Detecting the thermal aureole of a magmatic intrusion in immature to mature sediments: a case study in the East Greenland Basin (73{degrees}N)

• Published in: Geophysical Journal International
• Main Authors: Aubourg, Charles, Techer, Isabelle, Geoffroy, Laurent, Clauer, Norbert, Baudin, François
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2014
• Subjects: Geomagnetism; rock magnetism and palaeomagnetism; Greenland; Greenland Basin; East Greenland
• Online Access: http://gji.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/196/1/160; https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggt396

The Cretaceous and Triassic argillaceous rocks from the passive margin of Greenland have been investigated in order to detect the thermal aureole of magmatic intrusions, ranging from metric dyke to kilometric syenite pluton. Rock-Eval data ( T max generally <468 °C), vitrinite reflectance data ( R 0 < 0.9 per cent) and illite cristallinity data (ICI > 0.3), all indicate a maximum of 5 km burial for the argillaceous rocks whatever the distance to an intrusion. The K–Ar dating of the clays <2 μm fraction suggests that illites are mostly detrital, except near magmatic intrusions where younger ages are recorded. To get more information about the extent of the thermal aureole, rock magnetism data were determined. At distance away from the thermal aureole of the syenite intrusion, Triassic argillaceous rocks reveal a standard magnetic assemblage compatible with their burial ( R 0 ∼ 0.4 per cent). It is constituted essentially by neoformed stoichiometric magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ). In contrast, within the thermal aureole of the magmatic intrusions, the Cretaceous argillaceous rocks contain micron-sized pyrrhotite (Fe 7 S 8 ), firmly identified through the recognition of Besnus transition at 35 K. The thermal demagnetization of natural remanence carried by this pyrrhotite shows a diagnostic ‘square shouldered’ pattern, indicating a narrow grain size distribution of pyrrhotite. The extension of this diagnostic pyrrhotite maps a ∼10-km-thick aureole around the syenitic pluton. Away from this aureole, the magnetic assemblage is diagnostic of those found in argillaceous rocks where organic matter is mature.