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Isotopic-geochemical peculiarities of gases in mud volcanoes of eastern Georgia

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Abstract

Isotopic-geochemical study revealed the presence of mantle He (3He/4He up to 223 × 10−8) in gases from mud volcanoes of eastern Georgia. This fact confirms that the Middle Kura basin fill encloses an intrusive body previously distinguished from geophysical data. Wide variations in the carbon isotopic composition δ13C of CH4 and CO2 and the chemical composition of gas and water at a temporally constant 3He/4He ratio indicate their relation with crustal processes. Unusual direct correlations of the 3He/4He ratio with the contents of He and CH4 and the 40Ar/36Ar ratio can be explained by the generation of gas in the Cenozoic sequence of the Middle Kura basin.

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Correspondence to V. Yu. Lavrushin.

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Original Russian Text © V.Yu. Lavrushin, B.G. Polyak, B.G. Pokrovskii, M.L. Kopp, G.I. Buachidze, I.L. Kamenskii, 2009, published in Litologiya i Poleznye Iskopaemye, 2009, No. 2, pp. 203–218.

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Lavrushin, V.Y., Polyak, B.G., Pokrovskii, B.G. et al. Isotopic-geochemical peculiarities of gases in mud volcanoes of eastern Georgia. Lithol Miner Resour 44, 183–197 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0024490209020060

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