Fluid inclusions in hydrothermal quartz and anhydrite samples from the Mori geothermal field, southwestern Hokkaido, Japan, have been studied microthermometrically and geochemically, using a heating/freezing stage and a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS). The samples were selected from cuttings and a boring core from geothermal wells in the field. Based on the results and previous geochemical data (YOSHIDA, 1991), we discuss gas evolution of geothermal fluids from the early stage of geothermal activity to the initial stage of exploitation in the Mori geothermal reservoir.
Fluid inclusions are divided into the following four types; liquid-rich two-phase, vapor-rich two-phase, CO
2-bearing, and polyphase inclusions which contain large halite as a daughter mineral. The liquid-rich inclusions coexist with vapor-rich inclusions in many samples, indicating that the inclusion fluids were trapped in these samples under boiling condition. The minimum values of homogenization temperatures (Th) of liquid-rich inclusions are in general agreement with the measured static borehole temperatures, and it suggests that the inclusions which has minimum Th value were formed at the recent stage of geothermal activity.
Bulk gas contents of liquid-rich inclusions in quartz and anhydrite analyzed by the QMS method are as follows; 91.5 to 99.3 mol% H
2O, 0.56 to 2.4 mol% CO
2, 0.029 to 5.8 mol% N
2, 0.00043 to 0.063 mol% CH
4 and less than 0.001 mol% Ar. The CO
2/N
2 ratios generally increase with increasing the CO
2/CH
4 ratios. This tendency and the variation of CO
2 contents with the minimum Th values reveals that CO
2, N
2 and CH
4 contents in the inclusion fluids are controlled by degassing from initial fluid due to boiling and dilution with groundwater. On the other hand, these gas contents of the inclusion fluids are nearly equal to or higher than those of geothermal fluids at the initial stage of exploitation (YOSHIDA, 1991): From the results and the boiling evidence of the fluid inclusions as mentioned above, it is inferred that CO
2, N
2 and CH
4 degassing of geothermal fluids have proceeded from the early stage of geothermal activity to the initial stage of exploitation in the Mori geothermal reservoir.
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