Securing and managing underground water resources requires a good knowledge of the structure, texture and connections of the reservoir, in order to develop realistic and reliable hydrogeological models. On the coastline of the Gulf of Lion Margin (S. France), the Balaruc-les-Bains deep karst reservoir is subjected to interactions between fresh, marine and deep thermal waters, respectively. Water resource usage for drinking, spa resort, and fish-farming raises important economic and social issues. These were addressed by an integrated research program, involving drilling of an exploratory borehole across the Jurassic carbonate reservoir. This contribution analyses the 750 m cores, in order to (i) characterise the architecture and evolution of the karst reservoir and (ii) investigate the paleo-fluids circulations, witnessed by calcite and dolomite mineralization in the fractures, karst cavities, and as cement of tectonic beccia. The structure of the reservoir is characterised by the superposition of several aquifers separated by marly intervals. At shallow level, the initial grainstone is incompletely dolomitized in metre-thick intervals, while limestone in the 210–340 m interval was completely dolomitized at an early stage. Dolomite has been subjected to penetrative extensional cataclastic deformation, while the preserved limestone is affected by normal faulting, resulting from NNE–SSW extension. Distinct types of karsts have been documented, from the top of the reservoir (paleo-lapiaz filled with Burdigalian marine marls), down to 500 m depth (paleo-endokarst filled with continental silts). The upper reservoir (75–150 m) is intensely karstified, and includes 0.1 to 1 m-wide cavities, where present day water fluxes are documented. Analyses of calcite and dolomite crystallisation under natural light and cathodoluminescence indicate precipitation from distinct fluids: formation water in chemical equilibrium with the host rock, water rich in oxides and hydroxides, ascending hydrothermal fluid and corrosive water of meteoric origin. Alternate dolomitization and calcitization observed in the upper reservoir suggests alternate flows of karstic freshwater and marine salt-water. Vertical, metre-long and centimetre wide open cracks are presently used for large water flows; several generations of syntaxial calcite growth provide evidence for varying chemistry of the circulating fluids. Structural cross cutting relationships allowed us to establish a relative chronology of events, which can be correlated with the regional geodynamic evolution. The study reveals that the present-day reservoir architecture results from the superimposition of structures formed during the Early Cretaceous extension, Maastrichtian-Eocene Pyrenean shortening, and Oligocene rifting of the Gulf of Lion. The reservoir was also shaped by successive karstification episodes and marine transgressions. Although the present-day hydrological system is controlled by, and reactivates structures inherited from a long-term evolution, it is characterised by frequent turn-overs of the water flow, tuned by high-frequency external forcings such as sea-level changes driven by Pleistocene glacio-eustasy, or varying precipitation rates.
<p><span>The Balaruc hydrothermal system is fed both from surrounding karstic carbonates with fresh water outpouring in the nearby Thau lagoon with the Vise source, and at depth along deep regional faults with local springs up to 50&#176;C. This hydrothermal system was cored and logged in 2020-2021 down to 765m depth at Balaruc-les-Bains, 200m to the NE of the Vise source. During the project, the Vise source underwent a reversal in November 2020, with the Thau lagoon salty water being drained deep into the subsurface, shedding light into the complex processes affecting the Balaruc hydrothermal system. The DEM&#8217;EAUX THAU project is aiming at a better understanding of this complex geological and hydrological system for a more sustainable use of this resource. </span></p><p><span>A set of downhole geophysical data and borehole wall images was recorded from near surface to 756m depth in 4 vertical holes, only a few meters apart at surface. While mm-scale images reveal the detailed geological structure, petrophysical data (acoustic velocities, electrical resistivity and natural gamma) contribute to better define the penetrated structure, yielding porosity and permeability. Acoustic velocities provide a base to analyze the vertical (VSP) and walk-away seismic profiles shot to replace these holes in the regional geological structure. In turn, core petrophysical measurements are being made to support these analyses and, in particular, to provide a dm-scale description of the subsurface pore fluid salinity. </span></p><p><span>In addition, the physical and chemical properties of the borehole fluid were characterized with an Idronaute probe, showing the impact of the Vise source reversal from measurements before and after. Similarly, electrical resistivity profiles were recorded over time and during downhole pumping tests, emphasizing the hydraulic vertical connectivity. On that basis, pore fluids dynamics are being described from time-lapse downhole logging measurements and the emplacement of permanent downhole geophysical observatories consisting in (i) an optical fiber for temperature and (ii) a flute for electrical resistivity of the formation. In the future, a second optical fiber already in place will be used for acoustic probing of subsurface fluid flow from Digital Acoustic Scanning (DAS).</span></p>
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