Relationship of present saline fluid with paleomigration of basinal brines at the basement/sediment interface (Southeast basin - France)

This paper investigates the isotopic composition (O, D, Sr, O-SO4, S-SO4, Cl, He) of a present saline fluid sample collected at the sediment/basement interface in the Permian continental formation at 634 m depth in the SE margin of the Massif Central shield (Ardeche margin of the Southeast basin of France). The fluid sample shows clear water-rock interaction processes, such as feldspar dissolution and kaolinite precipitation, which have led to high Na concentrations and water stable isotopes above the local meteoric water line. The geological formations of the SE margin of the Massif Central shield show that intensive fluid circulation phases occurred across the margin from the late Triassic to the middle Jurassic. The fluids most probably originated from fluid expulsion during burial of the thick Permo-Carboniferous sedimentary succession. These circulation phases were responsible for cementation of the margin and for the solutes in the matrix microporosity which were extracted by leaching core samples. The chemical and isotopic composition of the saline fluid sample at 634 m in the Permian rock is very similar to that of fluids in the microporosity of the rock matrix. Their S-SO4, O-SO4 and Sr isotopic compositions are close to those of cements investigated in fracture fillings in the same geological formations. Simple diffusion computations and comparison of the chemical composition of the present free fluid sample with matrix porosity fluids indicate that the solutes in the present free fluid sample are related to solutes originating from fluid circulation events which occurred 160-200 Ma ago through their diffusion from the matrix microporosity. A two-stage fluid flow regime is proposed to interpret the chemistry of present and paleo-fluids. (1) During the extensional context (Permian to Cretaceous), basinal brines migrated along the basement/sediment interface after expulsion from the subsiding basin. This fluid migration would be responsible for the solutes in the rock matrix microporosity and the solutes in the present free fluid sample. (2) Following the Alpine and Pyrenean compressive phases, gravity-driven meteoritic fluids slowly migrated from the surface down to the basement along major faults. This fluid regime would be responsible for the meteoric water collected in the present free fluid sample. Several investigations in Europe have shown that the existence of other saline fluids sampled elsewhere could be explained by these phases of fluid circulation related to specific geodynamic events. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.