Sulfidization and Magnetization above Hydrocarbon Reservoirs

REYNOLDS, R. L., M. B. GOLDHABER, and M. L. TUTTLE, U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO

Geochemical and rock magnetic studies of strata over Cement oil field (Anadarko basin, Oklahoma), Simpson oil field (North Slope basin, Alaska), and the Edwards deep gas trend, south Texas coastal plain, document changes in original magnetizations caused by postdepositional iron sulfide minerals that are, or may be, related to hydrocarbon seepage. At Cement, ferrimagnetic pyrrhotite [Fe(7)S(8)] formed with pyrite and marcasite in Permian red beds. The Fe-S minerals contain isotopically heavy, abiogenic sulfur derived from thermal degradation of petroleum and (or) isotopically light sulfur derived from sulfate-reducing bacteria fed by leaking hydrocarbons. At Simpson, ferrimagnetic greigite [Fe(3)S(4)] dominates magnetizations in Upper Cretaceous nonmarine beds that contain biodegraded oil. Sulfur isotopic data are consistent with, but do not prove, a genetic link between the greigite [S(34) >+20 per mil) and seepage. In middle Tertiary sandstones of southeast Texas, pyrite and marcasite formed when abiogenic H(2)S migrated upward from deep reservoirs, or when H(2)S was produced at shallow depths by bacteria that utilized organic material dissolved in migrating water from depth. The sulfide minerals replaced detrital magnetite to result in a systematic decrease in magnetic susceptibility toward faults that connect deep petroleum reservoirs to shallow sandstone. Our results show that abiologic and biologic mechanisms can generate magnetic sulfide minerals in some sulfidic zones of hydrocarbon seepage. The magnetizations in such zones are diminished most commonly by r placement of detrital magnetic minerals with nonmagnetic sulfide minerals or are unchanged if such detrital minerals were originally absent.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91004 © 1991 AAPG Annual Convention Dallas, Texas, April 7-10, 1991 (2009)