Bedding-parallel stylolites as a tool to unravel maximum burial depth in sedimentary basins: Application to Middle Jurassic carbonate reservoirs in the Paris basin, France

Abstract

In recent years stylolites, which are rough dissolution surfaces commonly found in carbonates, have been used for paleopiezometry estimates. The Stylolite Roughness Inversion Technique (SRIT) applied on sedimentary bedding-parallel stylolites (BPS) grants access to the maximum principal vertical stress experienced by the host carbonates and thus to their maximum burial paleo-depth. This study reports the results of SRIT applied to a BPS population hosted in carbonate platform reservoirs of the Paris basin sub-surface (France). Middle Jurassic carbonates from two well cores from the depocenter and margin of the basin, for which the burial and thermal history are known, based on a thermally calibrated 3-D basin model, were analyzed. By defining a consistency criterion and using two signal treatment methods, we propose a new approach to select which BPS can be reliably used to reconstruct the maximum vertical stress undergone by the host carbonates, which then can be converted into maximum burial depth. The study of a BPS population shows that there is a control operated by the host rock texture and the stylolite morphology on the burial depth recorded. Especially suture and sharp peak BPS are better suited to estimate the real maximum depth, whereas seismogram pinning BPS record preferentially intermediate depths. Median values of maximum depth derived from our data set (1300 and 1650 m for the margin and depocenter cores, respectively) are in line with maximum burial estimates provided by conventional basin modeling (1450 and 1800 m, respectively), thus showing that SRIT is a standalone robust depth gauge in sedimentary basins, provided sample selection and data treatment are carried out in a rigorous and thoughtful manner.

Regional-scale paleofluid system across the Tuscan Nappe–Umbria–Marche Apennine Ridge (northern Apennines) as revealed by mesostructural and isotopic analyses of stylolite–vein networks

“…In the past decades, a significant volume of work has been conducted in order to reconstruct past fluid migrations through either localized fault systems or distributed subseismic fracture networks from the scale of a single fold to that of the basin itself (Engelder, 1984;Reynolds and Lister, 1987;McCaig, 1988;Evans et al, 2010;Evans and Hobbs, 2003;Evans and Fischer, 2012;Forster and Evans, 1991;Cruset et al, 2018;Lacroix et al, 2011;Travé et al, 2000Travé et al, , 2007Bjørlykke, 2010;Callot et al, 2017a, b;Roure et al, 2005Roure et al, , 2010Van Geet et al, 2002;Vandeginste et al, 2012;Vilasi et al, 2009;Barbier et al, 2012;Beaudoin et al, 2011Beaudoin et al, , 2013Beaudoin et al, , 2014Beaudoin et al, , 2015Fischer et al, 2009;Lefticariu et al, 2005;Di Naccio et al, 2005). In some cases, fluid migration is stratigraphically compartmentalized and directed by compressive tectonic stress.…”

Regional-scale paleofluid system across the Tuscan Nappe – Umbria Marche Arcuate Ridge (northern Apennines) as revealed by mesostructural and isotopic analyses of stylolite-vein networks

“…Recent application of this technique, coupled with absolute dating of vein cements , showed that the greatest depth that a population of BPS recorded was reached nearly at the time corresponding to the age of the oldest LPSrelated veins, suggesting that it is possible to constrain the timing at which horizontal principal stress overcame the vertical principal stress, switching from burial-related stress regime (1 vertical) to LPS (1 horizontal) (Beaudoin et al, 2020). In the case of the UMAR, this projection highlights that the BPS population started to stop being active at a depth as shallow as 800m in all studied formations, confirming that burial-related pressure solution (i.e., chemical vertical compaction) initiated at even shallower depths (Ebner et al, 2009b;Rolland et al, 2014;Beaudoin et al, 2019;Beaudoin et al, 2020). Figure 10 also shows that BPS were active mainly from the Cretaceous (age of deposition of the platform) until Serravallian times (~12 Ma), which suggests that LPS started around that time.…”

“…Bedding-parallel stylolites are rough dissolution surfaces that developed in carbonates in flat laying strata during burial at the time when σ1 was vertical. As proposed by Schmittbuhl et al (2004) and later developed by Koehn et al (2012), Ebner et al (2009b);Ebner et al 2010, Rolland et al (2014) and Beaudoin et al (2019); Beaudoin et al (2020), the 1-D roughness of a track along the bedding-parallel stylolite (i.e. difference in height between two points along the track) results from a competition between roughening forces (i.e.…”

“…Stylolite roughness inversion applied to bedding-parallel stylolites (BPS) provides access to the maximum depth experienced by the strata at the time vertical shortening was prevailing on horizontal shortening, while σ1 was vertical (Ebner et al, 2009b;Koehn et al, 2007;Beaudoin et al, 2019;Beaudoin et al, 2016;Beaudoin et al, 2020;Rolland et al, 2014;Bertotti et al, 2017). In this study, we propose to compare the depth range returned by the inversion of a population of BPS to a local burial model (Fig.…”

“…As the dissolution occurs along a fluidic film (Koehn et al, 2012;Rolland et al, 2012;Toussaint et al, 2018), the stylolite roughness is unaffected by local fluid overpressure until the system is fluidized and hydrofractures (Vass et al, 2014), meaning it is possible to translate vertical stress magnitude directly into depth if considering an average dry rock density for clastic/carbonated sediments (2400 g.m -3 , Manger (1963)), without any additional assumption on the past thermal gradient or fluid pressure . This technique has already provided meaningful results in various settings (Bertotti et al, 2017;Rolland et al, 2014;Beaudoin et al, 2019;Beaudoin et al, 2020).…”