Contact metamorphism of organic-rich mudstones and carbon release around a magmatic sill in the Basque-Cantabrian Basin, western Pyrenees

Abstract

Recent studies have documented the expulsion of methane and oil to the Albian paleoseabed in the Basque-Cantabrian Basin. They interpret that hydrocarbon generation and expulsion were triggered by seismically recorded magmatic intrusions which metamorphosed organic-rich host sediments. An outcrop within the basin was selected to investigate organic matter evolution and sediment degassing due to an igneous body. This intrusion is a 5m thick Late Albian basaltic sill that intruded mudstones of the Black Flysch Group, near Gorliz (north Iberia). Vitrinite and bitumen reflectance profiles and metamorphic mineral distribution in the overburden indicate that the sill produced a thermal effect that increases toward the intrusion, defining a 2m thick (minimum) contact aureole.Geochemical profiles of TOC, S1, S2, HI and PC show a gradual decrease toward the sill indicating organic carbon loss and increase in the thermal maturity of the organic matter in the same direction. Concordantly, gas chromatograms show a loss of n-alkanes and a predominance of the shorter chain length homologues adjacent to the sill. Tmax and PI (S1/S1+S2) values increase toward the sill which suggests an increase in the thermal stress and in the extent of kerogen pyrolysis, respectively.Organic carbon loss in the aureole was the result of carbon devolatilization and formation of CO2 and CH4 gases. The newly formed CO2 reacted with pore waters to precipitate 13C depleted carbonate minerals in the aureole and in sill fractures. CH4 escaped from the aureole via hydrofractures to the paleoseabed, where methane-derived authigenic carbonates were formed.