Diagenetic processes in cretaceous sandstones from occidental Brazilian Equatorial Margin

•Diagenesis of Brazilian Equatorial Margin basins is poorly known.•Diagenesis has a strong control on porosity of Equatorial Margin sandstones.•Major processes in Pará-Maranhão sandstones: compaction, calcite & quartz cementation.•Barreirinhas Basin sandstones diagenesis strongly controlled by primary composition.•Compaction and dissolution control porosity in São Luís and Bragança-Viseu sandstones.

Despite a great interest in Brazilian Equatorial Margin exploration, very little was published on the diagenesis of sandstones from that area. A wide recognition petrographic study was performed to identify the major diagenetic processes that impacted the porosity of Lower Cretaceous sandstones of the Pará-Maranhão, São Luís, Bragança-Viseu and Barreirinhas basins. Arkoses from the Pará-Maranhão Basin show neoformed or infiltrated clay coatings, mica replacement and expansion by kaolinite and vermiculite, and precipitation of grain-replacive and pore-filling quartz, kaolinite, albite, chlorite, calcite, dolomite, siderite, pyrite and titanium oxides. Compaction, quartz and calcite cementation were the main porosity-reducing processes. Barreirinhas Basin lithic arkoses and subarkoses display clay coatings, compaction of metamorphic fragments into pseudomatrix, and precipitation of grain-replacive and pore-filling kaolinite, quartz, albite, chlorite, calcite, dolomite, TiO2 and pyrite. The main porosity-reducing processes were calcite cementation in the subarkoses, and compaction and quartz cementation in lithic arkoses. Quartzarenites from this basin were early- and pervasively cemented by dolomite. Arkoses and lithic arkoses of the São Luís and Bragança-Viseu basins show clay coatings, pseudomatrix from mud intraclasts compaction, and precipitation of pore-filling and grain-replacive kaolinite, vermiculite, smectite, quartz, albite, chlorite, illite, calcite, dolomite, hematite, TiO2 and pyrite. Compaction of mud intraclasts and dissolution of feldspars and heavy minerals were the main porosity-modification processes. These preliminary results may contribute to the understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of the diagenetic processes and their impacts on the porosity of the sandstones from these basins.