Petrological, geochemical, and microfacies analysis of the Sylhet limestone, Bengal Basin, Bangladesh: implication for depositional environment and diagenesis

Abstract

The fossiliferous Sylhet limestone formation of the Eocene age in the Bengal Basin is important for scientific and geoheritage study. This formation is exposed in the two locations of Bengal Basin; however, it is least studied. In this study, petrological, geochemical, and microfacies analysis of the Sylhet limestone was carried out by analyzing twenty-eight (28) samples from the two exposed sections and two underground (boreholes) in the Bengal Basin. The microscopic and XRD analysis shows that the calcite is the most dominant mineral in the studied samples along with some amount of dolomite, siderite, ankerite, pyrite, and quartz. The presence of the crystal structure of calcite, dolomite, quartz, and pyrite was confirmed through SEM-EDX. Geochemical results show that the samples are composed of high CaO (14.296 to 53.326%) with a significant amount of Fe2O3 (0.095 to 18.482%), Al2O3 (0.664 to 7.357%), K20 (0.83 to 2.274%), MgO (0.157 to 8.109%), and SiO2 (0.08 to 0.451%). Beside the major oxides, some minor and trace elements including Sr, Mn, Zr, Zn, Sc, Co, V, Ba, Ni, and Cu were also measured. Among these, Sr, V, Mn, and Cu concentration within the Sylhet limestone directly indicates its depositional environment at a shallow continental shelf in open marine condition and its diagenetic change to convert as dolomitic limestone. Geochemical characteristics indicate that the Sylhet limestone is highly dolomitized with high Ca/Mg ratio and was deposited in a low-energy shallow continental shelf marine depositional environment. Higher values of the Ca/Mg ratio of the studied samples also confirm lower salinity during its deposition. The presence of silica in the limestone was observed with a positive/negative correlation with Ca which implies that the silica is derived either from a terrestrial source due to increases of sediment supply during the Middle Eocene for the consequences of the Indo-Asian plate Himalayan Collision or dissolution from the siliceous shells of fossils that replace the calcite. Eight (08) microfacies (MFT) types were identified based on abundance of foraminifera or calcareous algae (e.g., Nummulites sp., Discocyclina sp., Alveolina sp., Quinqueloculina sp., Cibicides sp., Lenticulina sp., Ovulites sp.) which are similar to grainstone/packstone carbonate of 18 standard microfacies types (SMF 18). The observed SMF was deposited under restricted to open marine carbonate platform of shallow water depth at different hydrodynamic conditions.