
Peltonen, C., Marcussen, O., Bjørlykke, K. & Jahren, J. (2009) Clay mineral diagenesis and quartz cementation in mudstones: The effects of smectite to illite reaction on rock properties. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 26, 887–898.10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.01.021Google Scholar
Quick, J.C. & Ressetar, R. (2012) Thermal maturity of the Mancos Shale within the Uinta Basin, Utah and Colorado. Abstract, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting, Long Beach, California, USA.Google Scholar
Raiswell, R. (1987) Non-steady state microbiological diagenesis and the origin of concretions and nodular limestones. Pp. 41–54 in:. Diagenesis of Sedimentary Sequences (J.D. Marshall, editor) Geological Society of London, Special Publication, 36.Google Scholar
Raiswell, R. (1988) Chemical model for the origin of minor limestone-shale cycles by anaerobic methane oxidation. Geology, 16, 641–644.10.1130/0091-7613(1988)016<0641:CMFTOO>2.3.CO;2Google Scholar
Schamel, S. (2006) Shale gas resources of Utah: assessment of previously undeveloped gas discoveries. Open File Report, 499. Utah Geological Survey, Utah, USA.Google Scholar
Schieber, J., Krinsley, D. & Riciputi, L. (2000) Diagenetic origin of quartz silt in mudstones and implications for silica cycling. Nature, 406, 981–985.10.1038/35023143Google Scholar
Schnyder, J., Ruffell, A., Deconinck J.-F. & Baudin, F. (2006) Conjuctive use of spectral gamma-ray logs and clay mineralogy in defining late Jurassic-early Cretaceous palaeoclimate change (Dorset, UK). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatolology, Palaeoecology, 229, 303–320.10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.06.027Google Scholar
Sethi, P.S. & Leithold, E.L. (1994) Climatic cyclicity and terrigenous sediment influx to the early Turonian Greenhorn Sea, Southern Utah. Journal of Sedimentary Research, B64, 26–39.Google Scholar
Taylor, K.G. (1998) Spatial and temporal variations in early diagenetic organic matter oxidation pathways in Jurassic fine-grained sediments of eastern England. Chemical Geology, 145, 47–60.10.1016/S0009-2541(97)00119-8Google Scholar
Taylor, K.G. & Curtis, C.D. (1995) The stability and facies association of early diagenetic mineral assemblages: an example from a Jurassic ironstonemudstone succession, U.K. Journal of Sedimentary Research, A65, 358–36.Google Scholar
Taylor, K.G. & Gawthorpe, R.L. (2003) Basin-scale dolomite cementation of shoreface sandstones in response to sea-level fall. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 115, 1218–1229.10.1130/B25227.1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, K.G. & Machent, P.G. (2010) Systematic sequence-scale controls on carbonate cementation in a siliciclastic sedimentary basin: examples from Upper Creatceous shallow marine deposits of Utah and Colorado, USA. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 27, 1297–1310.10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2010.04.009Google Scholar
Taylor, K.G. & Machent, P.G. (2011) Extensive carbonate cementation of fluvial sandstones: An integrated outcrop and petrographic analysis from the Upper Cretaceous, Book Cliffs, Utah. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 28, 1461–1474.10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2011.06.003Google Scholar
Taylor, K.G. & Macquaker, J.H.S. (2000) Early diagenetic pyrite morphology in a mudstone-dominated succession: the Lower Jurassic Cleveland Ironstone Formation, eastern England. Sedimentary Geology, 131, 77–86.10.1016/S0037-0738(00)00002-6Google Scholar
Taylor, K.G. & Macquaker, J.H.S. (2011) Iron in marine sediments: minerals as records of chemical environments. Elements, 7, 83–88.10.2113/gselements.7.2.113Google Scholar
Taylor, K.G., Gawthorpe, R.L., Curtis, C.D., Marshall, J.D. & Awwiller, D.N. (2000) Carbonate cementation in a sequence-stratigraphic framework: upper Cretaceous sandstones, Book Cliffs, Utah-Colorado. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 70, 360–372.10.1306/2DC40916-0E47-11D7-8643000102C1865DGoogle Scholar
Taylor, K.G., Simo, A., Yocum, D. & Leckie, D. (2002) Stratigraphic significance of ooidal ironstones from the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway: the Peace River Formation, Alberta and the Castlegate Sandstone, Utah. Journal of Sedimentary Research, 72, 345–356.10.1306/060801720316Google Scholar
Thyberg, B. & Jahren, J. (2011) Quartz cementation in mudstones: sheet-like quartz cement from clay mineral reactions during burial. Petroleum Geoscience, 17, 53–63.10.1144/1354-079310-028Google Scholar
Thyberg, B., Jahren, J., Winje, T., Bjorlykke, K., Faleide, J.I. & Marcussen Ø. (2010) Quartz cementation in Late Cretaceous mudstones, northern North Sea: changes in rock properties due to dissolution of smectite and precipitation of micro-quartz crystals. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 27, 1752–1764.10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2009.07.005Google Scholar
Van Wagoner, J.C. (1995) Sequence stratigraphy and marine to non-marine facies architecture of foreland basin strata, Book Cliffs, Utah, USA. Pp. 137–223 in: Sequence Stratigraphy of Foreland Basin Deposits: Outcrop and Subsurface Examples from the Cretaceous of North America (J.C. Van Wagoner & G.D. Bertram, editors). AAPG Memoir, 64.Google Scholar
Van Wagoner, J.C., Mitchum, R.M., Campion, K.M. & Rahmanian, V.D. (1990) Siliciclastic sequence stratigraphy in well logs, cores, and outcrops: concepts for high resolution correlation of time and facies. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Methods in Exploration Series 7, 55 pp.Google Scholar
Wellmann, K., Aloisi, G., Haeckel, M., Tischenko, P., Pavlova, G., Greinert, J. & Eisenhauer, A. (2008) Silicate weathering in anoxic marine sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 72, 3067–3090.Google Scholar
Yoshida, S. (2000) Sequence and facies architecture of the upper Blackhawk formation and the lower Castlegate Sandstone (Upper Cretaceous), Book Cliffs, Utah, USA. Sedimentary Geology, 136, 239–276.10.1016/S0037-0738(00)00104-4Google Scholar