Global Water Dynamics: Shallow and Deep Groundwater, Petroleum Hydrology, Hydrothermal Fluids, and

404 Pages·2004·6.071 MB·English

by  Emanuel Mazor

PREFACE
Hydrologyhasbeenalmosttakenoverbymathematicalmodeling.However,
natural systems are multidimensional and multiparametric, and to under-
standthemrealdata—observationsandmeasurementsobtainedinrealstudy
areas—are needed. The following are examples of the applied research
approach:
The three spatial dimensions are surveyed via a large number of sampling
andmeasuringpoints,e.g.,springs,wells,drillings,geologicalsurveys,
andmore.
The time dimension is addressed by investigation of the geological and
hydrologicaldynamicsofthesystem,e.g.,bydatingofthegroundwater
hostrocks,byisotopicdatingofthewateritself,andonthesmallscale
byseasonallyrepeatedmeasurements.
Multiparametric observations and measurements include water table posi-
tions,waterheads,watertemperature,andanextendedlistofchemical
and isotopic analyses performed on carefully collected water samples.
The final picture of every study case is derived on the basis of a large
numberof observations and derived conclusions.
Correlations between measured parameters are sought, as they provide in-
dispensable insights into the studied systems, e.g., identification of
mixing of water sources; external origins of dissolved ions versus
water–rock interactions; temperature-induced processes; evaporation
effects; and processes such as dolomitization, de-dolomitization, and
absorption.
iii
iv Preface
Spatial distribution of water facies, in depth profiles and between adjacent
wells or springs, sheds light on the occurrence of shallow through-
flowinggroundwatersystems,anddeeperisolatedrock-compartments,
thatcontainfossilformationwatersaswellasoilandgas.
The book addresses topics related to groundwater exploitation and
preservation, petroleum genesis and exploration; thermal water recreation
and energy production; nuclear waste repositories; and the educational
aspectsofthesetopics.
EmanuelMazor
CONTENTS
Preface iii
Part I. The Geohydroderm and Its Major
Groundwater-Containing Geosystems
1. Water Propelled Geological Processes and Shaped the
Landscapes of Our Planet 2
1.1 Water—Earth’s Sculptor 2
1.2 Water—The Unique Fluid on Our Planet 5
1.3 The Special Properties of Water that Are the
Base of All the Phenomena Dealt with in this Book 7
1.4 Key Roles of the Oceans in the Dynamics of the
Global Water Cycle 10
1.5 FreshWaterErodesMountainsbutExistsThanksto
Them 11
1.6 Formation Water, Entrapped in Isolated
Rock-Compartments, Has a Meteoric Isotopic
Composition and an Imprint of Evaporitic Brines 11
1.7 Location of Land and Sea Changed Constantly 11
1.8 Petroleum Hydrology 12
1.9 Earth Exhibits Rocks that Are Unique Resources
of this Planet—Products of Water-Induced Processes 13
1.10 The Dynamics of the Global Water Cycle Propelled
Biological Evolution 13
1.11 Summary Exercises 15
v
vi Contents
2. Exploring and Understanding the Geohydroderm by
Sequences of Observations and Conclusions 16
2.1 Global Groundwater Research Within the
Geohydroderm 16
2.2 The Active Cycle of Fresh Surface Water and
Unconfined Groundwater 18
2.3 Interstitial Water Entrapped in Rocks Beneath the
Vast Oceans 24
2.4 Fossil Formation Waters Entrapped Within
Sedimentary Basins and Rift Valleys 27
2.5 Halite and Gypsum 31
2.6 Shallow and Deep Groundwaters Are Indispensable
Geological Records 31
2.7 Brine-Spray-Tagged Meteoric Formation Water Is
Also Common Within Crystalline Shields 33
2.8 Petroleum Occurrence and Genesis 35
2.9 Warm and Boiling Groundwaters 37
2.10 Summary Exercises 39
3. Basic Research Concepts, Aims and Queries, Tools, and
Strategies 41
3.1 Basic Research Concepts and Terms 41
3.2 Research Aims and Queries 44
3.3 The Research Tools 53
3.4 Research Strategies 61
3.5 Summary Exercises 63
Part II. ShiftingofWaterandSaltsBetweenOceansand
Continents
4. Shallow Cycling Groundwater, Its Tagging by Sea Spray,
and the Underlying Zone of Static Groundwater 66
4.1 Groundwater Facies of the Geohydroderm 66
4.2 Sea Spray Salts Concentrated Along a Large
River System—The Murray River Basin, Australia 68
4.3 SeaSpraySaltsConcentratedinaClosedLakeSystem
Within an Arid Zone—Yalgorup National Park,
Australia 75
4.4 Sea Spray Salts Concentrated in Unconfined
Groundwater—Campaspe River Basin, Australia 76
4.5 Sea Spray-Tagged Fresh and Saline Groundwaters
in the Unconfined Groundwater System at the
Crystalline Shield of the Wheatbelt, Australia 78
Contents vii
4.6 Sea Spray Versus Brine-Spray Tagging 82
4.7 Sea-Derived Ions Serve as Benchmarks Identifying
Water–Rock Interactions 82
4.8 Gravitational Flow in the Unconfined Groundwater
System and Static Water Storage Beneath 83
4.9 Summary Exercises 91
5. Interstitial Waters in Rock Strata Beneath the Oceans 92
5.1 Extending Our Hydrological Curiosity to Beneath
the Oceans 92
5.2 The Deep Sea Drilling Project 93
5.3 Water Content in Suboceanic Sediments 93
5.4 The Widespread Marine Facies of Interstitial Water
(Cl f19 g/L, Cl/Br f300, Diagenetic Changes Are
Common) 94
5.5 Continental Brine-Tagged Facies: Salinity Higher
than Seawater Cl/Br 200 or Lower, Ca–Cl Present 98
5.6 Information Retrievable from Below-Ocean
Interstitial Waters 108
5.7 Interstitial Water is Connate Water, Entrapped
in Its Host Rocks Since the Initial Stage of
Sedimentation 111
5.8 Interstitial Waters Tagged by Brine-Spray Disclose
that the History of the Mediterranean Sea Basin
Included a Continental Stage 111
5.9 Geological Evidence Proves that the Mediterranean
Sea Underwent a Phase of Drying Up 112
5.10 Summary Exercises 113
6. Salt, Gypsum, and Clay Strata Within Sedimentary
Basins Disclose Large-Scale Evaporitic Paleo-Landscapes 115
6.1 Minerals Formed Along the Continuous
Evaporation Path of Seawater and Notes on the
Composition of the Residual Brines 115
6.2 Formation of Halite and Gypsum Deposits
Necessitated Evaporation of Tremendous Amounts
of Seawater During Extended Time Intervals 116
6.3 Evaporitic Paleo-Facies: Information Recorded by
Associated Formation Waters 117
6.4 The Permian ‘‘Saline Giant’’ of the Salado
Formation—An Ancient Evaporitic Megasystem 118
6.5 Evaporite Deposits Are Common in Sedimentary
Basins 119
viii Contents
6.6 Silurian Salt Deposits Were Not Dissolved by the
Nearby Formation Water 120
6.7 Recent Lowering of the Dead Sea Lowered the
Coastal Groundwater Base Flow and Initiated
Rapid Dissolution of a Buried 10,000-Year-Old
Halite Bed 121
6.8 The Many Preserved Salt Beds Manifest the
Preservation of Connate Groundwaters 122
6.9 Limestone–Clay Alterations Reflect Alternating Sea
Transgressions and Regressions 123
6.10 Summary Exercises 123
Part III. Deep Groundwater Systems—Fossil Formation
Waters
7. The Geosystem of the Fossil Brine-Tagged Meteoric
Formation Waters 126
7.1 Formation Waters Within Sedimentary Basins 126
7.2 Formation Waters Within Rift Valleys 140
7.3 Fossil Nonsaline Groundwaters Tagged by
CaCl , Formed During the Messinian, at the
2
Land Bordering the Dried-Up Mediterranean
Sea 149
7.4 Some Physical Aspects of Formation Waters 151
7.5 TheFruitcakeStructureoftheFormationWatersand
Petroleum-Containing Geosystem 153
7.6 A Brief History of the Basic Concept of Connate
Groundwater 154
7.7 The Bottom Line: Brine-Spray-Tagged Formation
Waters Provide Markers of Paleo-Landscapes, Water
Age, and Paleoclimate 155
7.8 Solving a Great Puzzle: Why Are Recent
Groundwaters Sea Tagged and Commonly Rather
Fresh, Whereas Formation Waters Are By and Large
Saline and Brine Tagged? 155
7.9 Summary Exercises 157
8. Fossil Formation Waters Range in Age from Tens of
Thousands to Hundreds of Millions of Years 158
8.1 Confinement Ages of Connate Waters and Criteria
to Check Them 158
8.2 Isotopic Dating of Fossil Groundwaters 158
Contents ix
8.3 Hydraulic Age Calculations—An Erroneous
Approach to Confined Goundwaters, Which
Are Static 161
8.4 Radiogenic 40Ar Dating 163
8.5 Mixed Water Samples Are Commonly Encountered 164
8.6 Isotopic Dating of Very Old Groundwaters 166
8.7 Conclusions and Management Implications 169
8.8 Summary Exercises 170
9. Brine-Tagged Meteoric Formation Waters Are Also
Common in Crystalline Shields: Geological Conclusions
and Relevance to Nuclear Waste Repositories 171
9.1 TheSpecialNatureofDataRetrievedfromBoreholes
in Crystalline Rocks 171
9.2 Observations Based on Data from the Fennoscandian
and Canadian Shields and Deduced Boundary
Conditions 176
9.3 What Typifies Formation Waters Within Crystalline
Rocks? 190
9.4 Results from the KTB Deep Research Boreholes 194
9.5 Isotopic Dating of the Fossil Groundwaters Within
Shields 196
9.6 Working Hypothesis: Tectonic ‘‘Fracture Pumps’’
Introduced Meteoric Groundwater to Great Depths 200
9.7 The Saline Waters in Shields Serve as a Geological
Record 200
9.8 Nuclear Waste Disposal Implications 201
9.9 Summary Exercises 202
Part IV. Petroleum Hydrology
10. Anatomy of Sedimentary Basins and Petroleum Fields
Highlighted by Formation Waters 205
10.1 Petroleum and Associated Formation Waters Are
Complementing Sources of Information 205
10.2 Petroleum-Associated Formation Waters in the
Western Canada Sedimentary Basin 206
10.3 Petroleum-Associated Formation Waters Within
Ordovician Host Rocks, Ontario, Canada 212
10.4 Kettleman Dome Formation Waters Associated
with Petroleum—KeyObservationsand Concluded
Boundary Conditions 213
x Contents
10.5 Shallow Formation Water and Petroleum in
Devonian Rocks, Eastern Margin of the
Michigan Basin 217
10.6 Petroleum-Associated Brines in Paleozoic
Sandstone, Eastern Ohio 222
10.7 Formation Waters of the Mississippi Salt Dome
Basin Disclose Detailed Stages of Petroleum
Formation 228
10.8 Norwegian Shelf: Petroleum-Associated
Formation Waters, Upper Triassic to Upper
Cretaceous 235
10.9 Lithostratigraphic Controls of
Compartmentalization Were Effective from the
Initial Stage of Subsidence and Further Evolved
Under Subsidence-Induced Compaction 238
10.10 Summary Exercises 239
11. Evolution of Sedimentary Basins and Petroleum
Highlighted by the Facies of the Host Rocks and Coal 240
11.1 Sediments Formed in Large-Scale Sea–Land
Contact Zones 240
11.2 Lithological Evidence of Subaerial Exposure
Phases 247
11.3 The Lithological Record of Inland Basins and
Rift Valleys 249
11.4 Rock-Compartment Structures and Their
Evolution 252
11.5 Compartmentalization Was Effective from the
Initial Stage of Subsidence and Further Evolved
Under Compaction 253
11.6 Summary Exercises 253
12. Petroleum and Coal Formation in Closed
Compartments—The Pressure-Cooker Model 255
12.1 Did Petroleum Migrate Tens and Even
Hundreds of Kilometers? 255
12.2 Coal—A Fossil Fuel Formed with No Migration
Being Involved 259
12.3 Boundary Conditions Set by Formation Waters
and Petroleum and Coal Deposits 262
12.4 The Pressure-Cooker Model of Petroleum
Formation and Concentration Within Closed
Compartments 263
Contents xi
12.5 Another Case Study Supporting the
Pressure-Cooker Model 267
12.6 Pressure-Regulating Mechanisms Within Rock
Sequences Discussed in Light of the Fruitcake
Structure of Isolated Rock-Compartments 268
12.7 Summary Exercises 269
Part V. Hydrology of Warm Groundwater and Superheated
Volcanic Systems
13. Mineral and Warm Waters: Genesis, Recreation Facilities,
and Bottling 271
13.1 The Anatomy of Warm Springs 271
13.2 Medicinal and Healing Aspects of Warm and
Mineral Waters 286
13.3 Developing the Resource—The Hydrochemist’s
Tasks 288
13.4 Local Exhibitions Disclosing the Anatomy of
Warm and Mineral Water Sources and Their
Properties 289
13.5 Bottled ‘‘Mineral Water’’ 290
13.6 Summary Exercises 290
14. Water in Hydrothermal and Volcanic Systems 292
14.1 Hydrothermal Systems 292
14.2 Yellowstone National Park, Western United States 293
14.3 Cerro Prieto, Northern Mexico 304
14.4 The Wairakei, Tauhara, and Mokai Hydrothermal
Region, New Zealand 310
14.5 Noble Gases in a Section Across the Hydrothermal
Field of Larderello, Italy 314
14.6 Fumaroles of Vulcano, Aeolian Island, Italy 319
14.7 The Hydrology and Geochemistry of Superheated
Water in Hydrothermal and Volcanic Systems 326
14.8 Summary Exercises 327
Part VI. Implementation, Research, and Education
15. Data Acquisition, Processing, Monitoring, and Banking 329
15.1 Sample Collection and In Situ Measurements 329
15.2 Checking the Laboratories’ and Data Quality 330
15.3 Types of Wells 331
15.4 Multiparameter Studies 332