Apatite Fission Track Thermal Modeling Research Articles

Diagenetic history of calcite fractures in Vaca Muerta shales (Argentina) inferred from paired Δ47 and fluid inclusion geothermometry

Many low-permeability, hydrocarbon-bearing rocks are productive for petroleum because natural fractures enhance hydrocarbon delivery to wellbores. Exploration and development decisions often must be made in the face of uncertainty about the presence and properties of natural fractures at scales of beds, field and plays, and how they contribute to production. Fractures patterns in subsurface rocks are challenging to predict or characterize owing to the difficulty in obtaining representative samples of fractures and the sparse set of tools for reconstructing how and when fractures grow during sedimentary basin evolution. In this study, we investigate bed-parallel fracture diagenesis in the Vaca Muerta shales (Argentina) based on a set of calcite vein collected from core across a thermal maturity sequence that ranges from the oil to dry gas window. We characterize these samples using secondary ions mass spectrometry (SIMS) measurements of stable isotope ratios, carbonate clumped isotope geothermometry and fluid inclusion analysis. These measurements precisely reconstruct the evolution of fluid geochemistry, temperature and pore fluid pressure during fracture opening. Here we show that within each studied site, all bedding parallel fibrous veins calcite formed at similar ranges of temperature. The fracture mineralization temperature increases substantially at the basin scale, from 90 °C to 120 °C, correlated with host-rock thermal maturity. We compare our constraints on carbonate and fluid temperature with apatite fission track thermal models and find that most of the fractures of the Vaca Muerta shales have formed in a relatively early stage of subsidence of the basin (c.a. 90 to 70 Ma). These ages estimations are consistent with recently published U–Pb ages on calcite veins from the outcropping area (117–61 Ma). The presence of petroleum inclusions (oil, condensate, and gas) in most of the vein's calcite fibers from cores also provides clear evidence that fracture formation was contemporaneous or posterior with petroleum generation, constraining the timing of catagenesis in the Vaca Muerta. Reconstructed paleo pressures conditions of veins formation from fluid inclusion analysis highlight significant fluid overpressure in the shale interval, which likely contributed to fracture initiation and growth. Preserved apparent Δ47 temperatures in fibrous veins carbonates mineralization evolves gradually from 130 °C to 175 °C with increasing host rock thermal maturity. These clumped-isotope-based temperatures are systematically higher than trapping temperatures of associated fluid inclusions; one interpretation of this observation is that carbonate clumped isotope compositions re-equilibrated to near maximum burial conditions by solid-state isotopic re-ordering, yielding a record of the maximum burial temperature the shale unit experienced. The combination of paleothermometry techniques used in this study illustrates the importance of simultaneously exploring several independent geothermometers, particularly the informative combination of fluid inclusion and clumped isotope constraints, which provides a means of understanding the complex diagenesis of old sedimentary rocks that have experienced burial temperatures in the oil and gas thermal windows.

Thermochronologic Evidence for Late Eocene Andean Mountain Building at 30°S

AbstractThe Andes between 28° and 30°S represent a transition between the Puna‐Altiplano Plateau and the Frontal/Principal Cordillera fold‐and‐thrust belts to the south. While significant early Cenozoic deformation documented in the Andean Plateau, deciphering the early episodes of deformation during Andean mountain building in the transition area is largely unstudied. Apatite fission track (AFT) and (U‐Th‐Sm)/He (AHe) thermochronology from a vertical and a horizontal transect reveal the exhumation history of the High Andes at 30°S, an area at the heart of this major transition. Interpretation of the age‐elevation profile, combined with inverse thermal modeling, indicates that the onset of rapid cooling was underway by ~35 Ma, followed by a significant decrease in cooling rate at ~30–25 Ma. AFT thermal models also reveal a second episode of rapid cooling in the early Miocene (~18 Ma) related to rock exhumation to its present position. Low exhumation between the rapid cooling events allowed for the development of a partial annealing zone. We interpret the observed Eocene rapid exhumation as the product of a previously unrecognized compressive event in this part of the Andes that reflects a southern extension of Eocene orogenesis recognized in the Puna/Altiplano. Renewed early‐Miocene exhumation indicates that the late Cenozoic compressional stresses responsible for the main phase of uplift of the South Central Andes also impacted the core of the range in this transitional sector. The major episode of Eocene exhumation suggests the creation of significant topographic relief in the High Andes earlier than previously thought.

The Tectonic and Uplift History of the Kuruketage Area in the North-East Edge of the Tarim Basin, China: Constraints from Detrital Zircon and Apatite Fission Track Data

This study uses the application of zircon fission track (ZFT) and apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronometry technique to investigate the tectonic and uplift history of the Kuruketage area, north-east edge of the Tarim Basin. Based on measured ZFT, AFT and equivalent vitrinite reflectance measurements of samples in sedimentary rocks in Kuruketage area, the temperature time evolution history from early Paleozoic strata was modeled. The results show that the youngest peaks of ZFT at 371-392Ma and 328 - 305.7Ma record Hercynian tectonic and uplift event; the AFT peaks at 134.5 - 164Ma, 73 - 100Ma and 35.4Ma mainly represent the Late-Cretaceous tectonic and uplift event in Kuruketage area. The AFT thermal modeling results from the early Paleozoic strata indicate that the maximum paleo-temperature (at 140 215°C) experienced in late Silurian to early Devonian, and the strata temperature decreased to about 120°C before the Late-Cretaceous.

Geomorphic Mesozoic and Cenozoic evolution in the Oka-Jombolok region (East Sayan ranges, Siberia)

The East Sayan ranges are a key area to understand the interactions between the transpressive deformation linked to the far-field effects of the India–Asia collision and the extension linked to the opening of the Baikal Rift System. The active deformation that affects this range is very recent (around 5Ma) but occurs in a very complex morphotectonic setting and the understanding of the Tertiary deformation relies entirely on a detailed knowledge of the pre-deformation situation. Using apatite fission track thermochronology, cosmogenic 10Be and morphological study on Tertiary lava flows we demonstrate that prior to the Oligocene the morphology of the East Sayan area was characterized by a wide, constantly rejuvenated erosion surface. Apatite fission track thermal modelling indicates that this surface started to form at least in Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous (140–120Ma). The long-term exhumation rates (several tens of million years) derived from apatite fission track data (17.5m/Ma) and the short-term erosion rates (over a few hundred thousand years) derived from cosmogenic 10Be data (12–20m/Ma) are coherent implying a near constant mean erosion rate since Late Jurassic. This constant, slow erosion prevented the formation of a lateritic–kaolinic weathering crust on the planation surface. By Oligocene–early Miocene times a long wavelength uplift that remains to be explained, induced incision that created shallow valleys later filled by basaltic lava flows. Finally, the present short-wavelength topography initiated during the Pliocene.

Thermochronology of a convergent orogen: Constraints on the timing of thrust faulting and subsequent exhumation of the Maladeta Pluton in the Central Pyrenean Axial Zone

The Pyrenees Mountains of Spain and France are a collisional orogen cored by a south-vergent antiformal stack of Paleozoic basement thrust sheets (the Axial Zone). Thrusting accommodated shortening due to convergence between Iberia and Europe. Granitic plutons, intruded during the Hercynian orogeny, form an important component of the basement units. Thermochronology of granodioritic samples collected from a vertical [age–elevation] profile from the south-central Maladeta pluton provide new constraints on the timing of thrust faulting and rock exhumation of the Pyrenean orogen. The Maladeta massif lies within the Orri thrust sheet, presently occupying the immediate footwall of the Gavarnie thrust, a major Axial Zone Alpine-age thrust fault. New biotite and K-feldspar 40Ar/ 39Ar and apatite (U–Th)/He (AHe) data combined with previous apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology and structural studies of the Maladeta pluton constrain the thermal evolution of this massif. Biotite weighted mean plateau and K-feldspar maximum 40Ar/ 39Ar ages from the highest elevations of the Maladeta pluton (2850 m) are ∼ 280 Ma, close to the age of intrusion, and are interpreted to date the timing of rapid cooling in the Hercynian. Subsequently the Maladeta massif remained close to the surface as indicated by the presence of unconformable Triassic continental sediments. K-feldspar 40Ar/ 39Ar multiple diffusion domain thermal models from two samples at lower elevations (1780 m and 1400 m) indicate heating initiated at ∼ 65 Ma, reaching maximum temperatures of 270 to 280 °C. These data are interpreted to record thrust burial of the Maladeta pluton to depths of ∼ 6–10 km in the footwall of the Gavarnie thrust. Burial and heating were followed by a period of relatively rapid cooling beginning at ∼ 50 Ma, recorded in three K-feldspar thermal models from samples at different elevations (2850 m, 1780 m, and 1400 m). AFT thermal models, in conjunction with the AFT and apatite AHe age–elevation profile interpretation reveal a lower temperature portion of the thermal history. These data indicate the onset of rapid cooling that began at 30–35 Ma, slowed dramatically at 25–30 Ma, and continued at a reduced rate until ∼ 15 Ma. Finally, AFT thermal models from the lowest elevation samples record rapid cooling in the Late Miocene–Pliocene, most likely due to re-excavation of the southern flank of the Pyrenean orogen, following burial by syn-tectonic conglomerates. The integrated thermochronologic data set from the age–elevation profile within the Maladeta pluton illustrates the potential for obtaining age constraints related to processes operating within the interior portions of convergent orogenic systems (e.g., the onset and/or duration of thrust fault activity) that are otherwise unobtainable.

Age constraints on faulting and fault reactivation: a multi-chronological approach

Movement within the Earth’s upper crust is commonly accommodated by faults or shear zones, ranging in scale from micro-displacements to regional tectonic lineaments. Since faults are active on different time scales and can be repeatedly reactivated, their displacement chronology is difficult to reconstruct. This study represents a multi-geochronological approach to unravel the evolution of an intracontinental fault zone locality along the Danube Fault, central Europe. At the investigated fault locality, ancient motion has produced a cataclastic deformation zone in which the cataclastic material was subjected to hydrothermal alteration and K-feldspar was almost completely replaced by illite and other phyllosilicates. Five different geochronological techniques (zircon Pb-evaporation, K–Ar and Rb–Sr illite, apatite fission track and fluorite (U-Th)/He) have been applied to explore the temporal fault activity. The upper time limit for initiation of faulting is constrained by the crystallization age of the primary rock type (known as “Kristallgranit”) at 325 ± 7 Ma, whereas the K–Ar and Rb–Sr ages of two illite fractions <2 μm (266–255 Ma) are interpreted to date fluid infiltration events during the final stage of the cataclastic deformation period. During this time, the “Kristallgranit” was already at or near the Earth’s surface as indicated by the sedimentary record and thermal modelling results of apatite fission track data. (U–Th)/He thermochronology of two single fluorite grains from a fluorite–quartz vein within the fault zone yield Cretaceous ages that clearly postdate their Late-Variscan mineralization age. We propose that later reactivation of the fault caused loss of helium in the fluorites. This assertion is supported by geological evidence, i.e. offsets of Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments along the fault and apatite fission track thermal modelling results are consistent with the prevalence of elevated temperatures (50–80°C) in the fault zone during the Cretaceous.