Cementation vadose

Chung GS, Swart PK (1990) The concentrahon of ttranium in freshwater vadose and phreatic cements in a Holocene ooid clay a method of identifying ancient water tables. J Sediment Petrol 60 735-746 Cliff RA, Spotl C (2001) U-Pb dahng of speleothems from the Spannagel Cave, Austria. XI EUG... 

A few experiments have been successfully performed at low temperatures to simulate carbonate diagenetic processes for example, cements have been precipitated on skeletal carbonate sands in experimental reaction chambers designed to mimic vadose and phreatic meteoric cementation (Thorstenson et al., 1972 Badiozamani et al., 1977). These cements are remarkably similar in composition and morphology to those found in rocks cemented in the meteoric... 

Both authors calculations also indicated that it is possible for solutions of reasonable compositions for natural waters to produce mixtures of freshwater and seawater that were undersaturated with respect to calcite but supersaturated with respect to dolomite. This observation is a cornerstone for some dolomitization models that are discussed later in this chapter. It is also important to note that the extent of undersaturation which results from mixing is strongly dependent on the initial Pco2 °f the dilute water when it is in equilibrium with calcite. Waters high in CO2 can cause more extensive dissolution. If these waters enter a vadose zone where CO2 can be degassed, they will become supersaturated and calcium carbonate can precipitate. This process provides an excellent mechanism for cementation near the water table. Because the water table can oscillate vertically, a considerable zone of cementation can result. 

Figure 7.16. Different types of cements precipitated in the vadose (left) and phreatic (right) parts of the meteoric diagenetic environment. Epitaxial cements may be precipitated in either environment. (After James and Choquette, 1984.)...

Figure 7.42. Comparison between (A) an idealized plot of variation in 8180 and 813C for carbonates subjected to vadose and phreatic meteoric diagenesis (after Lohmann, 1988) with (B) the meteoric alteration trend observed for the Key Largo Limestone, Florida, U.S.A. (after Martin et al., 1986). The critical trend in isotopic composition is termed the meteoric calcite line. This trend may be modified at the water recharge surface where evaporation is an important process, caliche is formed and the diagenetic phases are depleted in 13C derived from soil-gas CO2. Another modification can occur distally to the recharge area where precipitating carbonate cements may have isotopic ratios nearly equivalent to dissolving phases.

Badiozamani K Mackenzie F.T. and Thorstenson D.C. (1977) Experimental carbonate cementation Salinity, temperature, and vadose-phreatic effects. J. Sediment. Petrol. 47, 529-542. 

Meyers J.H. (1987) Marine vadose beachrock cementation by cryptocrystalline magnesian calcite—Maui, Hawaii. J. Sediment. Petrol. 57,558-570. 

Beckner J. R. and Mozley P. S. (1998) Origin and spatial distribution of early vadose and phreatic calcite cements in the Zia Formation, Albuquerque Basin, New Mexico, USA. In Carbonate Cementation in Sandstones. Distribution Patterns and Geochemical Evolution (ed. S. Morad). International Association of Sedimentologists, Oxford, vol. 26, pp. 27-52. 

Aeolianites that become submerged below the groundwater table may become cemented in the phreatic environment. In this zone, pore spaces between sand grains are completely filled with water and any cements derived from the interstitial waters are often isopachous in nature (Muller, 1971). Large solution volumes and longer residence times in the phreatic zone can result in coarser spar compared with the vadose zone. Increases in temperature, degree of supersaturation and NaCl content appear to result in larger cement crystal sizes (Badiozamani et al., 1977). 

Binkley, K.L., Wilkinson, B.H. Owen, R.M. (1980) Vadose beachrock cementation along a southeastern Michigan marl lake. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 50, 953-962. 

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