Sandstone-framework instability as a function of burial diagenesis

Abstract

The effect of sandstone-framework instability during diagenesis on porosity and permeability is compared for quartz, arkosic and lithic arenites. Of the cases investigated, quartz frameworks are the most stable and suffer only from mechanical compaction and pressure solution. Arkosic frameworks have variable stability involving potential widespread alteration of feldspars. The least stable are the lithic sandstone frameworks which are suscepti­ble to all four main porosity and permeability-reducing processes: mechanical compaction, plastic deformation, pressure solution, and mineralogical alteration of framework constituents.