Characterization and significance of dedolomite in Wadi Nisah, central Saudi Arabia

Two different types of calcified dolomite, or dedolomite, occur as stratiform and non-stratiform bodies within the Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) upper Jubaila Formation in the Wadi Nisah area of central Saudi Arabia. In the stratigraphicallyequivalent subsurface Arab-D reservoir in eastern Saudi Arabia, two types of dolomite, stratiform and non-stratiform, occur which appear to be similar in architecture to the dedolomites examined in this study. However, Wadi Nisah dedolomites exhibit systematic changes in texture and isotopic composition from their precursor dolomites. Non-stratiform dedolomite contains lower oxygen isotope (average δ18O = -10.99ppm) and much lower carbon isotope (average δ13C = -7.51ppm) values and is much more coarsely crystalline than typical subsurface Arab-D non-stratiform dolomite; in contrast, Wadi Nisah stratiform dedolomite contains similar oxygen isotope values (δ18O = -2.89ppm) and only slightly lower carbon isotopes (δ13C = 0.98ppm) relative to subsurface Arab-D stratiform dolomites. We suggest that non-stratiform dolomite was more susceptible to late meteoric diagenesis than the horizontally bedded stratiform dolomite intervals. Such differences in character highlight the importance of structural and diagenetic architecture in determining later, post-dolomitization diagenesis and ultimately final reservoir quality.