Abstract:
Cyclic deposits of Permian shales, dolomites, and halite and gypsum-bearing strata in the Blaine Formation of Southwestern Oklahoma contain abundant karst features. The present study shows that an important mechanism of karst development in these sequences is dedolomitization, wherein gypsum and dolomite in close spatial proximity dissolve and supersaturate groundwaters with respect to calcite. The net loss of mass accompanying this process (dolomite and gypsum dissolution minus calcite precipitation) can be manifest in secondary porosity development while the coupled nature of this set of reactions results in the retention of undersaturated conditions of groundwater with respect to gypsum. The continued disequilibrium generates karst voids in gypsum-bearing aquifers, a mineral-water system that would otherwise rapidly equilibrate. Geochemical modeling (using the code PHRQPITZ, Plummer et al 1988) of groundwater chemical data from Southwestern Oklahoma from the 1950's up to the present suggests that dedolomitization has occurred throughout this time period in evaporite sequences in Southwestern Oklahoma. Reports from groundwater well logs in the region of vein calcite suggest secondary precipitation, an observation in accord with dedolomite formation In terms of the amounts of void space produced by dissolution, dedolomitization can dominate gypsum dissolution alone, especially in periods of quiescent aquifer recharge when gypsum-water systems would have otherwise equilibrated and karst development ceased. Mass balance modeling plus molar volume considerations show that for every cubic cm of original rock (dolomite plus gypsum), there is 0.54 cm(3) of calcite and 0.47 cm(3) of void space produced Only slightly more pore space results if the dedolomitization reaction proceeds by psuedomorphic replacement of dolomite by calcite than in a reaction mechanism based on conservation of bicarbonate