Alignment of saline springs with evaporite karst structures in northeast Alberta, western Canada: analogue for cretaceous hypogene brine seeps to the surface

Meteoric and glacial meltwater charged groundwater, mixed with dissolved salts from Devonian sources at depth, discharged as saline springs along topographic lows of the Athabasca River Valley, which downcuts into the Cretaceous Athabasca oil sands deposit in northeast Alberta, western Canada. These...

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Published in:Acta Carsologica
Main Author: Paul Broughton
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3986/ac.v50i1.8763
https://doaj.org/article/b91ff9fe0ca34dc199b4748fb8b811a6
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:b91ff9fe0ca34dc199b4748fb8b811a6 2023-05-15T15:26:01+02:00 Alignment of saline springs with evaporite karst structures in northeast Alberta, western Canada: analogue for cretaceous hypogene brine seeps to the surface Paul Broughton 2021-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3986/ac.v50i1.8763 https://doaj.org/article/b91ff9fe0ca34dc199b4748fb8b811a6 EN eng Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/carsologica/article/view/8763 https://doaj.org/toc/0583-6050 https://doaj.org/toc/1580-2612 0583-6050 1580-2612 doi:10.3986/ac.v50i1.8763 https://doaj.org/article/b91ff9fe0ca34dc199b4748fb8b811a6 Acta Carsologica, Vol 50, Iss 1 (2021) saline seeps athabasca river valley mcmurray formation prairie evaporite Petrology QE420-499 Stratigraphy QE640-699 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3986/ac.v50i1.8763 2023-02-12T01:31:03Z Meteoric and glacial meltwater charged groundwater, mixed with dissolved salts from Devonian sources at depth, discharged as saline springs along topographic lows of the Athabasca River Valley, which downcuts into the Cretaceous Athabasca oil sands deposit in northeast Alberta, western Canada. These Quaternary saline seeps have TDS measurements, isotope signatures and other chemical characteristics indicative of the groundwater flows coming in contact with Prairie Evaporite (M. Devonian) salt beds, 200 m below the surface. Migrations up-section of groundwater with dissolved chloride and sulphate salts occurred along salt dissolution collapse breccia zones that cross-cut Upper Devonian limestone strata. Seeps discharged along the karstic Devonian limestone paleotopography, the unconformity surface flooring the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation. Saline to brine springs along the Athabasca River Valley have TDS measurements that can exceed 100,000 mg/L. Quaternary salt removal was insignificant compared to the voluminous removal of the 80-130 m thick salt section for 1000s km2 during the Early Cretaceous configuration of the Devonian paleotopography, which partially controlled depositional patterns of the overlying McMurray Formation, principal host rock of the Athabasca oil sands. Little is known of the storage or disposition of voluminous brines that would have resulted from this regional-scale removal of the salt beds below the Athabasca deposit during the Cordilleran configuration of the foreland Alberta Basin. Holocene dissolution trends and discharges at the surface as saline springs are proposed as a modern analogue for voluminous Early Cretaceous brine seeps to the surface along salt dissolution collapse breccia zones, concurrent with deposition of the McMurray Formation. This model links several characteristics of the McMurray Formation as responses to Aptian brine seeps to the surface. These include: (1) the emplacement of a drainage-line silcrete along the margins of the Assiniboia PaleoValley, now ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Athabasca River Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Athabasca River Canada Acta Carsologica 50 1
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
topic saline seeps
athabasca river valley
mcmurray formation
prairie evaporite
Petrology
QE420-499
Stratigraphy
QE640-699
spellingShingle saline seeps
athabasca river valley
mcmurray formation
prairie evaporite
Petrology
QE420-499
Stratigraphy
QE640-699
Paul Broughton
Alignment of saline springs with evaporite karst structures in northeast Alberta, western Canada: analogue for cretaceous hypogene brine seeps to the surface
topic_facet saline seeps
athabasca river valley
mcmurray formation
prairie evaporite
Petrology
QE420-499
Stratigraphy
QE640-699
description Meteoric and glacial meltwater charged groundwater, mixed with dissolved salts from Devonian sources at depth, discharged as saline springs along topographic lows of the Athabasca River Valley, which downcuts into the Cretaceous Athabasca oil sands deposit in northeast Alberta, western Canada. These Quaternary saline seeps have TDS measurements, isotope signatures and other chemical characteristics indicative of the groundwater flows coming in contact with Prairie Evaporite (M. Devonian) salt beds, 200 m below the surface. Migrations up-section of groundwater with dissolved chloride and sulphate salts occurred along salt dissolution collapse breccia zones that cross-cut Upper Devonian limestone strata. Seeps discharged along the karstic Devonian limestone paleotopography, the unconformity surface flooring the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation. Saline to brine springs along the Athabasca River Valley have TDS measurements that can exceed 100,000 mg/L. Quaternary salt removal was insignificant compared to the voluminous removal of the 80-130 m thick salt section for 1000s km2 during the Early Cretaceous configuration of the Devonian paleotopography, which partially controlled depositional patterns of the overlying McMurray Formation, principal host rock of the Athabasca oil sands. Little is known of the storage or disposition of voluminous brines that would have resulted from this regional-scale removal of the salt beds below the Athabasca deposit during the Cordilleran configuration of the foreland Alberta Basin. Holocene dissolution trends and discharges at the surface as saline springs are proposed as a modern analogue for voluminous Early Cretaceous brine seeps to the surface along salt dissolution collapse breccia zones, concurrent with deposition of the McMurray Formation. This model links several characteristics of the McMurray Formation as responses to Aptian brine seeps to the surface. These include: (1) the emplacement of a drainage-line silcrete along the margins of the Assiniboia PaleoValley, now ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Paul Broughton
author_facet Paul Broughton
author_sort Paul Broughton
title Alignment of saline springs with evaporite karst structures in northeast Alberta, western Canada: analogue for cretaceous hypogene brine seeps to the surface
title_short Alignment of saline springs with evaporite karst structures in northeast Alberta, western Canada: analogue for cretaceous hypogene brine seeps to the surface
title_full Alignment of saline springs with evaporite karst structures in northeast Alberta, western Canada: analogue for cretaceous hypogene brine seeps to the surface
title_fullStr Alignment of saline springs with evaporite karst structures in northeast Alberta, western Canada: analogue for cretaceous hypogene brine seeps to the surface
title_full_unstemmed Alignment of saline springs with evaporite karst structures in northeast Alberta, western Canada: analogue for cretaceous hypogene brine seeps to the surface
title_sort alignment of saline springs with evaporite karst structures in northeast alberta, western canada: analogue for cretaceous hypogene brine seeps to the surface
publisher Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
publishDate 2021
url https://doi.org/10.3986/ac.v50i1.8763
https://doaj.org/article/b91ff9fe0ca34dc199b4748fb8b811a6
geographic Athabasca River
Canada
geographic_facet Athabasca River
Canada
genre Athabasca River
genre_facet Athabasca River
op_source Acta Carsologica, Vol 50, Iss 1 (2021)
op_relation https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/carsologica/article/view/8763
https://doaj.org/toc/0583-6050
https://doaj.org/toc/1580-2612
0583-6050
1580-2612
doi:10.3986/ac.v50i1.8763
https://doaj.org/article/b91ff9fe0ca34dc199b4748fb8b811a6
op_doi https://doi.org/10.3986/ac.v50i1.8763
container_title Acta Carsologica
container_volume 50
container_issue 1
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