Heat flow in rift basins above a hot asthenosphere

When continental rifting takes place above a hot asthenosphere, pressure-release melting of adiabatically upwelling mantle may generate large volumes of basaltic melts which subsequently are emplaced at crustal levels and cool. To correctly estimate the heat flow from tectonic subsidence and crustal thinning, it is necessary to account for the melt volumes. A simple physical model of heat flow that incorporates a crustal growth correction on lithospheric extension estimates, as well as the heat in the emplaced magma, has been developed. The principal result is that heat flow may be substantially increased for several million years after rifting, even for a moderately heated asthenosphere.     

Global hydrogen reservoirs in basement and basins

Background

Hydrogen is known to occur in the groundwaters of some ancient cratons. Where associated gases have been dated, their age extends up to a billion years, and the hydrogen is assumed also to be very old. These observations are interpreted to represent the radiolysis of water and hydration reactions and migration of hydrogen into fracture systems. A hitherto untested implication is that the overwhelming bulk of the ancient low-permeability basement, which is not adjacent to cross-cutting fractures, constitutes a reservoir for hydrogen.

Results

New data obtained from cold crushing to liberate volatiles from fluid inclusions confirm that granites and gneiss of Archean and Palaeoproterozoic (>1600 Ma) age typically contain an order of magnitude greater hydrogen in their entrained fluid than very young (<200 Ma) granites. Sedimentary rocks containing clasts of old basement also include a greater proportion of hydrogen than the young granites.

Conclusions

The data support the case for a global reservoir of hydrogen in both the ancient basement and in the extensive derived sediments. These reservoirs are susceptible to the release of hydrogen through a variety of mechanisms, including deformation, attrition to reduce grain size and diagenetic alteration, thereby contributing to the hydrogen required by chemolithoautotrophs in the deep biosphere.

     

Structures and sequences in early Permian fluvial Barakar rocks of peninsular India Gondwana basins using binomial and Markov chain analysis

Cyclic characteristics of bed forms (sedimentary structures) of early Permian fluvial Barakar rocks are studied statistically, using quasi-independence Markov chain and entropy. The hierarchy of sedimentary structures confirms that the corresponding bed forms do not represent random depositional event and follow a definite pattern of Markovian mechanism in a predictable cyclic arrangement. The preferential upward transition of sedimentary structures that can be derived for the Barakar sandstone is scoured surface (Ss) → horizontal bedding (Sh) → planar cross-bedded sandstone (Sp) → trough cross-bedded sandstone (St) → ripple cross-lamination (Sr) → parallel lamination (Fl) → scoured surface (Ss). The sequence is an asymmetrical cycle and characteristic of the lateral accretion and aggradations of fluvial channels. Entropy analysis corroborate the above inference, and E ^(pre) vs E^(post) plots for each sedimentary structure correspond to the type B category, suggesting lower and upper truncated asymmetrical cycles. Hydro-dynamically, the Barakar cycles represent a vertical sequence of bedding types which implies a steady upward decrease in the intensity of flow—from the upper flow regime in the lower part, the lower flow regime of moderate to high intensity in the middle part, and the lower flow regime of low to very low intensity in the upper part.     

Heat production and seismic velocity of crustal rocks

Heat production of the continental crust can be determined from the seismic velocity structure. There is, however, a significant scatter in the determination, partly caused by the quality of geothermal data and partly by the fact that seismic velocity and radiogenic heat production are not uniquely related to each other by the chemical composition of rocks.     

Kinematics of the Gondwana basins of peninsular India

The Gondwana successions (1–4 km thick) of peninsular India accumulated in a number of discrete basins during Permo-Triassic period. The basins are typically bounded by faults that developed along Precambrian lineaments during deposition, as well as affected by intrabasinal faults indicating fault-controlled synsedimentary subsidence. The patterns of the intrabasinal faults and their relationships with the respective basin-bounding faults represent both extensional and strike-slip regimes. Field evidence suggests that preferential subsidence in locales of differently oriented discontinuities in the Precambrian basement led to development of Gondwana basins with varying, but mutually compatible, kinematics during a bulk motion, grossly along the present-day E–W direction. The kinematic disparity of the individual basins resulted due to different relative orientations of the basement discontinuities and is illustrated with the help of a simple sandbox model. The regional E–W motion was accommodated by strike-slip motion on the transcontinental fault in the north.     

Heat flow, heat production and fission track data from the Hercynian basement around the Provençal Basin (Western Mediterranean)

In the complex structural framework of the Western Mediterranean. Hercynian areas are expected to be thermally preserved from the recent tectonic evolution. The thermal regime of these areas is studied using heat flow, heat production and fission track data. The surface heat flow is significantly higher in Corsica (76 ± 10 mW m⁻²) than in the Maures and Estérel (58 ± 2 mW m⁻²). Neither heat production nor erosion subsequent to the Alpine orogeny in Corsica can explain such a difference. It is suggested that a deep thermal source related to the asymmetric evolution of the Provençal basin could explain the higher heat flow in Corsica. A model of thermal structure based on the present day thermal regime of the Maures and Estérei is proposed for the stable Hercynian crust in this area. The mantle heat flow is 20–25 mW m⁻² and the temperature at Moho level is 375–500°C, depending on the thermal parameter distribution with depth.     

Heat flow in salt-dome basins of Eurasia: A comparative study

The geothermal fields in the Pericaspian, Pripyat, and North German basins are considered. These basins are characterized by widespread Upper Paleozoic evaporite sequences, which underwent halokinesis with the formation of salt domes and plugs owing to tectonic and gravity instability. Heat flow refraction occurs at the boundaries of the domes with country rocks due to the contrast in thermal conductivity of evaporites and terrigenous rocks between the domal zones. This is the main cause of heat flow variation in the lateral and vertical directions in the salt-dome basins. Close correlation between zones of elevated temperature in the sedimentary rocks and petroleum occurrences is confirmed by the results of 2D and 3D modeling of the geothermal field. The previously noted relations of oil and gas fields to the deep faults in the studied basins create prerequisites for consideration of the geothermal field as a genetic factor controlling the tectonic features and petroleum resources of the salt-dome basins.     

Late Ordovician evolution of the intracratonic basins in north-west Gondwana

The Palaeozoic intracratonic basins in northwest Gondwana, i.e. the Amazonas, Parnaiba and Acera basins, probably opened during late Caradoc and Ashgill times. The fluviatile sedimentation later changed to littoral at the basinal margins. A transgression from the north-west region of Gondwana slowly overlapped the margins of the intracratonic basins. The transgression reached its maximum in the Rawtheyan (late Ashgill), as evidenced by fossiliferous shallow marine sediments in the Amazonas Basin. The Hirnantian glaciation in north Gondwana lowered the sea level, and in the Amazonas Basin a littoral sedimentation followed on shallow marine strata. From the opening of the basins onwards, a shallow sea probably existed close to the epicontinental basins in north-west Gondwana. The basins were connected via a narrow passage between the Guayana and Ivorian cratons.     

On the radiogenic heat production of igneous rocks

Radiogenic heat production is a physical parameter crucial to properly estimating lithospheric temperatures and properly understanding processes related to the thermal evolution of the Earth. Yet heat production is, in general, poorly constrained by direct observation because the key radiogenic elements exist in trace amounts making them difficulty image geophysically. In this study, we advance our knowledge of heat production throughout the lithosphere by analyzing chemical analyses of 108,103 igneous rocks provided by a number of geochemical databases. We produce global estimates of the average and natural range for igneous rocks using common chemical classification systems. Heat production increases as a function of increasing felsic and alkali content with similar values for analogous plutonic and volcanic rocks. The logarithm of median heat production is negatively correlated(r~2=0.98)to compositionally-based estimates of seismic velocities between 6.0 and 7.4 km s~(-1), consistent with the vast majority of igneous rock compositions. Compositional variations for continent-wide models are also well-described by a log-linear correlation between heat production and seismic velocity. However, there are differences between the log-linear models for North America and Australia, that are consistent with interpretations from previous studies that suggest above average heat production across much of Australia. Similar log-linear models also perform well within individual geological provinces with~1000 samples. This correlation raises the prospect that this empirical method can be used to estimate average heat production and natural variance both laterally and vertically throughout the lithosphere. This correlative relationship occurs despite a direct causal relationship between these two parameters but probably arises from the process of differentiation through melting and crystallization.     

中国盆地火山岩特性及其与油气成藏作用的联系

在全面总结火山岩的特性、火山岩油气藏的成藏条件、类型以及成藏控制因素的基础上,详细列举了与火山岩油气藏成藏过程密切相关的火山岩的岩相、岩性、储集空间类型及其形成、演化的主要控制因素。火山岩具有良好的储集条件,其储集空间主要为裂缝和孔隙等,储集空间的发育程度主要受岩相、岩性、粒度、构造应力和充填期等因素的制约;丰富的生油层、优越的储集条件、火山岩裂隙主要发育期和油气聚集期相近、良好的盖层以及适当的圈闭条件相匹配,则有利于油气聚集成藏。火山岩型油气藏的勘探已成为油气储量和产量的新增长点。     

Modelling heat and fluid flow in sedimentary basins by the finite element method

In this article we solve the equations for a 2D model of compaction of sedimentary basins saturated with water by the finite-element method. This compaction model considers the rock described by the porosity as a function of effective stress, and both the anisotropic permeability and the anisotropic heat conductivity as functions of porosity. The water density is approximated linearly in the water pressure and temperature, and the water viscosity is a function of temperature. The main variables in the model are the water excess pressure and the temperature, and we account for an implicit solution scheme where we solve for both main variables simultaneously. The non-linearities in the model are either dealt with by the Newton method or by fixed-point iterations. We compare the coupled solution of temperature and pressure with the same decoupled equations. Then we study the contribution to the temperature by convection, the effect of the non-constant water density, and some anisotropic case examples.     

Heat flow and heat generation in the Churchill Province of the Canadian Shield, and their palaeotectonic significance

Six new heat flow determinations are presented for Proterozoic mobile belts of the Churchill Province of the Canadian Shield, an area that was affected by several stages of the Hudsonian orogenic sequence (1.9-1.6 Ga ago). With other, previously published, values the mean of eight determinations considered reliable and representative and corrected for the effects of Pleistocene glaciation is 44 ± 7 mW m⁻². Heat generation measurements have also been made; values range from 0.1–1.04 μW m⁻³.A linear relation between heat flow and heat production is apparent. The heat flow axis intercept is 37 mW m⁻², and the scale depth is 11 km, compared with 28 mW m⁻² and 13.6 km for the Archaean Superior Province. Approximately 20% of the Churchill heat flow appears to be derived from radioactive decay in the upper crust, compared with 30% for the Superior Province and shields as a whole. The observations imply that the heat flow-heat production relation for the Churchill Province should be written as Q = Q_c + Q_e + A₀b where Q_c is equivalent to the reduced heat flow for the Archaean terrain, b is similar for the two, and Q_e is an additional component of heat flow in the Proterozoic mobile belts of the Churchill Province.A speculative tectonic model is presented. It is suggested that rifting along two axes of an original craton, which had lateral variations in near surface radiogenic element concentration, followed by erosion of the radiogenic layer and subsequent reconvergence of the cratonic segments, led to widespread redistribution of radioactive elements into the reactivated inter-rift crustal block. One result would be that crustal temperatures are higher in that part of the Churchill Province than in the Superior.     

Paleoproterozoic granitoids in the basement of Bangladesh: A piece of the Indian shield or an exotic fragment of the Gondwana jigsaw?

We present the first precise age for Precambrian basement rocks in Bangladesh. These lie within the Dinajpur block, located between the Indian Craton to the southwest and the Shillong Massif to the east. There are no surface outcrops and the rocks were intersected by drill holes. They consist of a suite of tonalitic and granodioritic rocks, variously deformed to granitic gneiss and intruded by younger monzogranite. A tonalite obtained at a depth of 227.48 m in drill hole BH-2 at Maddhapara, in northwestern Bangladesh, records a SHRIMP zircon ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb magmatic age of 1722 ± 6 Ma. Paleoproterozoic rocks with similar magmatic ages are unknown in the adjacent Indian blocks of the Chotanagpur Plateau (Indian Craton) or Shillong Massif. This lack of comparable ages may be due to the paucity of precise radiometric ages from the Indian terrains or, more likely, because there are real age differences, with the buried rocks at Maddhapara representing a separate and discrete microcontinental fragment (the Dinajpur block) that was trapped by the northward migration of India during Gondwana dispersal.     

Paleoproterozoic granitoids in the basement of Bangladesh: A piece of the Indian shield or an exotic fragment of the Gondwana jigsaw?

We present the first precise age for Precambrian basement rocks in Bangladesh. These lie within the Dinajpur block, located between the Indian Craton to the southwest and the Shillong Massif to the east. There are no surface outcrops and the rocks were intersected by drill holes. They consist of a suite of tonalitic and granodioritic rocks, variously deformed to granitic gneiss and intruded by younger monzogranite. A tonalite obtained at a depth of 227.48 m in drill hole BH-2 at Maddhapara, in northwestern Bangladesh, records a SHRIMP zircon ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb magmatic age of 1722 ± 6 Ma. Paleoproterozoic rocks with similar magmatic ages are unknown in the adjacent Indian blocks of the Chotanagpur Plateau (Indian Craton) or Shillong Massif. This lack of comparable ages may be due to the paucity of precise radiometric ages from the Indian terrains or, more likely, because there are real age differences, with the buried rocks at Maddhapara representing a separate and discrete microcontinental fragment (the Dinajpur block) that was trapped by the northward migration of India during Gondwana dispersal.     

Organic petrological composition of Triassic source rocks and their clastic depositional environments in some Australian sedimentary basins

Kerogen from terrestrial plant debris (type III) has commonly been considered to be a good source for hydrocarbon gas, but not for oil, compared with types I and II kerogen from marine and lacustrine sediments. The Gippsland Basin, Australia, contains giant oil fields producing from organic matter of land plant origin. Clearly some terrestrial paleodepositional environments have produced organic matter of land plant origin with the potential to generate large volumes of oil. An attempt has been made here to identify some environments that contain organic matter of terrestrial origin with the potential to generate oil.The dispersed organic matter (DOM) in sediments from various paleodepositional environments in the Northern Carnarvon, Clarence-Moreton, Simpson Desert, Bowen and Gunnedah Basins of Australia has been analysed petrographically. To reduce variations in organic matter type due to differences in geological age, examples of Triassic age only have been compared. DOM with relatively high contents of liptinite, which is widely accepted as having a better potential to generate oil than vitrinite and inertinite, was found in the following environments: fluvio-deltaic (Bowen Basin), proximal lacustrine (Gunnedah Basin) and fluvio-deltaic (Northern Carnarvon).Relationships between Triassic DOM types and paleodepositional environments found in one basin did not necessarily hold true for other basins. It is not valid to infer a unique paleodepositional environment from DOM type, but within a given basin, DOM type may be predicted from environment.     

Gondwana biostratigraphy of the Purnea Basin (eastern Bihar,India), and its correlation with Rajmahal and Bengal Gondwana basins

Integrated biostratigraphic studies are undertaken on the newly discovered Gondwana successions of Purnea Basin which have been recognized in the subsurface below the Neogene Siwalik sediments. The four exploratory wells, so far drilled in Purnea Basin, indicated the presence of thick Gondwana sussession (± 2450m) with varied lithological features. However, precise age of different Gondwanic lithounits of this basin and their correlation with standard Gondwana lithounits is poorly understood due to inadequate biostratigraphic data.Present biostratigraphic studies on the Gondwana successions in the exploratory wells of PRN-A, RSG-A, LHL-A and KRD-A enable recognition of fifteen Gondwanic palynological zones ranging in age from Early Permian (Asselian-Sakmarian) to Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian). Precise age for the Gondwanic palynological zones, recognized in the Purnea Basin and already established in other Indian Gondwana basins, are provided in the milieu of additional palynological data obtained from the Gondwana successions of this basin.The Lower Gondwana (Permian) palynofloras of Purnea Basin recorded from the Karandighi, Salmari, Katihar and Dinajpur formations resemble the palynological assemblages earlier recorded from the Talchir, Karharbari, Barakar and Raniganj formations respectively, and suggests the full development of lower Gondwana succession in this basin. The Upper Gondwana (Triassic) succession of this basin is marked by the Early and Middle to Late Triassic palynofloras that resemble Panchet and Supra-Panchet (Dubrajpur/Maleri Formation) palynological assemblages, and indicates the occurrence of complete Upper Gondwana succession also in the Purnea Basin.The lithological and biostratigraphic attributes of Gondwana sediments from Purnea, Rajmahal and western parts of Bengal Basin (Galsi Basin) are almost similar and provides strong evidences about the existence of a distinct N-S trending Gondwana Graben, referred as the Purnea-Rajmahal-Galsi Gondwana Graben. Newly acquired biostratigraphic data from the Gondwana sediments of CHK-A, MNG-A and PLS-A wells from central part of Bengal Basin and Bouguer anomaly data suggest that these wells fall in a separate NE-SW trending graben of “Chandkuri-Palasi-Bogra Gondwana Graben”. Although, the post-Gondwana latest Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Rajmahal Traps and and intertrappean beds succeed the Upper Gondwana successions in Rajmahal, Galsi and Chandkuri-Palasi Gondwana basins, but not recorded in the drilled wells of Purnea Basin, instead succeeded by the Neogene Siwalik sediments.     

A finite element formulation in Lagrangian co-ordinates for heat and fluid flow in compacting sedimentary basins

This article presents a numerical model of heat and fluid flow in compacting sedimentary basins formulated in Lagrangian co-ordinates. The Lagrangian co-ordinates are the sediment particle positions of the completely compacted basin. A finite element formulation of excess water pressure and temperature in these Lagrangian co-ordinates is presented, in addition to an equivalent formulation in the real co-ordinates. The later formulation is also Lagrangian of nature, since the elements of the grid in the real co-ordinates always frame the same sediment particles. In other words, it is the Lagrangian grid mapped to the real space. This is done in an iterative loop which solves for excess water pressure, and then updates the real co-ordinates of the sediment particles. By comparing the two finite element formulations it is concluded that the one in real space is the simplest, most efficient and most precise. The model is validated by comparison with two dimensionless one-dimensional solutions, one analytical for the linear case, and one numerical for the non-linear case. Both these one-dimensional solutions are obtained on the unit interval, where the moving top boundary caused by continuous sedimentation is incorporated.