Structural controls on hydrothermal fluid flow in a carbonate geothermal reservoir: Insights from giant carbonate veins in western Germany

• Polyphase tectonics shapes hydrothermal pathways in fractured Devonian carbonates. • Exhumed analogue of low-enthalpy geothermal reservoir reveals structural complexities. • Hydrothermal carbonate vein analyses unveil long-lived hydrothermal fluid pathways. • Proposal of geothermal exploration targets in strike slip tectonic settings. This study examines the impact of polyphase tectonics on the development of structurally controlled hydrothermal fluid pathways in carbonate geothermal reservoirs. Our case study focuses on hydrothermal carbonate veins and vein-filled faults in Devonian carbonates from the North Rhine-Westphalia region in western Germany, currently being explored as a potential low-enthalpy geothermal reservoir at depths of 4–5 km. These veins, which can be up to 20 m thick, are subvertical and strike NNW, N, or ESE. They exhibit pinch-and-swell undulating geometries, faulted vein-wall contacts, and occasional fillings of hydrothermal breccias. Vein-filled normal faults show hybrid shear-dilatant openings, with fault tips characterized by horsetail vein terminations. The textures, orientations, and age of the veins suggest their formation at low confining pressures and at depths < 2 km during the Post-Variscan East-West extension. Orthogonal North- and East-striking strike slip faults, inherited from the Variscan orogeny, were likely reactivated during post-Variscan extension, with a significant dilatant component that formed the observed veins. In the Ruhr Basin, the dilation tendency analysis indicates that NNW-striking veins or joints are optimally oriented for re-opening under the current strike-slip stress regime, characterized by NNW-trending maximum horizontal stress. The intersections of fractures may currently create moderately SSE-plunging linear zones of enhanced fluid flow. The main uncertainty regards the presence of similar structures at geothermal reservoir depths of ∼4–5 km in the Middle Devonian carbonates underneath the Ruhr Basin. As the study veins are likely to have formed at depths <2 km, the existence of analogous dilatant conduits at greater depths remains speculative. Eventually, we propose that zones characterized by open discontinuities and channelized fluid flow in carbonate geothermal reservoir in strike-slip tectonic settings can be: (a) dilational jogs between overlapping strike-slip faults, (b) bends along faults, and (c) strike-slip fault terminations with horsetail extensional structures. These zones can also be prone to enhanced karstification.