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Title: Diagenetic modification of Sm-Nd model ages in Tertiary sandstones and shales, Texas Gulf Coast

Journal Article · · Geology; (USA)

Sm-Nd model ages of sandstones and shales from the Oligocene Frio Formation of south Texas and the Paleocene-Eocene Wilcox Group of south-central Texas increase with increasing depth of burial. The sampling scheme employed minimizes, but does not eliminate, the possibility that these trends in depleted-mantle model ages (T{sub dm}) are due to detrital variability. Close correlation of these trends with diagenetic changes in the rock and evidence of rare earth element mobility preserved in the diagenetic products suggests that diagenesis has modified T{sub dm}. Diagenetic modification of T{sub dm} in Frio sandstone and Wilcox shale is due primarily to loss of radiogenic Nd, whereas increased {sup 147}Sm/{sup 144}Nd (Sm/Nd) produces elevated T{sub dm} in deeper Wilcox sandstones. The T{sub dm} of Frio shales does not change appreciably with depth, owing to the opposite effects on T{sub dm} of decreased Sm/Nd and decreased {epsilon}{sub Nd}(0). Loss of radiogenic Nd is due primarily to reactions involving unstable volcanic detritus, which is more abundant in Frio than in the Wilcox. Decreased Sm/Nd in authigenic illite, and consequent increased Sm/Nd in pore fluids, results in elevated T{sub dm} in Wilcox and Frio sandstones containing late-diagenetic cement, and in decreased Sm/Nd in deeper Frio shale. The similar T{sub dm} trends observed in both units, which have different detrital characteristics, suggest that modification of Sm-Nd model ages in siliciclastic rocks may be commonplace during burial diagensis.

OSTI ID:
5611236
Journal Information:
Geology; (USA), Vol. 19:4; ISSN 0091-7613
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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