Susanne Gier

University of Vienna | UniWien · Department of Geology

Ecologic building materials such as adobe bricks have become of greater economic importance in recent years. In the present work, the addition of selected materials to improve the compressive and bending strengths of adobe bricks was tested. The raw material (loam UD) was analyzed for its mineralogical and chemical composition. The loam studied con...

Recognizing weathering effects is significant for any work carried out on glauconites at the surface. The mineralogy and chemistry of glauconite grains exposed to weathering in a hot arid climate for a maximum of 42 y were studied here. The objective of the study was to find the mineralogical and chemical differences between weathered glauconite fr...

There is no consensus about the rate and style of clay mineral diagenesis in progressively buried sandstones v. interbedded mudstones. The diagenetic evolution of interbedded Mio-cene sandstones and mudstones from the Vienna Basin (Austria) has therefore been compared using core-based studies, petrography, X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence....

Secondary processes within reservoir sandstones during and after hydrocarbon production are poorly understood. This study looks at the effect of secondary water fill on a sandstone reservoir within a time span of eight years. The reservoir rocks consist of medium grained litharenites with large clasts of shales and carbonates. They originate from a...

Diagenetic processes and pore development in the matrix of the 1000 m thick main source rock for oil and gas in the Vienna Basin, the autochthonous Malmian mudstones of the Mikulov Formation have been studied. Core samples from wells over a true vertical depth range of 1400 m to 8551 m were available. The bulk samples contain quartz, minor amounts...

The Upper Miocene–Pliocene Kampungbaru Formation crops out in the easternmost part of the Lower Kutai Basin, Indonesia. The sedimentological analysis of seven outcrops was carried out, and a total of twenty-five samples from these outcrops was analyzed for bulk geochemistry, organic petrography, and bulk and clay mineralogy to assess the effect of...

The giant sulfide‐oxidizing bacteria are particularly prone to preservation in the rock record, and their fossils have been identified in ancient phosphorites, cherts, and carbonates. This study reports putative spherical fossils preserved in the Devonian Hollard Mound hydrocarbon‐seep deposit. Based on petrographical, mineralogical, and geochemica...

Authigenic Mg‐calcite and dolomite are frequently observed in restricted, evaporative environments, such as lagoon or lake systems, but their formation is difficult to capture due to slow growth rates. Lake Neusiedl, an alkaline and subhaline lake with a mean water depth of 0.7 m in Austria, offers a natural system to study the precipitation of Ca‐...

Sedimentary organic matter concentrated in source rocks forms the main source for the formation of hydrocarbons. Its deposition and preservation are strongly controlled by the depositional environment and paleoclimate. This study evaluates the paleoenvironment and the paleoclimatic controls of sediments in the Middle Miocene Balikpapan Group, Mahak...

Repurposing depleted oil and gas reservoirs for secondary storage may play an important role in the transition to low-carbon energy. The integrity of the cap rocks overlying the reservoirs is an important factor for gas storage and needs to be understood prior to repurposing. In some cases, old cap-rock cores collected during exploration and develo...

The Arabian Peninsula was, up until recently, thought to have been depopulated during the more arid phases between MIS5 and Holocene interglacials, and in particular during MIS3 and MIS2. Within the last few years there have been five new sites dated to this arid phase, demonstrating that at the very least there were episodic occupation events on t...

Dolomite [CaMg(CO3)2] formation under Earth surface conditions is considered largely inhibited, yet protodolomite (with a composition similar to dolomite but lacking cation ordering), and in some cases also dolomite, was documented in modern shallow marine and lacustrine, evaporative environments. Authigenic carbonate mud from Lake Neusiedl, a shal...

The beginning of the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) attested to a major marine transgression interrupted by sea level falls in north Africa, which led to significant environmental perturbation and widespread accumulation of organic matter-rich sediments. During this period, northern Egypt was located at the southern edge of the Tethys Ocean and depos...

Climatic variability and silicate weathering are remarkable features throughout the Late Cretaceous period. Late Campanian black shale is considered the most significant silicate source rock in the southern Tethys. Here, we used mineralogical and geochemical data to evaluate the continental weathering intensity and climatic changes as well as their...

Abrupt and large‐scale climate changes have occurred repeatedly and within decades during the last glaciation. These events, where dramatic warming occurs over decades, are well represented in both Greenland ice core mineral dust and temperature records, suggesting a causal link. However, the feedbacks between atmospheric dust and climate change du...

A numerical reaction-transport model was developed to simulate the effects of microbial activity and mineral reactions on the composition of porewater in a 230-m-thick Pleistocene interval drilled in the Peru-Chile Trench (Ocean Drilling Program, Site 1230). This site has porewater profiles similar to those along many continental margins, where int...

The conditions in ancient evaporative environments conducive to authigenic carbonate (especially dolomite [CaMg(CO 3 ) 2 ]) formation are still insufficiently understood. Insights from microfacies analysis can help to constrain the conditions in these environments. We provide a brief overview of the microfacies association and carbon and oxygen iso...

Table 1 Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) Values and Whole-Rock X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Major Elements Data (wt%) for (a) Hole D and (b) Hole E, Site U1513, IODP Expedition 369. Note. CIA values were calculated using molar amounts of oxides and corrected CaO contents. The values with lithologic unit and lithology are presented in Figure 5a. Fe2O...

Petrophysical properties of volcanic rocks are controlled by lithology and subsequent modification by alteration processes. Investigating the linkages, using a range of different techniques, are important to establish how petrophysical properties can inform about the alteration state of volcanic rocks. Here, we compile petrophysical data and correl...

Primary gypsum deposits, which accumulated in the Mediterranean Basin during the so-called Messinian salinity crisis (5.97–5.33 Ma), represent an excellent archive of microbial life. We investigated the molecular fossil inventory and the corresponding compound-specific δ13C values of bottom-grown gypsum formed during the first stage of the crisis i...

Sedimentological and geochemical records are presented for an upper Paleocene to middle Eocene deep-water pelagic succession of the Pabdeh Formation in the Paryab section, Zagros Mountains, NW, Iran. In this study, grain-size statistical parameters, cumulative curves, and bivariate analysis on twenty-five sediment samples were used to decipher depo...

The Salt Range, in Pakistan, preserves an insightful sedimentary record of passive margin dynamics along the NW margin of the Indian Plate during the Mesozoic. This study develops provenance analyses of the Upper Triassic (Kingriali Formation) to Lower Jurassic (Datta Formation) siliciclastics from the Salt and Trans Indus ranges based on outcrop a...

In this study, periods of prehistoric anthropogenic activity in the Hallstatt salt mining area (Upper Austria) are reconstructed from elemental (XRF-scanning, Q-ICP-MS) and Pb isotopic analyses (206 Pb, 207 Pb, 208 Pb) of a radiocarbon-dated, 137-cm-long peat core covering the past ~7,000 years. The peat core was retrieved from a minerotrophic fen...

The Late Cretaceous epoch witnessed significant changes in climate and considerable perturbations in the global carbon cycle, among others leading to Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs). Investigating the paleoceanographic setting in the southern Tethys (northern Egypt) is critical for a better understanding of the triggering mechanisms that occurred duri...

The paleoenvironmental and tectonic history at the southwestern end of the Malé Karpaty Mountains was reconstructed using sediment analysis, mineralogy, and dating. Numerical ages using 26 Al/ 10 Be burial age dating, 230 Th/U ages and luminescence age dating are combined to infer the Pliocene and Pleistocene development of the Hainburg Hills regio...

Deeply buried Pannonian (Upper Miocene) siliciclastic deposits show evidence of secondary porosity development via dissolution processes at a late stage of diagenesis. This is demonstrated by detailed petrographic (optical, cathodoluminescence, fluorescence, and scanning electron microscopy) as well as elemental and stable isotope geochemical inves...

The Upper Cretaceous Postalm section in the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria) exposes pelagic deposits of the northwestern Tethys whose cyclostratigraphy and palaeoenvironments were examined in this study. The section displays rhythmic deposits of Santonian to late Campanian age (Gosau Group). The Santonian/Campanian transition is characterised by...

Recent studies established the lithological and chemical sediment evolution in the Lower Austrian Molasse Basin (LAMB), a part of the North Alpine foreland basin, during the Early Miocene. In this study, we aim to integrate the clay mineralogy of seven wells across the LAMB with a newly proposed lithostratigraphy, and to infer implications for prov...

During Messinian time, the Mediterranean underwent hydrological modifications culminating 5.97 Ma ago with the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC). Evaporite deposition and alleged annihilation of most marine eukaryotes were taken as evidence of the establishment of basin-wide hypersalinity followed by desiccation. However, the palaeoenvironmental cond...

Detrital heavy mineral analysis and sediment chemistry of Lower Miocene sediments of the Lower Austrian Northern Alpine Foreland Basin generally indicate provenance from metapelitic source rocks. The sediments of the Traisen Formation (Ottnangian) were primarily derived from Alpine sources such as the Austroalpine crystalline units of the Eastern A...

The geochemical conditions conducive to dolomite formation in shallow evaporitic environments along the Triassic Tethyan margin are still poorly understood. Large parts of the Triassic dolomites in the Austroalpine and the southern Alpine realm are affected by late diagenetic or hydrothermal overprinting, but recent studies from the Carnian Travena...

We combine geoarchaeological investigations with high-resolution airborne laser scanning (ALS) topographic and airborne laser bathymetric (ALB) measurements to reassess the topography of the Roman city of Apsorus (modern Osor, northeastern Adriatic Sea, Croatia), which has generally been interpreted as important nodal point of Roman maritime traffi...

This study describes and interprets Upper Cretaceous volcaniclastics interbedded with hemipelagic to pelagic limestones, marls, and turbidites from the Western Pontides, northwestern Turkey. The Dereköy Formation, the Unaz Formation (red pelagic limestone unit), and the Cambu Formation can be distinguished, overlain by the turbiditic Akveren Format...

The geochemical conditions conducive to dolomite formation in shallow evaporitic environments along the Triassic Tethyan margin are still poorly understood. Most of the Triassic dolomites in the Austroalpine and the South Alpine realm are affected by late diagenetic or hydrothermal overprinting, but recent studies from the Carnian Travenanzes Forma...

Oil seeps from the southern Gulf of Mexico can be regarded as natural laboratories where the effect of crude oil seepage on chemosynthesis‐based communities and carbonate precipitation can be studied. During R/V Meteor cruise 114 the seep sites UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) Ridge, Mictlan Knoll and Tsanyao Yang Knoll (Bay of Campec...

The Pleistocene represents the youngest period of repeated widespread glaciation and interglacial intervals of both hemispheres. The Pleistocene–Holocene siliciclastics of the Peshawar Basin preserve a significant terrestrial record of palaeoclimatic fluctuations during this glacial time interval in northwest Pakistan at latitudes of 33–35°N. The s...

In marginal Mediterranean sub-basins, the early phase of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) is recorded by cyclic successions of gypsum and shales, which in deeper parts of the sub-basins make lateral transition into organic-rich shales, marls, and carbonates. The cyclic stacking pattern of the gypsum-bearing sequences is assumed to reflect period...

Upper Cretaceous oil shales accumulated in intracratonic sedimentary basins along the Central Eastern Desert. Comprehensive geochemical analyses have been applied on 3 Maastrichtian oil shale horizons from the Duwi and Dakhla formations (El-Beida and El-Nakheil mines). We provide significant clues for chemical weathering, sediment recycling, petrog...

Ancient methane-seep carbonates are geological archives of environmental conditions and record past microbial activity. To better understand the information stored in this archive, a comparison was made of phase-specific major, trace, and rare earth element (REE) patterns, mineralogies, and textures of two early diagenetic carbonate phases in five...

During the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC; 5.97-5.33 Ma) the progressive isolation of the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean led to the establishment of extreme environmental conditions, including hypersalinity, dysoxia and anoxia. Generally, in marginal shallow basins the advent of the MSC is marked by the deposition of primary massive gyps...

A detailed study of OMV wells throughout the Lower Austrian Molasse Basin demonstrates the existence of a distinct and synchronous upper Ottnangian (lower Miocene) stratigraphic signal, the Calcite Minimum Interval (CMI). It corresponds to the depositional phase of the Rzehakia Lake System. This signal is interpreted to be of chronostratigraphic im...

The Triassic–Jurassic boundary interval was characterised by the change from warm, semiarid–arid to a hot and humid climate in the Tethyan domain linked to input of greenhouse gases from the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) activity and Pangaea breakup. This study provides the very first outcrop evidences of palaeoclimatic evolution during...

ISC2018, Québec City The Paleocene/Eocene boundary event (PETM) in the Tethyan deep-water realm: evidences from the Zagros Mountains Seyed HamidReza Azami1 *, Michael Wagreich1 , Mohamad Hosein Mahmudy Gharaie2, Susanne Gier1 , 1 University of Vienna, Department of Geodynamics and Sedimentology, Vienna, Austria 2 Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Dep...

Within the Lower Austrian part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin (NAFB), up to 1000 m of sediments were deposited throughout the Ottnangian (Early Miocene, Burdigalian). According to homogeneous compositions and sparse biostratigraphic resolution, a consistent stratigraphic concept from the basin margins into the foreland depocenter was still lack...

The Pabdeh Formation in Zagros Bain records cyclic pelagic sedimentation (shale, marl, limestone cycles) around the PETM interval, characterized by a global warming event and increased ocean-water temperatures. This paper investigates the Paleocene-Eocene sediments in a Tethyan palaeoceanographic setting at the Zagros Mountains. (Paryab section: N...

A comprehensive set of organic and inorganic geochemical proxies, clay mineralogy, and molecular fossils are presented from two biostratigraphically well-dated oil shale horizons of Egypt, within the Upper Cretaceous Duwi and Dakhla formations. The studied oil shales were deposited within intracratonic sedimentary basins in a broad northern African...

The base of the Campanian still lacks a designated primary marker and a defined GSSP (Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point). We present a Santonian-Campanian boundary section from the Postalm in the Northern Calcareous Alps of Austria as a possible reference section for the northwestern Tethys. Including nearby complementary Gosau Group sec...

We investigate episodic soft-sediment deformation structures cross-cut by normal faults preserved in unlithified finely laminated calcite rich sediments in the Hirlatz cave in the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria). These sediments comprise varve-like alternations of brighter carbonate/quartz rich layers, and darker clay mineral rich layers. The de...

Serpentinite-hosted ecosystems are potential sites where life may first have evolved on Earth. Serpentinization reactions produce strongly reducing and highly alkaline fluids that are typified by high concentrations of molecular hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4), which can be used as an energy source by chemosynthetic life. Low-temperature serpentini...

The Triassic was generally dominated by warm-semiarid to arid palaeoclimate. However, palaeoclimatic reconstructions at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, representing a mass extinction event, indicate a prominent sea-level fall and a change from warm-arid to warm-humid conditions in the Tethyan realm. These events are linked to the Central Atlantic M...

The transition zone between Eastern Alps and Pannonian Basin is a key area for the investigation of the interplay between regional uplift, local tectonic subsidence and depositional environment. Our study area, the western margin of the Little Hungarian Plain, is characterized by gentle hills, plateaus and depressions, of which several are filled b...

The Triassic-Jurassic boundary interval reveals a change from warm-arid to a warm and humid climate in the Tethyan domain. Sea-level reconstruction records across the European basins during this interval reveal an end-Triassic global regression event and is linked to the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) activity and Pangaea breakup. In the...

Poster concerning the Carbonate Minimum Interval (CMI) in the lower Austrian Molasse Basin (LAMB). This up to 700m thick interval poor in carbonate (especially calcite), CaO, Sr, B, pyrite and fossils occurs throughout the LAMB and is suspected to represent a basin-wide synchronous environmental crysis which is related to the sea level lowstand at...

This paper investigates the palaeoceanographic setting and evolution of two biostratigraphically well constrained Upper Cretaceous sections in the Eastern Alps of Austria. The duration of the investigated time interval is confined by the total range zone of Radotruncana calcarata which was a very short lived (806 000 yrs) species as calibrated usin...

The thick gypsum deposits formed in the Mediterranean Basin during the Messinian salinity crisis incorporate dense mazes of fila-mentous fossils, which were interpreted as algae or cyanobacteria, thus pointing to a shallow-marine subtidal or intertidal environment. The data presented here reveal that these filaments represent remains of colorless,...

We examined cataclastic shear bands (CSB) with, varying degrees of deformation and alteration that formed in uncemented, arkosic sediments under identical kinematic conditions. The investigated outcrop in eastern Austria exposes numerous closely spaced sets of CSB formed at low burial depth. The uncemented host sediment consists of detrital quartz,...

The present study examines deformation bands in calcareous arkosic sands. The investigated units can be considered equivalent to reservoir units in the Matzen field in the Vienna Basin (Austria), which is one of the most productive oil reservoirs in central Europe. The outcrop exposes carbonate-free and carbonatic sediments of Badenian age separate...

The Calcare di Base is a widespread Messinian carbonate formation in the Mediterranean, especially in Sicily and Calabria, Italy. The environmental conditions under which these limestones were deposited, their formation mechanism, and the timing of deposition are a matter of debate. In order to shed new light on their formation, the lipid biomarker...

During an expedition to the central Tien Shan, Eastern Kyrgyzstan, in 2011, lake deposits in the Northern Inylchek Valley were investigated. Deposits from the following four locations were studied; from West to East, at the Peremitschka plain, which is seasonally flooded by melt waters and then turns into the Lower Lake Merzbacher, which is dammed...

Due to its low sedimentation rate and constant sediment remixing the age of Lake Neusiedl has never been determined analytically. Formation of authigenic carbonate in Lake Neusiedl has been reported since the 1960ies. Dating of these authigenic carbonate is an alternative method to determine the minimum age of water present – even episodically - at...

Many Paleozoic and Mesozoic hydrocarbon-seep deposits are typified by superabundant dimerelloid brachiopods. By contrast, Cenozoic and modern seeps have been and still are dominated by mollusks and tube worms. To date, five genera of the rhynchonellide superfamily Dimerelloidea have been confirmed to have lived at hydrocarbon seeps. Here, we look i...

In this study we analyzed five core samples from a hydrocarbon reservoir, the Matzen Field in the Vienna Basin (Austria). Deformation bands occur as single bands or as strands of several bands. In contrast to most published examples of deformation bands in terrigeneous sandstones, the reduction of porosity is predominantly caused by the precipitati...

As a response to tectonic and gravitational stresses, unconsolidated sediments can develop zones of localized deformation, commonly described as deformation bands. These are tabular fault zones in high porosity rocks and sediments characterized by small offsets causing reduction of porosity through grain rotation, translation and fracturing. Classi...

In this study we investigated deformation bands in unconsolidated, arkosic sands and calcareous sands of Miocene age (Vienna Basin, Austria) by using sedimentological, geochemical and spectroscopic techniques. Deformation bands are tabular fault zones in high porosity rocks and sediments characterized by small displacements caused by reduction of p...

The pre-Neogene basement of the Vienna Basin comprises, among others, the late Triassic Hauptdolomit, which serves as a gas reservoir below the Neogene silicilastic sediments. Both Alpine nappe stacking and the formation of the pull-apart basin in the Miocene affected this rock after its deposition. This polyphase deformation resulted in the genera...

Abstract–The ICDP–USGS Eyreville drill cores in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure reached a total depth of 1766 m and comprise (from the bottom upwards) basement-derived schists and granites/pegmatites, impact breccias, mostly poorly lithified gravelly sand and crystalline blocks, a granitic slab, sedimentary breccias, and postimpact sediments. T...

Yellowish calcarenites have been mapped at many localities along the NW coast of Antiparos. These sandstones, which form dm to 5 m thick layers unconformably resting on greenschist to amphibolite facies metamorphic rocks of the Attic-Cycladic Crystalline of the Central Hellenides, have been traced from below sea-level up to an elevation of approxim...

The Abu Tartur mine is located in the Western Desert of Egypt, 50 km west of El Kharga City. Geologically, the Abu Tartur plateau is built by a sequence of Upper Cretaceous (Campanian - Maastrichtian) phosphorites, black shales and glauconitic sandstones. The phosphate deposits are of great economic importance and have been mined since their discov...

In an unique opportunity the diagenetic changes of clay minerals of a marlstone formation with only minor differences in provenance and depositional environment was studied from shallow (1400 m) to very deep (8550 m) burial. The clay mineralogy of 46 core samples from ten wells was quantified with X-ray diffraction in applying the mineral intensity...

In porous sedimentary rocks, fault zones are frequently accompanied by deformation bands. These structures are tabular zones of displacement, where grain rotation and in some cases grain fracturing result in a significant reduction in porosity. Core samples were analyzed close to large normal faults from the most productive hydrocarbon reservoir in...

Yellowish calcarenite is found abundantly on Despotiko, a small, unpopulated island in the central Aegean. Up to several meters thick layers of this sandstone is found as discordant cover above greenschist to amphibolite grade metamorphic rocks of the Attic-Cycladic Crystalline of the Central Hellenides. In some cases reddish soil is found below th...

Results of detailed investigations of the gravelly sand interval (1371-1397 m depth) of the Eyreville drill core including macro- and microscopic observations, modal point counting, X-ray diffraction analyses, and geochemical analyses are presented.

Sandstones that have high porosity and permeability at great burial depth and high temperatures are of economic importance because a significant amount of hydrocarbons have been discovered in such reservoirs. The Sawan gas field, with an expected ultimate recovery of more than 1 tcf, lies in the middle Indus Basin. The reservoir rocks, Cretaceous v...

Deformation bands were analyzed in poorly cemented silt, sand, and gravel from localities in Austria and California to assess depositional and diagenetic controls on their mode of deformation. Shear deformation bands in poorly cemented, high-porosity sediments are generally characterized by the rotation of elongate grains parallel to the band orien...

Burial diagenetic processes of pelitic sediments have been the subject of mineralogical investigations in Tertiary basins all over the world. Because of oil exploration, the investigations were focused on the Gulf Coast region in the United States. The diagenetic reaction from smectite to illite can be related to petroleum migration processes. The...

The Steinbrunn sand pit is positioned at the southeastern margin of the Neogene Vienna Basin, about 5 km west of Eisenstadt. It exposes Upper Pannonian (Upper Miocene) lacustrine clays, sands and detritic limestones. The mollusc fauna allows a correlation with the latest Lymnocardium schedelianum Zone and the early Mytilopsis neumayri/zahalkai Zone...

The moat of the 85-km-diameter and 35.3-Ma-old Chesapeake Bay impact structure (USA) was drilled at Eyreville Farm in 2005-2006 as part of an International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP)-U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) drilling project. The Eyreville drilling penetrated postimpact sediments and impactites, as well as crystalline basem...

A study of the diagenetic evolution of Neogene sandstones in the Vienna Basin (Austria) was undertaken to unravel the controls on reservoir quality. These rocks present a similar to 2000 m succession of relatively similar lithic arkoses with the deepest rocks buried progressively to nearly 3000 m and thus present an opportunity to study sequential...

Situated southeast of Vienna, at the eastern boundary of Austria, the Neusiedlersee (German) or Fertö tó (Hungarian) and the associated wetlands of the Waasen/Hanság form a unique landscape and environment in central Europe, becoming the Neusiedlersee-Seewinkel/Hanság National Park in 1993 and UNESCO World Her-itage in 2001. The lake is in the cent...

In the Putorana region of the Siberian continental flood basalt province, tuffs form thin layers or small bodies between single basaltic lava flows. Based on our fieldwork, these ash fall deposits have relatively small volumes ([less-than-or-equal]100 000 m3) compared with the associated basaltic flows and the tuffs of the adjacent Noril'sk region...

Clay minerals in early Jurassic sequences of shales, siltstones and sandstones deposited in non-marine, transitional and shallow marine environments have been examined by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy and chemical analysis to study the relationship between clay minerals, their environment of deposition and subsequent diagenetic modificatio...