Chemical and Isotopic Constraints for Recrystallization of Sedimentary Dolomites from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin

Abstract

Mississippian shoal carbonates of Western CanadaSedimentary Basin are important hydrocarbon hosts.Dolomitization plays a major role in the evolution ofreservoir porosity in these carbonates. This processvaries across the basin and reflects, in part, divergentsources and chemistry of pore fluids. Dolomites fromseveral petroleum reservoirs were analyzed formineralogical, geochemical and isotopic variation. Thedata clearly demonstrate the progressive and complexrecrystallization of dolomite during shallow and deepburial in modified marine, meteoric and burial fluids.These data include: change in crystal size,stoichiometry, cathodoluminscence characteristics,stable oxygen and carbon isotopic shifts and changesin radiogenic Sr isotopic composition. However,regional geology, tectonic history and fluid flowevolution play important roles in the diageneticimprints and the degree of recrystallization. Early microcrystalline dolomite formed in normalmarine and evaporative conditions in Mississippiancarbonates from Western Canada Sedimentary Basinhave undergone variable degrees of recrystallization, frompristine dolomite akin to Holocene sabkha dolomitewith preserved mineralogical and chemical attributesto highly recrystallized mesodolomite, however stillnonstoichiometric, but with highly altered chemicalsignatures. Careful attention should be made to localgeology, hydrodynamics and fluid flow when investigatingdolomite recrystallization in sedimentary basins.