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Hypogene and supergene alteration of the Late Palaeozoic Ratburi Limestone during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic (Thailand, Surat Thani Province). Implications for the concentration of mineral commodities and hydrocarbons

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Abstract

An interdisciplinary study of the Upper Carboniferous to Middle Permian Ratburi Group, Peninsular Thailand, is presented. The investigation involved sedimentary petrography, inorganic geochemistry, Sr, C, O isotope analyses, micropalaeontology as well as radio-carbon age dating. Emphasis was placed on the post-depositional evolution of the Ratburi Limestone in the Surat Thani Province. The Holocene chemical residues and the various calcite and dolomite minerals which have formed since the Late Palaeozoic in the Ratburi Limestone are the product of a complex, multistage alteration which is called supergene and hypogene karstifications, respectively. Sedimentation took place in a shelf environment with some reefs evolving during the late Murgabian at the shelf margin. There was no pre-concentration of elements, except for Ca and F during sedimentation. Diagenetic neomorphism and cementation under marine and freshwater conditions caused the Ratburi Limestone to convert into a marble-like rock. Fabric-selective dolomitization is of local scale and has impacted only on part of the Ratburi Limestone during the Lower to Upper Permian. A significant enhancement of pore space and better conduits were generated during the Late Cretaceous epithermal alteration. The most favorable conditions for the accumulation of metals were provided during the high-temperature stage of epithermal alteration when a low-metal concentration with As, Zn, Sb, U, Co and Pb existed. Unlike the other elements, Sb was subject to a multiphase concentration, giving rise to a considerable Sb deposit in the region. The most recent stage of karstification produced numerous caves, dripstones, tufa terraces and encrustations around brine pools in the study area. This alteration originated from per descensum and per ascensum processes which may be traced back to 15,000 years before present. The alteration of the Ratburi Limestone may be subdivided into two parts. The prograde post-depositional alteration, beginning with diagenesis, reached its temperature climax during epithermal subsurface alteration I. The retrograde branch of alteration lasted until the most recent times. The initial stages deposition and diagenesis took place under more or less closed-system conditions relative to the succeeding stages of the prograde alteration which saw the strongest influx of metal-bearing brine during the epithermal stage I. The retrograde branch of alteration is “element-conservative”.

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Acknowledgements

The senior author is indebted to the staff members of the Thai-German Cooperation Project, in particular to the leader A. Margane, who provided logistical support during the stay in Thailand. We like to extend our thanks also to our colleagues and the technical staff members from the Department of Mineral Resources who made our study in Thailand so effective through their wilfulness and continuous assistance. Chemical analyses have been performed in the chemical labs of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Hannover, under the conductance of U. Siewers and H. Wehner. Radiocarbon dating was performed by A. Techmer (Leibnitz Institute for Applied Geosciencesces, Hannover, Germany). Financial support by the Ministry of Development and Technical Cooperation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Thai-German Cooperation Project is kindly acknowledged. We acknowledge with thanks the helpful comments on a first draft by J. Lonnee and P. Wright who reviewed the paper for the International Journal of Earth Sciences (Geologische Rundschau) and the editorial handling by W.-C. Dullo and H.G. Machel.

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  1. Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, P.O. Box 510163, 30631, Hannover, Germany

    H. G. Dill & F. Henjes-Kunst

  2. Geological-Palaeontological Department, University Kiel, Olshausenstraße 40-60, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    R. Botz

  3. Geological Survey of Lower Saxony, P.O. Box 510163, 30631, Hannover, Germany

    F. W. Luppold

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  1. H. G. Dill
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Dill, H.G., Botz, R., Luppold, F.W. et al. Hypogene and supergene alteration of the Late Palaeozoic Ratburi Limestone during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic (Thailand, Surat Thani Province). Implications for the concentration of mineral commodities and hydrocarbons. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 94, 24–46 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-004-0439-y

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