Reservoir Quality of Clastic and Carbonate Rocks: Analysis, Modelling and Prediction
CONTAINS OPEN ACCESS

Diagenesis, plagioclase dissolution and preservation of porosity in Eocene and Oligocene sandstones at the Greeley oil field, southern San Joaquin basin, California, USA
Correspondence: [email protected]
-
Published:January 01, 2018
-
CiteCitation
D. T. Nguyen, R. A. Horton, Jr, A. B. Kaess, 2018. "Diagenesis, plagioclase dissolution and preservation of porosity in Eocene and Oligocene sandstones at the Greeley oil field, southern San Joaquin basin, California, USA", Reservoir Quality of Clastic and Carbonate Rocks: Analysis, Modelling and Prediction, P. J. Armitage, A. R. Butcher, J.M. Churchill, A.E. Csoma, C. Hollis, R. H. Lander, J. E. Omma, R. H. Worden
Download citation file:
- Share
Abstract:
The Vedder (Oligocene) and Kreyenhagen (Eocene) sandstones at the Greeley oil field consist of arkosic to subarkosic arenites and wackes deposited in shallow marine environments. Burial depths of the Vedder sandstones exceed 3150 m and the reservoir temperature is 124°C. The Kreyenhagen sandstones are buried to greater than 3920 m and the reservoir temperature is estimated to be c. 135°C. These sandstones are currently at or very near their deepest burial depths.
The textural relationships of the diagenetic minerals suggest syndepositional formation of glauconite, phosphate and pyrite, followed by early precipitation of pore-lining clay coatings and carbonate cements along with framework-grain fracturing and possibly dissolution. With increasing burial, dissolution of the framework grains continued, accompanied by the albitization of feldspars, the formation of K-feldspar and quartz overgrowths, the precipitation of kaolinite and other clays and possibly the precipitation of late carbonate cements. Finally, hydrocarbon migration and the formation of pyrite occurred during late diagenesis.
Porosity preservation and reservoir quality are primarily the result of plagioclase dissolution occurring as the strata approached their current burial depths. Mass balance calculations indicate the significant export of aluminium out of the sands. Thus secondary porosity produced by plagioclase dissolution has replaced the primary porosity destroyed by compaction, and now accounts for the majority of the porosity in these rocks.
- albite
- albitization
- alkali feldspar
- aluminum
- anhydrite
- arenite
- arkose
- authigenic minerals
- barite
- burial
- California
- carbonates
- cement
- cementation
- Cenozoic
- clastic rocks
- clay minerals
- compaction
- depth
- detritus
- diagenesis
- electron microscopy data
- Eocene
- feldspar group
- fluid flow
- fracturing
- framework silicates
- glauconite
- hydrocarbons
- K-feldspar
- kaolinite
- Kern County California
- late diagenesis
- mass transfer
- metals
- metasomatism
- mica group
- migration
- mineral assemblages
- Oligocene
- organic compounds
- overgrowths
- oxides
- Paleogene
- paragenesis
- petrography
- phosphates
- plagioclase
- porosity
- precipitation
- pyrite
- quartz
- reservoir properties
- reservoir rocks
- rutile
- San Joaquin Basin
- sandstone
- secondary porosity
- sedimentary rocks
- SEM data
- sheet silicates
- silica minerals
- silicates
- solution
- subarkose
- sulfates
- sulfides
- temperature
- Tertiary
- textures
- thin sections
- United States
- Vedder Formation
- Kreyenhagen Formation
- Greeley Field
- pseudomatrix