Initiation and development of tectonic stylolite – Vein system in micritic limestone (Les Matelles, France)

Abstract

In this study, we describe the characteristics of tectonic stylolites and related veins affecting a low-porosity micritic limestone (Jurassic carbonates, Les Matelles, South of France) in order to unravel the conditions of initiation and interaction between pressure-solution and fracturing in such rock. Field description, various petrographic and microstructural investigations (cathodoluminescence, SEM imaging, EBSD analysis), and petrophysical/geochemical analyses (Hg porosimetry, XRD, EPMA) are used. We document that pressure-solution initiates at micropores and propagates along calcite grain contacts, connecting surrounding stylolite micro-segments, and progressively concentrates insoluble material such as clays and siliceous particles. The dissolved material is evacuated to the veins where the newly-formed porous space is progressively filled by calcite cement. These deformation processes are strictly restricted to the stylolitic interface and veins, as no modification of porosity or grain deformation is detected in the neighboring host rock. This is due to the low-permeability of the surrounding host rock impeding the evacuation of dissolved material and fluids through interstitial porosity around the pressure-solution zone, leading to overpressure and veins formation. The water release and microporosity caused by diagenesis of the clay fraction (smectite-illite transformation) are discussed as key diagenetic processes instigating the conditions of pressure-solution initiation, then tectonic stylolite formation in low-porosity limestones.