Diagenetic Control of Reservoir Quality of Araba and Naqua Diagenetic Quartzarenites (Cambrian), Gebel Araba-Qabeliat, Southwest Sinai, Egypt

Abstract

Sandstones of the marine Lower Cambrian Araba Formation and the overlying fluvial Upper Cambrian( ) Naqus Formation in Gebel Araba-Qabeliat, southwest Sinai (the eastern side of the Gulf of Suez) were studied to evaluate the major factors controlling potential hydrocarbon reservoir quality. The formations have a composite thickness of 873 m and overlie Precambrian granite and metamorphic rocks and underlie Cretaceous marine strata. The framework composition of both sandstones is almost entirely quartz with trace amounts of muscovite, K-feldspar, and heavy minerals. Up to 21.5% oversize pores, some filled with younger cements, attest to extensive dissolution loss of detrital grains, chiefly feldspar. Because the final mineralogical maturation of these quartzarenites was through diagenesis, they are diagenetic quartzarenites. Following deposition, the introduction of thin coatings of infiltered clay was followed by the precipitation of 6.3% unhomogeneously distributed quartz cement. Some outcrop samples contain pore-occluding gypsum cement or mixtures of gypsum and halite cement. Sr{sup 87}/Sr{sup 86} ratios of seven samples of gypsum cement have values (0.7077 to 0.7083) that are equal to Miocene and slightly younger seawater. These Cambrian sandstones have excellent reservoir potential (mean thin section porosity = 25.7%) because they contained few ductile grains to enhance compaction, and theymore » developed significant amounts of secondary pores by both dissolution of calcite cement and unstable detrital grains. Kaolinite and dickite are potential problems for hydrocarbon production in some beds.« less