Occurrence, Genesis, and Significance of Analcime in Fine-Grained Sedimentary Rocks

Abstract

Natural analcime, an aluminosilicate mineral with multiple genetic mechanisms, widely occurs in fine-grained sedimentary reservoirs rich in oil and gas. Researchers have discussed the source and formation mechanism of reservoirs and the influence of morphology formation, occurrence characteristics associated with minerals, geochemical data, and Si/Al ratio on reservoir properties. The occurrence location, particle size, automorphism, purity, and fracture development can indicate the source of analcime macroscopically. The correlation between the enrichment of associated minerals and the content of analcime indicates that the associated mineral assemblage or correlation provides a material source for the formation of analcime or effectively improves the formation environment. Geochemical data are often used to identify analcime related to primary magmatic crystallization and hydrothermal processes. The genetic source grouping scheme based on the Si/Al ratio, which is a traditional means to identify the source of analcime, has been widely used in the research on analcime. After more than 200 years of study, research has shown that analcime distributed in fine-grained sedimentary rocks was mainly formed by burial alteration of volcanic materials (V-type analcime), conversion of nontuffaceous materials (N-type analcime), hydrothermal deposition mineralization (H-type analcime), and precipitation directly from an alkaline lake or pore water (P-type analcime). Based on reservoir properties, analcime that formed before the organic acid release stage of source rocks can effectively improve the porosity through precipitation–dissolution mechanisms after the release of massive organic acid, whereas the cementation formed by the transition of the fluid from acid to alkaline during the intermediate diagenetic stage would reduce porosity to some extent.