The Influence of Trap Magmatism on the Geochemical Composition of Brines of Petroliferous Deposits in the Western Areas of the Kureika Syneclise (Siberian Platform)

Abstract

Abstract —We present the results of study of the influence of trap magmatism on the geochemical composition of brines and on the geothermal regime of the Earth’s interior in the western areas of the Kureika syneclise. The Siberian trap province, which unites all cutting and layered tholeiite–basic magmatic intrusions and erupted basaltic lava, is the world’s largest Phanerozoic continental basalt province. Brines, hydrocarbon deposits, and organic matter of the sedimentary cover were subjected to a significant thermal impact as a result of the Permo-Triassic trap magmatism. During the trap intrusion, the maximum paleotemperatures in major Silurian (D’yavolskii), Ordovician (Baikit), and Cambrian (Deltula–Tanachi, Abakun, and Moktakon) productive horizons reached 650 °C. The Paleozoic and Proterozoic deposits of the study area contain brines with TDS = 50–470 g/dm3. By chemical composition, they are of Na, Na–Ca, Ca–Na, Ca–Mg, and Ca chloride types (according to the classification by S.A. Shchukarev), with mixed Ca–Na and Na–Ca chloride brines dominating. The studied brines can be divided into three groups according to the degree of metamorphism: low (S1), medium (S2), and high (S3). The first group includes mainly sodium chloride brines with TDS = 50–370 g/dm3 (rNa/rCl = 0.60–0.95; S ≤ 100). The second (dominating) group comprises Na–Ca, Ca–Na, Ca, and Ca–Mg chloride brines with TDS = 150–470 g/dm3 (rNa/rCl = 0.10–0.87; 100 ≤ S ≤ 300). The third group is Ca–Na and Ca chloride brines with TDS = 223–381 g/dm3 (rNa/rCl = 0.12–0.45; S ≥ 300). We have first established changes in the hydrogeochemical field (major- and trace-component and gas compositions) with distance from the contacts of intruded dolerite sills and dikes. Hydrocarbons (CH4, C2H6, C3H8, i-C4H10, n-C4H10, i-C5H12, n-C5H12, and C6H14) and water-soluble components I, B, and NH4 were most actively subjected to destruction. For example, at a distance of 100 m from the intrusion zone, the water-dissolved gases are dominated by CO2 (>90 vol.%), and CH4 amounts to 5 vol.%, whereas at a distance of 250 m, the concentration of CO2 decreases to 30 vol.%, and that of CH4 increases to 60–70 vol.%. In addition to the negative effect on the hydrocarbon preservation in the contact zone (≤400 m), the intrusive trap magmatism favored the formation of hydrocarbons in remote horizons. The reaction of intruding traps with brines of the sedimentary cover led to the saturation of the latter with iron, aluminum, and silica, which suggests extraction of metals in the form of salts from magmatic melts into an ore-bearing fluid.