Electrical properties of a graphite-rich quartzite from a former lower continental crust exposed in the Serre San Bruno, Calabria (southern Italy)

Abstract

In this study electrical properties of a graphite-rich quartzite from the former lower crust exposed in the Serre San Bruno, Calabria (southern Italy) have been analysed by means of complex electrical conductivity measurements in the frequency range 10 −3 to 10 6 Hz on plug samples of 25 mm in diameter and 22 mm high. The samples were identified as a former oil sandstones containing up to 12–15% flake-like graphite, which present highly metamorphosed relics of its former hydrocarbon filling. Though high concentrations of graphite were detected, the graphite quartzite is highly resistive. The spatial ordering of isolated graphite grains like tiles prevent the generation of interconnected electrical pathways. These isolated good conductors are interconnected by electrolyte bridges, thus causing the high polarizability, indicating redox reactions at the electrolyte/graphite interfaces that could be modelled using CPE elements. The type of graphite ordering was caused by the early formation of isolated oil droplets in the reservoir sandstone. After high-grade metamorphism and shearing, they appear as flat graphite grains in the foliation plane and were smeared together because of the rigidity of sillimanite and quartz, the main rock constituents. Thus this graphite quartzite is by no means a candidate to enhance the electrical conductivity of the deep continental crust. Syngenetic graphite in former lower crustal rocks is largely resistant against varying geochemical conditions during prograde and retrograde metamorphism. This had also been shown for graphite that is contained in normal metapelites as accessory mineral, or enriched in former black shales where it may cause high conductivity [Jödicke, H., Kruhl, J.H., Ballhaus, C., Giese, P., Untiedt, J., 2004. Syngenetic, thin graphite-rich horizons in lower crustal rocks from the Serre San Bruno, Calabria (Italy), and implications for the nature of high-conducting deep crustal layers. PEPI 141, 37–58; Nover, G., 2005. Electrical properties of crustal and mantle rocks—a review of laboratory measurements and their explanations. Surv. Geophys. 26 (5), 593–651].