Chemical and isotopic characterization of water–rock interactions in shales induced by the intrusion of a basaltic dike: A natural analogue for radioactive waste disposal.

Disposal of nuclear waste in deep geological formations is expected to induce thermal fluxes for hundreds of years with maximum temperature reaching about 100–150 °C in the nearfield argillaceous environment. The long-term behavior of clays subjected to such thermal gradients needs to be perfectly understood in safety assessment considerations. In this respect, a Toarcian argillaceous unit thermally disturbed by the intrusion of a 1.1-m wide basaltic dike at the Perthus pass (Herault, France), was studied in detail as a natural analogue. The thermal imprint induced by the dike was evaluated by a mineralogical, chemical and K–Ar study of the