Occurrence of diagenetic alunites within karst cavity infill of the Dammam Formation, Ahmadi, Kuwait: an indicator of hydrocarbon gas seeps

Alunite minerals occur as white powdery lumps and laminated coloured deposits within cavity and solution channel infill of the palaeokarst zone of the Upper Eocene Dammam Formation. This formation is exposed in a quarry located on the Al Ahmadi ridge within the Greater Burgan oil field in southern Kuwait. Field occurrences and sedimentary structures of the alunite deposits were described. Collected samples were petrographically described, and their mineralogy and geochemistry were determined using X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence, respectively. Microfabrics were investigated using SEM, revealing that they are primarily composed of fibrous alunogen (hydrous aluminium sulphate) and pseudo-cubical K-alunite (hydrous potassium aluminium sulphate). Their mode of occurrence suggests a hypogenetic origin, where sulphide gases associated with hydrocarbon gases reacted with an Al-rich solution leached from clay minerals and feldspars of the cavity-fill muddy sand sediments. The hydrocarbon gases may have seeped from subsurface petroliferous formations within the Greater Burgan oil field along vertical fractures. This study suggests that these acidic seeps may have played a role in the development of the palaeokarst zone of the Dammam Formation.