KNOWLAH

This course provides an understanding of the fundamentals of carbonate sedimentology, together with the skills required to characterize and interpret carbonate rocks, in order to establish an understanding of their depositional environment and implications for reservoir geometry and extents. In detail, the course offers an insight into the environmental, biological, physical, chemical and climatic controls on the carbonate factory, enabling facies analysis.

In order to appreciate the evolution and development of carbonate sediments, a basic understanding of the chemical, biological and physical processes involved in their formation is essential. This course outlines the controls on carbonate production (the carbonate factory), and the impact of carbonate producers on carbonate accumulation and hence implications for carbonate body geometries. It considers the key textural (Dunham classification), mineralogical, compositional and fabric/sedimentary structure observations necessary to help evaluate and interpret carbonate rocks.