The origin of fluorite-barite mineralization at the interface between the Paris Basin and its Variscan basement: insights from fluid inclusion chemistry and isotopic (O, H, Cl) composition

Abstract

We provide new constraints for the fluid flow system at the origin of two F-Ba deposits located at the unconformity between the south of the Paris Basin and the northern edge of the French Massif Central. We used microthermometry and bulk crush-leach analyses to determine isotope ratios of mineralizing fluids (δ¹⁸O, δD, δ³⁷Cl), together with cation and anion composition of fluid inclusions hosted by fluorite. Chlorinity and Cl/Br molar ratios (212–521) indicate the involvement of a brine, whose origin likely corresponds to Triassic evaporated seawater compatible with supratidal dolomitic facies preserved nearby. Microthermometry reveals high Ca/Na ratios, suggesting that the brine composition evolved from hydrothermal alteration of the Variscan basement and partial dissolution and replacement of the host sedimentary rocks. δ³⁷Cl values are lower than the expected value of evaporated seawater, suggesting Cl isotope fractionation by ion filtration in clay-rich horizons. Fluorite crystallized at minimum temperatures of 70 to 110 °C, 10–40 °C warmer than the host Triassic sedimentary rocks. Ascending brines were expelled during the Early Cretaceous and experienced a drop in pressure and temperature, together with possible mixing with the SO₄-rich pore water of the sedimentary rocks, causing precipitation of silica, followed by fluorite and barite, forming a stratabound deposit similar to those found in many areas in Western Europe.