Great Artesian Basin authigenic carbonates as natural analogues for mineralisation trapping

This project is the first to comprehensively investigate the controls on the formation of authigenic carbonates in low salinity, siliciclastic aquifers of the Great Artesian Basin. These processes are\ua0natural analogues for mineralisation trapping of CO2 during geo-sequestration. Calcite is the main carbonate present. Analyses included elemental composition, C and O stable isotopes, fluid inclusion analyses including\ua0gas isotopes, SEM-EDS and QEMSCAN, and X-ray micro-CT scanning.\ua0The samples reflect\ua0a variety of fluid origins, compositions, and temperatures of precipitation.\ua0Differentiating between carbonate formed via different mechanisms, and determining controls on the extent of authigenic carbonate formation, could lead to options for engineered accelerated mineralisation in reservoirs