Chemical interaction driven by deep fluids in the damage zone of a seismogenic carbonate fault

• Published in: Journal of structural geology 2022-08, Vol.161, p.104668, Article 104668
• Main Authors: Marchesini, Barbara, Carminati, Eugenio, Aldega, Luca, Mirabella, Francesco, Petrelli, Maurizio, Caracausi, Antonio, Barchi, Massimiliano R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Calcite veins; Carbonate faults; Chemical leaching; Fluid inclusions; Fluid-rock interaction; Seismicity
• ISSN: 0191-8141; 1873-1201
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsg.2022.104668

We analyzed from meso-to microscale the chemical interaction (e.g., bleaching) between deep fluids and carbonate rocks in pelagic limestones exposed along the seismically active Gubbio normal fault (Northern Apennines), exhumed from ca. 2 km depth. Bleaching is enhanced by the exploitation of inherited stylolitic seams by fluids and is favored by the progressive leaching and mobilization of primary components (i.e., Ca, Fe, Pb, and Cu) and the precipitation of authigenic baryte due to temperature and/or redox potential contrast. Analysis of fluid inclusions trapped in calcite veins in the damage zone precipitated from a H2O–NaCl-bearing fluid(s), with low salinity (1.22–2.57 wt%NaCleq) and a range of trapping temperature between 107 °C and 185 °C, higher than the host rock peak T conditions. Analysis of fluid inclusions and noble gases from syn-kinematic calcite and mineralogy of altered rocks suggests a mixed contribution between crustal-derived fluids with diagenetic fluids containing sulphates and CO2. We speculate that bleaching is a by-product of the circulation of such aggressive fluids with mixed contributions, likely mobilized during seismic event(s) and injected into the damage zone at shallow depths. Such processes, affecting the chemical-physical properties of limestones, are generally underestimated and should be considered when modelling hydraulic connectivity in fractured carbonate reservoirs. •Fault-rocks heterogeneity in carbonate-bearing faults forms structural domains with distinct permeability.•Bleaching of carbonates in the Gubbio fault is tectonically controlled.•Host rock alteration occurs by dissolution of calcite and hematite and precipitation of authigenic baryte at the reaction front.•Bleaching as exhumed evidence of circulation of deep-derived CO2-rich fluids in seismic faults.