Palaeosols and palaeokarst beneath subaerial unconformities in an Upper Devonian isolated reef complex (Judy Creek), Swan Hills Formation,west‐central Alberta,Canada

Subaerial unconformities are used widely for palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographic reconstructions, sequence stratigraphy and petroleum reservoir assessments. Recognition and interpretation of these unconformities, particularly those with associated palaeosols, may be problematic in Lower and Middle Palaeozoic carbonate successions because of the collective effect of limited land plant development, superficial similarities between some pedogenic and marine features, and overprinting by later diagenesis. The isolated Judy Creek reef complex in the Lower Frasnian Swan Hills Formation in west‐central Alberta, Canada, contains two subaerial unconformities, R0.5 and R4, which formed as a consequence of relative sea‐level falls of at least regional scale. Deposits beneath these unconformities have distinctive palaeosol and palaeokarst features. The lower unconformity, R0.5, occurs at the top of a progradational reefal phase of stromatoporoid rudstones–floatstones and peloidal packstones–grainstones and has been recognized in at least one other isolated Swan Hills reef complex (Snipe Lake). Palaeosol–palaeokarst profiles beneath this unconformity extend as deep as ca 2 m below the unconformity. These profiles are characterized by the presence of small rhizoliths, laminar calcretes, ferroan dolomite glaebules, desiccation cracks, breccias, green shale and solution vugs. The upper unconformity, R4, occurs at the top of a backstepping phase of reef growth and has been correlated widely between isolated reefs and carbonate banks on both the western and eastern shelves of the Central Alberta Basin. Palaeosol–palaeokarst profiles, extending as deep as ca 9·5 m beneath the R4 unconformity, are distinguished by abundant, sub‐horizontal desiccation cracks filled with green shale, occurring in peloidal wackestones–packstones. Comparison of the R0.5 and R4 profiles indicates that the major intrinsic controls on the development and modification of the profiles are parent‐material lithology, particularly the prior degree of induration and particle size; the low topographic relief at the top of the reef interior; and limited vegetation of the exposed reef top due to unfavourable growth conditions and geographic isolation. In addition to climate, the major extrinsic controls are the extent of relative sea‐level fall, estimated to be 2·5 to 3 m and 13 to 14 m associated with the R0.5 and R4 unconformities, respectively, and the degree of shoreface erosion during the ensuing marine transgression, estimated to be up to 3 m. This study highlights the complex interplay of mainly physical and chemical processes influencing the formation of subaerial unconformities in carbonate environments during the Devonian, before major evolutionary innovations among vascular land plants led to more intense pedogenesis.     

Thermochemical sulphate reduction in the Upper Devonian Cairn Formation of the Fairholme carbonate complex (South-West Alberta, Canadian Rockies): evidence from fluid inclusions and isotopic data

The Fairholme carbonate complex is part of the extensively dolomitized Upper Devonian carbonate reefs in west-central Alberta. The studied formations contain moulds (up to 10 cm in diameter), which are filled partially with (saddle) dolomite, quartz and calcite cements. These cements precipitated from a mixture of brines that acquired high salinity by dissolution of halite and brines derived from evaporated sea water. The fluids were warm (homogenization temperature of primary fluid inclusions of 76 to 200 °C) and saline (20 to 25 wt% NaCl equivalent) and testify to thermochemical sulphate reduction processes. The latter is deduced from S in solid inclusions, CO₂ and H₂S in volatile-rich aqueous inclusions and depleted δ¹³C values down to −26‰ Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite. High ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values (0·7094 to 0·7110) of the cements also indicate interaction of the fluids with siliciclastic sequences. The thermochemical sulphate reduction-related cements probably formed during early Laramide burial. Another (younger) calcite phase, characterized by depleted δ¹⁸O values (−23·9‰ to −13·9‰ Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite), low Na (27 to 37 p.p.m.) and Sr (39 to 150 p.p.m.) concentrations and non-saline (∼0 wt% NaCl equivalent) fluid inclusions, is attributed to post-Laramide meteoric water.     

松辽盆地深层火山岩储层中的CH4包裹体:产状特征及其地质意义

营城组火山岩是松辽盆地深层油气藏的主要储层之一,本次研究我们在该组火山岩中首次发现了较多的纯CH4包裹体,这类包裹体主要以原生及次生形式产于流纹岩石英斑晶及玄武岩气孔充填矿物石英之中。综合分析认为,伴随营城组火山岩喷发活动,产生了较多的无机成因的CH4等气体,它们连同可能存在的其它有机成因的烃类气体一起,沿流纹岩中的微裂隙及玄武岩中的气孔等构造运移、聚集,从而形成深层火山岩储层中的富CH4天然气藏。因此,营城组火山岩不仅仅作为被动的油气储层存在,而且该期火山活动可能也为深层油气成藏提供了至少部分CH4等气体的来源。     

Epigenetic dolomitization of the Přaídolí formation (Upper Silurian), the Barrandian basin,Czech Republic: implications for burial history of Lower Paleozoic strata

Stratabound epigenetic dolomite occurs in carbonate facies of the Barrandian basin (Silurian and Devonian), Czech Republic. The most intense dolomitization is developed in bioclastic calcarenites within the transition between micritic limestone and shaledominated Přídolí and Lochkov formations deposited on a carbonate slope. Medium-crystalline (100–400 μm), inclusion-rich, xenotopic matrix dolomite (δ ¹⁸O=−4.64 to −3.40‰ PDB;δ ¹³C=+1.05 to +1.85‰ PDB) which selectively replaced most of the bioclastic precursor is volumetrically the most important dolomite type. Coarse crystalline saddle dolomite (δ ¹⁸O=−8.04 to −5.14‰ PDB;δ ¹⁸C=+0.49 to +1.49 PDB) which precipitated in fractures and vugs within the matrix dolomite represents a later diagenetic dolomitization event. In some vugs, saddle dolomite coprecipitated with petroleum inclusion-rich authigenic quartz crystals and minor sulfides which, in turn, were post-dated by semisolid asphaltic bitumen. The interpretation of the dolomitization remains equivocal. Massive xenotopic dolomite, although generally characteristic of a deeper burial setting, may have been formed by a recrystallization of an earlier, possibly shallow burial dolomite. Deeper burial recrystallization by reactive basinal pore fluids that presumably migrated through the more permeable upper portion of the Přídolí sequence appears as a viable explanation for this dolomitization overprint. Saddle dolomite cement of the matrix dolomite is interpreted as the last dolomitization event that occurred during deep burial at the depth of the oil window zone. The presence of saddle dolomite, the fluid inclusion composition of associated quartz crystals, and vitrinite paleogeothermometry of adjacent sediments imply diagenetic burial temperatures as high as 160°C. Although high geothermal gradients in the past or the involvement of hydrothermally influenced basinal fluids can account for these elevated temperatures, burial heating beneath approximately 3-km-thick sedimentary overburden of presumably post-Givetian strata, no longer preserved in the basin, appears to be the most likely interpretation. This interpretaion may imply that the magnitude of post-Variscan erosion in the Barrandian area was substantially greater than previously thought.     

Molecular characterization of organic matter in sediments from the Keg River formation (Elk Point group), western Canada sedimentary basin

Distributions of free and sulfur-bound biomarkers in organic-rich sediments from the lower and upper Keg River formation (Elk Point group, western Canada) reveal deposition of these sediments under reducing conditions, in agreement with the geological data. The predominance of aryl isoprenoids of Chlorobiaceae origin indicates that photic zone anoxia occurred during time of deposition. A series of novel aryl isoprenoids with a carboxylic acid function was identified by GC–MS and the structure of the predominant 3-methyl-5-(2′,3′,6′-trimethylphenyl)pentanoate was proven by synthesis of an authentic standard. The occurrence of these acids gives evidence that oxidative breakdown at least partially accounts for the diagenetic fate of aromatic carotenoids. Li/EtNH₂ desulfurization of two kerogen concentrates yielded only low amounts of sulfur-bound hydrocarbons, and suggests that either sulfur sequestration was not a predominant process or, more probably, that a major part of the hydrocarbons, initially sulfurized, were released upon maturation, giving further evidence that (poly)sulfide bonds are cleaved at relatively low levels of thermal stress.     

应用烃类流体包裹体GOI和成分研究凝析气藏成藏过程：以准噶尔盆地莫索湾地区为例

The Grains containing Oil Inclusions （GOI） data in currently gas/condensate-beating Jurassic and Cretaceous reservoir sandstones of Well Pen 5 （the Mosuowan area of central Junggar Basin, NW China） are generally greater than the empirical threshold line of 5%. This is consistent with the gas-condensate section originally containing a palaeo-oil column. In order to assess the origin of the oil trapped in the oil inclusion and its relationship to the free oil/gas-condensate, a detailed molecular geochemical study was carried out for correlation between the free and inclusion oils. The paleo oil is most likely sourced from the Lower Permian Fengcheng Formation, which generated hydrocarbons primarily during Late Triassic and the oils were later secondarily altered and dysmigrated along faults likely during Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous. In contrast, the current reservoired oil/gas-condensate mainly derived from the Middle Permian Lower Wuerhe Formation, whose peak generation time last from Late Cretaceous even to the present. This paper showed that integrated oil-bearing fluid inclusion analyses have likely allowed a complex multi-phase charge history to be recognized and resolved with a high degree of confidence.