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Criteria for recognition of localization and timing of multiple events of hydrothermal alteration in sandstones illustrated by petrographic, fluid inclusion, and isotopic analysis of the Tera Group, Northern Spain

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Abstract

Stratigraphic relations, detailed petrography, microthermometry of fluid inclusions, and fine-scale isotopic analysis of diagenetic phases indicate a complex thermal history in Tithonian fluvial sandstones and lacustrine limestones of the Tera Group (North Spain). Two different thermal events have been recognized and characterized, which are likely associated with hydrothermal events that affected the Cameros Basin during the mid-Cretaceous and the Eocene. Multiple stages of quartz cementation were identified using scanning electron microscope cathodoluminescence on sandstones and fracture fills. Primary fluid inclusions reveal homogenization temperatures (Th) from 195 to 350°C in the quartz cements of extensional fracture fillings. The high variability of Th data in each particular fluid inclusion assemblage is related to natural reequilibration of the fluid inclusions, probably due to Cretaceous hydrothermal metamorphism. Some secondary fluid inclusion assemblages show very consistent data (Th = 281–305°C) and are considered not to have reequilibrated. They are likely related to an Eocene hydrothermal event or to a retrograde stage of the Cretaceous hydrothermalism. This approach shows how multiple thermal events can be discriminated. A very steep thermal gradient of 97–214°C/km can be deduced from δ18O values of ferroan calcites (δ18O −14.2/−11.8‰ V-PDB) that postdate quartz cements in fracture fillings. Furthermore, illite crystallinity data (anchizone–epizone boundary) are out of equilibrium with high fluid inclusion Th. These observations are consistent with heat-flux related to short-lived events of hydrothermal alteration focused by permeability contrasts, rather than to regional heat-flux associated with dynamo-thermal metamorphism. These results illustrate how thermal data from fracture systems can yield thermal histories markedly different from host-rock values, a finding indicative of hydrothermal fluid flow.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided by the Spanish DIGICYT projects BTE 2001-026, CGL 2005-07445-C03-02/BTE and CGL2008-01648/BTE, and by UCM-CM (Universidad Complutense-Madrid Community) for the Research Group “Sedimentary Basin Analysis” for the present contract of the first author. The authors would like to thank Barrenechea, J.F. and Rankey, E. for their useful suggestions and Shinonge, H., Cane, G., Herrero, G., Moral, B., and Barajas, M.A. for their technical support. This manuscript benefits by the useful comments of C. Augustsson and an anonymous referee.

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  1. Dpto. Estratigrafía, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas (UCM), Instituto de Geología Económica (CSIC), C/ Jose Antonio Novais 2, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Laura González-Acebrón & Ramón Mas

  2. Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1475 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    R. H. Goldstein

  3. Dpto. Petrología y Geoquímica, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas (UCM), Instituto de Geología Económica (CSIC), C/ Jose Antonio Novais 2, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    José Arribas

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González-Acebrón, L., Goldstein, R.H., Mas, R. et al. Criteria for recognition of localization and timing of multiple events of hydrothermal alteration in sandstones illustrated by petrographic, fluid inclusion, and isotopic analysis of the Tera Group, Northern Spain. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 100, 1811–1826 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-010-0606-2

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