NON MARINE CARBONATES: MICROBIALLY MEDIATED VS.

ABIOTIC FABRICS AND POROSITY

Giovanna Della Porta1, Federica Barilaro1 & Enrico Capezzuoli2
1 Milan University, Italy; 2 Siena University, Earth Sciences Department, Siena, Italy

Project funded by BG Group, Repsol & Statoil

A wide spectrum of non-marine carbonate buildups: are there patterns for fabrics, porosity and geometry?

Non-marine carbonate buildups are characterized by a wide range of geobody types, fabrics and flow unit architectures and distributions with complex depositional and secondary pore systems. Non marine carbonate precipitation can originate in a wide spectrum of depositional settings:

a) subaqueous standing-water endorheic lacustrine settings (FRESHWATER, ALKALINE, SALINE LAKES) b) sublacustrine mixing of lake water and groundwater and/or hydrothermal water in rift settings

b) subaerial flowing-water systems : freshwater ambient temperature fluvial systems (TUFA) and hydrothermal (> 20C) vents (TRAVERTINE).

Abiotic vs. biologically mediated precipitation processes

Non marine carbonate precipitation triggered by:
a) b) c)

ABIOTIC PRECIPITATION: due to CO2 degassing, evaporation, cooling, water masses mixing. BIOLOGICALLY CONTROLLED PRECIPITATION: by organisms secreting a carbonate skeleton. MICROBIALLY MEDIATED PRECIPITATION (ORGANOMINERALIZATION s.l. cf. Dupraz et al. 2009) in association with photosynthetic cyanobacteria , heterotrophic bacteria and their EPS (extracellular polymeric substances): Biologically induced: precipitation by-product of microbial metabolism (photosynthesis, sulphate reduction); Biologically influenced: microbial biofilms act as passive substrate for nucleation of carbonate minerals).

Ostracod Packstone, Green River Fm., Utah, Eocene (FoV 5.5 mm)

Great Salt Lake clotted peloidal micrite

Great Salt Lake, Utah present-day bioherms (FoV 4.5 mm)

Burne and Moore (1987); Lowenstam and Weiner (1989)

Great Salt Lake, present-day EPS and aragonite in bioherms

Key points
1. Geometry: a) lake buildups dms to several ms thick, continuous belts 100s m long subparallel to shorelines; b) sub-lacustrine groundwater/hot springs 10s m isolated mounds kms apart; c) travertine and tufa form wedges, mounds, linear structures 10s-100m in size . d) Spatial distribution controlled by substrate stability, water depth, spring location, faults acting as fluid conduits, antecedent topography. 2. Fabric types: proposed classification

3. So different, yet so similar fabric types: lack of fabric types clearly diagnostic of specific settings and relative geometry (clotted peloidal micrite boundstone typical of microbialites from marine to non marine). Coated gas bubbles and rafts predominate in settings with influence of hydrothermal water; crystal fans occur in travertine, lake spring mounds and river tufa.
4. Porosity: wide range of primary porosity linked to fabric types, microporosity and authigenic Mg silicate. 5. A continuum of processes between abiotic and microbially mediated precipitation: significant abiotic for carbonate supersaturation; possible biologically influenced precipitation but microbial biofilms abundant in such extreme environments (alkaline, hypersaline, hydrothermal water) are often acting as substrate for carbonate precipitation or are entombed in abiotic crystal precipitates.

Non marine carbonate selected case studies

Late Pleistocene freshwater mildly alkaline lake, mounds, Pyramid Lake, Nevada Holocene hypersaline lake microbial bioherms, Great Salt Lake, Utah Eocene schizohaline lake stromatolite, Green River Fm., Utah & Wyoming

Lake shoreline buildups from a) Holocene hypersaline Great Salt Lake, b) freshwater Miocene Ries Crater, c) schizohaline Eocene Green River Fm. Sublacustrine spring groundwater and/or hydrothermal water - mixing with lake water from upper Pleistocene-Holocene a) freshwater slightly alkaline Pyramid Lake, b) alkaline Mono Lake. Hydrothermal travertine rift lake (Miocene, Tuscany, Central Italy). Subaerial flowing-water systems : a) freshwater ambient temperature fluvial systems (tufa from Tuscany and Lombardy, Italy), and b) hydrothermal (38-50C) travertine, Tuscany, Central Italy).

Pleistocene-Holocene alkaline lake pinnacles, Mono Lake, California

200 km

Miocene freshwater lake algal bioherms, Ries Crater, South Germany Fluvial freshwater tufa, Holocene, Lombardy Pleistocene hot-spring travertine Miocene rift lake with hydrothermal water, Tuscany, Central Italy Fluvial tufa

200 km

Google map images http://maps.google.com/

Lacustrine carbonate buildups: depositional setting and geometry

1 Bioherms, mounds and cones at shallow lake shorelines (substrate, depth, water energy control) 2 Mounds and pinnacles at mixing of lake water with sublacustrine hydrothermal and/or groundwater springs (fault, hydrology and climate control) 3 Rift lakes with mixed freshwater and hydrothermal water forming carbonate wedges in extensional half-graben (fault and climate control)

HCO3Ca2+
Not to scale

T > 20C

Lake selected case studies depositional setting

E
carbonate microbial bioherms

Holocene Great Salt ooidal rippled Lake, Eocene Green River sands Fm., Miocene Ries Crater
0.5 m
GSL Promontory Point

Holocene-upper Pleistocene Pyramid and Mono Lake spring mounds at mixing with lake water

2m
Pyramid Lake

2m
Mono Lake

HCO3-

Ca2+
Green River Fm. WY Ries Crater Germany Travertine rift lake (Miocene, Tuscany)

T > 20C

Not to scale

1.5 m

2 m

Miocene (Tuscany) travertine rift lake with hydrothermal water issuing from faults and mixing with freshwater peloidal packstone and detrital 2m siliciclastics (shales, breccias

Lacustrine carbonate buildups: depositional geometry and spatial distribution

1 Continuous belts parallel to shorelines for 100s m 2 Isolated m to 10s m buildups with km-scale spacing at groundwater springs and faults 3 Wedge-shaped bedded strata with alternating carbonate and siliciclastics

HCO3Ca2+ T > 20C

In terms of potential reservoir architecture: 1. Lake shoreline dms to m-thick microbial bioherms can cluster forming continuous belts 100s1000s m in lateral extension; 2. Sublacustrine spring mounds 1 m to 10s m isolated; location controlled by position of groundwater springs, seepage through shoreline sands and faults. 3. Rift-lake wedge-shaped sedimentary units include bedded microbialites, hot-spring travertinelike beds, marls and siliciclastics.
Not to scale

Subaerial carbonate buildups: depositional environment and geometry of flowing freshwater and hydrothermal water
4 Subaerial hydrothermal springs 5 freshwater streams and rivers both produce wedge-shaped and mound geometries dms to several 10s m in thickness and 100s m in size.

Hydrothermal travertine location controlled by extensional faults.

Not to scale Partly redrafted after Pentecost (1995)

Hydrothermal travertine terraced slope geometry

Present-day Bagni di Saturnia, Southern Tuscany, Central Italy Hydrothermal vent , water H2S rich, T 37 Meter-scale wide pools, 0.1-1.5 m deep with cm-size pisoids; pool rims and walls from dm to 1 m high.

0.5 m

Pleistocene travertine progradational terraced slope system (Saturnia Quarry)

0 W . 5 m

S 40 cm

Classification of non marine carbonate fabrics

Carbonate fabrics alternate at dm- to mm-scale forming complex buildups

Great Salt Lake laminated micritic boundstone Laminated stromatolitic boundstone

Clotted peloidal micrite boundstone

3 cm Eocene GRF Encrusted caddisfly larvae Travertine cm-scale fabric alternation

pisoids

Pyramid Lake dm-thick dendrites and ikaite forming spherical buildups

1 2 40 cm

rafts Clotted peloidal dendrites (shrubs)

3 4

Pyramid Lake dendrites

1.5 cm

Clotted peloidal micrite/microsparite boundstone with mm- to cm-size framework porosity and microporosity

1 mm Great Salt Lake coatings on boulders

2 mm

Miocene Ries Crater bioherms

Pyramid Lake spring mound

1.5 mm Miocene travertine rift lake Tuscany Present-day travertine Tuscany

1.2 mm Pleistocene river tufa Tuscany

Microporosity in micrite/microsparite precipitates associated with microbial biofilms

Great Salt Lake aragonite micrite and needles in microbial biofilm EPS

Eocene Green River Fm. Calcite micrite and dolomite

Miocene Ries Crater clotted micrite

Pyramid Lake spring mound clotted micrite in organic substrate and aragonite needlle cement

Present-day hydrothermal travertine clotted micrite in microbial EPS

Pleistocene river tufa triangular calcite surrounded by organic biofilm

Micrite/microsparite encrusted biota boundstone: green algae, bryophytes, insect larvae, plants with intraparticle and biomoldic porosity

2 mm

Miocene Ries Crater Cladophorites green algae

Eocene Green River Fm. caddis fly larvae

Pyramid Lake spring mound algae?

1.2 mm

Hydrothermal travertine coated reed

River tufa encrusted charophyte stems

River tufa coated bryophytes (mosses)

Clotted peloidal micrite dendrite boundstone with mm- to cm- size inter-dendrite porosity
laminated

dendritic
1 cm

2 mm

7 mm

Pyramid lake spring mound

Pyramid lake spring mound

Pyramid lake spring mound

0.2 mm

Mono lake spring pinnacle Mn-Fe dendrite

Hydrothermal travertine shrubs (cf. Chafetz and Folk 1984)

River tufa coated cyanobacteria filaments

Crystalline dendrite boundstone with cm- to mm-size inter-dendrite porosity lack in shoreline lake bioherms

2 mm

Pyramid spring mound calcite pseudomorphs after ikaite

Mono lake spring mound calcite pseudomorphs after ikaite Meteoric blocky sparite cement

Miocene travertine rift lake Tuscany

0.5 mm

3.5 mm

Pleistocene hydrothermal travertine (feather dendrites)

Pleistocene hydrothermal travertine (feather dendrites)

Pleistocene hydrothermal travertine (feather dendrites)

Laminated micritic/microsparitic boundstone (stromatolites) from tight to inter-laminae porosity

7 mm

1 mm Holocene Walker Lake stromatolites Miocene Ries Crater stromatolitic laminae

Eocene Green River Fm. (Wy) stromatolites

Great Salt Lake micritic laminae on crystalline spherulitic crusts

Pleistocene travertine micrite laminae

Miocene rift lake Tuscany micritic laminae alternating with peloidal grainstone

Crystalline fan laminated boundstone alternating with micritic laminae stromatolites from tight crystalline crusts to inter-fan porosity

3.5 mm

Eocene Green River Fm. (Wy) crystal fan stromatolites

Pyramid Lake spring mound crystal fan crusts

River tufa crystal fan alternating with micrite crusts

1.5 mm

Eocene Green River Fm. (Wy) crystal fan stromatolites

Pyramid Lake spring mound crystal fan crusts

River tufa crystal fan alternating with micrite crusts

Crystalline fan dendrite boundstone from travertine and rift lake from tight crystalline crusts to inter-fan porosity

1 mm Pleistocene travertine smooth slope

1 mm Pleistocene travertine smooth slope

1 mm

Pleistocene travertine smooth slope

Meteoric blocky sparite cement

1 mm Miocene travertine rift lake Tuscany Miocene travertine rift lake Tuscany Miocene travertine rift lake Tuscany

Crystalline fan dendrite boundstone from spring mounds with mm-size inter-dendrite porosity

2 mm

1.7 mm

1 mm
Upper Pleistocene Pyramid Lake crystalline fan

Upper Pleistocene Pyramid Lake fan dendrites

Upper Pleistocene Pyramid Lake fan dendrites

Upper Pleistocene Pyramid Lake crystalline fan with filaments

Upper Pleistocene Pyramid Lake neomorphic crystalline fan

Upper Pleistocene Pyramid Lake neomorphic crystalline fan

Non skeletal grain grainstone, packstone with interparticle porosity

Great Salt Lake ooid and spherulitic sand around bioherms

Great Salt Lake ooid and spherulitic sand around bioherms

Great Salt Lake spherulitic intraclastic sand around bioherms

1 mm

Great Salt Lake radial and tangential aragonite ooids

Eocene Green River Fm. Radial and tangential ooid grainstone

Miocene rift lake Tuscany fecal pellet grainstone

Hydrothermal travertine pisoids and spherulite grainstone with interparticle porosity

1.2 mm

2.5 mm

Hydrothermal travertine pisoids with vadose cement (Tuscany)

Hydrothermal travertine spherulite and crystalline dendrite (Pleistocene Tuscany)

Present-day travertine with aragonite spherulites 10s of microns in size

Hydrothermal travertine spherulites (Ascoli, Central Italy)

Hydrothermal travertine spherulites (Ascoli, Central Italy)

Skeletal grainstone-rudstone with interparticle, intraparticle and secondary biomoldic porosity

1 mm

1 mm

Hydrothermal travertine coated ostracod grainstone Pleistocene Tuscany

Miocene Ries Crater peloidal packstone and gastropod biomold

3 mm

Eocene Green River Fm. Ostracod intraclast packstone/grainstone

Pyramid Lake gastropod rudstone beach deposit

Non carbonate authigenic clay minerals in lake bioherms and spring mounds

Great Salt Lake Mg silicate associated with bioherm spherulitic intraclast

Great Salt Lake Mg silicate associated with bioherm spherulitic intraclast

Mono Lake aragonite cement with Mg silicate

Mono Lake aragonite cement with Mg silicate

Mono Lake aragonite cement with Mg silicate and organic matter

Non marine carbonate fabrics: - what fabrics are microbially mediated? - what fabrics are diagnostic of a specific depositional setting?

The proposed classification of fabric types across the different non marine depositional settings shows the similarities within the wide variety. Almost ubiquitous presence of microbial biofilms and organic matter, which in some cases might act as substrate for nucleation possibly influencing fabric types, while in other cases just happened to be there and were entombed.

Microbially induced fabrics (clotted peloidal micrite) are not diagnostic of depositional settings and similar to marine microbialites. Crystalline dendrites (largely abiotic) are typical of settings with influence of hydrothermal water as well as carbonate rafts and coated gas bubbles. Crystalline fan crusts are present in hydrothermal travertine, sublacustrine spring mounds and river tufa

Carbonate precipitates associated with microbial biofilm EPS acting as substrate in lake bioherms and spring mounds

Great Salt Lake clotted peloidal micrite in microbial EPS

Great Salt Lake micrite precipitates surrounded by filaments and sub-micron size spheres

Great Salt Lake clotted micrite and aragonite needles in microbial EPS

Mono Lake micrite clots associated with microbial EPS

Pyramid Lake micrite and diatoms with EPS

Pyramid Lake micrite with EPS and micron size spherical structures

Entombed microbes in clotted micrite and crystalline fan dendrites in sublacustrine spring mounds and river tufa

Pyramid lake micrite fans with cyanobacteria? filaments

Pyramid lake micrite fans with cyanobacteria? filaments

Pyramid lake micrite fans with cyanobacteria? filaments

Pyramid lake cyanobacteria? Filaments in clotted micrite and microsparite

Pyramid lake cyanobacteria? Filaments in clotted micrite and microsparite

River tufa encrusted cyanobacteria filaments

Carbonate precipitates associated with microbial biofilm EPS acting as substrate in hydrothermal travertine and river tufa

Present-day travertine coated by organic biofilms with filaments

Present-day travertine with carbonate precipitated between EPS

Calcite crystals precipitated around organic filaments

Present-day calcite and aragonite associated with EPS

Present-day aragonite associated with EPS

River tufa organic matter and diatoms surrounding carbonate precipitates

Entombed microbes in laminated micrite boundstone from hydrothermal travertine, rift lake and river tufa

1 cm

Laminate boundstone present-day hydrothermal travertine Tuscany

Micrite laminae in recent travertine Tuscany

Micrite laminae with filamentous cyanobacteria in recent travertine Tuscany

2 mm

River tufa micrite laminae in oncoids

Present-day river tufa with cyanobacteria filaments

Miocene travertine rift lake Tuscany with filaments in micrite laminae

Entombed microbes in crystalline fan boundstone from hydrothermal travertine and river tufa

Present-day river tufa crystal fans

Present-day river tufa crystal fan with cyanobacteria filaments

Present-day river tufa crystal fan with cyanobacteria filaments

Present-day travertine crystal fans with cyanobacteria filaments

Present-day travertine crystal fans with cyanobacteria filaments

Present-day river tufa crystal fan with cyanobacteria filaments

Biologically induced fabrics: not diagnostic of depositional setting

Microbial boundstone Carboniferous platforms in Asturias (Della Porta et al. 2003)

Sublacustrine spring mound, upper Pleistocene Pyramid Lake dendrites (FoV 5.5 mm)

Ries Crater, Germany, Miocene, Cladophorites bioherms, (FoV 4.5 mm)

Pleistocene Saturnia , Tuscany, Central Italy (FoV 4.5 mm)

River tufa, Tuscany, Central Italy, Pleistocene (FoV 5.5 mm)

Clotted peloidal micrite dendrites typical of hydrothermal travertine pools..but not only
1 cm

Saturnia Pleistocene travertine, Central Italy

Rapolano travertine, Pleistocene, Central Italy (FoV 21 mm)

Bacterial shrubs sensu Chafetz and Guidry (1999) attributed to bacterial mediated precipitation (Chafetz & Folk 1984) or abiotic (Pentecost 1990) are typical of hydrothermal travertine pools but similar dendritic fabrics occur in intertidal supratidal marine stromatolites.
Lower Jurassic Djebel Bou Dahar carbonate platform (Morocco) intertidal stromatolites (FoV 5.5 mm)

Raft and coated gas bubble boundstone-rudstone with interparticle (connected) and intra-bubble (not connected) porosity: diagnostic features of hydrothermal travertine

7 mm Pleistocene Saturnia travertine rafts from pool

1 mm

1 mm

Pleistocene Saturnia travertine rafts from pool

Pleistocene Saturnia travertine rafts from pool

1 cm

1 mm Coated gas bubble hydrothermal travertine pool

Coated gas bubble produced by microbial activity hydrothermal travertine pools

Crystalline dendrite boundstone lack in shoreline lake bioherms, commonly precipitated from hydrothermal water Fan-shaped crystalline crusts occur also in lacustrine spring mounds and tufa

3.5 mm

1 mm Pleistocene hydrothermal travertine (feather dendrites)

Pleistocene hydrothermal travertine (feather dendrites)

Pleistocene travertine smooth slope

Miocene travertine rift lake Tuscany

Pyramid Lake spring mound crystal fan crusts

River tufa crystal fan alternating with micrite crusts

Conclusions
1. Geometry: a) lake shoreline microbial buildups: dms to several ms thick, continuous belts 100s m long sub-parallel to shorelines; b) sub-lacustrine groundwater/hot springs: 10s m isolated mounds, kms apart; c) travertine and tufa:wedges, mounds, linear structures, 10s-100m in size . d) Spatial distribution controlled by substrate stability, water depth, spring location, faults acting as fluid conduits, antecedent topography. 2. Fabric types: proposed classification 3. So different, yet so similar fabric types: lack of fabric types clearly diagnostic of specific settings and relative geometry. Clotted peloidal micrite boundstone typical of microbialites from marine to non marine. Coated gas bubbles and rafts seem exclusive of hydrothermal travertine. Crystalline dendrites predominate in hydrothermal settings. Crystal fans occur in travertine, lake spring mounds and river tufa. 4. Porosity: wide range of primary porosity linked to fabric types with mm- to cm- pores associated with microporosity and authigenic Mg silicate. 5. A continuum of processes between abiotic and microbially mediated precipitation: fundamental abiotic trigger due to necessary supersaturation of water with respect to carbonate minerals; possible biologically influenced precipitation but microbial biofilms abundant in such extreme environments (alkaline, hypersaline, hydrothermal water) are often acting as substrate for carbonate precipitation or are simply entombed in inorganically precipitated crystals.

Many thanks to:

the project sponsors BG Group, Repsol & Statoil

Paiute Tribe, Pyramid Lake California State Park, Mono Lake

Saturnia Travertine Quarry

References

BURNE, R.V., and MOORE, L.S., 1987, Microbialites: organosedimentary deposits of benthic microbial communities: Palaios, v. 2, p. 241-254. CHAFETZ, H.S., and FOLK, R.L., 1984, Travertines: depositional morphology and the bacterially constructed constituents ( carbonate precipitation, Italy, USA): Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 54, p. 289-316. CHAFETZ, H.S., and GUIDRY, S.A., 1999, Bacterial shrubs, crystal shrubs, and ray-crystal shrubs: bacterial vs. abiotic precipitation: Sedimentary Geology, v. 126, p. 57-74. DUPRAZ, C., REID, R.P., BRAISSANT, O., DECHO, A.W., NORMAN, R.S., and VISSCHER, P.T., 2009, Processes of carbonate precipitation in modern microbial mats: EarthScience Reviews, v. 96, p. 141. LOWENSTAM, H.A., 1981, Minerals formed by organisms: Science, v. 211, p. 11261131. PENTECOST, A., 1990, The formation of travertine shrubs: Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming: Geological Magazine, v. 127, p. 159. PENTECOST, A., 1995, The quaternary travertine deposits of Europe and Asia Minor: Quaternary Science Reviews, v. 14, p. 1005.