Rb-Sr Age Estimates of Pore Fluids in Sedimentary Rocks, DGR Site, Kincardine, Ontario

Abstract

This study is part of a project aiming for the long-term burying of nuclear wastes in Kincardine, Ontario. Bedrock formations as well as their associated waters were analyzed in drill cores from the Michigan sedimentary basin, southwest Ontario. This research utilizes geochemistry combined to strontium and rubidium isotope ratios in order to determine the origin of porewaters from Ordovician shales and limestones. It is demonstrated that these waters are the result of a mixing line between the Silurian (Guelph) and Cambrian groundwaters. This last end-member was also mixed with Precambrian brines to some extent. Strontium and rubidium isotopes also demonstrated rubidium in clays were leached by porewaters over time. Once in solution, radioactive rubidium decayed into strontium over time. This process explains the accumulation of radiogenic strontium observed in porewaters. An age estimate for the deposition of carbonates and other evaporates was calculated with the Rb-Sr isotope system. The calculated age is 453.7 million years before present for dolomites, which is consistent with the history of the site. It was possible to gen an approximate age of 339.7 million years for the formation of illites. This corresponds to the illitization process that occurred after the deposition of rocks, when the Silurian brines infiltrated the deeper Ordovician shale. It was also possible to estimate of porewaters ages.