Fluid Inclusion Study of Deep Burial Cements in the Rocky Mountain Front and Main Ranges, Alberta, Canada

Natalie Aubet
Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; [email protected]

Closely controlled by the Foreland Fold Thrust Belt system, the Upper Devonian Southesk-Cairn Carbonate Complex is one of the largest geological features in the deepest portion of the Alberta Basin. During its foreland stage, palaeo-fluid processes are thought to be closely linked with the evolution of the Cordillera. Evidence comes from late diagenetic phases, in particular at Obed area, which have been clearly affected during burial by tectonically-expelled fluids. Considering that fluid-rock interactions are intensified during tectonic events, the diagenetic products generated under their influence would record the geochemical signature and changes originated by those extra-basinal fluids. The main objective of this proposal is to reconstruct the fluid flow history that affected the complex, investigating whether tectonic expulsion of formational fluids can be identified and characterized. The project involves extensive isotopic (18O, 13C 87Sr/86Sr) geochemistry and fluid inclusions analysis (microthermometry, crush-leach analysis and Raman microspectroscopy) of the late-stage carbonate cements that were formed during deep burial in the western part of the Alberta Basin. The geochemical and thermal modeling of formational and extra-basinal fluids will result in knowledge of the reconstruction of the fluid evolution in the Southesk-Cairn Carbonate Complex enhancing the understanding of factors that control petroleum migration and ore deposition in the Alberta Basin.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90083 © 2008 AAPG Foundation Grants in Aid