Stable isotope evidence for multiple fluid regimes during carbonate cementation of the Upper Tertiary Hazeva Formation, Dead Sea Graben, southern Israel |
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| Authors: | Fred J Longstaffe Ran Calvo Avner Ayalon Steve Donaldson |
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| Institution: | a Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, Biology and Geology Building, Room 128A, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B7;b Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malchei Israel Street, Jerusalem 95501, Israel |
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| Abstract: | Stable carbon- and oxygen-isotope compositions of calcite and dolomite cements have been used to understand porewater evolution in the Upper Tertiary Hazeva Formation within the Dead Sea Graben, southern Israel. Sandstone samples were obtained from four boreholes in three tectonic blocks of the graben over depths of 253–6448 m, a variation that largely reflects differential subsidence of individual fault-bounded blocks. Early carbonate cements dominate diagenesis. Calcite occurs at <1600 m, but was replaced by dolomite at greater depths. Dolomite at 1600–2700 m is Fe-poor (<0.8 mol% FeCO3), and at 4700–6200 m, Fe-rich (0.5–7.2 mol% FeCO3). Magnesite, anhydrite and halite are the final diagenetic phases. Calcite has positively correlated δ18O (+21‰ to +25‰) and δ13C (−6‰ to −2‰) values that generally decrease with depth. Dolomite has a wider variation in δ18O (+18‰ to +30‰) and δ13C (−8‰ to −1‰) values, which also generally are lower with increasing depth. However, the δ13C and δ18O values of dolomite from the uppermost 400 m of the Hazeva Formation in the Sedom Deep-1 borehole are anomalous in spanning the entire range of stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions over this relatively small interval.The decreasing dolomite δ13C values likely indicate an increased contribution of carbon from organic sources with increasing depth. Except for the uppermost 400 m, Hazeva Formation dolomite in the Sedom Deep-1 borehole has stable carbon-isotope compositions that imply initial dolomitization at much shallower levels, prior to the preferential subsidence of this tectonic block. The oxygen isotopic compositions of the calcite cement are best explained by equilibration at present burial temperatures (≤55 °C) with porewater of meteoric origin. Its δ18O values increased from −5‰ at the shallowest depths to 0‰ at 1600 m. The dolomite oxygen isotopic compositions also reflect equilibration at present burial temperatures with porewaters ranging from 0‰ at 1600 m to +7‰ at 3600 m (100 °C). In the deepest fault block (Sedom Deep-1 borehole), however, increasingly Fe-rich dolomite has (re)equilibrated with porewater whose δ18O values decreased from +9‰ at 4750 m (120 °C) to +1‰ to +2‰ by 6200 m (150 °C).Much of the dolomite likely formed at relatively shallow depths from saline brines derived from precursors to the Dead Sea. These infiltrated the Hazeva Formation, mixing with and largely displacing meteoric water, and dolomitizing calcite. Rock–water ratios tended to be high during these processes. However, the upper 400 m of the Hazeva Formation in the deepest fault block were likely deposited during its rapid tectonic subsidence, and largely escaped the initial style of dolomitization pervasive elsewhere in the study area. These sediments were also capped by evaporites. This relatively thin interval likely became a preferential conduit for brines that escaped underlying and overlying strata, including the Fe-rich, lower 18O fluids (evolved seawater?) present in the deepest part of the graben. These rocks present the most promising target for the passage and accumulation of hydrocarbons in the study area. |
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| Keywords: | Hazeva Formation Porewater Diagenesis Dolomite Stable isotopes Fluid conduit |
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