Lacustrine-evaporitic microbial dolomite from a Plio-Pleistocene succession recovered by the SG-1 borehole in the Qaidam Basin, NE Tibetan Plateau

The Plio-Pleistocene evaporitic lacustrine succession in the Qaidam Basin, which was recovered by drill core SG-1, provides the material for understanding the maturation of dolomite since dolomite is present in the core from 7.6 to 870 m depth, spanning a time interval of 0.1–2.8 Ma. Twenty-two samples were collected at different burial depths. The samples were examined by thin-section petrography and SEM for textures, and analyzed for mineralogy (XRD), trace elements and carbon and oxygen isotopes. The main mineral compositions of each sample are dolomite, quartz, halite and gypsum. Dolomite is mostly scattered with spheroidal to ellipsoidal shapes, several microns in diameter, partially encapsulated in gypsum. Microbial micropores and calcified microorganisms are observed on and within the dolomite crystals and in the thin sections. The degree of ordering of the dolomite gradually increases with burial depth, which basically conforms to the first-order reaction function. The crystal constants of dolomite decrease with burial depth, indicating recrystallisation with increasing overburden. The trace elements of the dolomites are significantly different from those of hydrothermal dolomites, but close to lacustrine microbial carbonate. It is concluded that the dolomites in core SG-1 are mainly authigenic, with microbial processes a likely facilitator of dolomite precipitation. The dolomite formed and then evolved in crystal structure during burial, gradually approaching ordered stochiometric dolomite. This study gives clues to link microbial dolomite to the massive ideal dolomite rock encountered in the geological record.