The Bowland Shale Formation, UK: Processes and Resources
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This volume showcases recent geological, geophysical and geochemical research on the UK Mississippian Bowland Shale Formation. Here, the Bowland Shale and equivalent units are described and interpreted in terms of sedimentary, geochemical, and mechanical properties and processes, basin-forming events, hydrocarbon prospectivity, mineralization, and heat and fluid flow in the subsurface.
Mineral diagenesis in a carbonate-rich mudstone: the Lower Carboniferous Hodder Mudstone, UK Available to Purchase
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Published:June 28, 2024
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CitationTimothy M. Ohiara, Kevin G. Taylor, Patrick J. Dowey, 2024. "Mineral diagenesis in a carbonate-rich mudstone: the Lower Carboniferous Hodder Mudstone, UK", The Bowland Shale Formation, UK: Processes and Resources, J. F. Emmings, J. Parnell, M. H. Stephenson, B. H. Lodhia
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Abstract
Mineral authigenesis in mudstones responds differently across the compositional spectrum of fine-grained rocks, resulting in a complex array of possible rock fabrics that affect the mechanical capacity of mudstones. Within carbonate-rich mudstones, geochemical controls on silicate and carbonate mineral reactions are variable and poorly understood. Here we analyse the diagenetic minerals of the carbonate-rich Hodder Mudstone from the Carboniferous Bowland Basin, UK, using SEM petrography combined with X-ray-based inorganic geochemical data. Our findings show that up to 90% of quartz cements in the samples are diagenetic, originating mainly from biogenic silica dissolution and clay mineral reactions. It is also evident that due to the varying diagenetic silica-yielding reactions, authigenic silica overgrowths and isolated authigenic quartz crystals are localized in argillaceous samples, while calcareous samples are characterized by silica replacement textures and quartz/calcite intergrowths. Moreover, euhedral dolomite crystals are concentrated within argillaceous units, whereas calcareous units are characterized by anhedral dolomite precipitation and replacement textures. These finding presents a case for facies-selective cementation, as both early and burial diagenetic alterations were observed to be controlled by primary depositional components of biogenic debris and extrabasinal silicate detritus that resulted in complex and variable precipitation of authigenic minerals.
- authigenesis
- authigenic minerals
- burial
- calcification
- carbonates
- carbonatization
- Carboniferous
- cement
- chemical composition
- clastic rocks
- concretions
- cores
- crystallization
- diagenesis
- dolomitization
- early diagenesis
- electron microscopy data
- Europe
- fabric
- intergrowths
- iron sulfides
- kaolinization
- late diagenesis
- Lower Carboniferous
- mechanical properties
- metasomatism
- mineral composition
- mineralization
- mudstone
- Paleozoic
- paragenesis
- precipitation
- secondary structures
- sedimentary rocks
- sedimentary structures
- SEM data
- silicates
- solution
- sulfides
- textures
- United Kingdom
- Western Europe
- Bowland Basin
- Hodder Mudstone