Hydrothermal fluids assisted crustal-scale strike-slip on the Argentat fault zone

The role of hydrothermal fluids in assisting the activity of strike-slip faults is investigated using a range of new geological, geophysical, and geochemical data obtained on the Argentat fault, Massif Central, France. This fault zone, 180-km-long and 6 to 8 km-width, has experienced coeval intense channeling of hydrothermal fluids and brittle deformation during a short time span (300–295 Ma). According to seismic data, the fault core is a 4-km-wide, vertical zone of high fracture density that rooted in the middle crust (~ 13 km) and that involved fluids in its deeper parts (9–13 km depth). If stress analyses in the fault core and strain analyses in the damage zone both support a left-lateral movement along the fault zone, it is inferred that hydrothermal fluids have strongly influenced fault development, and the resulting fault has influenced fluid flow. Fluid pressure made easier fracturing and faulting in zones of competent rocks units and along rheological boundaries. Repeated cycles of increase of fault-fracture permeability then overpressure of hydrothermal fluids at fault extremity favored strong and fast development of the crustal-scale strike-slip fault. The high permeability obtained along the fault zone permitted a decrease of coupling across the weak fault core. Connections between shallower and lower crustal fluids reservoirs precipitate the decrease of fault activity by quartz precipitation and sulfides deposition. The zones of intense hydrothermal alteration at shallows crustal levels and the zones of fluid overpressure at the base of the upper crust both controlled the final geometry of the crustal-scale fault zone.