Impact of tectonics and fluid circulations on shale gas isotope geochemistry – A case study of the Rietheim Member at the Mont Terri anticline (Switzerland)

In the framework of the hydrological survey of the Mont Terri anticline (Mont Terri rock Laboratory in the Folded Jura, Switzerland), a 58 m-deep borehole (BHS-1) was drilled through the Jurassic low permeability shale sequence. Dedicated sampling was carried out to characterize gases within a 13 m-thick unit of organic matter-rich Early Jurassic Rietheim black shales and adjacent units, including the underlying Beggingen aquifer. A cone-in-cone calcite, observed at the bottom of the black shale, as identified as an indicator of oil-window conditions and records a maximal burial temperature of ∼80-90°C. Two fracture zones within the black shales, marked by calcite infillings, provide evidence for at least two episodes of water paleocirculations: (1) an early circulation between fractures at the top of black shales and the Main Fault, and (2) a later circulation between fracture zones within the black shales and the lower Beggingen aquifer. Gas migration was investigated within the complex geological context of regional uplift, Jura folding and thrusting, and associated water flows. Alkane data reveal a partial carbon isotope reversal of thermogenic gases within the black shales between the two fracture zones, strongly suggesting alkane migration linked to the second water paleocirculation episode. • Geochemical gas profiles through black shales and adjacent units allow us to constrain gas transport mechanisms in a complex tectonic setting • Calcite infillings in fractures provide insight into water paleocirculations through black shales • Paleocirculations connect black shales to aquifer through fracture network in confined sequence • Gas transport in unperturbed black shales is mainly diffusive. • Gas advective transport in fracture zones across black shales causes partial isotope reversal