Evidence of hydrothermal fluid flow in a hyperextended rifted margin: the case study of the Err nappe (SE Switzerland)

This paper investigates hydrothermal fluid circulation in pre- and syn-tectonic sediments associated with detachments faults. The study area, located in the Err Nappe (SE-Switzerland), preserves a portion of the Adriatic distal margin. Two sites were studied in combining fieldwork, petrography, geochemistry and fluid inclusion analysis: the Piz Val Lunga and Fuorcla Cotschna areas. Both preserve relationships between a spectacularly exposed rift-related extensional detachment fault and its footwall and hangingwall that consist of extensional allochthons and syn- to post-tectonic sediments. These areas register a complex fluid flow history characterized by dolomitization, de-dolomitization, calcite cementation, dolomite and quartz veining and diffuse silicification. Meso- and micro-scale observations allow defining two steps in fluid evolution, which are related to Jurassic rift activity. A first carbonate-rich event occurred before the exhumation of the granitic basement, and this was followed by a second event marked by a change in the fluid towards a silica-dominated chemistry. Homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions (average Th = 120−130 °C), negative δ18O values and a radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr signatures of carbonate minerals support the hypothesis that both the pre-tectonic rocks constituting the allochthons and the syn-tectonic sediments overlying the detachment fault were crossed by a flux of over-pressured hydrothermal fluids originating from seawater that penetrated into the basement through fault and fracture systems. Field relationships show that this fluid circulation started latest in middle Early Jurassic time, when fault activity migrated from the proximal to the future distal margin. We propose that it evolved chemically as a result of the involvement of the granitic basement forming the footwall of the extensional detachment system. Hydrothermal activity continued until the Middle/Late Jurassic, when tectonic activity shifted outwards leading to the exhumation of mantle rocks. This paper provides an original contribution to better understand the complex evolution of hyperextended continental rift domains and to constrain their thermal regimes.