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Environmental Geochemistry and Mineralogy: Application for Hydrocarbon Exploration and Ore...
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Environmental Geochemistry and Mineralogy: Application for Hydrocarbon Exploration and Ore Deposits

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2024) | Viewed by 2505

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Thomas Gentzis

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Guest Editor
Core Laboratories LP, 6316 Windfern Road, Houston, TX 77040, USA
Interests: organic petrology of unconventional rocks; trace element geochemistry; source rock analysis; thermal maturity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ahmed Mansour

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Guest Editor
Qiangtang Institute of Sedimentary Basin, School of Geoscience and Technology, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Interests: palynology; sedimentary geochemistry; paleoenvironment; elementa geochemistry and mineralogy; source rock evaluation; organic matter characterization; oil shales

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Combining interdisciplinary research work such as organic and inorganic geochemistry with bulk mineralogy, particularly relevant environmental geology and ore deposits, is paramount for reliable research results in depositional paleoenvironments, reservoir and source rock developments, and hydrocarbon exploration activities. This Special Issue can cover topics related to these aspects throughout the geologic history and related environmental perturbations and deposition of organic matter-rich black shale intervals during oceanic anoxic events. The approach used to contribute to this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to:

  • Whole rock mineralogy and microscopic investigations of mineral composition;
  • Total organic carbon and Rock-Eval Pyrolysis analyses;
  • Elemental geochemistry, including major, trace, and rare-earth elements;
  • Organic petrography and maceral composition of predicted organic matter;
  • Scanning electron microscopy of minerals;
  • Stable isotope geochemistry.

Dr. Thomas Gentzis
Dr. Ahmed Mansour
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • environments and mineral resources
  • elemental geochemistry
  • whole rock mineralogy
  • reservoir mineralogical characteristics
  • ore mineralogical composition
  • source rock evaluation
  • hydrocarbon exploration

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

32 pages, 7574 KiB  
Article
Source Rock Assessment of the Permian to Jurassic Strata in the Northern Highlands, Northwestern Jordan: Insights from Organic Geochemistry and 1D Basin Modeling
by Dina Hamdy, Sherif Farouk, Abdelrahman Qteishat, Fayez Ahmad, Khaled Al-Kahtany, Thomas Gentzis, Luigi Jovane and Amr S. Zaky
Minerals 2024, 14(9), 863; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14090863 - 25 Aug 2024
Viewed by 667
Abstract
The present study focused on the Permian to Jurassic sequence in the Northern Highlands area, NW Jordan. The Permian to Jurassic sequence in this area is thick and deeply buried, consisting mainly of carbonate intercalated with clastic shale. This study integrated various datasets, [...] Read more.
The present study focused on the Permian to Jurassic sequence in the Northern Highlands area, NW Jordan. The Permian to Jurassic sequence in this area is thick and deeply buried, consisting mainly of carbonate intercalated with clastic shale. This study integrated various datasets, including total organic carbon (TOC, wt%), Rock-Eval pyrolysis, visual kerogen examination, gross composition, lipid biomarkers, vitrinite reflectance (VRo%), and bottom-hole temperature measurements. The main aim was to investigate the source rock characteristics of these strata regarding organic richness, kerogen type, depositional setting, thermal maturity, and hydrocarbon generation timing. The Permian strata are poor to fair source rocks, primarily containing kerogen type (KT) III. They are immature in the AJ-1 well and over-mature in the NH-2 well. The Upper Triassic strata are poor source rocks in the NH-1 well and fair to marginally good source rocks in the NH-2 well, containing highly mature terrestrial KT III. These strata are immature to early mature in the AJ-1 well and at the peak oil window stage in the NH-2 well. The Jurassic strata are poor source rocks, dominated by KT III and KT II-III. They are immature to early mature in the AJ-1 well and have reached the oil window in the NH-2 well. Biomarker-related ratios indicate that the Upper Triassic oils and Jurassic samples are source rocks that received mainly terrestrial organic input accumulated in shallow marine environments under highly reducing conditions. These strata are composed mostly of clay-rich lithologies with evidence of deposition in hypersaline and/or stratified water columns. 1D basin models revealed that the Upper Triassic strata reached the peak oil window from the Early Cretaceous (~80 Ma) to the present day in the NH-1 well and from ~130 Ma (Early Cretaceous) to ~90 Ma (Late Cretaceous) in the NH-2 well, with the late stage of hydrocarbon generation continuing from ~90 Ma to the present time. The present-day transformation ratio equals 77% in the Upper Triassic source rocks, suggesting that these rocks have expelled substantial volumes of hydrocarbons in the NH-2 well. To achieve future successful hydrocarbon discoveries in NW Jordan, accurate seismic studies and further geochemical analyses are recommended to precisely define the migration pathways. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Geochemistry and Mineralogy: Application for Hydrocarbon Exploration and Ore Deposits)
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15 pages, 19280 KiB  
Article
Lacustrine Environmental Perturbations during the Early Jurassic in the Qiangtang Basin, Northern Tibet
by Haowei Zhang, Jian Wang, Mohamed Saad Ahmed, Xiugen Fu and Lijun Shen
Minerals 2024, 14(8), 762; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14080762 - 27 Jul 2024
Viewed by 697
Abstract
The Early Jurassic was primarily a greenhouse phase in Earth’s history. Previous studies have predominantly focused on marine strata in the Tethyan Ocean, but continental records outside of Europe are still poorly understood, which has hindered a thorough understanding of its climate dynamics. [...] Read more.
The Early Jurassic was primarily a greenhouse phase in Earth’s history. Previous studies have predominantly focused on marine strata in the Tethyan Ocean, but continental records outside of Europe are still poorly understood, which has hindered a thorough understanding of its climate dynamics. To address this gap, organic, inorganic, and isotope geochemical analyses, along with mineralogical and sedimentological assessments, were conducted on samples from the Quemo Co Formation of well QZ-16 in the Qiangtang Basin (Eastern Tethys). This study aimed to investigate carbon cycle perturbations and consequences of redox conditions and paleosalinity within a lacustrine system during the Early Jurassic. The carbon isotope profile of well QZ-16 exhibited a long-term negative excursion of ca. −3.83‰ in lacustrine sediments, with relatively heavy δ13Corg values and small excursion magnitudes. Enhanced terrigenous input, as indicated by detrital proxies such as Si/Al, Ti/Al, and Zr/Al, was driven by accelerated continental weathering during the carbon isotope excursions. The presence of coarse-grained, pelitic siltstone deposits coincided with the onset of these negative carbon isotope excursions. Sr/Ba ratios (0.05–3.64, avg. 0.73) suggest a brackish to freshwater salinity regime within the third member, implying that the deposition of the Quemo Co Formation was influenced by both freshwater and seawater inputs. Most enrichment factors (VEF, ZnEF, NiEF) having a value below 1.0 and Corg/P ratios less than 50 indicate that the lacustrine environment was characterized by predominantly oxidizing conditions, particularly during the early Toarcian negative carbon isotope excursion (T-NCIE). Despite the record of the T-NCIE event, enhanced respiration in bottom and pore waters indicates that the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE) was absent in this part of the eastern Tethys Ocean. The recorded Early Jurassic environmental settings in the Qiangtang Basin lacustrine system exhibit a close association with the T-CIE event (183 Ma), providing insights into the complex interplay between carbon cycle perturbation, climate, weathering, and biological processes during this greenhouse period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Geochemistry and Mineralogy: Application for Hydrocarbon Exploration and Ore Deposits)
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17 pages, 4445 KiB  
Article
Paleoredox Conditions, Paleoproductivity, and Terrigenous Sediment Influx of the Lower-Middle Cenomanian Strata in the Abu Gharadig Basin, Northern Egypt
by Ahmed Mansour, Michael Wagreich, Sameh S. Tahoun, Mohamed S. Ahmed and Thomas Gentzis
Minerals 2024, 14(6), 632; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14060632 - 20 Jun 2024
Viewed by 760
Abstract
During the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian), significant disruptions in the carbon cycle, global warming, and episodes of oceanic anoxia occurred, leading to the deposition of organic carbon-rich sediments. In well BED2-3, located in the BED2 gas field within the Abu Gharadig Basin (north Western [...] Read more.
During the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian), significant disruptions in the carbon cycle, global warming, and episodes of oceanic anoxia occurred, leading to the deposition of organic carbon-rich sediments. In well BED2-3, located in the BED2 gas field within the Abu Gharadig Basin (north Western Desert, Egypt), the lower-to-middle Cenomanian Bahariya Formation displays thick alternating layers of sandstones, siltstones, and shales. Detailed geochemical analyses were conducted on thirty-three cutting samples from the Bahariya Formation, focusing on total organic carbon (TOC), whole-rock elemental geochemistry, and carbonate content. These geochemical measurements provided valuable information regarding paleoredox conditions, marine biological productivity, terrigenous sediment influx, weathering and paleoclimate conditions, and mechanisms influencing organic matter accumulation. The enrichment factors (EF) of redox-sensitive trace elements were utilized to infer oxygenation conditions and marine biological productivity during the deposition of the Bahariya Formation. The stratigraphic distribution of redox-sensitive elements allowed for the Bahariya Formation to be categorized into lower and middle-upper intervals. The results revealed that the lower interval exhibited strong-to-enriched EF values of redox-sensitive elements and fair-to-rich TOC content, indicating a prevalent anoxic setting during deposition. In contrast, the middle-upper interval displayed weakly-to-slightly enriched EF values with poor-to-fair TOC content, suggesting deposition under oxic-suboxic redox conditions. By examining Al-normalized redox-sensitive ratios and their correlations with TOC content, significant relationships were observed in the lower interval, indicating a coupling between the enrichment of redox-sensitive elements and organic matter. This suggests enhanced biological productivity during deposition of the lower interval compared to the relatively low productivity during deposition of the middle-upper interval of the formation. These conditions controlled the production and preservation of organic matter in the lower interval, while the middle-upper interval suffered from organic matter dilution and destruction due to an increased influx of terrigenous material and lower biological productivity. Geochemical proxies related to detrital materials provided evidence of alternating terrigenous sediment flux, consistent with shifts between coarse- and fine-grained fractions and related facies of sandstones, siltstones, and shales. These findings align with active continental weathering in the source terrane and deposition under enhanced warm-humid climatic conditions, with intermittent arid-to-semi-arid phases. These conclusions are further supported by the palynomorph assemblages and clay mineralogy within the Bahariya Formation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Geochemistry and Mineralogy: Application for Hydrocarbon Exploration and Ore Deposits)
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