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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 66 (1982)

Issue: 9. (September)

First Page: 1445

Last Page: 1445

Title: Brines, Clay Minerals, and Equilibria: Previous HitPredictingNext Hit Diagenetic History and Previous HitReservoirNext Hit Quality in Oligocene Frio Formation of Texas: ABSTRACT

Author(s): W. R. Kaiser, R. L. Bassett, R. A. Morton

Article Type: Meeting abstract

Abstract:

Previous HitSandstoneNext Hit reservoirs of good quality, displaying abundant deep secondary Previous HitporosityNext Hit, exist on the upper Texas coast, whereas secondary Previous HitporosityNext Hit and permeability in sandstones of the lower coast are occluded by authigenic ferroan calcite and chlorite. This difference in regional Previous HitreservoirNext Hit quality is controlled by bulk mineralogy, temperature, pressure, and pore-fluid chemistry. Concentrations and activities of major species show depth dependent trends that correspond to pore pressure gradients and associated thermal gradients. Salinities decrease near the base of hydropressure, but increase at intermediate pressure gradients between 0.465 and 0.7 psi/ft (10.5 and 15.8 kPa/m). At higher pressure gradients salinities decrease with depth. The Ca/Na ratio is lowest at top of geo ressure. Predictions from solution-mineral equilibria using approximately 130 analyses of Frio brines add new insight on relative mineral stabilities and in-situ pH, and are consistent with the diagenetic sequence developed from petrographic data. Kaolinite is stable in geopressured waters relative to Ca-montmorillonite and plagioclase; it is abundant on the upper coast as a late stage cement. Lower temperature and in-situ pH (high PCO2) explain the general absence of chlorite on the upper coast; its formation on the lower coast is promoted by higher temperature, a mineralogy rich in volcanic and carbonate detritus, and inferred higher pH. The key to Previous HitpredictingNext Hit Previous HitreservoirNext Hit quality at depth is the deep hydropressured waters. Activity indices are indicators of Previous HitreservoirTop quality. Waters of the lower coast plot more deeply into the stability field of chlorite than do those of the upper coast.

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