Geochemical Features of Vein Anhydrite from the Kakkonda Geothermal System, Northeast Japan

Abstract

Abstract. Cathodoluminescence (CL) color, rare earth element (REE) content, sulfur and oxygen isotopes and fluid inclusions of anhydrite, which frequently filled in hydrothermal veins in the Kakkonda geothermal system, were investigated to elucidate the spatial, temporal and genetical evolution of fluids in the deep reservoir. The anhydrite samples studied are classified into four types based on CL colors and REE contents: type‐N (no color), type‐G (green color), type‐T (tan color) and type‐S (tan color with a high REE content). In the shallow reservoir, only type‐N anhydrite is observed. In the deep reservoir, type‐G anhydrite occurs in vertical veins whereas type‐T and ‐N in lateral veins. Type‐S anhydrite occurs in the heat‐source Kakkonda Granite. The CL textures revealed that type‐G anhydrite deposited earlier than type‐T in the deep reservoir, implying that fracture system was changed from predominantly vertical to lateral.Studies of fluid inclusions and δ34S and δ18O values of the samples indicate that type‐N anhydrite deposited from diluted fluids derived from meteoric water, whereas type‐G, ‐T and ‐S anhydrites deposited from magmatic brines derived from the Kakkonda Granite with the exception of some of type‐G with recrystallization texture and no primary fluid inclusion, which deposited from fossil seawater preserved in the sedimentary rocks. Type‐G, ‐T and ‐S anhydrites exhibit remarkably different chondrite‐normalized REE patterns with a positive Eu anomaly, with a convex shape (peak at Sm or Eu) and with a negative Eu anomaly, respectively. The difference in the patterns might result from the different extent of hydrothermal alteration of the reservoir rocks and contribution of the magmatic fluids.