Field geometry, petrography and geochemistry of a dolomitization front (Late Jurassic, central Lebanon)

This contribution describes the field geometry, petrography and geochemistry of a well-exposed dolomitization front in Upper Jurassic carbonates, and attempts to highlight the sedimentological, structural and relative sea-level controls on multiphase dolomitization and related diagenetic events. The data presented reflect the superposition of various diagenetic phases which have resulted in a single dolostone body, whose dimensions are well defined in the field. Local microbial intraclastic dolomites of Late Tithonian age accumulated in a hypersaline lagoon during relative sea-level fall. These pre-date beige hydrothermal dolostones (51 to 55 mol% CaCO3; delta O-18: -9.3 to -4.0 parts per thousand V-PDB; delta C-13: -1.5 to +2.1 parts per thousand V-PDB; Sr-87/Sr-86: 0.70742; matrix porosity: approximate to 6%; Klinkenberg permeability: approximate to 0.5 mD), whose dolomitizing fluid circulated along faults and invaded the nearby facies. First, the burrows were dolomitized, then the bulk rocks, resulting in the investigated 'tongue'-shaped dolomite body. Upon Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous uplift, near-surface water percolated through - and altered - the underlying beige dolostones. This event was followed by a ferroan dolomite cement phase, which occurred during further burial. This contribution, featuring a well-defined geometric pattern of a dolomitization front with a large petrographic and geochemical data set, may also serve as a case study illustrating the complexity of superimposed diagenetic processes which have to be taken into account in modelling exercises of multiphase hydrothermal dolomitization.