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- Alasdair, Skelton, et al.
(author)
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Spatial coupling between spilitization and carbonation ofbasaltic sills in SW Scottish Highlands: evidence of amineralogical control of metamorphic fluid flow
- 2011
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In: Geofluids. - : Wiley. - 1468-8115 .- 1468-8123. ; 11:3, s. 245-259
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In a geochemical and petrological analysis of overprinting episodes of fluid–rock interaction in a well-studied metabasaltic sill in the SW Scottish Highlands, we show that syn-deformational access of metamorphic fluids and consequent fluid–rock interaction is at least in part controlled by preexisting mineralogical variations. Lithological and structural channelling of metamorphic fluids along the axis of the Ardrishaig Anticline, SW Scottish Highlands, caused carbonation of metabasaltic sills hosted by metasedimentary rocks of the Argyll Group in the Dalradian Supergroup. Analysis of chemical and mineralogical variability across a metabasaltic sill at Port Cill Maluaig shows that carbonation at greenschist to epidote–amphibolites facies conditions caused by infiltration of H2O-CO2 fluids was controlled by mineralogical variations, which were present before carbonation occurred. This variability probably reflects chemical and mineralogical changes imparted on the sill during premetamorphic spilitization. Calculation of precarbonation mineral modes reveals heterogeneous spatial distributions of epidote, amphibole, chlorite and epidote. This reflects both premetamorphic spilitization and prograde greenschist facies metamorphism prior to fluid flow. Spilitization caused albitization of primary plagioclase and spatially heterogeneous growth of epidote ± calcic amphibole ± chlorite ± quartz ± calcite. Greenschist facies metamorphism caused breakdown of primary pyroxene and continued, but spatially more homogeneous, growth of amphibole + chlorite ± quartz. These processes formed diffuse epidote-rich patches or semi-continuous layers. These might represent precursors of epidote segregations, which are better developed elsewhere in the SW Scottish Highlands. Chemical and field analyses of epidote reveal the evidence of local volume fluctuations associated with these concentrations of epidote. Transient permeability enhancement associated with these changes may have permitted higher fluid fluxes and therefore more extensive carbonation. This deflected metamorphic fluid such that its flow direction became more layer parallel, limiting propagation of the reaction front into the sill interior.
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3. |
- Engström, Anna, et al.
(author)
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Isotopic and petrological evidence of fluid-rock interaction at a Tethyan ocean-continent transition in the Alps : implications for tectonic processes and carbon transferduring early ocean formation
- 2007
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In: Geofluids. - : Wiley. - 1468-8115 .- 1468-8123. ; 7:4, s. 401-414
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report overprinting stable isotope evidence of fluid–rock interaction below two detachment faults along which mantle rocks were exhumed to the seafloor, between the respective landward and seaward limits of oceanic and continental crust, at a Tethyan ocean–continent transition (OCT). This OCT, which is presently exposed in the Tasna nappe (south-eastern Switzerland) is considered an on-land analogue of the well-studied Iberian OCT. We compare our results with the fault architecture (fault core–damage zone–protolith) described by Caine et al. [Geology (1996) Vol. 24, pp. 1025–1028]. We confirm the existence of a sharp boundary between the fault core and damage zone based on isotopic data, but the boundary between the damage zone and protolith is gradational. We identify evidence for: (1) pervasive isotopic modification to 8.4 ± 0.1‰ which accompanied or post-dated serpentinization of these mantle rocks at an estimated temperature of 67–109°C, (2) either (i) partial isolation of some highly strained regions [fault core(s) and mylonite] from this pervasive isotopic modification, because of permeability reduction (Caine et al.) or (ii) subsequent isotopic modification caused by structurally channelled flow of warm fluids within these highly strained regions, because of permeability enhancement, and (3) isotopic modification, which is associated with extensive calcification at T = 54–100°C, primarily beneath the younger of the two detachment faults and post-dating initial serpentinization. By comparing the volumetric extent of calcification with an experimentally verified model for calcite precipitation in veins, we conclude that calcification could have occurred in response to seawater infiltration, with a calculated flux rate of 0.1–0.2 m year−1 and a minimum duration of 0.2–4.0 × 104 years. The associated time-averaged uptake flux of carbon during this period was 8–120 mol m−2 year−1. By comparison with the estimated area of exhumed mantle rocks at the Iberian OCT, we calculate a maximum annual uptake flux for carbon of 2–30 Tg year−1. This is an order of magnitude greater than that for carbon exchange at the mid-ocean ridges and 0.1–1.4% of the global oceanic uptake flux for carbon.
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4. |
- Skelton, Alasdair, et al.
(author)
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Constraining the rate and extent of mantle serpentization from seismic and petrological data: Implications for chemosynthesis and tectonic processes.
- 2005
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In: Geofluids. - : Wiley. - 1468-8115 .- 1468-8123. ; 5:3, s. 153-164
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We used seismic velocity as a proxy for serpentinization of the mantle, which occurred beneath thinned but laterally continuous continental crust during continental break up, prior to opening of the Atlantic Ocean. The serpentinized sub-continental mantle is now exhumed, beneath the Iberia Abyssal Plain and was accessed by scientific drilling on Ocean Drilling Program legs 149 and 173. Chromatographic modelling of kinetically limited transport of the serpentinization front yields a front displacement of 2197 ± 89 m, a time-integrated fluid flux of 1098 ± 45 m3 m−2 and a Damköhler number of 6.0 ± 0.2. Whether either surface reaction or chemical transport limit the rate of reaction, we calculate timescales for serpentinization of approximately 105–106 years. This yields time-average fluid flux rates for H2O, entering and reacting with the mantle, of 60–600 mol m−2 a−1 and for CH4, produced as a by-product of oxidation of Fe++ to magnetite and exiting the mantle, of 0.55–5.5 mol m−2 a−1. This equates to a CH4-flux of 0.18–1.8 Tg a−1 for coeval serpentinization of the mantle that was exhumed west of Iberia. This represents 0.03–0.3% of the present-day annual CH4-flux from all sources and a higher fraction of pre-anthropogenic (lower) CH4 levels. CH4 released by serpentinization at or beneath the seafloor could provide substrate for biological chemosynthesis and/or promote gas-hydrate formation. Finally, noting its volumetric extent and rapidity (<106 years), we interpret serpentinization to be a reckonable component of tectonic processes, contributing both diapiric and expansional forces and helping to ‘lubricate’ extensional processes. Given its anisotropic permeability, actively deforming serpentinite might impede melt migration which may be of interest, given the apparent lack of melt in some rifted margins.
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5. |
- Figueiredo, Bruno, et al.
(author)
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The Influence of Coupled Thermomechanical Processes on the Pressure and Temperature due to Cold Water Injection into Multiple Fracture Zones in Deep Rock Formation
- 2020
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In: Geofluids. - : WILEY-HINDAWI. - 1468-8115 .- 1468-8123. ; 2020
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A technique to produce geothermal energy from deep rock formations at elevated temperatures consists of drilling two parallel deep boreholes, the second of which is directed so as to intersect a series of fractures produced by hydraulic fracturing in the first borehole. Then, the first borehole is used for injection of cold water and the second used to produce water that has been heated by the deep rock formation. Some very useful analytical solutions have been applied for a quick estimate of the water outlet temperature and injection/production pressures in this enhanced geothermal system (EGS), but they do not take into account the influence of thermomechanical and hydromechanical effects on the time evolutions of the pressure and temperature. This paper provided help for the engineering design of the EGS based on these analytical solutions, by evaluating the separate influences of the thermal (T), hydromechanical (HM), thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) effects on the fluid pore pressure and temperature. A thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) model was developed to simulate the heat extraction from multiple preexisting fracture zones in the hot rock formation, by considering permeability changes due to the injection pressure as a function of changes in the mean effective stress. It was found that the thermal effects (without coupling with mechanical effects) led to a decrease of the transmissivity of the fracture zones and a consequent increase in the injection pressure, by a maximum factor of 2. When the temperature is constant, the influence of the hydromechanical effects on the fluid pore pressure was found to be negligible, because in such scenario, the variation of the mean effective stress was 3 MPa, which was associated with a maximum increase in the initial permeability of the fracture zone only by a factor of 1.2. Thermo-hydro-mechanical effects led to a maximum increase in the permeability of the fracture zones of approximately 10 times the initial value, which was associated with a decrease in the fluid pore pressure by a maximum factor of 1.25 and 2, when hydrological and thermohydrological effects were considered, respectively. Changes in temperature were found not to be affected significantly by the thermomechanical and hydromechanical effects, but by the flow rate in the fracture zones. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to study the influence of the number, the initial permeability, the elastic modulus and the residual porosity of the fracture zones, and the elastic modulus of the confining intact rock, on the simulation results. The results were found to be the most sensitive to the number and the initial permeability of the fracture zones.
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6. |
- Herlambang, Adhipa, et al.
(author)
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Physicochemical Conditions of the Devonian-Jurassic Continental Deep Biosphere Tracked by Carbonate Clumped Isotope Temperatures of Granite-Hosted Carbonate Veins
- 2023
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In: Geofluids. - : Hindawi Publishing Corporation. - 1468-8115 .- 1468-8123. ; 2023
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Previous studies have shown that microorganisms thrive in oligotrophic fracture systems, and metabolisms include consumption and production of methane. In the Laxemar, Gotemar, and Forsmark areas of Sweden, ancient microbial activity has previously been demonstrated by large delta C-13(VPDB) variability of carbonate vein infillings within granitic host rocks. Here, we apply carbonate clumped isotope thermometry to reconstruct the temperature of precipitation of the carbonate within these veins. The carbonate clumped isotope temperatures indicate that mineralization took place between 46 degrees C and 108 degrees C, in line with previously published fluid inclusion data (<50 degrees C to 113 degrees C). The new carbonate clumped isotope data more accurately narrows temperatures at the lower end of this range as fluid inclusions are not easily applicable below 80 degrees C, a temperature regime of high importance for paleobiological reconstructions. Our results demonstrate that large volumes of biogenic carbonate cement were formed from low-temperature microbial processes in low-salinity water, succeeding calcite of deep brine origin. The known burial and thermal history of the region combined with our carbonate clumped isotope data place the microbial activity at the end of the Variscan orogeny and later events (e.g., Jurassic). Thus, carbonate clumped isotope thermometry reduces uncertainties in deep biosphere studies by providing more accurate temperature constraints in the low-temperature regime, the biogenic processes, and the origin of the diagenetic fluids.
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7. |
- Jiang, Chuanyin, et al.
(author)
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The Role of In Situ Stress in Organizing Flow Pathways in Natural Fracture Networks at the Percolation Threshold
- 2019
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In: Geofluids. - : Hindawi Publishing Corporation. - 1468-8115 .- 1468-8123. ; 2019
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We investigated the effect of in situ stresses on fluid flow in a natural fracture network. The fracture network model is based on an actual critically connected (i.e., close to the percolation threshold) fracture pattern mapped from a field outcrop. We derive stress-dependent fracture aperture fields using a hybrid finite-discrete element method. We analyze the changes of aperture distribution and fluid flow field with variations of in situ stress orientation and magnitude. Our simulations show that an isotropic stress loading tends to reduce fracture apertures and suppress fluid flow, resulting in a decrease of equivalent permeability of the fractured rock. Anisotropic stresses may cause a significant amount of sliding of fracture walls accompanied with shear-induced dilation along some preferentially oriented fractures, resulting in enhanced flow heterogeneity and channelization. When the differential stress is further elevated, fracture propagation becomes prevailing and creates some new flow paths via linking preexisting natural fractures, which attempts to increase the bulk permeability but attenuates the flow channelization. Comparing to the shear-induced dilation effect, it appears that the propagation of new cracks leads to a more prominent permeability enhancement for the natural fracture system. The results have particularly important implications for predicting the hydraulic responses of fractured rocks to in situ stress fields and may provide useful guidance for the strategy design of geofluid production from naturally fractured reservoirs.
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8. |
- Jung, Byeongju, et al.
(author)
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Effects of episodic fluid flow on hydrocarbon migration in the Newport-Inglewood Fault Zone, Southern California
- 2014
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In: Geofluids. - : Wiley. - 1468-8115 .- 1468-8123. ; 14:2, s. 234-250
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fault permeability may vary through time due to tectonic deformations, transients in pore pressure and effective stress, and mineralization associated with water-rock reactions. Time-varying permeability will affect subsurface fluid migration rates and patterns of petroleum accumulation in densely faulted sedimentary basins such as those associated with the borderland basins of Southern California. This study explores the petroleum fluid dynamics of this migration. As a multiphase flow and petroleum migration case study on the role of faults, computational models for both episodic and continuous hydrocarbon migration are constructed to investigate large-scale fluid flow and petroleum accumulation along a northern section of the Newport-Inglewood fault zone in the Los Angeles basin, Southern California. The numerical code solves the governing equations for oil, water, and heat transport in heterogeneous and anisotropic geologic cross sections but neglects flow in the third dimension for practical applications. Our numerical results suggest that fault permeability and fluid pressure fluctuations are crucial factors for distributing hydrocarbon accumulations associated with fault zones, and they also play important roles in controlling the geologic timing for reservoir filling. Episodic flow appears to enhance hydrocarbon accumulation more strongly by enabling stepwise build-up in oil saturation in adjacent sedimentary formations due to temporally high pore pressure and high permeability caused by periodic fault rupture. Under assumptions that fault permeability fluctuate within the range of 1-1000 millidarcys (10(-15)-10(-12)m(2)) and fault pressures fluctuate within 10-80% of overpressure ratio, the estimated oil volume in the Inglewood oil field (approximately 450 million barrels oil equivalent) can be accumulated in about 24000years, assuming a seismically induced fluid flow event occurs every 2000years. This episodic petroleum migration model could be more geologically important than a continuous-flow model, when considering the observed patterns of hydrocarbons and seismically active tectonic setting of the Los Angeles basin.
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9. |
- Liu, Chang, et al.
(author)
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Effect of Porosity on Soil-Water Retention Curves : Theoretical and Experimental Aspects
- 2020
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In: Geofluids. - : Hindawi Limited. - 1468-8115 .- 1468-8123. ; 2020
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Porosity change is a common characteristic of natural soils in fluid-solid interaction problems, which can lead to an obvious change of the soil-water retention curve (SWRC). The influence of porosity on soil water retention phenomena is investigated by a theoretical model and an experimental test in this study. A model expressing the change in suction with porosity and effective saturation is put forward theoretically. The model is based on an idealization of three-phase porous materials, the pore structures of which are homogeneous and isotropic. It accounts for the porosity effect on soil water retention, using four parameters with clear physical meanings. The presented model can obtain the SWRC at any porosity, which will reduce the test number required in characterizing the hydraulic behavior of soil. A laboratory experiment for loamy sand with different porosities is performed. The test results show that suction has a significant variation with changes in porosity and decreases with the increase of porosity. The formulation is verified by both the test data and the literature data for FEBEX bentonite and Boom clay. The very good agreements between measured and predicted results show that the SWRC model is reliable and feasible for various soils.
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10. |
- Maskenskaya, Olga M., et al.
(author)
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Source and character of syntaxial hydrothermal calcite veins in Paleoproterozoic crystalline rocks revealed by fine-scale investigations
- 2014
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In: Geofluids. - : Wiley. - 1468-8115 .- 1468-8123. ; 14:4, s. 495-511
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Calcite veins in Paleoproterozoic granitoids on the Baltic Shield are the focus of this study. These veins are distinguished by their monomineralic character, unusual thickness and closeness to Neoproterozoic dolerite dykes and therefore have drawn attention. The aim of this study was to define the source of these veins and to unravel their isotopic and chemical nature by carrying out fine-scale studies. Seven calcite veins covering a depth interval of 50-420m below the ground surface and composed of breccias or crack-sealed fillings typically expressing syntaxial growth were sampled and analysed for a variety of physicochemical variables: homogenization temperature (T-h) and salinity of fluid inclusions, and stable isotopes (Sr-87/Sr-86, C-13/C-12, O-18/O-16), trace-element concentrations (Fe, Mn, Mg, Sr, rare earth elements) and cathodoluminescence (CL) of the solid phase. The fluid-inclusion data show that the calcites were precipitated mainly from relatively low-temperature (T-h=73-106 degrees C) brines (13.4-24.5wt.% CaCl2), and the Sr-87/Sr-86 is more radiogenic than expected for Rb-poor minerals precipitated from Neoproterozoic fluids. These features, together with the distribution of C-13 and O-18 values, provide evidence that the calcite veins are not genetic with the nearby Neoproterozoic dolerite dykes, but are of Paleozoic age and were precipitated from warm brines expressing a rather large variability in salinity. Whereas the isotopic and chemical variables express rather constant average values among the individual veins, they vary considerably on fine-scale across individual veins. This has implications for understanding processes causing calcite-rich veins to form and capture trace metals in crystalline bedrock settings.
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