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Recrystallization of Dolomite with Time

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Carbonate Microfabrics

Part of the book series: Frontiers in Sedimentary Geology ((SEDIMENTARY))

Summary

The origin of massive ancient dolomites remains a controversy, in part reflecting that the fabrics and geochemistry of ancient dolomites differ significantly from those modern dolomites proposed as analogs for their genesis. Application of modern analogs to the origin of ancient dolomites all too often presumes that present-day fabrics and chemistries record conditions prevailing at the time of precipitation. Petrographic (plane-light and cathodoluminescent) and geochemical data, however, suggest that many ancient dolomites originated as metastable early stage phases, and have undergone multiple episodes of textural and geochemical evolution via dissolutionreprecipitation and mineral stabilization. Because of diagenetic overprinting, geochemical signatures of ancient dolomites must be interpreted in the context of having evolved through time. Present-day fabrics and geochemistry of most ancient dolomites likely record multiple events of dolomitization and stabilization; therefore, there cannot be a single-stage modern analog to explain dolomite genesis based on fabrics and geochemistry of these ancient dolomites.

Massive dolomites of the Lower Ordovician System (Ellenburger Group, west Texas; Arbuckle Group, southern Oklahoma; and Knox Group, southern and central Appalachians) are interpreted to have formed over an extended amount of time, based on petrographic and geochemical data that document replacement of earlier generations of dolomite by multiple later dolomite generations. Similar textural and geochemical characteristics of these regionally extensive dolomites are interpreted to illustrate progressive recrystallization through time and concomitant evolution of the geochemical signatures. We suggest that similar initial characteristics of these dolomites (i.e., were metastable) allowed them to evolve in a similar manner throughout their burial histories. Petrographic and geochemical evidence from both modern and ancient dolomites, as documented in the literature, implies that recrystallization of dolomite over time is not uncommon.

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Authors
  1. Julie A. Kupecz
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  2. Isabel P. Montanez
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  3. Guoqiu Gao
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, 77843-3146, College Station, TX, USA

    Richard Rezak (Professor Emeritus) (Professor Emeritus)

  2. Seafloor Geosciences Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, 39529, MS, USA

    Dawn L. Lavoie

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

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Kupecz, J.A., Montanez, I.P., Gao, G. (1993). Recrystallization of Dolomite with Time. In: Rezak, R., Lavoie, D.L. (eds) Carbonate Microfabrics. Frontiers in Sedimentary Geology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-9421-1_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-9421-1_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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