Thermal maturation of the Lower Carboniferous strata of the Northumberland Trough and Tweed Basin from conodont colour alteration index (CAI) data

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Abstract
SUMMARY: Conodont colour alteration (CAI) values for the Lower Carboniferous strata of the Northumberland Trough and Tweed Basin, northern England, can be attributed to three causes. On a regional scale, CAI values of 1.5 – 2 in the Solway and Northumberland basins are due to depth of burial. High values in excess of CAI 5 are localised in the thermal aureoles of Permo-Carboniferous intrusions. In southern Northumberland, CAI values for Brigantian strata are higher than those for Tournaisian and Chadian to Asbian strata. It is suggested that this was caused by the onset of hydrothermal circulation and release of hot brines from the lower crust during Late Carboniferous transpression. This heating event was short lived; it occurred during the earliest Stephanian and was coeval with the intrusion of the Whin Sill and the early phases of Pb-Zn mineralisation in the North Pennine Orefield.

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