diageneia

Diageneia is a term encountered in some geological and sedimentological texts to denote the suite of processes that modify sediments after initial deposition but before deep burial or metamorphism. In many uses, it is treated as a variant spelling of diagenesis, the standard term for physical, chemical, and biological changes that turn loose sediment into solid rock. In others, diageneia is used to emphasize specific diagenetic pathways or to distinguish shallow, near-surface alterations from later metamorphic events.

Scope and processes: weathering is outside diagenesis; diageneia includes compaction, cementation by minerals such as calcite or quartz overgrowth, authigenesis of clays, dissolution and replacement, and pore-fluid–rock interactions. It operates over timescales from thousands to millions of years and is influenced by burial depth, temperature, pressure, fluid chemistry, and pore-water dynamics. Diagenetic textures include casts of original grains, stylolites, pore-filling cements, and replacement minerals.

Significance: diageneia affects porosity and permeability, reservoir quality, and rock strength, with implications for hydrocarbon exploration, groundwater flow, and carbon cycling. Analytical approaches include thin-section petrography, X-ray diffraction, stable isotope geochemistry, and cathodoluminescence.

Relation to diagenesis: most literature treats diageneia as synonymous with diagenesis or as a regional/allostratigraphic variant. Users should refer to the specific authorial definition in each work.

See also: diagenesis, authigenesis, mineral replacement, cementation, porosity.