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Oil migration makes the difference: regional distribution of carbonate cement ¹³C in northern North Sea Tertiary sandstones

C. I. MACAULAY^1,*,, A. E. FALLICK¹, R. S. HASZELDINE² and G. E. McAULAY³

¹ Isotope Geosciences Unit, Scottish Universities Research & Reactor Centre, East Kilbride G75 0QF, ² Department of Geology & Geophysics, Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JW, and ³ Department of Geology & Applied Geology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK

^* E-mail: calum.macaulay{at}glg.ed.ac.uk

(Received 29 April 1998; revised 11 February 1999)

Carbonate cements in Tertiary reservoir sandstones from the northern North Sea have distinctive carbon isotopic compositions (¹³C). Oil migration up faults from deeper structures and biodegradation of oil pools are factors of particular importance in influencing the ¹³C of carbonate cements in these sandstones. As a result, ¹³C can be used as an exploration guide to locating the positions of vertical leakoff points from the Jurassic source rocks. The histogram distribution of ¹³C in these carbonate cements is trimodal, with peaks at around –26, –3 and +12 (ranges –22 to –30, +2 to –10 and +8 to +18, respectively). Bacterial processes played major roles in determining this distribution, with oxidative biodegradation of oil resulting in carbonate cements with very negative compositions and bacterial fermentation resulting in the positive ¹³C cements. ¹³C distribution patterns may be used to differentiate Tertiary reservoir sandstones from Jurassic in the northern North Sea, and these regional carbonate cement ¹³C datasets allow geologically useful inferences to be drawn from ¹³C data from new sample locations.

KEYWORDS: carbonate cements, carbon isotopes, oilfields, diagenesis

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