Controls of Dolomitization on Matrix Porosity and its Effect on Cave Passage Formation as Inferred from Numerical Simulations Based on Geochemical and Experimental Analyses

Title: Controls of dolomitization on matrix porosity and its effect on cave passage formation as inferred from numerical simulations based on geochemical and experimental analyses Abstract: The objective of the proposed research is to determine how the nature of dolomitization governs the physico-chemical properties of dolomites, which in turn control their susceptibility to cave passage formation. The central hypothesis is that the original sediment fabric and the nature of the dolomitization mechanism play the primary control on the development and distribution of matrix porosity. Besides fractures, matrix porosity controls the development and distribution of flow paths of the dissolving fluids. We propose to sample and analyze dolomites with varying degree of resistance to karstification in order to determine the nature of dolomitization, characterize dissolution fronts, output solution chemistry and mass-transfer, and to determine the amount and distribution of pore types in natural and experimentally altered dolomites. The proposed research is innovative because it will apply a novel combination of advanced geochemical techniques with experimental dissolution studies and numerical simulation to explain karstification processes in dolomites.