Cementation in Oligo-Miocene non-tropical shelf limestones, Otway Basin, Australia

Abstract

The Oligocene to Miocene Heytesbury Group of the Otway Basin, southeastern Australia, is a non-tropical carbonate shelf succession. This subsurface stratigraphic succession consists of bioclastic grainstones to mudstones containing bryozoa, benthonic and planktonic foraminifera, echinoderms, brachiopods, and molluscs. The basal bryozoa-dominated Clifton Formation was deposited in relatively shallow waters. The overlying Gellibrand Marl, rich in planktonic foraminifera and bryozoa, formed under deep waters. The uppermost unit, benthonic foraminifera-dominated Port Campbell Limestone, was deposited in a moderately deep, middle shelf environment. Cementation is limited and includes: (1) scalenohedral calcite (non-luminescent to bright, Mn- and Fe-poor, in inter- and intraparticle porosity); (2) blocky equant calcite (dull, Mn- and Fe-rich, in interparticle porosity); (3) syntaxial calcite overgrowths on echinoderm particles (non/bright/dull-zoned); (4) euhedral dolomite (in the interparticle pore space of the Port Campbell Limestone); (5) bladed-prismatic calcite (ferroan, in planktonic foraminifera); (6) fibrous calcite (non-luminescent, in intraparticle porosity); and (7) glauconite and iron-oxides (only in intraparticle porosity). All CaCO 3 cements are low-Mg calcites (< 4 mol% MgCO 3). The cements observed in the Heytesbury Group appear to have formed in three successive diagenetic environments: (1) early shallow burial (early Fe- and Mn-poor, non-luminescent syntaxial overgrowths and non-luminescent scalenohedral calcite, under oxidising conditions); (2) late shallow burial (bright, more Mn-rich syntaxial overgrowth zone, i.e., more than the initial non-luminescent one, and bright scalenohedral calcite, under moderately reducing pore water conditions); and (3) moderate burial (ferroan, dull blocky calcite and dull syntaxial overgrowth zone, under reducing conditions). Pressure solution was the main cement-producing mechanism, although seawater and aragonite dissolution could account for the precipitation of the early non-luminescent cements. Scarcity of early interparticle cements may have been caused by the calcite-rich character of the original sediments. The ferroan dully luminescent blocky equant calcite and syntaxial overgrowths, typically interpreted to represent products of deep burial in ancient carbonate successions, are observed in the shallow-buried Port Campbell Limestone.