Fluid flow reconstruction in karstified Panormide platform limestones (north-central Sicily): Implications for hydrocarbon prospectivity in the Sicilian fold and thrust belt

Diagenetic analysis based on field and petrographic observations, isotope and microthermometric data was used to reconstruct the fluid flow history of the Cretaceous shallow water limestones from the Panormide platform exposed in north-central Sicily. Analysis focused on diagenetic products in cavities and dissolution enlarged fractures of the karstified limestones that occur just below a regional unconformity. The fluid flow history could be broken down into five stages that were linked to the kinematic and burial history of the region. (1) Petrography (zoned cathodoluminescence and speleothem textures) and stable isotopes (6.5 < δ¹⁸O_V-PDB < ?3.5‰ and 0 < δ¹³C_V-PDB < ?14‰) indicate that the earliest calcite phase was associated with karstification during emergence of the platform. Limestone dissolution at this stage is important with regard to possible reservoir creation in the Panormide palaeogeographic domain. (2) Fine-grained micrite sedimentation, dated as latest Cretaceous by nannopalaeontology and its ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr isotope ratio (0.7078), marks replacement by marine fluids during subsequent submergence of the karstified platform. (3) The following calcite cement was still precipitated by marine-derived fluids (?7.0 < δ¹⁸O_V-PDB < ?5.0‰ and ?3.0 < δ¹³C_V-PDB < 0.5‰/T_m = ?2 to ?5 °C), but at increasingly higher temperatures (T_h = 60–120 °C). This has been interpreted as precipitation during Oligocene foredeep burial. (4) Hot (T_h = 130–180 °C), low saline (T_m < ?2.5 °C) fluids with increasingly higher calculated δ¹⁸O_SMOW signatures (+6 to +14‰) subsequently invaded the karst system. These fluids most likely migrated during fold and thrust belt development. The low salinity and relatively high δ¹⁸O_SMOW signatures of the fluids are interpreted to be the result of clay dewatering reactions. The presence of bitumen and associated fluorite with hydrocarbon inclusions at this stage in the paragenesis constrains the timing of oil migration in the region. (5) Finally, high saline fluids with elevated ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (0.7095–0.7105) signatures invaded the karst system. This last fluid flow event was possibly coeval with localized dolomitization and calcite cementation along high-angle faults of Pliocene age, as suggested by identical radiogenic signatures of these diagenetic products.