Correlation of Hydrocarbon Reservoir Sandstones Using Heavy Mineral Provenance Signatures: Examples from the North Sea and Adjacent Areas

Morton, Andrew; McGill, Paula

doi:10.3390/min8120564

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Because of these reasons, a direct comparison between Taiwan sandstones and modern sands of the Chinese mainland can only be based on the relative proportions of durable minerals. Such an approach, similar to what is currently performed in the correlation of hydrocarbon reservoir sandstones (Morton & Hallsworth, 1994; Morton & McGill, 2018), has, however, large uncertainties and does not allow us to draw any firm conclusion (Figure 6).…”

Section: Provenance Of Western Taiwan Sandstones Assessed With Multimineral Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Provenance of Neogene sandstones in western Taiwan traced with garnet geochemistry and zircon geochronology

et al. 2021

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In this study, we use provenance analysis to shed light on the Neogene evolution of river drainage and sediment dispersal in eastern Asia as a consequence of the Himalayan orogeny and topographic rise of the Tibetan Plateau. As an attempt to envisage how sediment-routing systems operated in the past, and to identify the ultimate source of siliciclastic detritus originally generated in mainland China and now incorporated in, and recycled from, the western Taiwan accretionary prism, we have used Raman spectroscopy of detrital garnet in modern river sands and upper Neogene sandstones, complemented by detrital-zircon geochronology and by petrographic and heavy-mineral analysis. Garnet grains are relatively abundant and largely represented by almandine with various percentages of pyrope molecules in Yangtze sand as in western Taiwan sandstones and modern river sand derived from them. Instead, they are rare and largely represented by grossular or andradite in the sand of the Pearl River and of coastal rivers of SE China facing the Taiwan Strait. This finding supports the result of detrital geochronology, which documents a sharp difference between U-Pb age spectra of Pearl River and coastal SE China zircons (characterised by a Paleozoic-Mesozoic triple peak) and Yangtze and western Taiwan zircons (characterised by prominent Neoproterozoic, Paleoproterozoic, and latest Archean clusters). The Pearl River and minor rivers facing the Taiwan Strait are thus ruled out as ultimate sources of upper Neogene sandstones exposed today along the western front of the Taiwan fold-thrust belt. In the envisaged scenario, sand mostly supplied by the paleo-Yangtze River was entrained for ~ca.1,000 km southward by longshore currents and deposited on the Chinese passive margin before being accreted along the front of the Taiwan orogen since ~6 Ma. Littoral sand drift represents a major factor of long-distance sediment transport in modern shelves and needs to be taken into full account in source-to-sink studies and paleogeographic reconstructions.

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Section: Provenance Of Western Taiwan Sandstones Assessed With Multimineral Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Provenance of Neogene sandstones in western Taiwan traced with garnet geochemistry and zircon geochronology

et al. 2021

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“…In ancient sandstones, dense grains may be of diagenetic or anchimetamorphic origin (e.g., anatase, brookite, barite, fluorite, epidote, iron oxides, sulfides, or even titanite and tourmaline) [4]. Anthropogenic grains such as moissanite or corundum may be present in modern sediments [5], and core samples and cuttings may contain barite or other heavy mineral contaminants associated with drilling muds [6]. Moreover, separation in the laboratory may not be perfect, and the recovered dense fraction occasionally includes tectosilicate grains or precipitated polytungstate crystals.…”

Section: What Are Heavy Minerals?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Heavy mineral investigations are important for the industry [123] and not of academic interest only. In unfossiliferous strata, heavy minerals may represent one of the most dependable tools for correlation [6]. In the common unlucky case that only durable minerals have been preserved, one good way to extract information on the ultimate metamorphic or igneous sources is to consider the ratio between couples of minerals having similar density and thus hydraulic behaviour.…”

Section: How To Deal With Ancient Sandstones?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heavy Minerals for Junior Woodchucks

2019

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In the last two centuries, since the dawn of modern geology, heavy minerals have been used to investigate sediment provenance and for many other scientific or practical applications. Not always, however, with the correct approach. Difficulties are diverse, not just technical and related to the identification of tiny grains, but also procedural and conceptual. Even the definition of “heavy minerals” is elusive, and possibly impossible. Sampling is critical. In many environments (e.g., beaches), both absolute and relative heavy mineral abundances invariably increase or decrease locally to different degrees owing to hydraulic-sorting processes, so that samples close to "neutral composition" are hard to obtain. Several widely shared opinions are misleading. Choosing a narrow size-window for analysis leads to increased bias, not to increased accuracy or precision. Only point-counting provides real volume percentages, whereas grain-counting distorts results in favor of smaller minerals. This paper also briefly reviews the heavy mineral associations typically found in diverse plate-tectonic settings. A mineralogical assemblage, however, only reproduces the mineralogy of source rocks, which does not correlate univocally with the geodynamic setting in which those source rocks were formed and assembled. Moreover, it is affected by environmental bias, and by diagenetic bias on top in the case of ancient sandstones. One fruitful way to extract information on both provenance and sedimentological processes is to look for anomalies in mineralogical–textural relationships (e.g., denser minerals bigger than lower-density minerals; harder minerals better rounded than softer minerals; less durable minerals increasing with stratal age and stratigraphic depth). To minimize mistakes, it is necessary to invariably combine heavy mineral investigations with the petrographic analysis of bulk sand. Analysis of thin sections allows us to see also those source rocks that do not shed significant amounts of heavy minerals, such as limestone or granite, and helps us to assess heavy mineral concentration, the “outer” message carrying the key to decipher the “inner message” contained in the heavy mineral suite. The task becomes thorny indeed when dealing with samples with strong diagenetic overprint, which is, unfortunately, the case of most ancient sandstones. Diagenesis is the Moloch that devours all grains that are not chemically resistant, leaving a meager residue difficult or even impossible to interpret when diagenetic effects accumulate through multiple sedimentary cycles. We have conceived this friendly little handbook to help the student facing these problems, hoping that it may serve the purpose.

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“…It can provide valuable information on reconstruction of the transport history (Armstrong‐Altrin, 2020; Armstrong‐Altrin, Ramos‐Vázquez, Hermenegildo‐Ruiz, & Madhavaraju, 2020; Makuluni, Kirkland, & Barham, 2019), and it is also a very useful tool for palaeoclimate reconstructions (Derkachev & Nikolaeva, 2013; Garzanti et al, 2020). Heavy‐mineral suites are a suitable method for correlation of hydrocarbon reservoir sandstone horizons (Morton & McGill, 2018; Smyth, Morton, Richardson, & Scott, 2014) and are even applicable in archaeological research (Mange & Bezeczky, 2007). The significant provenance potential of heavy minerals can also be used in research of ancient (and mature) sedimentary rocks preserved in present‐day Iran.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tourmaline and rutile geochemistry in the Early–Middle Devonian sandstones of the Padeha Formation, Alborz Range, Northern Iran

et al. 2021

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The provenance of Devonian sandstones of the Padeha Formation (Fm.), Eastern Alborz in Iran, has been investigated by standard heavy‐mineral analysis and tourmaline and rutile geochemistry. Heavy‐mineral assemblage is dominated by the ultra‐stable tourmaline, zircon, and rutile, while unstable species are completely absent. The Padeha Fm. sandstones show a very high value of zircon‐tourmaline‐rutile index signalizing either strong weathering in source area(s) or their recycled origin in older Early Palaeozoic formations. Detrital tourmaline shows predominantly dravitic, lesser Mg‐foititic, and uvitic compositions and metasedimentary origin. Metapelitic source is also indicated by rutile geochemistry. Temperature estimates according to Zr‐in‐rutile thermometry show a wide range from 519 to 872°C and indicate the presence of low‐ to upper‐amphibolite and granulite facies metapelitic rocks. Based on chemical composition of detrital tourmaline and rutile, we inferred that the crystalline basement rocks of the Arabian–Nubian Shield were potential primary sources for the Padeha Fm. deposits. Shape of tourmaline and rutile as well as their microtexture surface features indicate long‐distance transport, storage, and recycled history.

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Correlation of Hydrocarbon Reservoir Sandstones Using Heavy Mineral Provenance Signatures: Examples from the North Sea and Adjacent Areas

Cited by 8 publications

References 66 publications

Provenance of Neogene sandstones in western Taiwan traced with garnet geochemistry and zircon geochronology

Provenance of Neogene sandstones in western Taiwan traced with garnet geochemistry and zircon geochronology

Heavy Minerals for Junior Woodchucks

Tourmaline and rutile geochemistry in the Early–Middle Devonian sandstones of the Padeha Formation, Alborz Range, Northern Iran

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