Microscale bioturbation as a first order control on distal prodelta to offshore mudrock reservoirs

Description

Korhan Ayranci showed in 2026 that burrowing by tiny organisms reshapes mudstone at a scale small enough to change how oil and gas reservoirs behave. Mud-dominated reservoirs vary in ways that deposition alone does not explain. Working on event beds from the Lower Silurian Qusaiba Member in Saudi Arabia, Ayranci imaged two kinds of diminutive trace fossils with micro-CT scanning. He paired the pictures with microscopy and mineral mapping.

The burrows form dense, shallow networks in the upper parts of thin beds and fill at least one percent of the rock volume. Three-dimensional images reveal architectures that tear up the original layering. Burrow fills differ mineralogically from the surrounding mud, with clays redistributed and the iron mineral pyrite enriched, evidence that the animals sorted what they ate and triggered early chemical change. Such micro-bioturbation, the author argues, can govern porosity and flow.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13558619