Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic Geodynamics of the Arctic Region: Implications for Abiogenic Generation of Hydrocarbons

Abstract

Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic geodynamics of the Arctic region is discussed in the context of possible mechanisms which provide multistage cyclic transformations and transport of carbon through crust and mantle. Geodynamic processes control the abiogenic generation of hydrocarbons and the patterns of their localization. Possible mechanisms of abiotic hydrocarbon generation are explained in the context of carbon transport from subduction zones to rifts and serpentinization of ultramafic rocks in the rifts in the case of the Laptev Sea and Gakkel Ridge areas. The carbon of shallow crust origin migrates with encapsulated fragments of marine sediments which are consumed in the Pacific subduction zone where they become destroyed and transformed by different chemical and physical processes. The resulting C-species are involved in mantle convection flows and reach the continental rifts of the Laptev Sea and the Gakkel mid-ocean ridge. Thus, the hydrocarbons formed in the crust and in the mantle acquire signatures of abiotic origin. According to the authors, the scale of manifestation of abiogenic methanogenesis in the lower parts of the lithosphere and in the upper mantle is not so wide. Numerous small (mm and fractions of the mm) particles of exogenous matter and dispersed carbon pulled into the mantle can only form a stable crustal geochemical plume that propagates in the plane of movement of convective flows. Indirectly, the scale of manifestation of this process can be judged by the volumes of degassing of hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide gases, as well as hydrogen and its compounds in the rift systems of the earth’s crust, which are extremely insignificant. However, in the cold seas of the Eastern Arctic, massive emissions of bubble methane of mixed genesis were found. As shown in the literature, the range of variability of stable isotopes of carbon and 14C of methane in certain areas of discharge associated with rifting demonstrates values (anomalously heavy 13C, and young 14C) that can be considered as examples of presumably abiogenic origin. Our work is mostly theoretical and suggests further discussion and improvement of the mechanism of formation of abiogenic hydrocarbons and the processes of their transformation.

Keywords

• arctic geodynamics
• carbon cycle
• subduction zone
• rift zone
• abiotic hydrocarbons
• abiotic methane