Recognition of the thermal effects of fluid flow in sedimentary basins

Abstract

Abstract Moving fluids are capable of transporting a large amount of heat over long distances in sedimentary basins, but the effects are often ignored when modelling the thermal evolution of sedimentary basins. If significant, the passage of these heated fluids through the sediment pile will leave a thermal signature which can be measured at the present-day using palaeotemperature determinants such as vitrinite reflectance and apatite fission track analysis (AFTA™). The interpretation of palaeotemperature-depth profiles, particularly the slope of a palaeotemperature-depth profile, i.e. the palaeogeothermal gradient, allows fluid-induced temperature profiles to be distinguished from those due to simple conduction of basal heat flow. Steady-state systems, typified by large-scale lateral fluid flow in foreland basins or where low-temperature hydrothermal circulation systems occur associated with intrusions and thick volcanic piles, are characterized by dog-length geothermal gradients, with high-interval gradients near the surface, above the shallowest aquifer, and lower interval gradients beneath an aquifer. It is argued that the classic occurrence of near vertical vitrinite reflectance-depth profiles observed in many ancient foreland basins can result from this mechanism. Thermal effects of transient fluid flow are most easily observed at the present-day, where they are characterized by low or negative geothermal gradients beneath aquifers in active geothermal systems, and the same criterion enables their recognition in ancient situations. Similarly, shallow-level igneous intrusion into porous and permeable sediments can produce observable thermal signatures further from the intrusion than will result from simple conduction, but which can be readily explained by movement of fluids heated by the intrusion. Complex steady-state profiles that may be difficult to distinguish from transient profiles without additional geological data may arise where multiple aquifers are separated by aquitards. The thermal consequences of fluid flow in two of these situations, a foreland basin and igneous intrusion into porous sediments, are illustrated by examples of thermal history reconstruction from the Pliocene Papua New Guinea Fold Belt and the Canning Basin of Australia, respectively.