Abiogenic Fischer–Tropsch synthesis of hydrocarbons in alkaline igneous rocks; fluid inclusion, textural and isotopic evidence from the Lovozero complex, N.W. Russia

Abstract

A detailed fluid inclusion study has been carried out on the hydrocarbon-bearing fluids found in the peralkaline complex, Lovozero. Petrographic, microthermometric, laser Raman and bulk gas data are presented and discussed in context with previously published data from Lovozero and similar hydrocarbon-bearing alkaline complexes in order to further understand the processes which have generated these hydrocarbons. CH 4-dominated inclusions have been identified in all Lovozero samples. They occur predominantly as secondary inclusions trapped along cleavage planes and healed fractures together with rare H 2O-dominant inclusions. They are consistently observed in close association with either arfvedsonite crystals, partially replaced by aegirine, aegirine crystals or areas of zeolitization. The majority of inclusions consist of a low-density fluid with CH 4 homogenisation temperatures between −25 and −120 °C. Those in near-surface hand specimens contain CH 4+H 2 (up to 40 mol%)±higher hydrocarbons. However, inclusions in borehole samples contain CH 4+higher hydrocarbons±H 2 indicating that, at depth, higher hydrocarbons are more likely to form. Estimated entrapment temperatures and pressures for these inclusions are 350 °C and 0.2–0.7 kbar. A population of high-density, liquid, CH 4-dominant inclusions have also been recorded, mainly in the borehole samples, homogenising between −78 and −99 °C. These consist of pure CH 4, trapped between 1.2 and 2.1 kbar and may represent an early CH 4-bearing fluid overprinted by the low-density population. The microthermometric and laser Raman data are in agreement with bulk gas data, which have recorded significant concentrations of H 2 and higher hydrocarbons up to C 6H 12 in these samples. These data, combined with published isotopic data for the gases CH 4, C 2H 6, H 2, He and Ar indicate that these hydrocarbons have an abiogenic, crustal origin and were generated during postmagmatic, low temperature, alteration reactions of the mineral assemblage. This would suggest that these data favour a model for formation of hydrocarbons through Fischer–Tropsch type reactions involving an early CO 2-rich fluid and H 2 derived from alteration reactions. This is in contrast to the late-magmatic model suggested for the formation of hydrocarbons in the similar peralkaline intrusion, Ilı́maussaq, at temperatures between 400 and 500 °C.