This thesis focus in the identification of geochemical tracers and effects of fluid that interact with basement and sedimentary rocks in hyperextended systems. The investigation of such fluids is based on geological observation, geochemical analyses and geophysical data from fossil hyperextended rift systems exposed in the Alps and in the West Pyrenees, and the present-day distal margins of Iberia and Newfoundland. Two types of fluids were identified during this study. The first type, referred to as continental crust-related fluids, has a signature of Si and Ca. The second type, referred to as mantle-related fluids, has a signature of Si, Mg, Fe, Mn, Ca, Ni, Cr and V. The fluid percolation is strongly related to the formation of extensional detachment faults and the evolution of hyperextended systems. Fluid flow in these systems has major implications for the nature of sediments, rheological changes and chemical modifications of the Earth’s reservoirs throughout its evolution.
This work presents the preliminary comparative analysis of the regional structures observed in onshore satellite images and their continuation toward the Campos Basin shallow water platform. These results were obtained by integration of aeromagnetic and gravimetric data, satellite images, topographic, and regional structural maps, combined with structural analysis from fieldwork.<br>The southern portion of the Campos Basin is located over gneissic rocks of the Cabo Frio Tectonic Domain (CFTD), a Cambrian-Ordovician tectonic unit formed during the agglutination of the Gondwana Paleocontinent. All the CFTD lithotypes are tectonically intercalated throughout thrust zones, dipping between 5º and 30º to the south. These units were deformed during D1 and D2 deformation stages, at c.a. 520 Ma (Schmitt et al., 2004). The CFTD was juxtaposed to the tectonic units of the Ribeira Belt during D3 phase. The contact is marked by a thrust fault striking NE-SW that dips 30º to the south, with a vergence towards the NW. This regional structure is present in the Macaé region, from where, supposedly, it inflects in an ENE-WSW direction towards the continental platform, with a predominant NE-SW strike related to Early Cretaceous syn-rift fault trends.
Abstract The thinning of the crust and the exhumation of subcontinental mantle in magma‐poor rifted margins is accompanied by a series of extensional detachment faults. We show that exhumation along these detachments is intimately related to migration of fluids leading to changes in mineralogy and chemistry of the mantle, crustal, and sedimentary rocks. Using field observation and analytical methods, we investigate the role of fluids in the fossil distal margins of the Alpine Tethys. Using Cr‐Ni‐V, Fe, and Mn as tracers, we show that fluids used detachment faults as pathways and interacted with the overlying crust and sediments. These observations allow us to discuss when, where, and how this interaction happened during the formation of the rifted margin. The results show that: (i) serpentinization of mantle rocks during their exhumation results in the depletion of elements and migration of mantle‐reacted fluids that are channeled along active detachment system; (ii) in earlier‐stages, these fluids affected the overlying syntectonic sediments by direct migration from the underlying detachments;(iii) in later‐stages, these fluids arrived at the seafloor, were introduced into, or “polluted” the seawater and were absorbed by post tectonic sediments. We conclude that a significant amount of serpentinization occurred underneath the hyperextended continental crust, and that the mantle‐reacted fluids might have modified the chemical composition of the sediments and seawater. We propose that the chemical signature of serpentinization related to mantle exhumation is recorded in the sediments and may serve as a proxy to date serpentinization and mantle exhumation at present‐day magma‐poor rifted margins.