Economic Impact of Carbonates Formed under Continental Conditions

Herrero, Maria J.¹; Escavy, Jose I.¹
(1) Petrology and Geochemistry, Fac. CC: Geologicas, Univerity Complutense Madrid, Madrid, Spain.

Non-marine carbonates are very valuable geological resources that appear extensively represented in a wide range of depositional environments: lacustrine, palustrine, calcretes, etc. In the same manner, carbonates that undergo alteration processes under continental conditions have as well great importance from an economic point of view. Their economic usefulness is determined by their physical properties and chemical composition. Lacustrine and palustrine carbonates and their associated deposits are both source and reservoir rocks of petroleum; they may host coal and oil shale, and may contain valuable industrial minerals and rocks such as sepiolite, palygorskite, sodium carbonates, etc. These rocks are also broadly used for less added value applications like aggregates, cement manufacture, building stone, etc. Calcretes, have proven to be great geochemical tracers for gold exploration and appear as great host rocks of uranium deposits. Other carbonate phases formed under continental conditions are deposits of HDT (hydrothermal dolomite). These deposits are proved to be associated to mineral resources as Mississippy Valley tipe mineralizations. The presence of this type of alteration has a major impact on hydrocarbon reservoir type, geometry, quality and distribution.

Herein we describe some of those deposits by discussing the geological setting conditions where the resource is formed, the processes involved in their origin and the major factors controlling their formation. Examples of case studies of different resources permit to understand the economic significance of these economically important deposits.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90135©2011 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Milan, Italy, 23-26 October 2011.