As rocks are buried, they undergo lithification and the connate fluids are usually expelled. If the escape route for these fluids is blocked, the pore fluid pressure can build up, leading to overpressure.
Significance
An understanding of the geochemistry of connate fluids is important if the diagenesis of the rock is to be quantified. The solutes in the connate fluids often precipitate and reduce the porosity and permeability of the host rock, which can have important implications for its hydrocarbon prospectivity. The chemical components of the connate fluid can also yield information on the provenance of aquifers and of the thermal history of the host rock. Minute bubbles of fluid are often trapped within the crystals of the cementing material. These fluid inclusions provide direct information about the composition of the fluid and the pressure-temperature conditions that existed during diagenesis of the sediments.
Similar, but different in origin, is the concept of fossil water which is used to describe very old groundwater found in deep aquifers or bedrock. Typically it was recharged during a different climatic period (e.g., the last ice age) so is also very old, but possibly not of the same genesis as the rock.
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Last updated on Tuesday April 22, 2008 at 19:58:59 PDT (GMT -0700)
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