Demystifying diagenesis: The future of diagenetic inquiry in the geosciences

Diagenesis encompasses all physical, chemical, and mineralogical changes that a sediment, rock, molecule, or mineral undergoes following deposition. Because the time that geologic materials spend in the diagenetic realm is substantial relative to the time spent in the formational environment, there is potential for primary materials to be altered diagenetically. Despite its importance, diagenesis is a difficult and complicated topic to discuss. In this contribution, we demonstrate the use of a range of quantitative tools, from mixing equations to reactive transport models, that facilitate discussions of diagenesis. We consider simple models of CaCO3 recrystallization and dolomitization that are applicable to both shallow and deep-sea marine sediments, highlight key controls on diagenetic trajectories, present a compilation of elemental partition coefficients for CaCO3 and clays, and discuss model illustrations of the diagenetic generation, and modification, of carbon, calcium, and lithium isotopic records in the marine sedimentary section.