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Abstract: European Tertiary sedimentary basins as the Forez Graben, France, are potential records of continental paleoclimates. The Forez Basin hosts deposited and precipitated sediments of Oligocene to Miocene age. Geochemical data of carbonates indicate strictly continental origin starting at Eocene–Oligocene with tropical to temperate climate conditions, then during the Middle Miocene a temperate continental climate prevails. Combining volume of calcite deposits and their geochemical data, volumes of large lakes and evaporation/inflow ratios were reconstructed. The Late Miocene in the Forez Graben has been affected by dissolution and secondary precipitation of calcite, barite, which is the result of wetter and colder climate conditions. These lake volume calculations represent the first estimation of large lakes volumes in Western Europe during the Miocene. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: A re-appraisal of interactions between basinal waters and hydrothermal fluids within the silici-clastic series of the intracontinental Cenozoic Forez Basin is proposed using major element and isotope geochemistry together with thermodynamic models. Recharge processes and shallow sedimentary units in the Forez Basin were compared using major elements and isotopic data (87Sr/86Sr, δ18O, δ2H, δ13C, Tritium and 14C) for waters, sedimentary carbonates and Hercynian basement rocks. Waters derived from Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene surface recharge followed by mixing and chemical evolution through percolation into deep groundwater horizons are investigated. Isotopic ratios and chemical speciation computed for deeper waters from 0 to 200m depth indicate that mineralised waters were produced by initial surficial dissolution of calcite in calcareous-mudstone providing its Sr isotopic signature. At about 200m depth, Na–H3O+ cation-exchange with clayey-sand rich levels provides additional Ca, Na, and OH contents, for carbonate-saturated water. Na–H3O+ cation exchange can not contribute large Na–HCO3 concentrations. Geochemical changes such as increasing δ13CDIC values observed from 200 to 500m depth were modelled by addition of thermal water and geogenic CO2 in increasing proportions with depth (500mbs). Thermodynamic calculations of mineral proportions indicate water–rock interactions with primary minerals in the metamorphic basement and secondary minerals observed in the basin. Water temperature and its meteoric origin suggest a basin-wide recharge system with water–rock interaction driven by heat flow rather than through deep crustal fractures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: A detailed picture of the hydrogeochemistry of an alpine thermal area (La Léchère, French Alps) was drawn up from new and complete analyses of shallow and deep groundwater, including major and trace elements, gases, and stable (δ18O, δD, δ13C, δ34S) and radiogenic isotopes (14C), combined with data on the trace and stable isotope (δ18O, δ34S) contents of the aquifer rocks. Three different groundwater facies were recognized: (1) the shallow groundwater in the carbonate and crystalline rocks presents a poorly mineralized Ca–HCO3 facies; (2) the shallow groundwater from the evaporitic fault zone presents a mineralized Ca–Mg–SO4 facies; (3) and the deep thermal water presents a highly-mineralized Ca–Na–SO4 facies. The evolution from facies 2 to facies 3 is controlled by three phenomena: (i) the presence or absence of evaporitic deposits along the fault, which governs whether or not the water can interact with carbonates and dolomites, (ii) interactions with micaschists and Permo-Carboniferous rocks, which lead to Ca–Na exchanges and enrichment in some trace elements and gases (CO2, CH4 and H2S), and (iii) the long residence time (several thousand years) and high temperature (90°C) of the thermal water. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]