Barrellite and Pillarrite: A Description and a Mode of Formation of a Novel Post-Sedimentary Twin Structures from As-Subbiyah, North of Kuwait Bay, Kuwait

I report on the occurrence of a pair of novel and related post-sedimentary structures that form in the Neogene cross-bedded red sandstones in the As-Subbiyah area, north of Kuwait Bay, Kuwait. I named them barrellite and pillarrite. Barrellite forms as vertical tubes of concentric sheaths of siltstone with partially hollow interior or intervening homogeneous and structure-less sandstone. It stands as barrels above the background sandstone. Pillarrite forms as discrete, vertical and solitary spines of homogeneous sandstone and siltstone, or inside barrellite masses from which successive siltstone sheaths were stripped. The structures range in diameter from one-centimeter poke marks to one-meter-wide barrels and hunks, and their vertical length exceeds two meters. Barrellite, pillarrite and their complex intergrowths develop near thin quartz veins and chaotic zones, and form with them complex geometrical relationships. The dual structures are genetically related and fall within the general class of tubular structures in sedimentary rocks. I consider them as a special type of sand injectites. The mode of formation of these structures is enigmatic. They develop in a geological setting that displays evidence of a widespread and vigorous oil field brine. I suggest a tentative scenario for their formation, involving flushing of the brine through hydraulic fracturing of the sedimentary succession above the Ebharah Oil Field reservoir in the As-Subbiyah area. The brine plucks mineral and rock fragments and mixes with them along its paths, producing a heterogeneous slurry. Ultimately, the slurry solidifies as barrellite and pillarrite, chaotic zones and quartz veins. The vertical nature of the structures, circular and internal concentric arrangements, as well as the homogenous lithology inside their masses mimic characteristics of flow and deposits in vertical and horizontal pipelines.