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Characterization of clastic sediment: a palynofacies approach

Conference Paper · May 2010

DOI: 10.29118/IPA.1701.10.G.075

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PROCEEDINGS, INDONESIAN PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION

Thirty-Fourth Annual Convention & Exhibition, May 2010

CHARACTERIZATION OF CLASTIC SEDIMENT:

A PALYNOFACIES APPROACH

Bob Yuris Chandra*

ABSTRACT • Determining the magnitude and location of

Palynofacies as a tool for identification of
depositional environment is broadly used in oil and
gas exploration. Palynofacies study is integrated
with palynology study, yet they can stand as
independent and separated studies. Many
palynofacies applications are presented in geology
and one discusses in this paper is characterization of
clastic sediment. The origin of organic matters as
palynofacies analysis objects and its classifications
is actually the first step in characterization of clastic
sediment.
terrigenous input (proximal-distal).
• Determining depositional polarity (onshore-
offshore axes).
• Determining hydrocarbon source rock potential
and qualifying bulk rock geochemical
parameters.
• Deriving correlation either at levels below
biostratigraphic resolution, or in the absence of
diagnostic biostratigraphic data.

Sample of sediment are characterized by the • Identifying relative shallowing-deepening and

absolute and relative proportion of structureless regressive-transgressive trends in stratigraphic
amorphous material, dinoflagellate cyst, sequences.
foraminiferal test lining, resin, black debris, yellow
brown fragment, dark brown fragment, cuticle, • Discriminating between open marine, restricted
plant tissue, woody material, pollen, spore and marine (dyoxic-anoxic), brackish and
fungal and relative proportion as mentioned by freshwater depositional environment.
Tyson (1995).
• Characterizing and subdividing
Recently, palynofacies trends can be related to
sedimentological uniform facies, especially
sequence stratigraphy in order to provide an outline
shales and other fine grained sediments.
of predictive model for more detailed
investigations.
In general, palynofacies analysis is integrated with
palynology analysis. Nevertheless, when
INTRODUCTION palynology slides show barren results, most of the
time, kerogen slides (palynofacies analysis) would
The characterization of the organic matter in
show organic materials as subject to palynofacies
sediments and sedimentary rocks is important for
study. Palynofacies and palynology study by Al-
biological, geological, and environmental scientists.
Saad dan Ibrahim (2005) on Upper Jurassic Arab D
Different scientist use different methods and scope
reservoir in Qatar was the perfect example. Lots of
of work. The differences are the techniques used for
their palynology sample analysis showed
characterizing organic matter and the objectives of
palinomorphs barren, but palynofacies analysis
each study (Tyson, 1995). Palynofacies is a part of
showed non-palynomorphs (palynodebris) material
organic matter study that utilize transmitted light
such as amorphous and phytoclast.
microscope. Characterization and grouping
sediment based on their organic matter are part of
Close link between palynofacies analysis and
palynofacies study.
depositional environment analysis have been well
According to Tyson (1995), the main geological described by Parry et al. (1981), Batten and Stead
application of palynofacies is as follows: (2004), while Tyson (1995) described it with
stratigraphic sequences. Palynofacies analysis to
* Palynosequence and Palynofacies Consulting
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study system track in sediment had been performed
by Gregory and Hart (1992), Steffen and Gorin
(1993), Jaramillo and Oboh-Ikuenobo (1999) and
Gotzt et al. (2005).
This paper will describe palynofacies as a tool for
characterizing and grouping clastic sediment. The
character of the sedimet is determined from organic
matter collected from rock or unconsolidated
sediment by the standard palynological processing
technique (digesting a sample in HCL and/or HF).
Organic matter includes palynomorphs, plant debris
and amorphous particles, their absolute and relative
proportions, size spectra and preservation states.
ORIGIN OF SEDIMENTARY ORGANIC
MATTER
Sedimentary organic matter (SOM) which is largely
found in sediments, is originated from parts of land
vegetations and Algae. Only small part found from
oceanic animal degradation (zooclast).
Tissue samples from vegetations which are the
origin of sedimented organic material include:
• Epidermal Tissue:
Is the outer layer of primary organs of a plant
i.e.: root, stem, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds.
Part of epidermal cells would grow to add
primary organs known as epidermal derivations
such as: stomata, trichome, fan cell, phelem and
siliceous cell (Esau, 1972). Stomata (Figure 1.)
and trichome (Figure 2.) are the most common
matter found in palynology /palynofacies study.
• Ground Tissue (Parenchyma):
It is called ground tissue because it is found in
almost every part of vegetation (Esau, 1972).
Parenchyma that is commonly found in
palynology/palynofacies analysis is cortex of
the root and stem. Usually, it is found between
epidermal and vascular tissue.
• Vascular Tissue
Those which are comonly found in palynology/
palynofacies analysis are Xylem (inlcuding
trachea and tracheida).
• Algae which are commonly found in
palynology/ palynofacies analysis are:
Dinoflagellate and Pediastrum.
TECHNIQUES OF PALYNOFACIES
ANALYSIS
Palynofacies preparation is performed by using
standard palynological techniques. The main idea is
to release the organic material from the non-organic
one that is trapped in sediments, using HCL and
HF.
Residue from the material organics would be, then,
prepared as microscopic slides. Identifications will
be performed under transmitted light microscope
which will be relied on the classifications of the
organics used.
Choosing the organic classification used in
palynology/palynofacies analysis is the preliminary
steps before identification, relative proportion
measurement and determination of other
palynofacies parameters (Steffen and Gorin, 1993).
The choice of palynofacies parameters ultimately
depends upon the objectives of the study and upon
the kerogen and palynomorphs classifications used
to collect data (Tyson, 1995). Below are few
parameters suggested by Tyson (1995): %
Phytoclast of total kerogen; % Amorphous of total
kerogen; % Palynomorphs of total kerogen; %
Cuticle of phytoclast; Opaque: translucent
phytoclast ratio; % Plankton of palynomorphs;
Equidimensional to lath opaque phytoclast ratio;
Undegraded: degraded phytoclast ratio.
CLASSIFICATION OF SEDIMENTARY
ORGANIC MATTER
There are many organic matter classifications
developed for example by Staplin (1969); Burges
(1974); Combaz (1980); Parry et al. (1981);
Whitaker (1984), Bryant et al. (1988). The
differences are from the analytical techniques and
the purpose of the studies.
Chart of the existing classifications is shown in
Figure 3.
SEDIMENTARY CHARACTERIZATON
It’s suggested to choose the sample taken in
systematic sampling that covers the whole intended
sediment for the purpose of palynofacies analysis.
By doing so, the dynamic changes of organic facies
could be fully observed.
According to Tyson (1995), some kind of
quantitative change in the palynofacies
characteristics should be expected whenever any
lithological, sedimentological, paleoecological or
bulk geochemical change occurs (although they
may also occur when these factors appear to remain
constant). Consequently, palynofacies studies must
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deliberately attempt to assess these influences by
ensuring not only a reasonable stratigraphic
coverage, but by statistically valid replicate
sampling of all lithologic and facies variant within
every significant part of the section under study.
For detailed palynofacies work we require a
classification that has at least ten categories (Tyson,
1995). One that can be used is that from Jaramillo
and Oboh-Ikuenobo (1999) to help interpreting the
stratigraphy sequence in Upper Eocene – Lower
Oligocene strata in southern Mississippi and
Alabama (Figure 4.).
Figure 5 shows the illustrations of palynofacies
application in clastic sediment characterization.
One perfect example is the use of the
characterization for biosteering (real time
monitoring of stratigraphic position relative to
reservoir (deviated) well by biostratigraphic
techniques applied at well-site. Reservoir lithology
with sand dimension is seldom good for
palynomorph preservation, but it will be good for
palynodebris preservation, so that palynofacies
analysis might be performed.
CONCLUSIONS
There are many palynofacies applications in
geology and sediment characterization is one of
them.
Palynofacies is beneficial for supporting
palynologycal and sedimentologycal analysis.
Palynofacies can be integrated with sequence
stratigraphy
REFERENCES
Al-Saad, H.A. and Ibrahim, M.I.A., 2005, Facies
and Palynofacies Characteristics of the Upper
Jurassic Arab D Reservoir in Qatar. Revue de
Paleobiologie, Genève 24 (1):225-241.
Batten, D. J. and Stead, D.T., 2004, Palynofacies
Analysis and Its Stratigraphic Application in:
Koutsoukos, E.A.M. eds., Applied Stratigraphy,
Springer Dordrecht, the Netherlands, p. 203-226.
Esau, K., 1972, Plant Anatomy, Third Edition. New
Delhi. Wiley Eastern Private United.
Gotz, A. E., Szulc, J. and Feist-Burkhardt, S., 2005,
Distribution of Sedimentary Organic Matter in
Anisian Carbonate Series of S Poland: evidence of
third-order sea-level fluctuations. International
Journal Earth Sciences (Geol Rundsch) 94: 267–
274.
Gregory, W.A. and Hart, G.F., 1992, Towards a
Predictive Model for the Palynologic Response to
Sea-Level Changes. Palaios 7: 3-33.
Jaramillo, C.A. and Oboh-Ikuenobe, F.E. 1999.
Sequence Stratigraphic Interpretations from
Palynofacies, Dinocyst and Lithological Data of
Upper Eocene–Lower Oligocene Strata in Southern
Mississippi and Alabama, U.S. Gulf Coast.
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology 145: 259–302.
Steffen, D. and Gorin, G.E. 1993. Sedimentology of
Organic Matter in Upper Tithonian-Berriasian
Deep-Sea Carbonates of Southeast France: evidence
of eustatic control, in: Katz, B., and Pratt, L., eds.,
Source Rocks in a Sequence Stratigraphic
Framework: American Association Petroleum
Geologists, Studies in Geology 37: 49–65.
Tyson, R. V., 1995, Sedimentary Organic Matter.
Organic Facies and Palynofacies, London,
Chapman & Hall, 615p.
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Figure 1 - Stomata as derivate of leaf epidermal tissue on palynologycal / palynofacies glass slide.

Figure 2 - Trichome as a derivate of leaf epidermal tissue on palynologycal / palynofacies glass slide
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PURE
Combaz Parry Whitaker 1984
CATEGORY SOURCE CONSTITUENT Staplin 1969 KEROGEN
1980 et al.1981 Bryant et al. 1988
TYPE
Graptolite debris
Zooclast Zooplakton and Zoobenthos Arthropod debris
? ?

Scolecodonts ? Chitinobiontes III ?

Zoomorphs Tectin foraminiferal linings Foraminiferal linings Microforam test linings
Chitinozoa
Prasinophyte phycomata Marine Leiosphaeridia Marine I
Palynomoprhs

Marine Algae
Chroococcale cyanobacteria Phytoplaknton Palynomorphs
Organic-walled Algues: Highly oil prone
STRUCTURED

Chlorococcales:
Planktonik Botryococcus
Phytoplankton Botryococcus Freshwater algae Freshwater algae I
freshwater algae
(including meroplankton) Hydridictyales
Dinocysts
Marine Dinoflagelles Marine
Acritarchs Dinocyst Acritarchs II
Phytoplankton Acritarhes Palynomorphs
Rhodophyte spores
Miospores: Saccate Oil prone
Spores and Terrestrial
Sporomorphs Microspores, pollen Spores and pollen
pollen Palynomorphs
Non-saccate
Megaspores sporomorphs II
Cuticle/ epidermal tissue Cuticles Cuticules Cuticle Palynomaceral 3
Phytoclasts

Macrophyte Cortex tissues Lignified Bois Cortex Palynomaceral III

Plant Wood Ecorces 1 and 2 Gas prone
Secondary xylem (wood) Vaisseaux Brown Wood
Debris Charcoal
Charcoal Carbons Black Wood Palynomaceral 4 IV
Biochemically oxidized wood
Inert
Fungal Debris Hyphae Fungi Champignons ? ?

Higher plant secretions Intra-/extra-cellular resins Resins Resineux Resin ? I

Amorphous (AOM)
STRUCTURELESS

Flocs Organic aggregates and Grumeleuse

II
Faecal pellets Sapropelic Granuleuse Structureless organic
Phytoplakton Amorphous Pellicularie matter
Bacteria Amorphe: II / I
?

Humic cell-filling precipitates

Higher plant decomposition
Humic extracellular ? gelifee Palynomaceral 2? III
products precipitates

Figure 3 - Correlation of some published kerogen terminology, also indicating biological source and kerogen type (after Tyson, 1995).
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Figure 4 - Organic Matter Classification as a basis for clastic sediment characterization. (after Jaramillo and
Oboh-ikuenobo, 1999)
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Figure 5 - Conventional cross-section along a well path to show the importance of biostratigraphy and recognition of palynofacies types during biosteering.
Conventional biostratigraphy determines the angle of build of the well path; biostratigraphy and palynofacies, or palynofacies analysis on their own,
keep drilling on target based on organic matter contents. B, biostratigraphy; Pf, palynofacies; TD, terminal depth (Modified from Batten and Stead,
2004).