TY - JOUR
T1 - Insights to controls on dolomitization by means of reactive transport models applied to the Benicàssim case study (Maestrat Basin, eastern Spain)
AU - Corbella, M.
AU - Gomez-Rivas, E.
AU - Martín-Martín, J. D.
AU - Stafford, S. L.
AU - Teixell, A.
AU - Griera, A.
AU - Travé, A.
AU - Cardellach, E.
AU - Salas, R.
PY - 2014/2/17
Y1 - 2014/2/17
N2 - Partially dolomitized carbonate rocks of the Middle East and North America host large hydrocarbon reserves. The origin of some of these dolomites has been attributed to a hydrothermal mechanism. The Benicàssim area (Maestrat Basin, eastern Spain) constitutes an excellent field analogue for fault-controlled stratabound hydrothermal dolomitization: dolostone geobodies are well exposed and extend over several kilometres away from seismic-scale faults. This work investigates the main controls on the formation of stratabound versus massive dolomitization in carbonate sequences by means of two-dimensional (2D) reactive transport models applied to the Benicàssim case study. Simulation results suggest that the dolomitization capacity of Mg-rich fluids reaches a maximum at temperatures around 100 °C and a minimum at 25 °C (studied temperature range: 25-150 °C). It takes of the order of hundreds of thousands to millions of years to completely dolomitize kilometre-long limestone sections, with solutions flowing laterally through strata at velocities of metres per year (m/a). Permeability differences of two orders of magnitude between layers are required to form stratabound dolomitization. The kilometrelong stratabound dolostone geobodies of Benicàssim must have formed under a regime of lateral flux greater than metres per year over about a million years. As long-term dolomitization tends to produce massive dolostone bodies not seen at Benicàssim, the dolomitizing process there must have been limited by the availability of fluid volume or the flow-driving mechanism. Reactive transport simulations have proven a useful tool to quantify aspects of the Benicàssim genetic model of hydrothermal dolomitization. © 2014 EAGE/The Geological Society of London.
AB - Partially dolomitized carbonate rocks of the Middle East and North America host large hydrocarbon reserves. The origin of some of these dolomites has been attributed to a hydrothermal mechanism. The Benicàssim area (Maestrat Basin, eastern Spain) constitutes an excellent field analogue for fault-controlled stratabound hydrothermal dolomitization: dolostone geobodies are well exposed and extend over several kilometres away from seismic-scale faults. This work investigates the main controls on the formation of stratabound versus massive dolomitization in carbonate sequences by means of two-dimensional (2D) reactive transport models applied to the Benicàssim case study. Simulation results suggest that the dolomitization capacity of Mg-rich fluids reaches a maximum at temperatures around 100 °C and a minimum at 25 °C (studied temperature range: 25-150 °C). It takes of the order of hundreds of thousands to millions of years to completely dolomitize kilometre-long limestone sections, with solutions flowing laterally through strata at velocities of metres per year (m/a). Permeability differences of two orders of magnitude between layers are required to form stratabound dolomitization. The kilometrelong stratabound dolostone geobodies of Benicàssim must have formed under a regime of lateral flux greater than metres per year over about a million years. As long-term dolomitization tends to produce massive dolostone bodies not seen at Benicàssim, the dolomitizing process there must have been limited by the availability of fluid volume or the flow-driving mechanism. Reactive transport simulations have proven a useful tool to quantify aspects of the Benicàssim genetic model of hydrothermal dolomitization. © 2014 EAGE/The Geological Society of London.
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2012-095
DO - https://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2012-095
M3 - Article
VL - 20
SP - 41
EP - 54
IS - 1
ER -