The genesis of mud volcano conduits through thick evaporite sequences

This study documents the seismic expression of the conduits underlying over 350 mud volcanoes that were erupted in an area of the western Nile Cone in the past 5.3 Myr. The study is based on a c. 4300 km2 3D seismic survey. The conduits are interpreted to transect the >1000-m-thick Messinian Evaporite succession, demonstrating that the eruptive process is sufficiently dynamic to breach the formidable seal represented by the evaporites. The mud volcano conduits are remarkably similar in geometry and seismic characteristics to many previously described examples of fluid escape pipes. They are vertical to subvertical structures with a crudely cylindrical geometry, but that can either widen or narrow upwards towards their upper terminations in the mud volcano edifices. Imaging at depth within the Messinian Evaporites and pre-evaporite successions is more uncertain, but direct sampling of mud from surface volcanoes suggests a pre-Messinian source, confirming the seismic interpretation that they root within presalt stratigraphy. A conceptual model for the genesis of these mud volcano conduits through salt is proposed, for which hydraulic fracturing is driven by high overpressures that developed in the presalt source stratigraphy as a response to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Dissolution and removal of evaporites resulting in fracturing and collapse via a stoping mechanism is a slow process by comparison to hydraulic fracturing but is argued to potentially contribute to conduit formation. The analysis presented here demonstrates the potential for bypassing a >1-km-thick unit of sealing evaporites via focused fluid and sediment mobilisation from deeper overpressured cells in other salt basins worldwide, and has significant implications for hydrocarbon exploration, CO2 sequestration and nuclear waste disposal.