Linking Diagenesis to Sequence Stratigraphy: An Integrated Tool for Understanding and Predicting Reservoir Quality Distribution

Sequence stratigraphy is a useful tool for the prediction of primary (depositional) porosity and permeability. However, these primary characteristics are modified to variable extents by diverse diagenetic processes. This chapter demonstrates that integration of sequence stratigraphy and diagenesis is possible because the parameters controlling the sequence stratigraphic framework may have a profound impact on early diagenetic processes. The latter processes play a decisive role in the burial diagenetic and related reservoir-quality evolution pathways. Therefore, the integration of sequence stratigraphy and diagenesis allows a proper understanding and prediction of the spatial and temporal distribution of diagenetic alterations and, consequently, of reservoir quality in sedimentary successions.