Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-26T16:29:17.822Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chloritization in Proterozoic granite from the Äspö Laboratory, southeastern Sweden: record of hydrothermal alterations and implications for nuclear waste storage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

S. Morad ,
M. Sirat ,
M. A. K. El-Ghali  and
H. Mansurbeg
S. Morad*
Affiliation:
Department of Petroleum Geosciences, The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 2533, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
M. Sirat
Affiliation:
ADCO, P.O. Box 270, Abu Dhabi, UAE
M. A. K. El-Ghali
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khoudh, P.O. Box 36, Oman Department of Geology, Al-Fateh University, P.O. Box 13696, Tripoli, Libya
H. Mansurbeg
Affiliation:
Department of Petroleum Geosciences, Soran University, Soran, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
*
*E-mail:smorad@pi.ac.ae
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Hydrothermal alteration of Proterozoic granitic rocks in the Äspö underground laboratory, southestern Sweden, resulted in the formation of chlorite with large variations in textural and chemical characteristics, which reflect differences in formation temperatures, fluid composition, and reaction mechanisms. The mineral assemblage associated with chlorite, including Ca-Al silicates (prehnite, pumpellyite, epidote, and titanite), Fe-oxides, calcite, albite and K-feldspar, suggests that chloritization occurred at temperatures of between 200–350°C during various hydrothermal events primarily linked to magmatism and rock deformation. Petrographic and electron microprobe analyses revealed that chlorite replaced biotite, amphibole and magnetite, and hydrothermal chlorite phases filled fractures and vugs in the granitic rocks. While fracture-filling chlorite reduces fracture permeability, chloritization reactions in the host granite resulted in the formation of new localized microporosity that should thus be taken into consideration when evaluating the safety of the granitic basement rocks as a repository for nuclear waste. It is also important to take into account that similar alteration reactions may occur at the site of stored nuclear waste where temperatures in excess of 100°C might be encountered.

Keywords

chloritizationchemical compositionhydrothermalbiotite granitenuclear waste
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , September 2011 , pp. 495 - 513
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Åhäll, K.-I. (2001) Åldersbestämning av svårdaterade bergarter i sydöstra Sverige. Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB). SKB-R-01-60.Google Scholar
Aldahan, A.A. & Morad, S. (1986) Mineralogy and chemistry of diagenetic clay minerals in Proterozoic sandstones from Sweden. American Journal of Science, 286, 29–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arvin, M. (1982) The occurrence of pumpellyite in basic igneous rocks from the Coloured Series NE of Neyriz, Iran. Mineralogical Magazine, 46, 427–431.Google Scholar
Bettison, L.A. & Schiffman, P. (1988) Compositional and structural variations of phyllosilicates from the Point Sal ophiolite, California. American Mineralogist, 73, 62–76.Google Scholar
Bogdanova, S.V., Bingen, B., Gorbatschev, R., Kheraskova, T.N., Kozlov, V.I., Puchkov, V.N. & Volozh, Y.A. (2008) The East European Craton (Baltica) before and during the assembly of Rodinia. Precambrian Research, 160, 23–45.Google Scholar
Cassiaux, M., Proust, D., Siitari-Kauppi M, Sardini, P. & Leutsch, Y. (2006) Clay minerals formed during propoylitic alteration of a granite and their influence on primary porosity: a multi-scale approach. Clays and Clay Minerals, 54, 541–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cathelineau, M. (1988) Cation site occupancy in chlorite and illites as a function of temperature. Clay Minerals, 23, 471–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Čečys, A. & Benn, K. (2007) Emplacement and deformation of the ca. 1.45 Ga Karlshamn granitoid pluton, southeastern Sweden, during ENE-WSW Danopolonian shortening. International Journal of Earth Sciences, 96, 397–414.Google Scholar
Cederbom, C. (2001) Phanerozoic, pre-Cretaceous thermotectonic events in southern Sweden revealed by fission track thermochronology. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 188, 199–209.Google Scholar
Cederbom, C, Larsson, S.Å., Tullborg, E.-L. & Stigberg, J.B. (2000) Fission track thermochronology applied to Phanerozoic thermotectonic events in central and southern Sweden. Tectonophysics, 316, 153–167.Google Scholar
Chayes, F. (1955) Potash feldspar as a by-product of the biotite-chlorite transformation. Journal of Geology, 63, 75–82.Google Scholar
Cho, M. & Liou, J.G. (1987) Prehnite-pumpellyite to greenschist facies transition in the Karmutsen Metabasites, Vancouver Island, B.C. Journal of Petrology, 28, 417–443.Google Scholar
Cuevas, L, Leguey, S. & Pusch, R. (1994) Hydrothermal stability of saponitic clays from the Madrid Basin. Applied Clay Science, 8, 467–484.Google Scholar
De Caritat, P., Hutcheon, I. & Walshe, J.L. (1993) Chlorite geothermometry: a review. Clays and Clay Minerals, 41, 219–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drake, H. & Tullborg E-L. (2009) Paleohydrogeological events recorded by stable isotopes, fluid inclusions and trace elements in fracture minerals in crystalline rock, Simpevarp area, SE Sweden. Applied Geochemistry, 24, 715–732.Google Scholar
Drake, H., Tullborg E-L. & Annersten, H. (2008) Redstaining of the wall rock and its influence on the reducing capacity around water conducting fractures. Applied Geochemistry, 23, 1898–1920.Google Scholar
Drake, H., Tullborg E-L. & Page, L. (2009) Distinguished multiple events of fracture mineralisation related to far-field orogenic effects in Paleoproterozoic crystalline rocks, Simpevarp area, SE Sweden. Lithos, 110, 37–49.Google Scholar
Dyar, M.D., Guidotti, C.V., Harper G, D., McKibben, M.A. & Saccocia P I (1992) Controls on ferric iron in chlorite. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Progams, 1992 Annual Meeting, 338 pp.Google Scholar
Eggleton, R.A. & Banfield, J.F. (1985) The alteration of granitic biotite to chlorite. American Mineralogist, 70, 902–910.Google Scholar
Eliasson, T. (1993) Mineralogy, geochemistry and petrophysics of red coloured granite adjacent to fractures. Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB). SKB-TR-93-06.Google Scholar
Ernst, W.G. (1983) Mineral parageneses in metamorphic rocks exposed along Tailuko Gorge, Central Mountain Range, Taiwan. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 1, 305–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferry, J.M. (1979) Reaction mechanisms, physical conditions and mass transfer during hydrothermal alteration of mica and feldspar in granitic rocks from south-central Maine, U.S.A. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 68, 125–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferry, J.M. (2000) Patterns of mineral occurrence in metamorphic rocks from the Isle of Skye, Northwest Scotland. I: Granites. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 91, 283–304.Google Scholar
Fiebig, I & Hoefs, J.J. (2002) Hydrothermal alteration of biotite and plagioclase as inferred from intragranular oxygen isotope- and cation-distribution pattern. European Journal of Mineralogy, 14, 49–60.Google Scholar
Freiberger, R., Hecht, L., Cuney, M. & Morteani, G. (2001) Secondary Ca-Al silicates in plutonic rocks: implications for their cooling history. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 141, 415–429.Google Scholar
Frey, M., De Capitani, C. & Liou GJ. (1991) A new petrogenetic grid for low grade metabasite. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 9, 497–509.Google Scholar
Heijlen, W., Muchez Ph., Banks, D.A., Schneider, J., Kucha, H. & Keppens, E. (2003) Carbonate-hosted Zn-Pb deposits in Upper Silesia, Poland: origin and evolution of mineralizing fluids and constraints on genetic models. Economic Geology, 98, 911–932.Google Scholar
Inoue, A. & Utada, M. (1991) Pumpellyite and related minerals from hydrothermally altered rocks at the Kalmikta area, northern Honshu, Japan. The Canadian Mineralogist, 29, 255–270.Google Scholar
Janeczek, J. (1994) The effect of aluminous titanite on the biotite-chlorite and amphibole-chlorite reactions. European Journal of Mineralogy, 6, 623–625.Google Scholar
Jiang, W.T., Peacor, D.R. & Buseck, P.R. (1994) Chlorite geothermometry? Contamination and apparent octahedral vacancies. Clays and Clay Minerals, 42, 593–605.Google Scholar
Kornfalt, K.-A. & Wikman, H. (1988) The rocks of the Aspo Island: Description to the detailed maps of solid rocks including maps of 3 uncovered trenches. S1CB P R 25-88-12. Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB), 35pp.Google Scholar
Lazaukiene, J., Stephenson, R., Sliaupa, S. & van Wees, J.D. (2002) 3-D flexural modelling of the Silurian Baltic Basin. Tectonophysics, 346, 115–135.Google Scholar
Lidmar-Bergstrom, K. (1996) Long-term morphotectonic evolution in Sweden. Geomorphology, 16, 33–59.Google Scholar
Liou, J.G., Kim, H.S. & Maruyama, S. (1983) Prehniteepidote equilibria and their petrologic applications. Journal of Petrology, 24, 321–342.Google Scholar
López-Munguira, A., Nieto, F. & Morata, D. (2001) Chlorite composition and geothermometry: a comparative HRTEM/AEM-EMPA-XRD study of Cambrian basic lavas from the Ossa Morena Zone, SW Spain. Clay Minerals, 37, 267–281.Google Scholar
Meunier, A., Clement, J.-Y., Bouchet, A. & Beaufort, D. (1988) Chlorite-calcite and corrensite-dolomite crystallization during two superimposed events of hydrothermal alteration in the “Les Cretes” granite, Vosges, France. The Canadian Mineralogist, 26, 413–422.Google Scholar
Montes-H, G., Marty, N., Fritz, B., Clement, A. & Michau, N. (2005) Modelling of long-term diffusion—reaction in a bentonite barrier for radioactive waste confinement. Applied Clay Science, 30, 181–198.Google Scholar
Morad, S., Bergan, M., Knarud, R. & Nystuen, J.P. (1990) Albitization of detrital plagioclase in Triassic reservoir sandstones from the Snorre field, Norwegian North Sea. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 60,411-425.Google Scholar
Moravansky, D., Chovan, M. & Lipka, J. (2001) Phyllosilicates from hydrothermally altered granitoid rocks in the Pezinok Sb-Au deposit, western Carpathians, Slovakia. Geological Carpathica, 52, 127–138.Google Scholar
Nelson, D.O. & Guggenheim, S. (1993) Inferred limitations to the oxidation of Fe in chlorite: A hightemperature single-crystal X-ray study. American Mineralogist, 78, 1197–1207.Google Scholar
Olives Baños, J. & Amouric, M. (1984) Biotite chloritization by interlayer brucitization as seen by HRTEM. American Mineralogist, 69, 869–871.Google Scholar
Parneix, J.C. (1992) Effects of hydrothermal alteration on radioelement migration from a hypothetical disposal site for high-level radioactive waste: example from the Auriat granite, France. Applied Geochemistry, 1, 253–268.Google Scholar
Parneix, J.C. & Petit, J.C. (1991) Hydrothermal alteration of an old geothermal system in the Auriat granite (Massif Central, France): petrological study and modeling. Chemical Geology, 89, 329–351.Google Scholar
Parneix, J.C, Beuafort, D., Dudignon, P. & Meunier, A. (1985) Biotite chloritization process in hydrothermally altered granites. Chemical Geology, 51, 89–101.Google Scholar
Poprawa, P., Sliaupa, S., Stephenson, R. & Lazauskiene, J. (1999) Late Vendian-Early Palaeozoic tectonic evolution of the Baltic Basin; regional tectonic implications from subsidence analysis. Tectonophysics, 314, 219–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pusch, R. & Karnland, O. (1996) Physico/chemical stability of smectitic clays. Engineering Geology, 41, 73–85.Google Scholar
Pusch, R., Kasbohm, J., Pacovsky, J. & Cechova, Z. (2007) Are all smectitic clays suitable as “buffers“. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 32, 116–122.Google Scholar
Putnis, A. (2002) Mineral replacement reactions: from macroscopic observations to microscopic mechanisms. Mineralogical Magazine, 66, 689–708.Google Scholar
Rhén, I., Gustafson, G., Stanfors, R. & Wikberg, P. (1997) Äspö HRL—Geoscientific evaluation 1997/5. Models based on site characterization 1986-1995. TR 97-06 Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company Co. (SKB).Google Scholar
Ruiz Cruz, M.D., De Galdeano, C.S., Alvarez-Valero, A., Rodriguez Ruiz, M.D., & Novak, J. (2010) Pumpellyite and coexisting minerals in metapelites and veins from the Federico Units in the internal zone of the Rift, Spain. The Canadian Mineralogist, 48, 183–203.Google Scholar
Savoye, S., Aranyossy, J.-F., Beaucaire C, Cathelineau C, Louvat, D. & Michelot, J.-L. (1998). Fluid inclusions in granites and their relationships with present-day groundwater chemistry. European Journal of Mineralogy, 10, 1215–1226.Google Scholar
Sehlstedt, S., Strahle, A. & Triumf, C.-A. (1990) Geological core mapping and geophysical borehole logging in the boreholes KBH02, KAS09, KAS11- KAS14 and HAS18-HAS20 at Äspö. SKB P R 25- 90-06, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB).Google Scholar
Smith, R.E., Perdrix, J. L. & Parks, T. C. (1982) Burial metamorphism in the Hamersley Basin, Western Australia. Journal of Petrology, 23, 75–102.Google Scholar
Söderlund, P., Page, L. & Söderlund, U. (2008) 40Ar/39Ar biotite and hornblende geochronology events. Geological Magazine, 145, 790–799.Google Scholar
Srodon, J. & Clauer, N. (2001) Diagenetic history of Lower Palaeozoic sediments in Pomerania (northern Poland), traced across the Teisseyre-Tornquist tectonic zone using mixed-layer illite-smectite. Clay Minerals, 35, 15–27.Google Scholar
Środoń, I, Clauer, N., Huff, W., Dudek, T., & Banas, M. (2009) K-Ar dating of the Lower Palaeozoic Kbentonites from the Baltic Basin and the Baltic Shield: implications for the role of temperatures and time in the illitization of smectite. Clay Minerals, 44, 361–387.Google Scholar
Stanfors, R., Olsson, P. & Stille, H. (1997) Aspo HRL - Geoscientific evaluation 1997/3: Results from preinvestigation and detailed site characterization, Comparison of predictions and observations, Geology and mechanical stability. SKB T R 97-04. Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB).Google Scholar
Stanfors, R., Rhen, I., Tullborg, E.-L. & Wikberg, P. (1999) Overview of geological conditions of the Aspo hard rock laboratory site. Applied Geochemistry, 14, 819–834.Google Scholar
Tullborg, E-L. & Larsson, S.A. (2006) Porosity in crystalline rocks—A matter of scale. Engineering Geology, 84, 75–83.Google Scholar
Tulloch, AJ. (1979) Secondary Ca-Al silicates as lowgrade alteration products of granitoid biotite. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 69, 105–117.Google Scholar
Turpault, M.P., Berger, G. & Meunier, A. (1992) Dissolution-precipitation processes induced by hot water in a fractured granite. Part 1: Wall-rock alteration and vein deposition processes. European Journal of Mineralogy, 4, 1457–1475.Google Scholar
Veblen, D.R. & Ferry, J.M. (1983) A TEM study of the biotite-chlorite reaction and comparison with petrologic observations. American Mineralogist, 68, 1160–1168.Google Scholar
C-H., Wahlgren, Bergman, T., Ahl, M., Ekstrom, M., Page, L. & Soderlund, U. (2007) Oskershamn site investigation. Modal and geochemical analyses of drill core samples 2007 and 40Ar/39Ar dating of dolerite. Classification of rock types in KLX15A, KLX16A, KLX19A, KLX20A and KLX21B. Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB). P- 07-191, Stockholm, Sweden.Google Scholar
Wahlgren, C-H., Curtis, P., Hermanson, J., Forssberg, O., Öman, J., Drake, H., Fox, A., Trimuf, C.-A., Mattsson, H. & Thunehed, H. (2008) Geology Laxemar; site descriptive modelling, SDM-site Laxemar. Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB). RuO8-54, Stockholm, Sweden.Google Scholar
Walker, F.D.L., Lee, M.R. & Parsons, I. (1995) Micropores and micropermeable texture in alkali feldspars: geochemical and geophysical implications. Mineralogical Magazine, 59, 505–534.Google Scholar
Wikman, H. & Kornfalt, K.-A. (1995) Updating of a lithologieal model of the bedrock of the Aspo area. SKB P R 25-95-04, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB).Google Scholar
Wilamowski, A. (2002) Chloritization and polytypism of biotite in the Lomnica granite, Karkonoze Massif, Sudetes, Poland: stable isotope evidence. Chemical Geology, 182, 529–547.Google Scholar
Worden, R. & Morad, S. (2003) Clay minerals in sandstones: controls on formation, distribution and evolution. Pp. 1–41 in: Clay Mineral Cements in Sandstone. (R.H. Worden & S. Morad, editors), International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS), Special Publication, 34.Google Scholar
Zane, A., Sassi, R. & Guidotti, C.V. (1998) New data on metamorphic chlorite as a petrogenetic indicator mineral, with special regard to greenschist-facies rocks. The Canadian Mineralogist, 36, 713–726.Google Scholar