Facies (2020) 66:7

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-019-0591-2

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

The textural evolution and ghost matrices of the Cretaceous Barra

Velha Formation carbonates from the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil
V. Paul Wright1,2 · Andrew J. Barnett3

Received: 12 June 2019 / Accepted: 20 November 2019

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Abstract
The Aptian lacustrine carbonates of the Barra Velha Formation, offshore Brazil, have undergone a highly unusual parage-
netic and diagenetic history and present significant terminological problems if current textural classifications are applied.
Existing limestone classifications invoke the concept of textural maturity, whereby the ratio of matrix to grain is a critical
property and can be used to infer energy levels and the degree of transport prior to deposition. In the Barra Velha Formation,
some critical carbonate grains grew in a matrix which later dissolved, congruently, producing what appears to be primary
intergranular porosity. In addition, apparent boundstone textures occur, not due to organic trapping or binding, but ones
which can be shown to be diagenetic, and were also related in part to the former presence of labile matrices. Thus, applying
some terms in existing classifications can lead to false interpretations, and to avoid misinterpretations criteria for identifying
ghost (former) matrices are provided.

Keywords Cretaceous · Carbonates · Lacustrine · Brazil · Diagenesis · Mg silicates

Introduction components of carbonate matrices such as aragonite and

high Mg calcite can be replaced by low Mg calcite during
The main classification scheme for carbonate rocks used diagenesis, congruently in some cases (Loucks et al. 2013;
in research and industry provided by Dunham (1962) has Lucia and Loucks 2013). This can be followed by variable
proved a highly successful approach for several decades. degrees of crystal enlargement and the formation of micro-
However, a recent analysis by Lokier and Al Junaibi (2016) spar and pseudospar. Long-established criteria are available
of uses, misuses and misunderstandings with the Dunham to identify such occurrences (e.g. Tucker and Wright 1990).
classification and several other classifications has high- Textural inversion, whereby one texture such as a matrix-
lighted the need for subtle re-definitions. dominant one is converted to one with little or no matrix, or
Establishing the presence or absence of a depositional vice versa, where a matrix-free fabric develops a secondary
matrix is the basis of the concept of textural maturity, a one, is relatively uncommon in limestones, with one nota-
key tenet in both carbonate and siliciclastic sedimentol- ble exception being in some subaerially exposed carbonates
ogy. The presence of matrix, the component with particle (Wright and Tucker 1991). In such cases, the matrix, as a
sizes of < 62 µm, is generally regarded as evidence of lower result of wetting and drying cycles, is converted in situ into
energy conditions preventing the winnowing and transpor- a granular texture by the process of grainification. In other
tation of fine material by wave action or currents. Labile examples, grain-supported, matrix-free carbonates develop
a secondary matrix-supported texture as a result of pedo-
genic processes including replacive and displacive carbonate
* V. Paul Wright growth (Wright and Tucker 1991).
vpw@pwcarbonategeoscience.com A lithified carbonate with grains lacking a matrix and
1 with primary intergranular porosity or cement between
PW Carbonate Geoscience, 18 Llandennis Avenue,
Cardiff CF23 6JG, UK grains would be termed a grainstone (after Dunham 1962),
2 and interpreted as likely having been deposited where energy
Natural Sciences, National Museum of Wales,
Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK levels precluded the settling out of fine particles. However,
3 what if matrix was present but was subsequently removed
Shell Centre, 20 York Road, London SE1 7NA, UK

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during diagenesis? In such cases, it would be essential to Table 1  Database of petrographic samples used in this study
demonstrate the previous presence of such a matrix and also Field/structure Well name Total number Samples by
to explain why it had been removed. In addition, what if a of samples stratigraphic
matrix was present but some grains had grown in that matrix interval
rather than being deposited within it? Would that still be Lula A 80 53
a packstone–wackestone texture? In Dunham’s classifica- 27
tion, “carbonate rocks showing signs of being bound during Lula B 168 90
deposition…” and where “Original components were bound 78
together during deposition…roofed over by organic or ques- Lula C 194 194
tionably organic matter…” are called boundstones. What 0
if the features suggesting binding were in fact diagenetic? Lula D 92 81
The aim of this paper is to propose that many textures 11
seen in the Cretaceous Barra Velha Formation (BVF) car- Lula E 438 438
bonate reservoirs from offshore Brazil are the result of the 0
removal, by congruent dissolution, of clay matrices. Many Iracema A 165 135
textures and pore types found in the BVF appear to have no 30
known direct analogue with other carbonate successions and Iracema B 205 198
applying standard terminology (Dunham) carries conceptual 7
‘baggage’ and can mislead the interpreter to make incorrect Iracema C 161 161
interpretations leading to erroneous facies and even seismic 0
interpretations (Wright and Barnett 2017b). The crucial step Sururu A 101 45
in understanding the textures and porosity evolution in these 56
reservoirs has been to identify the former presence of labile Sururu B 341 99
Mg-silicate matrices whose dissolution played a key role in 242
producing pores and influencing later diagenesis. In addi- Berbigão A 219 52
tion, textures resembling boundstones are shown to be dia- 167
genetic and what have been regarded as microbial growths Lapa A 312 275
(shrubs) can be distinguished from microbial forms which 37
are very rare in the BVF. It expands on a study by Wright Lapa B 105 105
and Barnett (2015), which could not include photomicro- 0
graphic evidence, and Wright and Barnett (2017a). In the Sapinhoá A 194 170
present study, besides discussing the evidence of the labile 24
matrices, we also address issues raised in several recent Sapinhoá B 401 401
publications relating to the biotic or abiotic nature of key 0
components in the BVF. Besides the scientific significance Abaré West A 82 67
of these unusual lithologies with a previously unrecorded 15
paragenetic and diagenetic pathway, the BVF and its cor- Mero A 68 0
relative successions host huge hydrocarbon reserves. In the 68
Santos Basin, offshore Brazil, there have been over 30 dis- Sagitario A 145 135
coveries made with recoverable reserves estimated as > 60 10
BBOE. Additional discoveries have also been made in the Parati A 31 31
adjacent Campos Basin (Viera de Luca et al. 2017), where 0
the same unit is known as the Macabu Formation, and in the
Kwanza Basin, West Africa (Saller et al. 2016). For each well, the upper number denotes samples from above the
Intra-Alagoas unconformity; the lowermost number denotes samples
below the Pre-Alagoas unconformity

Database

This study is based on the examination of 3502 thin sec-

tions from 19 wells and 10 oil fields and drilled structures in Fig. 1b. Of the thin-section material examined, 2730
within the Santos Basin (Table 1). The distribution of samples come from the interval above the Intra-Alagoas
these hydrocarbon accumulations and structures is shown unconformity; 772 samples come from the lower portion
of the BVF below the unconformity (Table 1).

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Facies (2020) 66:7
Fig. 1  a Location map of Santos Basin and conjugate margin. b Map of Santos Basin showing the location of fields and structures from which
the data in this study are drawn (see Table 1)
The Barra Velha Formation
The BVF of the Santos Basin (Fig. 1) is Aptian in age and
lies within the Brazilian Alagoas Stage (Moreira et al. 2007;
Petersohn and Abelha 2013; see Tedeschi et al. 2017 for an
alternative age interpretation; Fig. 2). It is underlain by the
Pre-Alagoas unconformity that separates the Alagoas from
Page 3 of 18 7
the underlying Jiquia Stage. The Formation is mainly lacus-
trine in origin but differs from the older and more heteroge-
neous bivalve coquina-bearing lake deposits of the Itapema
Formation and is overlain by the evaporites of the Ariri For-
mation representing the initial influx of seawater into the
Santos Basin (Davison et al. 2012). Within the BVF, there
is also an intra-formational unconformity, the Intra-Alagoas
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 7 Page 4 of 18
Fig. 2  Lower Cretaceous strati-
graphic chart for the Santos and
Campos Basin (after Moreira
et al. 2007; Winter et al. 2007)
unconformity. However, the same basic facies occur either
side of this surface although their proportions may vary. The
BVF ranges in thickness from < 55 m or is missing on fault-
block highs to > 550 m (Wright and Barnett 2015). Compa-
rable lithofacies have been recorded from the Campos and
Kwanza Basins (Herlinger et al. 2017; Sabato Ceraldi and
Green 2017; Saller et al. 2016) and there is even a minor
development in the Codó Formation of the Parnaiba Basin
in north-eastern Brazil (Bahniuk et al. 2015).
The unit has become widely known informally as the
“Microbialites”, for example Kattah (2017). The applica-
tion of this term has been questioned by Wright and Barnett
(2015) for the BVF, but examples of microbialite facies from
units immediately below the Ariri salt and its equivalents, in
what appear to be more marginal marine depositional sys-
tems, have been provided by Muniz and Bosence (2015)
from the Macabu Formation of the southern Campos Basin,
as well as from the Muribeca Formation (Aptian) of the Car-
mopolis field, Sergipe–Alagoas Basin by De Araujo et al.
(2012), and the Codó Formation of the Parnaiba Basin by
Bahniuk et al. (2015).
Following deposition in a syn-rift to sag tectonic set-
ting, the BVF and its equivalents were buried by over 1 km
of marine evaporites of the Ariri Formation, as the Albian
ocean seeped and poured into the basin.
While the main components have been discussed by
Wright and Barnett (2015) when there were restrictions
on publishing images, since then several authors have
described and illustrated similar textures from the BVF from
the Santos Basin (Tanaka et al. 2018; Farias et al. 2019),
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Facies (2020) 66:7
and equivalents of the BVF from the Campos and Kwanza
Basins (Saller et al. 2016; Sabato Ceraldi and Green 2017;
Herlinger et al. 2017; Lima and De Ros 2019). Terra et al.
(2010) also provided core and photomicrograph images of
the key components.
The BVF carbonates typically consist of a centimetre to
decimetre-bedded, highly heterogeneous mix of in situ and
re-worked grains and a mineralogy comprising calcite, dolo-
mite, Mg-silicate clays (mainly stevensite and talc), silica
and commonly significant porosity. The dominant primary
calcite components consist of in situ and re-worked material
of two basic types: millimetre-to-centimetre-sized fascicu-
lar structures resembling crystal shrubs, locally present as
millimeter-thick laminae of coalesced fibrous calcite, and
millimetre-scale spherulites (Wright and Barnett 2015;
Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).
Microbialites, in the sense of Burne and Moore (1987),
are exceedingly rare in the BVF (Wright and Barnett 2015,
2017a), as stromatolites, dendrolites, oncoids and microbial
laminites, and appear almost exclusively in the uppermost
20–30 m of the formation. Wright and Barnett (2015) pro-
vided values for the frequency of microbial macrostructures
and microstructures in the large set of BVF samples they
studied, emphasizing the rarity of such material. Depending
on what features are seen, the frequency never exceeds 1%
of logged core by thickness, and as little as 0.05% of thin
sections. Bacterially related peloidal textures, so common
in biotic travertines, tufas and other microbialites, are very
conspicuous by their scarcity in the BVF. Dendrolites where
present, typically in the uppermost 20–30 m of the BVF,
Facies (2020) 66:7
Fig. 3  The major components and facies of the Barra Velha Formation. See text for explanation
known informally as “Lula’s Fingers” (Wright and Barnett
2017b), commonly contain branching porostromate-type
filament moulds set within irregular sparite crystals (Wright
and Barnett 2017a; Figs. 3 and 5c, d). These moulds resem-
bling cyanobacterial filament structures found within dendr-
olites (Wright and Barnett 2017a; Fig. 3) have not been seen
within the crystal shrubs we have so far seen in a sample
set of over 3500 thin sections on which this study is based.
Whereas fragmented and abraded shrubs and spherulites
are common, they form poorly sorted and poorly rounded
grains. In contrast, a prominent grainstone facies (F5; Fig. 3)
has been recognised comprising finely comminuted and
rounded to well-rounded fragments, that can constitute thick,
decametre units. This facies is only well developed where
the BVF shows marked thinning, in the up-dip areas of tilted
fault blocks (Barnett et al. 2018), for example in the east-
ernmost part of the Lula oil field. These are not discussed
further in this paper and the reader is referred to Barnett
et al. (2018) for a more detailed description of this facies
and its palaeoenvironmental significance.
Shrubs
The shrubs, which reach sizes exceeding 20 mm in height,
occur in multi-layered units as much as 5 m but more typi-
cally c. 0.5 m in thickness. They occur as in situ growths
radiating upwards as dense fibrous to bladed calcite either
as single structures or with a crude branching pattern (Dias
2005; Farias et al. 2019; Herlinger et al. 2017; Lima and De
Ros 2019; Terra et al. 2010; Fig. 4a–d). The shrubs show
Page 5 of 18 7
sweeping extinction, with rare curved twin-planes/cleav-
age resembling both radiaxial fibrous calcite and fascicular
optic calcite and are fluid inclusion-rich (Wright and Bar-
nett 2015), locally pseudo-pleochroic (Fig. 4). They have
nucleated from sub-millimetre, fibrous calcite laminae, or as
an asymmetric growth off spherules (Herlinger et al. 2017;
Lima and De Ros 2019), or from a substrate of detrital car-
bonate (Fig. 4a, b). These shrubs commonly occur in situ
(referred to as Facies 1a by Wright and Barnett 2017a), as
identified by their crystal elongation perpendicular or sub-
perpendicular to the substrate (Fig. 4a, b). However, they
are also common components of rudstone, grainstone to
wackestone and floatstone where fragmented shrubs occur
with or without calcite matrices (Fig. 5a, b). Of 439 indi-
vidual beds analysed containing shrub material from ten
Lula wells (total thickness of section = 225.24 m, mean bed
thickness = 0.51 m), 65% exhibited in situ shrubs and 35%
exhibited re-worked shrubs. The in situ shrub layers can be
encased in talc-stevensite clay (Facies 1a1; Figs. 3 and 4e, f)
or display high inter-shrub porosity (Facies 1a2, Figs. 3 and
4c, d), but in both cases they exhibit disseminated sub-mil-
limetre finely- to medium-crystalline (0.125 mm) idiotopic
dolomite rhombs (Figs. 4e, f and 5a–c). Inter-shrub pores
can also be filled with silica (micro and megaquartz and
spherulitic chalcedony) or dense dolomite mosaics. While
the shrubs were frequently re-worked, we did not note any
re-worked dolomites.
No evidence for an aragonitic precursor has been seen or
have to-date microdolomite inclusions which might suggest
a former high Mg-calcite precursor, although Saller et al.
(2016, p. 1143) suggested such an origin. Some mouldic
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 Facies (2020) 66:7
◂Fig. 4  a and b In situ shrubs occurring as single, non-branching
structures, nucleated on fibrous calcite laminae (arrowed). Note
irregularly developed mouldic and intraparticle microporosity within
the shrub at the far right of the photomicrograph (a plane-polarized
light; b crossed polars). c and d In situ shrubs occurring as branch-
ing structures with well-developed interparticle porosity. Note local
presence of finely crystalline euhedral dolomite within the pore space
and sweeping extinction in cross-polar view (c plane-polarized light;
d crossed polars). e and f In situ shrubs with a matrix of Mg-silicate
clay (dark brown) and finely crystalline euhedral dolomite. One of
the shrubs has apparently nucleated on a bone fragment (arrowed; e
plane-polarized light; f crossed polars)
porosity is present but it is highly irregular in form and
patchy in distribution and does not suggest having formed
from aragonite dissolution.
Spherulites
The spherulites, composed of radiating fibrous calcite
spheres, reach diameters of c. 15 mm but are more com-
monly less than 2 mm (Fig. 6; Terra et al. 2010; Saller et al.
2016; Sabato Ceraldi and Green 2017; Herlinger et al. 2017;
Chafetz et al. 2018; Lima and De Ros 2019; Farias et al.
2019). They are composed of fluid inclusion-rich calcites,
similar to the shrubs, and very rarely show one or two con-
centric laminae in their outer parts. In very rare cases, mic-
ritic centres to spherulites occur, or irregular-shaped radiat-
ing fibrous calcite grains have been seen with micritic cores
(Chafetz et al. 2018; Fig. 8a) or structures resembling calci-
microbes have been reported, but never within symmetrical
spherulites. Such micritic-centred spherulites or irregular
spherulites occur as a minor component in an estimated one
thin section in less than 500 or approximately one in every
5 × 104 to 1 × 105 spherulites we have examined. No evidence
has been seen of any microbial or former microbial textures
in the nuclei of the symmetrical spherulites. Mouldic pores
are also present like those seen in the shrubs.
Three main associations of spherulites can be identified:
firstly as a clay matrix floatstone with Mg-silicate clay matri-
ces (Facies 2a1, Figs. 3 and 6b, d); secondly as porous units
lacking Mg-silicate clay (Facies 2a2, Figs. 3 and 6a, c), and
thirdly as fragmented, abraded grains with or without calcite
matrices, constituting packstone to wackestone or floatstone
(Facies 2c; Figs. 3 and 7a, b) and rudstone and grainstone
(Facies 2b), respectively, associated commonly with frag-
mented shrubs (Figs. 3 and 7c, d). Of 429 individual beds
sampled from the same ten Lula wells containing predomi-
nantly spherulites (total thickness of section = 232.69 m,
mean bed thickness = 0.54 m), 60% corresponded to the
first two associations (Facies 2a1 and 2a2) and 40% to beds
with fragmented and abraded spherulites (Facies 2b and 2c).
Rare ostracods, bone fragments, and, very rarely, superficial
ooids have been found associated with the spherulites (and
Page 7 of 18 7
shrubs), but in Facies 2b and c, not in 2a. As in the case
of the re-worked shrubs, no re-worked dolomite has been
recorded.
Clay matrix floatstone-like textures (Facies 2a1) consist
of spherulites embedded in a clay matrix of stevensite or
talc-stevensite in which the clay plates are oriented paral-
lel to bedding (cp. Fig. 6b, d with a, c). The clay plates
commonly appear wrapped around the spherulites due
to compaction (Fig. 7e, f). The matrix contains finely- to
medium-crystalline dolomite rhombs and sub-millimetre-
thick elongate platy, polycrystalline xenotopic dolomite
(possibly magnesite), curved but generally parallel to bed-
ding, with irregular sub-crystals. The xenotopic dolomite
mimics the shape of the clay plates (Fig. 6a, b). Organic
matter and any microbial or other biological textures are
absent in the clay matrix. The second and more common
sub-type (Facies 2a2) consists of spherulites with pores con-
taining dolomite rhombs and dolomite plates identical to
those found in the clay matrices (Fig. 6a, c). The resulting
fabric in hand-specimen looks fenestral, and the bridge-like
plates resemble a boundstone but evidence of any microbial
or other biological textures is absent, as is organic matter,
and similar textures are not seen in the rare microbialites
in the BVF. As in the case of the shrubs, pore space can
be filled completely by silica or dolomite, rare unidentified
clay plates and microgranular clusters. In Facies 2a1 and
2a2 (Fig. 6), that is, spherulites with or without the clay
but with dolomite plates, fragmented spherulites are exceed-
ingly rare, and the spherulites are typically of a relatively
uniform size (see below), commonly not touching, typically
with sharp, smooth boundaries except where the matrix has
been removed and associated with general evidence of dis-
solution (e.g. Lima and De Ros 2019) or where there has
been some grain–grain pressure dissolution. Some spheru-
lites show clear evidence of having grown in situ with two
grains merging together via a growth compromise boundary.
The in situ (F2a1 and F2a2) and re-worked (F2b and F2c)
spherulites also show distinctive grain-size distributions
(Fig. 8). In situ spherulites are generally coarser and show
less grain-size variability than re-worked spherulites, pre-
sumably reflecting the greater degree of fragmentation, abra-
sion and mixing due to the physical process of reworking.
Interpretation
Wright and Barnett (2015) drew comparisons of the shrubs
to the crystal shrubs (not bacterial shrubs) described from
travertines by Chafetz and Guidry (1999), invoking an abi-
otic origin based on the complete absence of any textural
evidence of a microbial involvement. This view is also
supported in the detailed analysis of shrub facies from the
northern Campos Basin by Herlinger et al. (2017) and Lima
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 7 Page 8 of 18
Fig. 5  a Rudstone composed of re-worked shrubs with well-devel-
oped interparticle porosity. b Wackestone composed of re-worked
shrubs in which the micrite matrix has been partially replaced by
very finely crystalline dolomite. c Dendrolite with well-developed
filaments. Brown material filling pore space is Mg-silicate clay. d
and De Ros (2019, p. 72). Farias et al. (2019), referring to
the origins of the shrubs and spherulites from the BVF in
the Santos Basin, also found no evidence to “support the
occurrence of microbial processes in the formation of the
dominant textures” (2019, p. 262), including (p. 256) the
absence of “microbial filaments”. The influence of biotic
and abiotic factors in the formation of carbonate textures in
travertines, including fibrous textures resembling the shrubs
in the BVF, has recently been reviewed by Shiraishi et al.
(2019), who concurred with many other studies that fibrous
textures are predominantly abiotic in origin. The presence of
large amounts of inclusions and a locally branching structure
is typical of carbonates precipitated from highly saturated
alkaline solutions (e.g. Rainey and Jones 2009).
The in situ shrubs thus constitute cementstone textures in
the sense of Wright (1992), if considered abiotic in origin, a
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Facies (2020) 66:7
Crossed polars view of dendrolite. As in this example, some of the
filament-bearing dendrolites show non-sweeping extinction demon-
strating the irregular cement overgrowth of the filaments. Note the
associated euhedral dolomite and Mg-silicate clay
category not included in the revised classification of Lokier
and Al Janaibi (2016). Terra et al. (2010) classified both
the in situ shrubs and spherulites as boundstones, with the
shrubs as stromatolites. This is problematic both in terms
of description and interpretation. If we accept Demicco and
Hardie’s (1994) definition based on Kalkowsky (1908) origi-
nal observations (“Stromatolites are discrete, in-place struc-
tures with recognisable boundaries that are characterised
by gravity-defying, mm-scale internal laminae reflecting
addition of material to a discrete surface”), then the shrubs
are clearly not stromatolites in the widely understood use of
the term. Others (e.g. Hasiuk and Kaczmarek 2015) have,
using proposed proxy geochemical evidence from small data
sets, suggested that the BVF shrubs are microbial. Sabato
Ceraldi and Green (2017) tentatively regarded the shrub
facies from the equivalents of the BVF in the Kwanza and
Facies (2020) 66:7
Fig. 6  a and c In situ spherulites with finely crystalline euhedral
dolomite and sub-millimetre-thick elongate platy, polycrystalline
xenotopic dolomite (arrowed), as in a and b, but lacking Mg-silicate
clay. We hypothesise that the now open pore space was previously
occluded by Mg-silicate clay. b and d In situ spherulites with Mg-sil-
South Campos basins as microbialites, noting that upright
to inclined growth patterns in arborescent features suggest a
response to sunlight or to current energy, perhaps indicating
a microbial origin.
The origin of the spherulites has been a focus of some
discussion (Wright and Barnett 2015; Mercedes-Martín et al.
2017; Rogerson et al. 2017; Chafetz et al. 2018; Kirkham
and Tucker 2018). Wright and Barnett (2015) favoured an
abiotic origin proposing that the spherulites grew in a Mg-
silicate gel, the precursor for the clay matrix (Tosca and
Wright 2015; Wright and Tosca 2016). They argued that
spherulite growth is typically favoured by high levels of
Mg and silica in highly alkaline solutions, coupled with
rapid calcite crystal growth, with or without any microbial
influence (Garcia-Ruiz 2000; Beck and Andreassen 2010;
Meister et al. 2011), and especially in a viscous medium
(Sanchez-Navas et al. 2009).
Page 9 of 18 7
icate clay (brown material), finely crystalline euhedral dolomite and
sub-millimetre-thick elongate platy, polycrystalline xenotopic dolo-
mite (arrowed). Note how the platy dolomite mimics the orientation
of the clay plates
Herlinger et al. (2017) and Lima and De Ros (2019), from
studies of spherulite-stevensite deposits in northern Campos
Basin, and Farias et al. (2019) from the Santos Basin, agreed
with this model, with these last authors reporting (2019, p.
257) from SEM studies of the spherulites: “no filament-like
organic structure”. Bahniuk et al. (2015) described spheru-
litic horizons from the Aptian Codó Formation of the Par-
naiba Basin in north-east Brazil. This formation contains
microbialites and thin units with spherulites associated with
Mg-clay and dolomite matrices. However, the spherulite
horizons lack any direct evidence of microbial activity, these
authors noting (2015, p. 169) that “No microfossil remains
were observed during SEM analysis of this facies.”
To assess the hypothesis that the spherulites are not
deposited grains sensu stricto but grew in a matrix it is first
critical to establish the presence or former presence of a Mg-
silicate matrix. Facies 2a1 textures still have a clay matrix
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 7 Page 10 of 18
Fig. 7  a and b wackestone composed of re-worked spherulites. Note
the variable size of the spherulites and the absence of euhedral and
platy elongate dolomite as well as Mg-silicate clay (a plane-polarized
light; b crossed polars). c and d Grainstone composed of re-worked
spherulites. As in the matrix-supported fabric in a and b, spherulite
13
Facies (2020) 66:7
size is highly variable and some are fragmented (c plane-polarized
light; d crossed polars). e and f Compacted (note penetrative grain
boundaries), in situ spherulites with Mg-silicate clay. Clay plates are
wrapped around spherulites due to compaction (e plane-polarized
light; f crossed polars)
Facies (2020) 66:7 Page 11 of 18 7

Fig. 8  a Frequency-size

distribution of spherulites in
interpreted in situ fabrics. b
Frequency-size distribution
of spherulites in interpreted
re-worked fabrics. Studied
samples are from the 15 wells
from the Lula, Iracema, Sururu,
Berbigão, Lapa and Sapinhoá
fields listed in Table 1

present (Fig. 6b, d), have spherulites roughly the same size
(Fig. 8), have smooth margins unless coalesced with other
spherulites or show signs of pressure dissolution. In the clay
matrices are the xenotopic dolomite bridges which mimic
the shapes and orientations of clay plates wrapped around
grains, and the discrete dolomite rhombs. Detrital grains
such as fragmented spherulites and shrubs are absent. The
bedding-parallel orientation of the clays, their extent and
evidence of compaction, whilst not displaying textures
indicative of authigenic clay cementation (cf. Worden and
Burley 2003), imply that the matrices are not a cement sensu
stricto. However, it is possible that the clays were originally
deposited as a gel (Tosca and Wright 2015) and so repre-
sent an unusual secondary matrix but one that was originally
depositional.
In Facies 2a2, the clay is absent, but these other features
associated with the clay matrices are present. For example,
the xenotopic dolomite bridges occur producing an unusual
pseudo-fenestral porosity described earlier. The patches of
platy and granular microsilicates found in the pore spaces
are regarded as evidence of a precursor matrix (Fig. 6c–f).
The dolomites are regarded as having formed after some
degree of burial as they are, unlike the spherulites, never
found re-worked.

13
 7 Page 12 of 18
Facies 2b and 2c are clearly different and show evidence
of reworking with fragmented and abraded spherulites
and shrubs, poorly sorted, with a fine carbonate matrix
(Fig. 7a–d).
Although solutions supersaturated with respect to Mg-sil-
icate commonly produce hydrated nano-crystalline gels, the
experiments of Tutolo and Tosca (2018) suggested that nei-
ther elevated concentration of organic acids, nor biological
mediation, nor a gel matrix are required for calcium carbon-
ate to attain a spherulitic morphology. However, any model
for the BVF carbonates needs to explain the observation
that spherulites are commonly re-worked and yet re-worked
Mg-silicate clay fragments are exceedingly rare in the BVF
successions, even where clay matrices are still present. The
most parsimonious explanation of this observation is that
spherulites were re-worked when still in a gel matrix which
were then dispersed into the water column and re-dissolved.
Where not re-worked, during shallow burial, dehydration
of the Mg-silicate gel would trigger re-ordering and forma-
tion of crystalline Mg-silicates such as stevensite, kerolite
and sepiolite (Tosca et al. 2011; Tosca and Masterson 2014;
Tosca 2016).
Chafetz et al. (2018) have argued that the spherulites in
the BVF equivalent unit in the adjacent offshore Campos
Basin are “most likely initiated carbonate precipitation
around bacterial colonies and/or their bioproducts…”. These
authors stated that spherulites commonly have micritic cen-
tres with many displaying voids at their centres but they do
not record any clear microbial structures. In addition, they
described what they referred to as clover-leaf patterns which
they interpreted as analogous to the morphology of bacterial
peloids described from hot-water travertine. We have not
noted such features in the material from the Santos basin
but, as stated above, some asymmetric spherulites do possess
micritic cores resembling calcimicrobes but we emphasize
that such occurrences are exceedingly rare.
Spherulites resembling these from the BVF have been
described from Carboniferous lake deposits of East Kirk-
ton by Mercedes-Martín et al. (2017) and Rogerson et al.
(2017) but they differ markedly in their facies associations.
Furthermore, the BVF carbonates lack the complex in situ
growth forms described by these authors. These Carbon-
iferous examples were proposed as having formed at the
sediment–water interface in the littoral zone, allowing the
growth of “spherulitic cementstone buildups and spherulitic
grainstone–packstone within the wave-agitated zone, and the
accumulation of floatstone and laminites of spherulitic grains
in deeper lake regions by means of downslope reworking”
(Mercedes-Martín et al. 2017, p. 168). The model proposed
by Mercedes-Martín et al. (2017) is not regarded as appli-
cable in the case of the BVF because cementstone buildups
are absent. If the floatstone textures in, for example, Facies
2a1, had resulted from reworking, as proposed for the East
13
Facies (2020) 66:7
Kirkton material, the lack of demonstrably detrital grains
compared with Facies 2b and 2c would be striking.
Kirkham and Tucker (2018) regarded the view (Wright
and Barnett 2015) that the spherulites grew in a Mg-silicate
as “increasingly questionable” (Kirkham and Tucker 2018,
p. 82). In addition, they stated that “Even if the radial-fibrous
crystals were entirely abiotic, they were initiated at bacterial
nuclei and so the spherulites can reasonably be regarded, at
the very least, as being biotically influenced”. Their conclu-
sions were based on their studies of Carboniferous and Juras-
sic carbonates associated with obvious microbial textures
and no Mg-silicates. Thus, the depositional context is not
similar to that of the BVF. They do refer to the very minor
occurrence of BVF-type facies in the Codó Formation which
do not contain any microbial evidence even though closely
associated limestones do show these (Bahniuk et al. 2015).
We reiterate that there is currently no documented evidence
for bacterial nuclei in the BVF spherulites.
Furthermore, Kirkham and Tucker (2018, p. 82) stated
that “Spherulites within Mg–Si clay matrices could have
been introduced by gravitational re-sedimentation which is
known to have occurred, or they could have initiated in sus-
pension before settling to the sediment–water interface when
they exceeded a size limit at which suspension was unsus-
tainable”. They add: “Spherulites could become mobile bed-
load grains because of the settling process, or because of
erosion from spherulitic mesoclots. Once demobilised, they
were capable of asymmetrical growth to form botryoidal
bundles of radiating crystals, or fascicular optic calcite, or
‘shrubs’.” As the majority of occurrences of spherulites are
in grainstone to calcite mudstone textures, not associated
with Mg-silicate matrices or with evidence of former matri-
ces, a case for reworking is strong. However, if deposition of
spherulites into Mg-silicate-rich substrates had taken place,
one would expect to see commonly abraded spherulites,
and some detritus from shrubs, which would also have been
redeposited; these are not present where spherulites occur in
Mg-silicate matrices or former matrices. We reiterate, when
found where there is no evidence for the presence, or for-
mer presence of Mg-silicate matrices (Facies 2b and 2c), the
spherulites are invariably in poorly sorted textures (Fig. 8),
commonly abraded or fragmented and associated with other
debris of shrubs, bone fragments, ostracod valves and, very
rarely, superficial ooids. If the spherulites were forming in
the water column, as ooids are currently interpreted (Diaz
and Eberli 2019), we might expect to see well-sorted spheru-
litic grainstones, as we commonly see in oolitic units. How-
ever, of the thousands of thin-sections containing spherulites
that were seen from the BVF, the absence of well-sorted
spherulite grainstones is striking; yet the BVF contains
highly mature grainstones with rounded and well-sorted
shrub and spherulite debris (Facies 5 of Wright and Bar-
nett 2017b; Barnett et al. 2018), and spherulite grainstones
Facies (2020) 66:7
(Facies 2b) are generally poorly sorted with fragmented and
abraded grains. In addition, if the spherulites were redepos-
ited, the association of abundant spherulites up to 15 mm
in diameter with a clay (or more likely former silicate gel)
matrix raises questions regarding the hydrodynamics of such
settings. Additionally, some spherulites show compromise
boundaries between them and this suggests that they grew,
at least in part, in situ and are the same diameters as adjacent
single forms lacking evidence of transport.
Kirkham and Tucker (2018) also suggested that (p. 82)
“In some modern cases where spherulites are associated with
Mg-clays, even the clays may be microbially related.” This
is another important issue and raises the question that if the
matrix had been formed as a result of microbial processes
could the in situ spherulite facies be a microbialite? Wright
(2012, p. 45) drew attention to the possible role of microbial
processes in the formation of the Mg-silicates in volcanic-
influenced lakes such as those of the South Atlantic, and
Farias et al. (2019), while considering that the carbonates
in the BVF were not the product of microbial processes, did
not exclude “the possible role of EPS in microbial mats in
concentrating magnesium and silica to form Mg-silicates”
(p. 262). In fact, there is a growing number of studies on this
topic (for example Pace et al. 2016; Zeyen et al. 2017; Perri
et al. 2018; Hubert et al. 2018; Jaramillo-Vogel et al. 2019;
Kremer et al. 2019), as well as studies of a link between
volcanism, high ­CO2, high primary productivity, related
alkalinity and Mg-smectites (although Al-bearing saponite
in this case; Milesi et al. 2019). However, these silicates
are in very small volumes unlike up to several metres-thick,
multi-layered units of F2a seen in the BVF. It should be
noted that occurrences of Mg-silicate clay in the BVF are not
facies specific. Mg-silicate clay is not restricted to small dis-
crete buildups as, for example, in the Lake Clifton examples
documented by Burne et al. (2014). The BVF commonly has
intervals several 100 m in thickness comprising interbedded
shrubs and spherulites in which the pore system is almost
wholly occluded by Mg-silicate clays. The BVF Mg-clays
are very rarely associated with microbial carbonate textures
and are not organic rich. As Tutolo and Tosca (2018, p. 99)
noted “… it remains to be seen whether such a (microbi-
ally assisted) mechanism can operate on scales as large as
the pre-salt depositional system”. Furthermore, there is no
evidence of microbial textures in the F2a units and in the
very rare instances talc-stevensite is associated with dendro-
lites in the BVF the clays are in the inter-branch spaces, not
within the microbial carbonate itself (Fig. 5c, d).
Recently, Jaramillo-Vogel et al. (2019) have described
aragonitic (not calcitic) spherulites from the marine Pleisto-
cene in the Danakil Depression (Afar, Ethiopia). While these
spherulites have a similar morphology to those in the BVF,
they are significantly smaller. They are associated with Mg-
silicates in pellet-rich sediment and commonly have nuclei
Page 13 of 18 7
of serpulid or other bioclasts. Jaramillo-Vogel et al. (2019)
interpreted these spherulites as having formed at the sedi-
ment–water interface. Alvaro and Gonzalez-Acebron (2019)
have illustrated spherulites resembling those from the BVF
from sub-lacustrine hydrothermal microbial bioherms in the
Ediacaran Oued Dar’a caldera, Anti-Atlas, Morocco. While
none of the examples listed above appear to be direct ana-
logues for the BVF, they do serve to show that spherulites
can form in a variety of settings, with or without the influ-
ence of microbial processes.
An abiotic, evaporative model for the BVF is supported
by the vertical arrangement of its component facies. An
examination and statistical analysis of > 3 km of core mate-
rial show that the basic components and facies of the BVF
are arranged into decimetre- to metre-scale cycles (Wright
and Barnett 2015; Barnett et al. 2018). The basal portions
of the cycles are composed of laminated calcimudstone
with demonstrably early silica nodules and common ver-
tebrate remains, including locally well-preserved fish. This
facies is interpreted to represent a flooding (pluvial) event
and a resulting increase in lake level. This is supported by
the matrix-supported texture of the facies, suggesting low-
energy conditions below both fair-weather and storm wave
base. A freshening of lake waters is indicated by the pres-
ence of pre-compaction silica nodules (silica precipitation is
favoured by a lowering of alkalinity), an abundance of fish
remains, including well-preserved whole fossils, and ostra-
cods. An alkalinity of pH 9–10 is harmful to many extant
freshwater fish and values > 10 are typically lethal (Alabaster
and Lloyd 1980).
The middle parts of the cycles are composed of spheru-
lite-dominated facies. The up-section transition from lami-
nated calcimudstone to spherulite-dominated lithologies
is transitional and is marked by rare laminae of carbonate
spherulites within calcimudstone which become progres-
sively more abundant, eventually forming the spherulite-
dominated facies described above. This facies association
is interpreted to represent evaporation of the lake water-body
and a concomitant decrease in lake level. This is suggested
by the widespread presence of stevensite and other Mg-
silicate clay minerals in this facies association. The abiotic
precipitation of stevensite would require elevated pH con-
ditions of at least 9 or above in palaeo-lake water (Jones
1986; Khoury et al. 1982; Wilson 2013). Tutolo and Tosca
(2018) suggested that spherulitic carbonates and Mg-silicate
clays like those observed in the BVF were likely precipitated
from elevated pH (c. 10–10.5) waters based on their real-
time observations of in situ fluid chemistry, post-experiment
analysis of precipitated solids and geochemical modelling.
That the spherulite-dominated facies association represents
less hospitable, higher pH conditions is supported by the
paucity of well-preserved vertebrates and their stratigraphic
restriction to the lower parts of individual beds near or at
13
 7 Page 14 of 18
the laminite–spherulite transition. Progressive evaporation
of a common water body is also suggested by carbon and
oxygen stable isotope data (Barnett et al. 2018). The isotopic
composition of primary carbonates moves along a covariant
trend in response to changes in hydrological balance and
water residence times. Carbonates precipitated during peri-
ods of high lake level will in general plot towards the nega-
tive end of the trend, those precipitated during lake level
lows towards the positive end (Talbot 1990). This is exactly
the trend shown by micro-sampled laminites and calcite
spherulites in the BVF (Barnett et al. 2018).
The upper parts of the cycles are composed of shrub-
dominated facies. The up-section change from spherulite- to
shrub-dominated facies is transitional and, in some occur-
rences, the two components are interlaminated giving a
mixed shrub-spherulite facies. The gradual nature of this
transition is also apparent at the pore scale at which spheru-
lites are observed to become increasingly asymmetric repre-
senting a transitional spherulite-shrub grain type.
Mercedes-Martin et al. (2019) suggested that the Wright
and Tosca (2016) hypothesis that the centimetre- to dec-
imetre-thick facies cyclicity observed in the BVF reflects
freshening-evaporation fluctuations is invalid. They per-
formed sediment thickness calculations using data from
Lake Baringo and proposed that 50–25 fluctuations would be
required to produce the cycles and not a single evaporative-
freshening fluctuation. They proposed that the facies cyclic-
ity largely reflects temporal fluctuations in the type of waters
sourcing the lake and in the degree of leakage to aquifers,
and not due to variations in the lake water concentration.
Wright and Tosca (2016) did not imply that the cycles were
the product of a single event, an analogy being drawn with
suggesting that a peritidal carbonate cycle represents the
product of one tide? The fact that the BVF cycles are the
product of a longer-term evaporation trend is supported by
the stable isotope data presented by Barnett et al. (2018).
However, the importance of changing solute sources during
the longer-term changes in lake chemistry is an important
consideration. While the freshening (deepening) phase of the
BVF lakes was likely a result of input from run-off (intro-
ducing fish and ostracods from streams or other refugia), it
was followed by the likely increasing effect of water derived
from hydrothermal input (hence delivery of cations, etc.) as
evaporation prevailed. This could be readily tested by ana-
lysing the 87Sr/86Sr ratio of each carbonate phase.
­Al3+ or has a very low Al content, and as such its structure
Discussion
The rarity of microbial textures in the BVF requires some
explanation as the ability of microbes to survive and flourish
in even extreme environments is well established. Could the
absence of such textures be due to recrystallization effects,
13
Facies (2020) 66:7
which are locally present in the spherulites and shrubs as
seen under cathodoluminescence (Saller et al. 2016; e.g.
Fig. 7f)? We do not consider this to be a major factor because
our observations suggest that recrystallization is relatively
rare in the BVF. Furthermore, when deciphering microstruc-
tures, including images seen under cathodoluminescence, it
should be noted that very complex crystalline growth mor-
phologies which could be misinterpreted as recrystalliza-
tion can be produced under non-equilibrium conditions even
when apparent simple gross morphologies are seen such as
spherulites (e.g. Granasy et al. 2013).
Wright et al. (2017) identified several possible reasons for
the absence of evidence for microbial activity in the BVF, all
related directly to the high alkalinity identified by the pres-
ence of stevensite which requires pH conditions potentially
as high as 10–10.5 (Tutolo and Tosca 2018), as noted above.
In highly alkaline waters, the high hydroxide concentration
consumes dissolved C ­ O2, thus reducing its bioavailability
for cyanobacteria, making photosynthesis difficult. In addi-
tion, the principal difficulty for prokaryotes living in hyper-
alkaline environments is the need to maintain a neutral cyto-
plasmic pH (Konhauser 2006). This is typically achieved
with the use of Na+/H+ (or K+/H+) antiporters and adap-
tations to increase cytoplasmic proton retention (Krulwich
et al. 1997; Padan et al. 2005). Arp et al. (2001) discussed
the likely effects of high DIC on cyanobacterial calcifica-
tion, noting for example that in soda lakes precipitation of
carbonate in cyanobacterial sheaths is lacking. The rarity of
thread-like structures may reflect high DIC concentrations,
but the increased presence of such features in the uppermost
BVF (“Lula’s Fingers”) might suggest some change in lake
water chemistry. At high pH levels and carbonate satura-
tions, microbial activity is reduced while high precipitation
rates favour abiotic carbonates, overwhelming any microbial
contribution (Emery 2013; see also Bastianini et al. 2019).
While we do not consider that the BVF lakes were devoid
of microbial activity, we propose that the extreme alkalinity
reduced the level of that activity to a point where abiotic
processes became dominant. We emphasize that microbial
meso- and micro-structures do occur in the BVF but are
rare; suggestions for a biotic origin must be evidence-based
and must be supported by data on the frequency of such
evidence.
A key process creating many of the problematic textures
in the BVF was the dissolution of the Mg-silicate matrix.
Stevensite, along with some other Mg-silicates, either lacks
is composed entirely or almost entirely of Mg–O and Si–O
bonds. The former are weak compared with, for example,
Al–O bonds, producing dissolution rates that are much more
rapid than in the other aluminosilicate minerals. As a result
of this, stevensite breakdown leads to congruent dissolution
where all the mineral components are released into solution
Facies (2020) 66:7
producing porosity with little potential for the formation of
secondary aluminosilicates. These issues are discussed in
Tosca and Wright (2015).
BVF facies are now recorded from several South Atlantic
basins (see earlier) and a conservative estimate is that these
lakes covered over 3 × 105 ­km2 and so represent one of the
largest palaeo-lake systems known in the geological record.
This aerially but apparently stratigraphically restricted
depositional system must reflect a very specific set of con-
ditions and a near-unique type of carbonate factory. Such
a large and unusual carbonate system must also reflect a
very special hydrogeological and tectonic setting. Tosca and
Wright (2015) suggested that the water chemistry of BVF
lakes “may have been influenced by the serpentinization of
exhumed mantle at the transition between continental and
oceanic crusts.” Earlier Zalan et al. (2011) had inferred that
serpentinization took place of a proposed continuous belt of
exhumed mantle at the transition between continental and
oceanic crusts in the Santos, Campos and Espirito Santo
basins. Pinto et al. (2017) suggested that serpentinization
and the related transfer of mantle-derived elements (e.g.
Si, Mg, Ca) may have played a major role in the evolution
of closed embryonic oceanic basins, particularly for the
restricted and isolated environments of the South Atlantic.
If serpentinization of a mantle mafic source was the ori-
gin of the major cations, 87Sr/86Sr ratios should reveal such
a provenance but Pietzsch et al. (2018) have suggested that a
felsic component end-member should have been a significant
source of water and ions, and of Sr, to the palaeo-lake; this
source would have contributed fluxes one to two, and up to
four, orders of magnitude higher than a mafic one.
More recently, the evaporation model has been invoked
by Farias et al. (2019), although envisaging evaporation of
hydrothermally modified seawater, supplied through the
Walvis Ridge. Their model invokes chloride and Na activ-
ity in the system, neither of which is seen in the relatively
limited mineral suite characterising the BVF (Wright 2012),
other than the minor role of Na (Tosca and Wright 2015).
This limited mineral suite seen in the BVF more likely
reflects the critical influence of tholeiitic basalts as a source
(Wright 2012).
However, another means by which the mantle may have
influenced carbonate and non-carbonate deposition in the
BVF lakes is by the input of ­CO2, creating extreme carbon-
ate and bicarbonate alkalinities. High input of C ­ O2-rich
hydrothermal fluids would have led to the release of cati-
ons driving alkalinity as is seen in modern volcanic lakes
(Pecoraino et al. 2015). An additional factor could relate to
primary productivity; Milesi et al. (2019), based on stud-
ies of the volcanic crater lake Dziani Dzaha in Mayotte
(Indian Ocean), have proposed that the high pH values
in that lake are derived from high primary productivity
provided by carbon linked to magmatic ­CO2, associated
Page 15 of 18 7
with carbonate sediments rich in organic matter and Mg-
silicates. On the relative structural highs that have been
the focus of exploration drilling the BVF does not show
evidence of having been rich in primary organic matter.
We speculate that the BVF and its equivalents may be an
example of a vast, largely abiotic lacustrine carbonate fac-
tory, strongly influenced by basement mineralogy, hydro-
thermal processes linked to ocean-opening, and mantle-
derived ­CO 2. This seemingly unique carbonate setting,
while producing a very limited range of carbonate tex-
tures which are themselves not environment specific, did
produce a range of textures which challenge our existing
classifications and highlight the dangers of applying some
terms without fully understanding the paragenetic history
of the limestones.
Conclusions
The non-marine carbonates of the BVF have undergone an
unusual diagenetic history which presents significant termi-
nological problems if currently used textural classifications
for carbonate rocks are applied. In situ occurrences of shrubs
and spherulites show an identical range of carbonate compo-
nents (e.g. calcite shrubs and spherulites, euhedral dolomite,
xenotopic dolomite bridges), both with and without matrices
of Mg-silicate clay. Petrographic observations suggest that
the shrubs and spherulites grew within Mg-silicate clay or
a precursor gel which, upon shallow burial, was re-ordered
via dehydration to form crystalline Mg-silicates. In the
producing reservoirs of the Santos Basin this matrix subse-
quently dissolved, congruently, to produce what superficially
appears to be primary intergranular porosity. The dissolu-
tion of Mg-silicate clay is, therefore, the most significant
porosity-generating process in these prolific hydrocarbon
reservoirs. As a result of these ghost matrices, the concept
of textural maturity based on the ratios of matrix to grain
cannot be used to infer depositional energy levels in facies
dominated by in situ shrubs and spherulites. Furthermore,
features interpreted by some workers to produce boundstone
textures (e.g. xenotopic dolomite bridges) are not related
to organic trapping or binding but are also most likely dia-
genetic, because, unlike the shrubs and spherulites which
are commonly re-worked, they are never found re-worked
suggesting that they were formed in the shallow subsurface
beyond the reach of current or wave re-working. Conse-
quently, these features should not be used as evidence of
microbial mediation of calcium carbonate. Other bona fide
microbial meso- and micro-structures do occur in the BVF
but are extremely rare and cannot, in our view, be used to
infer that the carbonates of the Barra Velha Formation were
mainly produced by microbial processes.
13
 7 Page 16 of 18
Acknowledgements We thank Alex Brasier, Maurice Tucker and Joao
Paulo Gomes for their extremely helpful comments and suggestions.
We also thank Nick Tosca for many insightful discussions on the gen-
esis of Mg-silicate clays. AJB would like to express his appreciation
to past and present colleagues at BG and Shell for many stimulating
discussions on the BVF over the last 10 years.
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