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Self-accelerating volumetric dolomite-for-calcite replacement: A possible mechanism for high-temperature dolomitization?

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Abstract

Quantitative calculations with the geochemical program PHREEQC© for the replacement of calcite by dolomite in brine solutions were performed under the condition that total mineral rock volume is conserved. These simulations, using brine solutions derived from the evaporation of two “end member” compositions for Phanerozoic seawater, indicate that calcium (Ca2+) molalities in solution do not increase exponentially, but instead exhibit monotonically decreasing rates of increase. Simulated rates for calcite dolomitization also decrease monotonically. This indicates that replacement of dolomite by calcite under a stricture of rock volume conservation does not cause a rapidly increasing rate of dolomitization in a self-accelerating manner, but rather is self-limiting. Preservation of sedimentary microfabrics in dolomitized limestones, although consistent with the recently proposed mechanism of dolomite-growth-driven pressure solution mechanism for volumetric dolomitization, is not definitive, as near-surface meteoric diagenesis of Pleistocene limestones causes similar preservation of microfabrics where aragonitic paleofauna and sediments have been replaced by calcite and dolomite in open fluid-rock systems.

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Funding

Research for this comment and response to reply was supported by the GEM Program of the Department of Natural Resources Canada. The reviews provided by two anonymous journal reviewers, as well as reviews of an early manuscript version by Jay Gregg and David Budd, were gratefully received.

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  1. Geological Survey of Canada (Calgary), 3303-33rd Street N.W., Calgary, AB, T2L 2A7, Canada

    David W. Morrow

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Correspondence to David W. Morrow.

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Morrow, D.W. Self-accelerating volumetric dolomite-for-calcite replacement: A possible mechanism for high-temperature dolomitization?. Carbonates Evaporites 35, 33 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13146-020-00565-w

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