Application of numerical modelling to a case of compaction-driven dolomitization: a Jurassic palaeohigh in the Po Plain, Italy

Dolomitization of a carbonate platform can occur at different times and in different diagenetic environments, from synsedimentary to deep burial settings. Numerical simulations are valuable tools to test and select the model that, among different hypotheses compatible with field and geochemical data, best honour mass balance, kinetic and thermodynamic constraints. Moreover, the simulation can predict the distribution of the dolomitized bodies in the subsurface and evaluate porosity changes; valuable information for the oil industry. This study is the first attempt to reproduce and investigate the compaction dolomitization model. The diagenetic study of the Jurassic carbonate basin and palaeohigh system of the Po Plain indicates that the carbonates of the palaeohighs were dolomitized by basin compaction fluids. The main goal of the simulations is to evaluate the origin and evolution of the dolomitizing fluids and to provide insights regarding the distribution of the potential reservoir‐dolomitized bodies in the Po Plain. The modelling process is subdivided into two steps: basin modelling and reactive transport modelling. The SEBE3 basin simulator (Eni proprietary) was used to create a three‐dimensional model of the compacting system. The results include compaction fluid flow rate from the basin to the palaeohigh, compaction duration and a determination of the total amount of fluid introduced into the palaeohigh. These data are then used to perform reactive transport modelling with the TOUGHREACT code. Sensitivities on dolomite kinetic parameters suggest that dolomitization was an efficient process even at low temperatures, with differences mainly related to the dynamics of the process. Fluid composition is one of the main constraints, the sea water derived compaction fluid is proven to be efficient for dolomitization due to its relatively high Mg content. Simulations also confirmed that permeability is the most important factor influencing fluid flow and, consequently, the dolomite distribution in the formation. Permeable fractured zones have a strong influence, diverting the dolomitizing fluids from their normal path towards overlying or lateral zones. Moreover, the simulations showed that, after dolomite replacement is complete, the dolomitizing fluids can precipitate dolomite cement, causing over‐dolomitization, with related localized plugging effects in the zone of influx. Mass balance calculations indicate that in the dolomitization compaction model, the amount of compaction water fluxed from the basin to the carbonate is the main constraint on dolomitization efficiency. This observation implies that the ratio between the volume of the basin undergoing compaction and the volume of the palaeohigh is a limiting factor on the final size of the dolomitized bodies. An isolated palaeohigh could be an ideal site for pervasive replacement dolomitization due to the large volume of compaction fluids available compared with the carbonate rock volume. In the case of large platforms, the more permeable margin lithofacies are the most likely sites for compaction model dolomitization. The combined use of a basin simulator and reactive transport modelling has proved to be a successful method to verify model reliability and it provides insights into the volumetric distribution of diagenetic products.     

The Montecristo monzogranite (Northern Tyrrhenian Sea,Italy): a collisional pluton in an extensional setting

The Montecristo monzogranite (MM) is a near-circular peraluminous monzogranite pluton occupying the entire 10 km² of Montecristo Island. Outcrops of country rock are scarce, and are mainly roof pendants of metagabbros and calcsilicate hornfels of the Apenninic ophiolite sequence. Emplacement of the pluton (Rb–Sr age=7·1±0·2 Ma), following the early Miocene onset of continental collision, occurred during an extensional phase which migrated eastward via a combined process of subduction–delamination. The MM rocks are strongly porphyritic, the assemblage being composed of alkali-feldspar, quartz, plagioclase (all occurring as mega- or phenocrysts), biotite and minor cordierite. Accessory minerals include tourmaline, apatite, zircon, ilmenite, allanite, monazite, rutile and hellandite. Reconstructed crystallization histories for the mineral phases reveal a polybaric crystallization starting at about 5 kb. Textural variations of MM occur in sharp contact with each other; darker types often form globular masses containing fewer megacrysts and more abundant mafic microgranular enclaves. Geochemical, isotopic and petrographic data indicate that the MM magma was produced by anatectic melting of an intermediate to deep pelitic crustal source. On the basis of the geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of the enclaves, modification of their parent magma occurred by crystal fractionation coupled with mixing and mingling of components from the MM magma. The limited geochemical variation in MM is interpreted as due to crystal fractionation processes during the magma's ascent. Younger porphyritic dykes with more potassic and alkaline affinities cut the pluton; these dykes are concentrated in a major fracture zone and are associated with contemporaneous pseudotachylites. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Compositional changes in sigmoidal carbonate clinoforms (Late Tithonian,eastern Sardinia,Italy): insights from quantitative microfacies analyses

Quantitative analysis of sediment composition was performed on a kilometre wide section of Upper Tithonian low relief (up to 70 m), gently inclined (3° to 15°), sigmoidal carbonate clinoforms (eastern Sardinia) to identify changes in sediment composition along the slope and across the studied succession. These changes may reflect modifications of the carbonate factory and of processes responsible for sediment transport. Point‐count analysis of carbonate microfacies, Q‐mode/R‐mode cluster analysis and Spearman’s rank provided a composition‐based classification of microfacies and highlighted relationships among sediment components. The studied clinoforms are mainly composed of non‐skeletal grains (70%), such as peloids and lithoclasts, together with micrite and cements and only a limited contribution from coated grains (2%). Among skeletal grains (28%), the greatest contribution derives from a coral–stromatoporoid–encruster reef that provided 15% of the components. Crinoids, brachiopods and other along‐slope thriving biota provided nearly 5% of the allochems, whilst fragments of molluscs (gastropods, bivalves and diceratids) from the backreef sourced another 2%. The contribution of platform interior biota is negligible (1%). The association of composition‐based facies varies along the slope. The upper slope beds consist of coral‐stromatoporoid grainstone to rudstone; the middle slope deposits are dominated by encruster‐lithoclast grainstone and packstone. At the lower slope, peloidal lithoclastic packstone as well as brachiopod–crinoidal wackestone prevail. Also the association of skeletal grains changes along the slope. The encruster–frame builder association typifies the upper slope whilst encrusters characterize the middle slope sediments. In the lower slope encrusters are equally represented as the brachiopod–crinoid association. Along‐slope compositional changes evidence a scarce downslope transport of frame builders and a progressive enrichment in along‐slope thriving biota. Quantitative analysis of microfacies allowed the sigmoidal clinoforms to be grouped into six sets. Each set gathers sigmoids with a similar sediment composition. Coated grains are dominant in the first set whilst they are lacking in the overlying sets reflecting a change in the carbonate factory. Other major compositional changes among the sets concern the relative amounts of peloids, micrite, frame builders (corals and stromatoporoids) and encrusters. The contribution of peloids varies inversely to that of cements and micrite as evidenced in the third and fifth sets which, respectively, record the highest occurrence of peloids or cement and micrite. Variations in the amount of frame builders and encrusters are instead non‐linear. High percentages of both frame builders and encrusters, as recorded in the second and fifth sets, are related to low amounts of peloids and lithoclasts that probably reflect episodes of reduced background sedimentation. This study demonstrates that quantitative analysis of carbonate microfacies represents a powerful tool that can improve the reconstruction of the stacking pattern in carbonate slope successions both in outcrop and in subsurface settings.     

Unravelling provenance from Eocene–Oligocene sandstones of the Thrace Basin,North‐east Greece

New sandstone petrology and petrostratigraphy provide insights on Palaeogene (Middle Eocene to Oligocene) clastics of the Thrace Basin in Greece, which developed synchronously with post‐Cretaceous collision and subsequent Tertiary extension. Sandstone petrofacies are used as a tool to unravel complex geodynamic changes that occurred at the southern continental margin of the European plate, identifying detrital signals of the accretionary processes of the Rhodope orogen, as well as subsequent partitioning related to extension of the Rhodope area, followed by Oligocene to present Aegean extension and wide magmatic activity starting during the Early Oligocene. Sandstone detrital modes include three distinctive petrofacies: quartzolithic, quartzofeldspathic and feldspatholithic. Major contributions are from metamorphic basement units, represented mostly by low to medium‐grade lithic fragments for the quartzolithic petrofacies and high‐grade metamorphic rock fragments for the quartzofeldspathic petrofacies. Volcaniclastic sandstones were derived from different volcanic areas, with a composition varying from dominantly silicic to subordinate intermediate products (mainly rhyolitic glass, spherulites and felsitic lithics). Evolution of detrital modes documents contributions from three key source areas corresponding to the two main crystalline tectonic units: (i) the Variegated Complex (ultramafic complex), in the initial stage of accretion (quartzolithic petrofacies); (ii) the Gneiss–Migmatite Complex (quartzofeldspathic petrofacies); and (iii) the Circum‐Rhodope Belt. The volcaniclastic petrofacies is interbedded with quartzofeldspathic petrofacies, reflecting superposition of active volcanic activity on regional erosion. The three key petrofacies reflect complex provenance from different tectonic settings, from collisional orogenic terranes to local basement uplift and volcanic activity. The composition and stratigraphic relations of sandstones derived from erosion of the Rhodope orogenic belt and superposed magmatism after the extensional phase in northern Greece provide constraints for palaeogeographic and palaeotectonic models of the Eocene to Oligocene western portions of the Thrace Basin. Clastic detritus in the following sedimentary assemblages was derived mainly from provenance terranes of the Palaeozoic section within the strongly deformed Rhodope Massif of northern Greece and south‐east Bulgaria, from the epimetamorphic units of the Circum‐Rhodope Belt and from superposed Late Eocene to Early Oligocene magmatism related to orogenic collapse of the Rhodope orogen. The sedimentary provenance of the Rhodope Palaeogene sandstones documents the changing nature of this orogenic belt through time, and may contribute to a general understanding of similar geodynamic settings.     

Sedimentation in shallow to deep water carbonate environments across a sequence boundary: effects of a fall in sea-level on the evolution of a carbonate system (Ladinian-Carnian, eastern Lombardy, Italy)

In the Concarena‐Pizzo Camino Massif (Lombardy Basin, Southern Alps, Italy) the lateral transition from Ladinian‐Carnian carbonate platforms to coeval intraplatform basins is preserved. The succession records the sedimentological evidence of a sea‐level fall on a flat‐topped platform with a narrow marginal reef rim and its effects in the adjacent deeper‐water basin. Repeated high‐frequency exposures of the platform top are recorded by a peritidal–supratidal succession that overlies subtidal inner platform facies of the former highstand system tract (HST). On the slope and in the basin, the sea‐level fall is recorded by a few metre thick succession of bioclastic packstones. These facies directly lie on coarse clinostratified breccia bodies (slope facies of the former HST) or on resedimented, well‐bedded, dark laminated limestones (basinal facies of the HST). This facies distribution indicates that during the sea‐level fall carbonate production on the platform top decreased rapidly and that sedimentation in the basin was mainly represented by condensed facies. Microfacies record an enrichment, during low stand, in pelagic biota (packstones with radiolarians and spiculae), whereas the occurrence of platform‐derived, shallow‐water materials is limited to thin lenses of reworked and micritized Fe‐rich oolites and bioclasts (mainly pelecypods and echinoderms). The facies association in the Concarena‐Pizzo Camino Massif demonstrates that a highly‐productive carbonate factory was almost completely turned off during the emergence of the platform top at a sequence boundary, leading to low‐stand starvation in the basin. The reconstruction of the stratigraphic evolution of the Concarena‐Pizzo Camino carbonate platform therefore represents a significant case history for the study of the behaviour of ancient carbonate systems during a fall in sea‐level, independent of its origin (eustatic or tectonic).     

Can liquefied debris flows deposit clean sand over large areas of sea floor? Field evidence from the Marnoso‐arenacea Formation,Italian Apennines

The Marnoso‐arenacea Formation in the Italian Apennines is the only ancient rock sequence where individual submarine sediment density flow deposits have been mapped out in detail for over 100 km. Bed correlations provide new insight into how submarine flows deposit sand, because bed architecture and sandstone shape provide an independent test of depositional process models. This test is important because it can be difficult or impossible to infer depositional process unambiguously from characteristics seen at just one outcrop, especially for massive clean‐sandstone intervals whose origin has been controversial. Beds have three different types of geometries (facies tracts) in downflow oriented transects. Facies tracts 1 and 2 contain clean graded and ungraded massive sandstone deposited incrementally by turbidity currents, and these intervals taper relatively gradually downflow. Mud‐rich sand deposited by cohesive debris flow occurs in the distal part of Facies tract 2. Facies tract 3 contains clean sandstone with a distinctive swirly fabric formed by patches of coarser and better‐sorted grains that most likely records pervasive liquefaction. This type of clean sandstone can extend for up to 30 km before pinching out relatively abruptly. This abrupt pinch out suggests that this clean sand was deposited by debris flow. In some beds there are downflow transitions from turbidite sandstone into clean debrite sandstone, suggesting that debris flows formed by transformation from high‐density turbidity currents. However, outsize clasts in one particular debrite are too large and dense to have been carried by an initial turbidity current, suggesting that this debris flow ran out for at least 15 km. Field data indicate that liquefied debris flows can sometimes deposit clean sand over large (10 to 30 km) expanses of sea floor, and that these clean debrite sand layers can terminate abruptly.