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Geochemical Characterization of Subsurface Upper Ordovician Glaciogenic Deposits: Implications for Provenance, Tectonic Setting, and Depositional Environments

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Abstract

Ancient glaciogenic deposits contain significant hydrocarbon reservoirs in the Middle East and North Africa. For instance, the Lower Paleozoic glaciogenic deposits of Saudi Arabia are a potential unconventional gas reservoir in the Rub’ al Khali Basin. In addition, they contain significant reservoir intervals in other basins. Although the sedimentological and stratigraphical characteristics of these glaciogenic deposits are fairly well understood, their provenance, tectonic setting, and the impact of weathering on the subsurface rocks of these deposits are not well constrained. Therefore, this study used geochemical data to characterize the depositional environments and investigate the provenance and tectonic setting of Hirnantian glaciogenic deposits. Four facies associations (FAs)—namely, fluvial (FA1), glaciolacustrine (FA2), subglacial (FA3) and glaciofluvial (FA4)—from the Upper Ordovician Sarah Formation were selected for this study. It was found that the maturity of the FA1 and FA4 sediments (average SiO2/Al2O3 > 27.1 ± 5.4) was higher than that of FA2 and FA3 (average SiO2/Al2O3 < 14 ± 1.8). Furthermore, FA1 and FA4 showed similar geochemical patterns (SiO2 > 90%), although the latter was deposited in a more proximal setting than the former, as interpreted from core samples. In contrast, FA2 and FA3 contain more geochemical variations and greater chemical weathering impacts than FA1 and FA4, as indicated by several chemical indices (e.g., Parker’s Weathering Index). The results also indicated that all the studied FAs were deposited in a passive margin and were most probably derived from continental felsic rocks of the Arabian Shield. These findings are not only crucial in predicting the reservoir quality of such deposits, but also contribute to the understanding of the geochemical distributions, associations, affinities and variabilities in Upper Ordovician glaciogenic deposits, and the extent of these deposits on the Arabian Plate, associated with a large ice sheet in northern Gondwana.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals for supporting research facilities and funds (SF19031) and the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology for providing funding as part of the National Science, Technology, and Technology Innovation Plan (NSTIP Project # 14-OIL468-04). The authors would also like to thank the Ministry of Energy, Saudi Arabia, for providing the core samples and giving permission to publish the outcomes of this study. The authors also thank Dr. Neil Craigie and Dr. John Armstrong-Altrin for their efforts during the first stage of this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Integrative Petroleum Research, College of Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Building 15, Dhahran, 31261, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Abdullah M. Alqubalee & Lameed O. Babalola

  2. Geosciences Department, College of Petroleum Engineering and Geosciences, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Building 76, Dhahran, 31261, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Osman M. Abdullatif & Hassan A. Eltom

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  1. Abdullah M. Alqubalee
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  2. Lameed O. Babalola
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  3. Osman M. Abdullatif
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  4. Hassan A. Eltom
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Abdullah M. Alqubalee or Lameed O. Babalola.

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Alqubalee, A.M., Babalola, L.O., Abdullatif, O.M. et al. Geochemical Characterization of Subsurface Upper Ordovician Glaciogenic Deposits: Implications for Provenance, Tectonic Setting, and Depositional Environments. Arab J Sci Eng 47, 7273–7291 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-06066-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-06066-9

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