Dr. Fiona Whitaker (University of Bristol)
Fault-related diagenesis can substantially impact reservoir quality in carbonate systems. Although diagenetic products can be characterised at outcrop and in the subsurface, direct observation of diagenetic process in faulted systems remains challenging, particularly in marine settings. Important uncertainties remain, for example about the source of sufficient volumes of Mg-rich fluids to account for proposed volumes of “hydrothermal” dolomites, and how such dolomitisation relates to other hydrothermal diagenetic processes. In this seminar I will discuss insights from process-based modelling which constrain timings, circulation patterns and origins of fluids, and thereby both question the prevailing conceptual model for hydrothermal dolomitisation and propose a potential alternative.