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© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Danabalan, D., Gluyas, J. G., Macpherson, C. G., Abraham-James, T. H., Bluett, J. J., Barry, P. H., & Ballentine, C. J. The principles of helium exploration. Petroleum Geoscience, 28(2), (2022): petgeo2021-029, https://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2021-029., Commercial helium systems have been found to date as a serendipitous by-product of petroleum exploration. There are nevertheless significant differences in the source and migration properties of helium compared with petroleum. An understanding of these differences enables prospects for helium gas accumulations to be identified in regions where petroleum exploration would not be tenable. Here we show how the basic petroleum exploration playbook (source, primary migration from the source rock, secondary longer distance migration, trapping) can be modified to identify helium plays. Plays are the areas occupied by a prospective reservoir and overlying seal associated with a mature helium source. This is the first step in identifying the detail of helium prospects (discrete pools of trapped helium). We show how these principles, adapted for helium, can be applied using the Rukwa Basin in the Tanzanian section of the East African Rift as a case study. A thermal hiatus caused by rifting of the continental basement has resulted in a surface expression of deep crustal gas release in the form of high-nitrogen gas seeps containing up to 10% 4He. We calculate the total likely regional source-rock helium generative capacity, identify the role of the Rungwe volcanic province in releasing the accumulated crustal helium and show the spatial control of helium concentration dilution by the associated volcanic CO2. Nitrogen, both dissolved and as a free-gas phase, plays a key role in the primary and secondary migration of crustal helium and its accumulation into what might become a commercially viable gas pool. This too is examined. We identify and discuss evidence that structures and seals suitable for trapping hydrocarbon and CO2 gases will likely also be efficient for helium accumulation on the timescale of the Rukwa Basin activity. The Rukwa Basin prospective recoverable P50 resources of helium have been independently estimated to be about 138 BSCF (billion standard cubic ft: 2.78, The PhD study was funded by Statoil (renamed Equinor), Norway. Fieldwork in Tanzania and analyses of the gases sampled in Tanzania were funded by Helium One Global Limited.

© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Danabalan, D., Gluyas, J. G., Macpherson, C. G., Abraham-James, T. H., Bluett, J. J., Barry, P. H., & Ballentine, C. J. The principles of helium exploration. Petroleum Geoscience, 28(2), (2022): petgeo2021-029, https://doi.org/10.1144/petgeo2021-029., Commercial helium systems have been found to date as a serendipitous by-product of petroleum exploration. There are nevertheless significant differences in the source and migration properties of helium compared with petroleum. An understanding of these differences enables prospects for helium gas accumulations to be identified in regions where petroleum exploration would not be tenable. Here we show how the basic petroleum exploration playbook (source, primary migration from the source rock, secondary longer distance migration, trapping) can be modified to identify helium plays. Plays are the areas occupied by a prospective reservoir and overlying seal associated with a mature helium source. This is the first step in identifying the detail of helium prospects (discrete pools of trapped helium). We show how these principles, adapted for helium, can be applied using the Rukwa Basin in the Tanzanian section of the East African Rift as a case study. A thermal hiatus caused by rifting of the continental basement has resulted in a surface expression of deep crustal gas release in the form of high-nitrogen gas seeps containing up to 10% 4He. We calculate the total likely regional source-rock helium generative capacity, identify the role of the Rungwe volcanic province in releasing the accumulated crustal helium and show the spatial control of helium concentration dilution by the associated volcanic CO2. Nitrogen, both dissolved and as a free-gas phase, plays a key role in the primary and secondary migration of crustal helium and its accumulation into what might become a commercially viable gas pool. This too is examined. We identify and discuss evidence that structures and seals suitable for trapping hydrocarbon and CO2 gases will likely also be efficient for helium accumulation on the timescale of the Rukwa Basin activity. The Rukwa Basin prospective recoverable P50 resources of helium have been independently estimated to be about 138 BSCF (billion standard cubic ft: 2.78, The PhD study was funded by Statoil (renamed Equinor), Norway. Fieldwork in Tanzania and analyses of the gases sampled in Tanzania were funded by Helium One Global Limited.

Most of the world's explosive volcanoes are located in volcanic arcs, formed by fluid-fluxed melting of upper mantle rocks. The fluids that facilitate melting are released from subducted tectonic plates as they sink into the mantle. Yet, we have sparse knowledge of the migration pathways of melts through the upper mantle (i.e., between the surface of the subducted plate and arc volcanoes). We are also uncertain of the time required for this migration to occur. Here, we show evidence of two earthquake swarms that occur in the upper mantle beneath the Mariana and Izu-Bonin arc systems. The best-resolved swarm occurs beneath the Mariana arc, where the earthquakes define a sub-vertical pipe-like structure with a diameter of ∼50 km and occurs between depths of ∼10–250 km. To test the robustness of depth locations, we used a fully non-linear grid search algorithm, double-difference relocation, as well as an analysis of pP-P arrival times and depth sensitive phases. In addition, we calculated centroid moment tensor solutions using a 3D Earth model to understand the mechanism of failure within the swarms. These data demonstrate that the sub-vertical earthquake swarm occurs within the upper mantle between the subducted slab and the overriding volcanic arc, with seismicity concentrated within discrete day- to month-long swarms of activity over a single two-year period. The Izu-Bonin example shares a similar sub-vertical pipe-like geometry with seismic activity bracketed within a two-year period. We infer that these rare earthquake swarms record the ascent of hydrous melt and/or fluid, from dehydration of the subducting plate. This implies that hydrous minerals within subducted slabs continue to dehydrate to depths of at least 200–250 km. Also, the short duration of earthquake swarms implies that fluids/melts can be rapidly transported through the sub-arc mantle at rates in the order of km/hr. This is consistent with rapid melt ascent rates inferred from geospeedometry and exp

Most of the world's explosive volcanoes are located in volcanic arcs, formed by fluid-fluxed melting of upper mantle rocks. The fluids that facilitate melting are released from subducted tectonic plates as they sink into the mantle. Yet, we have sparse knowledge of the migration pathways of melts through the upper mantle (i.e., between the surface of the subducted plate and arc volcanoes). We are also uncertain of the time required for this migration to occur. Here, we show evidence of two earthquake swarms that occur in the upper mantle beneath the Mariana and Izu-Bonin arc systems. The best-resolved swarm occurs beneath the Mariana arc, where the earthquakes define a sub-vertical pipe-like structure with a diameter of ∼50 km and occurs between depths of ∼10-250 km. To test the robustness of depth locations, we used a fully non-linear grid search algorithm, double-difference relocation, as well as an analysis of pP-P arrival times and depth sensitive phases. In addition, we calculated centroid moment tensor solutions using a 3D Earth model to understand the mechanism of failure within the swarms. These data demonstrate that the sub-vertical earthquake swarm occurs within the upper mantle between the subducted slab and the overriding volcanic arc, with seismicity concentrated within discrete day- to month-long swarms of activity over a single two-year period. The Izu-Bonin example shares a similar sub-vertical pipe-like geometry with seismic activity bracketed within a two-year period. We infer that these rare earthquake swarms record the ascent of hydrous melt and/or fluid, from dehydration of the subducting plate. This implies that hydrous minerals within subducted slabs continue to dehydrate to depths of at least 200-250 km. Also, the short duration of earthquake swarms implies that fluids/melts can be rapidly transported through the sub-arc mantle at rates in the order of km/hr. This is consistent with rapid melt ascent rates inferred from geospeedometry and exp

The internal structure and emplacement mechanisms of composite plutons are investigated using new field data from the composite Late Miocene granitic intrusion of Mt Kinabalu in northern Borneo. The pluton was emplaced in the upper to middle crust in the Late Miocene at the contact between the ultramafic basement and sedimentary cover rocks. Structural data indicate that emplacement occurred during regional NNW–SSE-oriented extension, challenging tectonic models that involve contemporaneous regional compression. The six major units forming the pluton were accommodated by upward flexure of the cover rocks with most magma pulses emplaced successively beneath their predecessors. However, the irregular 3D internal structure of the pluton also reflects preferential emplacement of successive units along the granite–country rock contact of previous units in preference to the basement–cover rock contact exploited by the initial units. This study highlights the complex emplacement mechanisms and internal structure of composite intrusions and assesses how they differ from models of tabular emplacement.

The internal structure and emplacement mechanisms of composite plutons are investigated using new field data from the composite Late Miocene granitic intrusion of Mt Kinabalu in northern Borneo. The pluton was emplaced in the upper to middle crust in the Late Miocene at the contact between the ultramafic basement and sedimentary cover rocks. Structural data indicate that emplacement occurred during regional NNW–SSE-oriented extension, challenging tectonic models that involve contemporaneous regional compression. The six major units forming the pluton were accommodated by upward flexure of the cover rocks with most magma pulses emplaced successively beneath their predecessors. However, the irregular 3D internal structure of the pluton also reflects preferential emplacement of successive units along the granite–country rock contact of previous units in preference to the basement–cover rock contact exploited by the initial units. This study highlights the complex emplacement mechanisms and internal structure of composite intrusions and assesses how they differ from models of tabular emplacement.

Pliocene to Quaternary magmatism in the Karacadağ Volcanic Complex in SE Turkey occurred in the foreland region of the Arabia-Eurasia collision and can be divided into two phases. The earlier Karacadağ phase formed a north-south-trending volcanic ridge that erupted three groups of lavas. The same range of mantle sources contributed to the younger Ovabağ phase lavas, which were erupted from monogenetic cones to the east of the Karacadağ fissure. As at several other intraplate localities across the northern Arabian Plate this magmatism represents mixtures of melt from shallow, isotopically enriched mantle and from deeper, more depleted mantle. The deep source is similar to the depleted mantle invoked for other northern Arabian intraplate volcanic fields but at Karacadağ this source contained phlogopite. This source could be located in the shallow convecting mantle or may represent a metasomatic layer in the base of the lithosphere. There is no evidence for a contribution from the Afar mantle plume, as has been proposed elsewhere in northern Arabia. Melting during the Karacadağ and Ovabağ phases could have resulted from a combination of upwelling beneath weak or thinned lithosphere and restricted local extension of that weakened lithosphere as it collided with Eurasia. Tension associated with the collision focused magma of the Karacadağ phase into the elongate shield volcano of Mt. Karacadağ. The northern end of the fissure accommodated more extensive differentiation of magma, with isolated cases of crustal contamination, consistent with greater stress in the lithosphere closest to the collision. Most magma batches of the Karacadağ and Ovabağ phases differentiated by fractional crystallization at ∼5 MPa, near the boundary between the upper and lower crust. Magma batches dominated by melt from garnet lherzolite show evidence for restricted amounts of differentiation at ∼22·5 MPa, which is close to the base of the lithospheric mantle

The Fonualei Spreading Center affords an excellent opportunity to evaluate geochemical changes with increasing depth to the slab in the Lau back-arc basin. We present H2O and CO2 concentrations and Sr, Nd, Pb, Hf and U-Th-Ra isotope data for selected glasses as well as new Hf isotope data from boninites and seamounts to the north of the Tonga arc. The Pb and Hf isotope data are used to show that mantle flow is oriented to the southwest and that the tear in the northern end of the slab may not extend east as far as the boninite locality. Along the Fonualei Spreading Center, key geochemical parameters change smoothly with increasing distance from the arc front and increasing slab surface temperatures. The latter may range from 720 to 866C, based on decreasing H2O/Ce ratios. Consistent with experimental data, the geochemical trends are interpreted to reflect changes in the amount and composition of wet pelite melts or super-critical fluids and aqueous fluids derived from the slab. With one exception, all of the lavas preserve both 238U excesses and 226Ra excesses. We suggest that lavas from the Fonualei Spreading Center and Valu Fa Ridge are dominated by fluid-fluxed melting whereas those from the East and Central Lau Spreading Centers, where slab surface temperatures exceed ∼850-900C, are largely derived through decompression. A similar observation is found for the Manus and East Scotia back-arc basins and may reflect the expiry of a key phase such as lawsonite in the subducted basaltic crust.

Pliocene to Quaternary magmatism in the Karacadağ Volcanic Complex in SE Turkey occurred in the foreland region of the Arabia-Eurasia collision and can be divided into two phases. The earlier Karacadağ phase formed a north-south-trending volcanic ridge that erupted three groups of lavas. The same range of mantle sources contributed to the younger Ovabağ phase lavas, which were erupted from monogenetic cones to the east of the Karacadağ fissure. As at several other intraplate localities across the northern Arabian Plate this magmatism represents mixtures of melt from shallow, isotopically enriched mantle and from deeper, more depleted mantle. The deep source is similar to the depleted mantle invoked for other northern Arabian intraplate volcanic fields but at Karacadağ this source contained phlogopite. This source could be located in the shallow convecting mantle or may represent a metasomatic layer in the base of the lithosphere. There is no evidence for a contribution from the Afar mantle plume, as has been proposed elsewhere in northern Arabia. Melting during the Karacadağ and Ovabağ phases could have resulted from a combination of upwelling beneath weak or thinned lithosphere and restricted local extension of that weakened lithosphere as it collided with Eurasia. Tension associated with the collision focused magma of the Karacadağ phase into the elongate shield volcano of Mt. Karacadağ. The northern end of the fissure accommodated more extensive differentiation of magma, with isolated cases of crustal contamination, consistent with greater stress in the lithosphere closest to the collision. Most magma batches of the Karacadağ and Ovabağ phases differentiated by fractional crystallization at ∼5 MPa, near the boundary between the upper and lower crust. Magma batches dominated by melt from garnet lherzolite show evidence for restricted amounts of differentiation at ∼22·5 MPa, which is close to the base of the lithospheric mantle