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Clay mineral reactions in an active geothermal area (Mt. Amiata, southern Tuscany, Italy)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2018

S. Battaglia ,
F. Gherardi ,
G. Gianelli ,
L. Leoni  and
F. Origlia
S. Battaglia*
Affiliation:
Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, Italian National Research Council, Via Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy
F. Gherardi
Affiliation:
Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, Italian National Research Council, Via Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy
G. Gianelli
Affiliation:
Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, Italian National Research Council, Via Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy
L. Leoni
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Pisa, Via S. Maria 53, 56126, Pisa, Italy
F. Origlia
Affiliation:
Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse, Italian National Research Council, Via Moruzzi 1, 56124, Pisa, Italy
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This study characterizes the effects of fluid migration into a predominantly shale cover which seals the active geothermal system of Mt. Amiata (Tuscany, Italy). During Alpine orogenesis the shale unit was affected by regional metamorphism at the limit of the diagenesis-anchizone. Subsequently, the phyllosilicate clay minerals of the shales underwent significant alteration at diagenetic temperatures (175±25ºC as determined by the geochemical model) by the pervasive circulation of fluids activated by the geothermal field. The overall mineralogical assemblages indicate that the main transformations consisted mostly of destabilization of illite and formation of kaolinite together with large amounts of I-S mixed layers, with higher smectite content and decreased Reichweite I-S ordering (from R3 to R1) with respect to the original, unaltered phases. Application of computer modelling indicates that the circulation of CO2-rich geothermal fluids into the shale unit was responsible for the observed phyllosilicate clay mineral transformations.

Keywords

clay mineralsretrograde diagenesisMt. Amiata geothermal fieldXRDgeochemical modelling
Type
Research Article
Information
Clay Minerals , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , September 2007 , pp. 353 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2007

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