Clyde H. Moore

Carbonate Depositional Environments

For more than 100 years geologists have been ex amining and describing modern sediments with an eye toward using characteristic features to aid in the interpretation of depositional settings of ancient strata. This field of interest developed particularly during the 1950s and 1960s with the creation of detailed models for modern carbonate deposition in Florida, the Bahamas, Cuba, the Persian Gulf, Belize, Pacific atolls, the Great Barrier Reef and other areas. An understanding of the depositional environments of these modern models, coupled with increased understanding of diagenetic effects, has led to vastly improved interpretations of ancient limestones. Such models also improved the “predictability” of many carbonate reservoir rocks. In spite of the great strides made in our knowledge about carbonate depositional environments, their characteristic features have never been synthesized in a single work. Although excellent textbooks exist which describe some aspects of the interpretation of both ancient strata and modern sediments, systematic treatment of the entire subject is available only in the primary literature. This book is an attempt to bring together this widely disseminated literature. The volume is specifically designed for use by the non—specialist-the petroleum geologist or field geologist—who needs to use carbonate depositional environments in facies reconstructions and environmental interpretations. Yet it is hoped that the book will also serve as a valuable reference for the specialist or advanced graduate student. Toward that purpose, the book is extensively illustrated with color diagrams and photographs of sedimentary structures and facies assemblages. The text focuses on the recognition of depositional environments rather than on the hydrodynamic mechanisms of sediment movement.

Geology of Carbonate Porosity

In clastic situations, primary porositv is a direct function of texture and fabric, including size, sorting and shape (Fig. 1). Grain size, sorting, fabric, as well as sedimentary structures are related directly to sedimentary processes acting at the time of deposition (Fig. 1). Each depositional environment is characterized by a distinct suite of processes distributed across the active sediment water interface in a pattern unique for that environment (Fig.2). This suite of processes gives rise to a group of products, including sediment texture, fabric, and structures distributed across the active sediment water interface in a pattern unique for each depositional environment (Figs. 1 and 2). In a prograding or regressive situation, when sedimentation is taking place at the active sediment-water interface, a vertical sequence of sediments is formed which reflects, in an orderly fashion, from deepest at the base, to shallowest at the top, the progressive changes in texture, fabric and sedimentary structures resulting from the progressive changes in processes found along this interface from shallow to deep water (Fig. 3). Each sedimentary environment then, can be characterized by a unique vertical sequence of sediment textures, fabrics and sedimentary structures. It is this unique suite of characteristics that is commonly used for the identification of depositional environments in ancient rock sequences, and most importantly, is used to predict the presence and detailed distribution of the most porous (best sorted, coarsest) potential reservoir facies (Fig. 3). In a regional setting, the recognition of distinct sedimentary environments and knowledge of logical lateral relationships is the keystone for prediction of the lateral extension or even presence of potential reservoir facies.