Lecture 3b: Dynamic

Earth: Clastic
Sedimentary Rocks
Sedimentary rocks = reservoir rocks,
seals and source rocks
ENM200: Dynamic Earth
Dr Bryan T Cronin (ext.cronin1@rgu.ac.uk)

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Sedimentary Rocks

Clastic sedimentary rocks (e.g. sandstones, mudstones, conglomerates.

are made of material eroded from one place then transported to and deposited
in another.
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The Rock
Cycle

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The Rock Cycle

Mechanical weathering

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Mechanical weathering: frost wedging

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Mechanical weathering:
material is eroded (usually
by frost wedging) then moves
progressively down the
drainage system (rivers etc)

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Chemical weathering

Chemical weathering
includes dissolution
(particularly of
limestones) and
rusting (oxidation)

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Chemical weathering of these sandstone blocks has attacked the cement between the grains, so that they
become loose and fall out. The sandstone is more strongly cemented along closely-spaced beds (sand
layers) and the sides of small joints or cracks in the rock. The overall effect is to produce a pock-marked
surface which is sometimes called honeycomb weathering.

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Weathering of different materials

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High porosity

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(x43 on A4)

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Low porosity

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(x31 on A4)

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Conglomerate:
Dunnottar Castle,
Stonehaven,
Aberdeenshire

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Polymict Conglomerate

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Litharenite (sandstone)

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Kimmeridge Clay mudstones (grey and limestones (yellow), at Kimmeridge

Bay, Dorset, England. This is the main oil-prone source rock of the North Sea
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Mudstone under the microscope

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Biosparite

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Diapric anhydrite

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Triassic Anhydrite

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Sedimentary structures

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Fluvial

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SANDSTONE RESERVOIRS
Introduction to environment section:
Depositional Environments and a simplified classification

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Depositional Environment
Controls on the size, shape and production characteristics of
reservoir bodies

Major effects on reservoir quality distribution:

Porosity
Permeability
Net to Gross Ratio
Connectivity/Compartmentalisation

Identification in the subsurface, use of well logs, cores and cuttings

Continental

Marine

Aeolian
Alluvial fan
Fluvial
Lacustrine
Glacial

Marginal/Paralic
Shelf
Slope
Basin

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Sedimentary Environments

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Sandstone Reservoirs Alluvial Fan

Schematic model

Modern Example

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Sandstone Reservoirs - Fluvial

Braided River

Meandering River

Outcrop

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Sandstone Reservoirs - Fluvial

Braided River log response (subsurface)

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Sandstone Reservoirs - Lacustrine

Schematic

Pyramid Lake, Nevada

We will examine lacustrine environments

primarily in association with alluvial
fans and fluvial sandstone reservoirs
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Sandstone Reservoirs - Lacustrine

SOURCE
ROCKS

Eocene Green River Fm., Utah, USA

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Lacustrine algal
carbonate

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Sandstone Reservoirs Aeolian Modern

Analogue for Southern North Sea Rotliegend (Permian) Gas Fields

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Sandstone Reservoirs Aeolian subsurface:

Leman Field, southern North Sea

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Sandstone Reservoirs - Deltaic

Schematic Delta Components

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Sandstone Reservoirs Littoral

Barrier Island

Galveston Island, Texas, USA

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Sandstone
Reservoirs
Littoral

Map of Aux Vases

foreshore and tidal
channel sands,
Carboniferous, Illinois, USA

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Sandstone Reservoirs Deep Marine

Idealised Turbidite Depositional Sequences

Turbidite:
Bouma Sequence

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Retrogradational fans

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Reservoirs: A Simplified Classification

5 PRINCIPAL TYPES OF RESERVOIR
Sandstone, Limestone, Chalk, Dolomite, Others

5 PRINCIPAL TYPES OF DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Continental, Marine Littoral Deltaic, marine Littoral non-Deltaic, Marine Shelf,
Deep-marine

Aeolian
Alluvial Fan
Fluvial
Lacustrine
Glacial
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littoral
delta

shelf
slope

Turbidites,
Talus,
Gravity
deposits

basin

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