Seepage carbonate mounds in Cenozoic sedimentary sequences from the Las Minas Basin, SE Spain

• Dome-shaped carbonate mounds occur interstratified in Miocene lake sequences.
• Carbonate mounds show breccias-like and strongly folded internal structure.
• Late diagenetic chert cemented and replaced laminated carbonate fabrics.
• Carbonate-chert mounds formed as result of thermal waters seepage along faults.

A number of carbonate mounds composed of indurate, strongly folded and/or brecciated calcite and dolomite beds occur interstratified in Cenozoic sedimentary sequences from the Las Minas Basin. Part of the fabric of the rock forming the carbonate mounds is composed of laminated to banded dolostone similar to the host rock but showing contrasted lithification. Moreover, the carbonate deposits of the mounds display aggrading neomorphism of dolomite, partial replacement of dolomite by calcite, calcite cementation, and extensive silicification, locally resulting in box-work fabric. Eight main lithofacies were distinguished in the carbonate mound deposits. In some lithofacies, chert is present as both microcrystalline to fibro-radial quartz and opal, the latter occurring mainly as cement whereas the former replace the carbonate and infill voids. Yet one of the carbonate mounds shows distinctive petrography and geochemical features thus suggesting a distinctive growth pattern. The carbon isotope compositions of calcite from the mound samples range from − 11.56 to − 5.15 δ‰ whilst dolomite is depleted in 13C, with values of − 12.38 to 3.02 δ‰. Oxygen isotopic compositions vary from − 9.42 to − 4.64 δ‰ for calcite and between − 6.68 and 8.19 δ‰ for dolomite. Carbonate in the mounds shows significant enrichment in Co, Cr, Ni and Pb content, especially in the strongly deformed (F-2-2 lithofacies) and brecciated carbonate (F-4). The carbonate deposits show depletion in REE and Y in contrast to that determined in lutite. The formation of the carbonate mounds was related to local artesian seepage thermal water flows of moderate to relative high temperatures. Pressure differences between the low permeability host rock and the circulating fluids accounted for dilational fracturing and brecciation of the host sediment packages, which combined with precipitation of new carbonate and silica mineral phases. Locally, some carbonate mounds developed where groundwater intersected the lake floor, this resulting in bedded carbonate deposits composed of organic constituents.