Thesis--Copenhagen. / "Reprinted from 'Danmarks geologiske undersøgelse', II. raekke no. 61." "Résumé" (in Danish): p. [151]-168. Bibliography: p. [169]-171.

Thesis--Copenhagen. / "Reprinted from 'Danmarks geologiske undersøgelse', II. raekke no. 61." "Résumé" (in Danish): p. [151]-168. Bibliography: p. [169]-171.

The Middle North Sea, have simplified to a Jurassic deltaic Brent Group sandstones, northern complicated diagenetic sequence which may be kaolinite Fe,Ca carbonates - High porosities and Ness and Tarbert quartz overgrowths - Fe,Mg carbonates - illite. existed in the Etive, throughout diagenesis. By permeabilities have Formation sandstones contrast, the highly micaceous and r,elatively finer grained Rannach Formation sandstones have good porosities but very poor permeabilities due to burial compaction and carbonate cementation. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope studies indicate that early diagenesis occurred in a dominantly meteoric pore water (6180 = -7%0). The early diagenetic cements of siderite, vermicular kaolinite and calcite started to precipitate at 14, 26 and 32DC respectively. With the onset of burial, below 1.2 km, the Brent sequence eventually became sealed off from the meteoric 'head' by Lower Cretaceous sediments. Blocky kaolinite precipitated and by the end Cretaceous quartz overgrowth formation commenced. Fluid inclusions in the overgrowths indicate formation from a warm, dominantly low salinity water (1 - 5 wt.% eq. NaCl). Homogenisation temperatures range from 73to 131 DC. Illite precipitation is cogenetic with the latest stages of quartz overgrowth precipitation (K/Ar illite date, 58Ma.) and has reduced porosity and permeability markedly in different locations prior to oil migration. The depth of burial at which this last cementation event occurred is 2.3 km. Fluid inclusion microthermometry indicates that quartz overgrowth and latest ankerite precipitation occurred in a geothermal gradient of 70DC/km. After this heat excursion the reservoirs have cooled back to present day temperatures of 85 - 11SDC. Water values computed from the mineral cements indicate precipitation from a porefluid which has gradually evolved isotopically to its present day composition (5180 = -7 to +2%.SMOW) in an isotopic system that has become closed during burial. However the quartz and ankerite suggest one unusual episode of open system hot fluid input.

Differential compaction occurs within many sedimentary settings, such as alluvial and deltaic deposition, but it is within the submarine fan environment where the process is most effective due to the very high depositional porosities of the muds found there. Additionally the grain size of siliciclastic sediments within the submarine fan environment varies rapidly both horizontally and vertically, and hence the effect of differential compaction control on the depositional geometry and arrangement needs to be examined and modelled. It is also important to ascertain the rate at which sediments compact when buried, and whether compaction is complete at the end of deposition or whether it requires additional time to achieve this state. Sea- floor topography can be created if the latter case is true, and could influence subsequent deposition. Alternatively, if sea-floor topography is not created, the major control upon subsequent deposition may be the compatibility of the underlying section. Both controls will favour deposition of successive coarse clastic units above areas of fine-grained sediments, i.e. sand above shale rather than sand above sand. The Palaeocene sediments of the Central North Sea In the Montrose - Arbroath area (Blocks 22/17 and 22/18) combined with outcrop studies In southern California and New Mexico, have been used to assess the control of differential compaction on sediment distribution in a deep-sea fan setting. Differential compaction affects the Montrose - Arbroath area on a variety of scales. Firstly, differential compaction of the entire Palaeocene section across the underlying Forties - Montrose High induces structure. At a smaller scale, differential compaction may form a considerable control upon the spatial distribution of submarine fan channels and lobes that form the reservoir section throughout the area, and therefore the areal distribution of the oilfields themselves. Finally differential compaction may effect the distribution pattern of individual turbidites within such channel systems, thus forming a fine control upon the distribution of sands and shales within the reservoir. Fieldwork on submarine fan deposits in southern California has highlighted further complications to differential compaction that need to be addressed during the modelling process. Sedimentary processes such as basal loading and slumping are highly common in such deposits, and both can effect the compactional process to differing degrees. Results obtained from the modelling of stratal patterns observed in New Mexico provide information on the timing of differential compaction. It is suggested that compaction of sediments, even during early burial, requires a time interval often greater than the period of deposition, resulting in post-depositional compaction and the production of near-surface overpressure.

No description available.

In north-central Arizona, the Moenkopi Formation of Triassic age consists of generally unfossiliferous red mudstones, siltstones, gypsum, and sandstones that contain abundant sedimentary structures, such as ripple marks, cross-stratification, ripple laminae, salt crystal casts, mud cracks, sole marks, parting lineation, and core-and-shell structures. Three informal members were established for this study: the lower member, the lower massive sandstone, and the upper member. Flaser, wavy, and lenticular bedding, bimodal distribution of ripple laminae dips, parallel ripple marks dominant over cuspate ripple marks, gypsum beds and veins, salt crystal casts, and lack of channel deposits are the suite of sedimentary features that are interpreted to indicate a tidal-flat environment during deposition of the lower member. The very fine grained lower massive sandstone can be divided into four subunits, which were formed by a transgression-regression of the sea. Wavy and ripple laminated beds in subunit one were probably deposited in very shallow water. Medium-scale wedge-planar and trough sets of cross strata with mean dip directions to the southeast make up subunit 2 and indicate megaripples formed by longshore drift. Subunit 3 consists of lenticular, wavy, pod-shaped beds that were created in water shallower than that for subunit 2. Continuous, large-scale, low-angle cross strata of uniform thickness and medium-scale wedge-planar and trough sets of cross strata characterize subunit 4 and are typical of beach deposits. The significant sedimentary features in the upper member are unimodal distribution of ripple laminae dips, cuspate ripple marks dominant over parallel ripple marks, channel deposits with shallow trough cross strata, an increase in the number and thickness of sandstone and siltstone beds compared with the lower member, plus vertebrate bones, tracks, and plant impressions. This suite of features indicates a flood-plain environment. Early in Moenkopi time, north-central Arizona was a tidal flat and sabkha. The sea to the west fluctuated east and west and finally transgressed over the entire area. As the sea regressed, a beach formed, and rivers flowing from the east deposited sediment on a westward-prograding flood plain. In the northern, southern, and central portions of the region, sabkhas existed for a time during regression. At the end of Moenkopi time, the entire area was a flood plain. Considering the association of red beds and evaporites, the absence of fossils in the lower member and the lower massive sandstone, the paleowind directions, and the theory of continental drift, the climate during early and middle Moenkopi time was probably hot and arid. The influx of sandstones, the presence of Calamites (?) impressions, and trackways and bones of amphibians in the upper member suggest that the climate became more humid at the end of Moenkopi time.

The ~2 km-thick Late Triassic Sugarloaf Arkose is the basal unit of the half-graben Deerfield basin, Massachusetts. Valley-river, piedmont-river, and alluvial-fan depositional facies within the arkose are defined by paleocurrent data and style of sedimentation. The valley rivers flowed from northeast to southwest, and the facies is present from the bottom to the top of the formation. Piedmont rivers built a megafan eastward into the basin, beginning about in the middle of the arkose. The local alluvial fan built from east to west in the upper-third of the formation. The petrology of the medium sand and conglomerate was used to delineate the source areas for each facies. The medium sand in the valley rivers is mostly granite and granite gneiss fragments, coarsely-polycrystalline quartz grains, and twinned plagioclase. This assemblage is a mixture of granite from continental basement uplift, granite gneiss from a dissected magmatic arc, and phyllites and schist from a recycled collision orogen. The medium sand in the piedmont-river facies lacks granite fragments, and untwinned plagioclase is more abundant than twinned: the provenance is continental basement uplift and recycled collision orogen. The alluvial-fan provenance is similar to the valley rivers, combining recycled collision orogen and dissected magmatic arc. Unlike the valley rivers, granite gneiss and untwinned plagioclase in the alluvial fan are dominant over granite and twinned plagioclase. Quartz provenance in the three facies was granite, trending to granite gneiss in the piedmont-river and alluvial-fan facies. In all facies, plagioclase feldspar is more common than K-feldspar in the medium sand. The conglomerate pebbles, however, are dominated by K-feldspar, most likely due to erosion of pegmatites in the source terrane. Gray quartzite, white and translucent varieties of quartz, and pink granitoid pebbles are also common. The post-depositional diagenesis of the Sugarloaf Arkose affects provenance determination. Diagenetic events include: hematite grain coats, mechanical compaction, albitization of feldspars, albite and quartz overgrowths, authigenic hematite cement, carbonate cement, and illite replacement of feldspars. Within the dry-dominated monsoonal paleoclimate, each facies formed in response to tectonism. The initial appearance of each facies is used to determine the timing of tectonic events. The valley rivers flowed from the northeast in an early NNE-SSW-trending ‘sag’ basin, associated with minor normal faulting. The initial appearance of the east-flowing piedmont rivers about half way up the section implies an early, down to the west, basin-bounding normal fault, which formed perpendicular to N70E-S70E extension. This fault propagated, and, on reaching the northeast corner of the basin, the alluvial fan built to the west off the fault scarp. The Amherst block is a relay ramp between basin-bounding faults in the Deerfield and Hartford basins. Linkage of the two basin-bounding faults through the Amherst block created an integrated basin linking the Triassic strata in the early Hartford and Deerfield basins, and may have caused the unconformity present at the top of the arkose.

In the Colossal Cave area, Pima County, Arizona, massive blocks of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks have been thrust from a southerly direction over an irregular surface of Rincon Valley granite of Laramide age. The Paleozoic rocks involved in the thrusting are the Bolsa quartzite, Abrigo formation, Martin limestone, Escabrosa limestone, Horquilla limestone, and Andrada formation. The Pantano formation (Miocene ?) is also present under the thrust sheet. The thrusting is of an imbricate nature with slip-page mainly teaking place along incompetent rock units. Large folds occur in the Escabrosa limestone and Horquilla lime-stone. A siliceous breccia is associated with thrust planes in the area. The competent units of the Paleozoic sediments were fractured and brecciated along the thrust planes. Solutions dissolved part of the silica and hematite from the Bolsa quartzite and deposited it in the fractured and brecciated zones.

Almost all sandstone beds occurring in the Upper Miocene formations at the Los Angeles basin were deposited by turbidity currents. Primary textures and structures indicative of turbidites occur in fair abundance throughout all three Upper Miocene formations. All accessible outcrops of the Puente, Modelo, and Upper Miocene portion of the Monterey and Capistrano Formations were scrutinized for sandstone beds containing primary sedimentary structures. Through study of these structures, the direction of current movement was determined. The pattern of current movement displayed reveals that sediment was being transported into the Los Angeles basin from all sides. Current directions and mineralogic studies indicate that essentially three source areas were supplying sediment into the basin. These source areas are 1) the San Gabriel Mountains, 2) an area to the east of the Santa Ana Mountains, and 3) a ridge of metamorphic rock paralleling the present coast line. The majority of sediment was derived from an area in the San Gabriel Mountains located northeast or the basin. This is evidenced by the fact that the thickness, grain size, and total sand content of the Upper Miocene units decrease southwestward across the basin.

Rocks of the Morenci-Metcalf district consist of Precambrian metaquartzite-schist, granodiorite, and granite overlain by Paleozoic and Mesozoic sediments. Intrusion of igneous rocks, emplacement of breccia masses, and associated hydrothermal activity occurred in Laramide time. Breccias of the district are associated with the youngest sialic intrusive complex. This sequence includes intrusion of the Older Granite Porphyry stock, main stage district hydrothermal alteration, quartz veining, breccia formation, main stage district hydrothermal mineralization, and intrusion of the Younger Granite Porphyry plug. Breccia formation in the Morenci-Metcalf district is similar to breccia descriptions reported in the literature for other porphyry copper deposits. Three breccia types, of separate and distinct origins, are herein described as the Morenci, Metcalf and King, and Candelaria Breccias. The Morenci Breccia is an intrusion breccia that has formed along a pre-existing structural feature during the ascent and emplacement of the Older Granite Porphyry stock. It exhibits an oblate lenticular shape with angular to subrounded fragments in a matrix of quartz, K-feldspar, biotite, and minor rock flour. The Metcalf-King Breccias and numerous smaller breccia masses are the remnants of an original Older Granite Porphyry mantle above the ascending Younger Granite Porphyry complex. The breccia masses occur as large 'xenoliths' floating within the Younger Granite Porphyry plug and were formed by surging and collapse during emplacement of this intrusive. Fragments in the Metcalf and King Breccias grade from angular in the central core to rounded at the contacts and occur in a matrix of sericite, K- feldspar, quartz, and rock flour. The Candelaria Breccia is an explosion pipe and is the largest continuous breccia mass in the district. It is oval with an inverted cone appearance consisting of angular to subangular equidimensional fragments in a matrix of sericite, quartz, specularite, and rock flour. All the breccia masses occur within and subsequent to the district phyllic (quartz-sericite-pyrite) alteration zone. Main stage district copper mineralization postdates emplacement of the Older Granite Porphyry stock and breccia formation, and is prior to the intrusion of the Younger Granite Porphyry plug. Late stage quartz-sericite-pyrite-chalcopyrite veinlets occur in the Metcalf-King Breccia group. Field mapping and laboratory studies indicate that the Older Granite Porphyry stock appears to have been the main district mineralizer.