Three organic reactions which affect individual compounds present in most organic-rich sedimentary rocks have been identified—configurational isomerization and aromatization of steroid hydrocarbons, and configurational isomerization of hopanes. The extents to which these reactions have occurred can be assessed by gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of the organic extracts of the sediment samples; they provide sensitive indicators of thermal maturation. When combined with the model of sedimentary basin formation by extension of the lithosphere, this molecular approach to the maturation of organic material can be used to constrain the temperature-time histories of sedimentary sequences. This temperature history may be used to integrate the relevant Arrhenius’ and rate equations governing the reaction rates. Each rate equation has three constants—the activation energy, frequency factor and the ratio of forward reaction to backward reaction. These have been estimated using analyses of samples whose temperature-time history is well constrained. The resulting estimates can then be used to reconstruct the temperature-time histories of other samples from organic geochemical data, e.g. calculation of the amount and timing of uplift.

Intrastratal solution of detrital heavy minerals in North Sea Tertiary sandstones takes place in two different diagenetic settings, deep burial and acidic weathering. These are characterized by different orders of mineral stability: apatite, chloritoid, garnet, sphene and spinel are less stable in acidic weathering than in deep burial, whereas the reverse is true for andalusite, kyanite and sillimanite. Heavy-mineral dissolution patterns, therefore, do not follow one single order of stability but several, depending on the diagenetic environment in which the dissolution occurs. It seems from this that the relative order of stability for detrital heavy minerals is controlled by the chemistry of the interstitial waters, whereas the limits of persistence depend on pore-fluid temperature, rate of water throughput, and geological age. Because different diagenetic environments lead to differing orders of mineral stability, it may prove possible to elucidate certain aspects of the diagenetic history of a sandstone by heavy-mineral dissolution patterns.

Continuous nodular limestone beds in north-west European shale sequences developed during early diagenesis via anaerobic, bacterial catabolysis of organic matter which yielded both carbonate and sulphide. The high carbonate content of the nodular limestones (50–90%) demonstrates that they developed in the upper tens of metres of the sediment column. In addition, each of the nodular limestones displays a centrifugal decrease in carbonate, indicating that growth was synchronous with compaction of the host ooze. The chemistry of the carbonate changed with time, becoming more rich in magnesium and iron and reflecting a progressive change in the porewater chemistry from its initially marine composition. The earliest precipitate was calcite containing < 1 mole% MgO; later precipitates contained several percent MgO and ultimately dolomite was precipitated. Similarly, iron content of the carbonate increased as precipitation continued and sulphate reduction, and thus pyrite production, declined. The early diagenetic cementation of many marine sandstones followed a pattern similar to that of nodular limestones and much of the carbonate was also derived from organic matter via bacterial oxidation. Thus, early diagenetic bacterial oxidation of organic matter may not only reduce the source potential of shales but also reduce the reservoir potential of associated sandstones, or those more distant which lie along compactional-fluid pathways.

The Corallian Beds beneath the Harwell Research Site, south Oxfordshire, are a highly variable sequence of sandstones, mudstones and limestones. The more permeable lithologies of the upper part of the sequence constitute an important local aquifer. Diagenetic and post-lithification processes have strongly influenced the porosity, permeability and mineralogy of the aquifer rocks. Calcite cementation reduced the porosity and permeability of the sandstones and limestones in the upper part of the aquifer. Cementation occurred in at least three stages ranging from early diagenesis to post-compactional diagenesis. Late-stage dissolution of calcite took place along fractures and bedding discontinuities, restoring the porosity and permeability of these sediments and developing secondary porosity and permeability where original clastic carbonate was removed. Invasion of the Corallian porewaters by waters charged with CO2 is postulated as a mechanism by which calcite was removed. At the base of the aquifer, early diagenetic dissolution of biogenic silica created a high secondary porosity. Silica was reprecipitated in the dissolution voids and matrix as opal-CT. Authigenic smectite and zeolites are also associated with opal-CT. These phases are believed to have precipitated from pore-waters rich in ions derived from the alteration of volcanogenic detritus associated with the Corallian sediments.

Authigenic clay mineral formation in fluvial sandstones and one brackish sandstone from the lower and middle Coal Measures of the East Midlands has been studied using XRD, optical microscopy and a variety of electron optical techniques. The sandstones are quartz-rich with minor feldspar and mica. The clay minerals present are kaolinite, chlorite and illite; they form 10–15% by volume of most of the sandstones. Both detrital and authigenic illite and chlorite are present but the kaolinite is entirely authigenic. Kaolinite and illite authi-genesis has been important in all the sandstones but authigenic chlorite is only abundant in the phyllosilicate-rich Silkstone sandstone. The controlling factors in the diagenesis of the sandstones were primary composition, environment of deposition, bed thickness, pore-fluid migration and composition, pressure and temperature. These interacting factors have been of varying importance in time and space in the diagenesis of the sandstones. Authigenic clay morphology appears to have been controlled by time and environment of formation, pore-fluid chemistry and, possibly, parent minerals.

Middle Jurassic sandstones contain a variety of authigenic clay materials. The origin and distribution of these are related to the influence of several factors, principally depositional pore-fluid chemistry, sandbody geometry and the migration of aggressive fluids. Pore-lining illite, pore-lining chlorite and pore-filling vermiform kaolinite in the Ravenscar Group mutually exclude each other because of depositional pore-water chemistry; seawater in the case of the illite, anoxic freshwater in the case of chlorite and oxygenated freshwater in the case of the kaolinite. Blocky pore-filling dickite occurs ubiquitously within the large connected sandbodies. Its origin may be related to the migration of aggressive fluids and its distribution to depositional sandbody geometry. Mixed-layer chlorite-vermiculite also occurs, and is believed to have formed from chlorite during Recent weathering. Similar patterns occur in Ninian Field Brent Group sandstones, although the situation is more complicated (in these sandstones the kandite subgroup minerals are undifferentiated in this paper). Here too, pore-lining illite occurs in marine sandstones and pore-filling vermiform kandites in non-marine sandstones. However, vermiform kandites also occur in the marine sandstones, perhaps due to freshwater-table development following progradation. The more blocky kandites occur in large connected sandbodies. Finally, a second phase of illitization occurs, postdating blocky kandites, perhaps caused by alkaline formation waters. The occurrence of chlorite in the Broom Formation is anomalous and its possible origin is discussed.

The Etive Formation of the Middle Jurassic Brent Group in part of the Northern North Sea comprises dominantly clean, fine- to medium-grained sands, deposited as part of a barrier-bar complex. The overlying Ness Formation was deposited on supra- or intertidal fiats, and comprises silty channel sands with silts, muds and thin coals. The sands of both Formations are mainly quartz-rich, with up to 12% by volume of feldspar, and variable proportions of clayey matrix. Early carbonate cementation preceded a phase of quartz overgrowth, which continued during burial. Later dissolution of unstable grains, dominantly feldspars, was followed by precipitation of pore-filling kaolinite and minor late-stage mineral phases. Better permeability of the Ness sands (up to 500 mD) relative to the Etive (mostly <10 mD) is mainly due to the effects of diagenesis on different lithofacies. Silty sands escaped intense quartz cementation and were thus more affected by acid groundwaters which improved permeability.

The extent of diagenesis in Lower Jurassic shoreline sandstones of the Beatrice oilfield was controlled primarily by their detrital clay content. Sandstones rich in detrital clay had low depositional permeabilities; these show preservation of detrital feldspars to the present day and have no extensive diagenetic quartz overgrowths. Sandstones poor in detrital clay had high permeabilities and show large quartz overgrowths as part of a normal sub-arkosic diagenetic sequence. Such quartz occurs preferentially below, but not above, impermeable mudstones. These low- and high-permeability features suggest that pore-fluid flow was important during diagenesis. Fluid inclusions trapped in diagenetic quartz overgrowths formed between 68° and 94°C. This silica was probably supplied in solution from the temperature-driven illitization of smectitic clays surrounding these sandstones deeper in the basin. Fluid volumes from clay dewatering, from mechanical compaction, or from influx of overlying seawater were too small to transport diagenetic silica volumes. Silica-rich fluids were probably transported up-dip by convective cells within the sandstones and authigenic quartz precipitated as these fluids cooled. This episode of quartz diagenesis could have been completed within 1·6 × 106 yr if fluid velocities were 3·1 m/yr. Similar convective fluid flows could have transported the fluids responsible for secondary porosity development and the hydrocarbons expelled from mudstones later in the basin burial history.

The Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group comprises a complex of continental red beds deposited by a major fluvial system flowing dominantly down a northerly inclined palaeoslope. Sedimentation took place in several distinct, tectonically active basins with varying maximum burial depths, ranging from shallow (<1 km) to deep (>3 km). Despite proximal to distal variations in stream type, a distinct suite of early diagenetic events can be recognized throughout all the depositional basins, which is related to the depositional environment. These events are best preserved in those basins with shallow burial histories, and show many similarities to the processes recorded from modern red beds of the Sonoran Desert, Baja California, although a more advanced grade of diagenesis has been reached in the Sherwood Sandstone. On the margins of the Irish Sea Basin in Cumbria, where burial was shallow, these early diagenetic textures are well preserved. The detrital grains underwent changes aimed at reaching equilibrium with the near-surface chemical environment. Unstable silicates were dissolved or replaced and the released ions were capable of precipitating authigenic phases, typically mixed-layer illite-smectite, K-feldspar, non-ferroan carbonates and hematite. Lateral variations in the early diagnetic assemblages reflect chemical and spatiotemporal changes ofinterbasin depositional and diagenetic environments. Deeply buried equivalents in the Irish Sea reached a maximum burial depth in excess of 3 km towards the end of the Mesozoic. Superimposed on the early diagenetic fabric are a series of depth-related changes. In the absence of early cements, compaction reduced porosity to low levels. Mixed-layer illite-smectites were converted to highly crystalline illites with low Fe and Mg contents. Early framework-preserving non-ferroan carbonates were extensively dissolved, generating widespread secondary porosity. Late pore-filling carbonate cements comprise ferroan dolomites and ankerites with compositions up to Ca(Ca0·02Mg0·43Fe0·53Mn0·02). Following late Mesozoic burial, inversion of the Triassic basins resulted in the re-exposure of basin margin sequences and shallow burial basins. Modern groundwaters are typically very dilute, with essentially neutral pH, and are capable of dissolving carbonate, sulphate and halite cements. In the Wessex Basin, however, the Triassic sandstones of the South Devon aquifer have been extensively modified by the percolation of post-inversion acidic groundwaters. These low-pH waters have resulted in the in situ breakdown of feldspar to produce abundant authigenic kandite, widespread dissolution of carbonate cements and removal of early-formed iron oxide cements. In contrast, the concealed, deeply buried eastern margin of the Wessex Basin exhibits a diagenetic evolution resultant of deep burial and has no development of authigenic kandite.

Petrological studies of the Sherwood Sandstone of the Marchwood Borehole show that the formation is made up of two units of differing primary lithological character: a lower unit with lithic sandstone and conglomerate, and an upper unit with arkosic sandstone. A combination of compaction and calcite cementation (early and late) has severely reduced porosity and permeability in the lower unit. In the upper unit compaction is again important, but several beds have largely escaped cementation, and their primary porosity has been enhanced by leaching of feldspars. The secondary porosity reaches 7% in some samples. Oxygen and carbon isotope data for the early (calcrete) cements indicate isotopic equilibrium with typical freshwater compositions. The later cements yield more variable values, indicating precipitation under a wider range of conditions.

Volcaniclastics have not as yet been considered prime hydrocarbon exploration targets. This is because they contain a high proportion of mechanically and mineralogically unstable components which generally cause a faster deterioration in reservoir quality upon burial than is found in siliciclastics. Also, their complex mineralogical composition makes the burial-related diagenesis more difficult to understand. However, under favourable circumstances—such as devitrification at shallow depth, leaching of unstable particles, fracturing, or reworking—volcaniclastics may act as good reservoir rocks. Both favourable and unfavourable case histories are discussed.

Analytical transmission electron microscopy was applied to some authigenic chlorites occurring as grain coatings in sandstones. Compositional variation proved to be relatively slight: all were magnesian chamosites. The coating chlorites were often intimately mixed with extremely fine-grained (0·01–0·2 µm) hematite but analytical ‘contamination’ was avoided because of the very high resolution of both observation (spot location) and analysis. One example of a water-sensitive (‘swelling chlorite’) coating was also studied. This proved to have a very much more variable composition even within a single section. The coating appeared to include both chloritic and vermiculitic components. The effect of this on structural formulae is discussed and a model proposed in which the ‘talc’ layer may be common to both components.

Interpretation of downhole wireline logs is generally a major source of information used to build up a picture of the quality and distribution of reservoir rocks. Logging tools respond to a number of variables and comparison of a suite of different logs is usually required to isolate and identify the response due to a single factor, e.g. porosity or clay content. A new tool, the litho-density tool (LDT), has been used along with conventional logging tools in a mid-Jurassic sand/shale sequence. The LDT simultaneously measures Pe (effective photoelectric cross-section) and ρa (apparent bulk density). Pe is a function of atomic number which in turn reflects lithology or mineral composition. By using cross-plots derived from the LDT and other logs, patterns of mineral abundance are indicated.