Fault system and thermal regime in the vicinity of site NGHP-01-10, Krishna–Godavari basin, Bay of Bengal

Drilling/coring activities onboard JOIDES Resolution for hydrate resource estimation have confirmed gas hydrate in the continental slope of Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin, Bay of Bengal and the expedition recovered fracture filled gas hydrate at the site NGHP-01-10. In this paper we analyze high resolution multi-channel seismic (MCS), high resolution sparker (HRS), bathymetry, and sub-bottom profiler data in the vicinity of site NGHP-01-10 to understand the fault system and thermal regime. We interpreted the large-scale fault system (>5 km) predominantly oriented in NNW-SSE direction near NGHP-01-10 site, which plays an important role in gas hydrate formation and its distribution. The increase in interval velocity from the baseline velocity of 1600 m/s to 1750–1800 m/s within the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) is considered as a proxy for the gas hydrate occurrence, whereas the drop in interval velocity to 1400 m/s suggest the presence of free gas below the GHSZ. The analysis of interval velocity suggests that the high concentration of gas hydrate occurs close to the large-scale fault system. We conclude that the gas hydrate concentration near site NGHP-01-10, and likely in the entire KG Basin, is controlled primarily by the faults and therefore has high spatial variability.We also estimated the heat flow and geothermal gradient (GTG) in the vicinity of NGHP-01-10 site using depth and temperature of the seafloor and the BSR. We observed an abnormal GTG increase from 38 °C/km to 45 °C/km at the top of the mound, which remarkably agrees with the measured temperature gradient at the mound (NGHP-01-10) and away from the mound (NGHP-01-03). We analyze various geological scenarios such as topography, salinity, thermal non-equilibrium of BSR and fluid/gas advection along the fault system to explain the observed increase in GTG. The geophysical data along with the coring results suggest that the fluid advection along the fault system is the primary mechanism that explains the increase in GTG. The approximate advective fluid flux estimated based on the thermal measurement is of the order of few tenths of mm/yr (0.37–0.6 mm/yr).     

Petroleum accumulation in the deeply buried reservoirs in the northern Dongying Depression,Bohai Bay Basin,China: New insights from fluid inclusions,natural gas geochemistry,and 1-D basin modeling

The deeply buried reservoirs (DBRs) from the Lijin, Shengtuo and Minfeng areas in the northern Dongying Depression of the Bohai Bay Basin, China exhibit various petroleum types (black oil-gas condensates) and pressure systems (normal pressure-overpressure) with high reservoir temperatures (154–185 °C). The pressure-volume-temperature-composition (PVTX) evolution of petroleum and the processes of petroleum accumulation were reconstructed using integrated data from fluid inclusions, stable carbon isotope data of natural gas and one-dimensional basin modeling to trace the petroleum accumulation histories.The results suggest that (1) the gas condensates in the Lijin area originated from the thermal cracking of highly mature kerogen in deeper formations. Two episodes of gas condensate charging, which were evidenced by the trapping of non-fluorescent gas condensate inclusions, occurred between 29-25.5 Ma and 8.6–5.0 Ma with strong overpressure (pressure coefficient, P_c = 1.68–1.70), resulting in the greatest contribution to the present-day gas condensate accumulation; (2) the early yellow fluorescent oil charge was responsible for the present-day black oil accumulation in well T764, while the late blue-white oil charge together with the latest kerogen cracked gas injection resulted in the present-day volatile oil accumulation in well T765; and (3) the various fluorescent colors (yellow, blue-white and blue) and the degree of bubble filling (F_v) (2.3–72.5%) of the oil inclusions in the Minfeng area show a wide range of thermal maturity (API gravity ranges from 30 to 50°), representing the charging of black oil to gas condensates. The presence of abundant blue-white fluorescent oil inclusions with high Grain-obtaining Oil Inclusion (GOI) values (35.8%, usually >5% in oil reservoirs) indicate that a paleo-oil accumulation with an approximate API gravity of 39–40° could have occurred before 25 Ma, and gas from oil cracking in deeper formations was injected into the paleo-oil reservoir from 2.8 Ma to 0 Ma, resulting in the present-day gas condensate oil accumulation. This oil and gas accumulation model results in three oil and gas distribution zones: 1) normal oil reservoirs at relatively shallow depth; 2) gas condensate reservoirs that originated from the mixture of oil cracking gas with a paleo-oil reservoir at intermediate depth; and 3) oil-cracked gas reservoirs at deeper depth.The retardation of organic matter maturation and oil cracking by high overpressure could have played an important role in the distribution of different origins of gas condensate accumulations in the Lijin and Minfeng areas. The application of oil and gas accumulation models in this study is not limited to the Dongying Depression and can be applied to other overpressured rift basins.     

Improved understanding of petroleum migration history in the Hongche fault zone,northwestern Junggar Basin (northwest China): Constrained by vein-calcite fluid inclusions and trace elements

Calcite veins and cements occur widely in Carboniferous and Permian reservoirs of the Hongche fault zone, northwestern Junggar Basin in northwest China. The calcites were investigated by fluid inclusion and trace-element analyses, providing an improved understanding of the petroleum migration history. It is indicated that the Hongche fault behaved as a migration pathway before the Early Cretaceous, allowing two oil charges to migrate into the hanging-wall, fault-core and footwall reservoirs across the fault. Since the Late Cretaceous, the Hongche fault has been sealed. As a consequence, meteoric water flowed down only into the hanging-wall and fault-core reservoirs. The meteoric-water incursion is likely an important cause for degradation of reservoir oils. In contrast, the footwall reservoirs received gas charge (the third hydrocarbon event) following the Late Cretaceous. This helps explain the distribution of petroleum across the fault. This study provides an example of how a fault may evolve as pathway and seal over time, and how reservoir diagenetic minerals can provide clues to complex petroleum migration histories.     

Pressure prediction in the Bullwinkle Basin through petrophysics and flow modeling (Green Canyon 65, Gulf of Mexico)

Reservoir pressures within the Bullwinkle minibasin (Green Canyon 65, Gulf of Mexico continental slope) increase at a hydrostatic gradient whereas pressures predicted from porosity within mudstones bounding these reservoirs increase at a lithostatic gradient: they are equal at a depth 1/3 of the way down from the crest of the structure. Two- and three-dimensional steady-state flow models demonstrate that bowl-shaped structures will have lower pressures than equivalent two-dimensional structures and that if a low permeability salt layer underlies the basin, the pressure is reduced. We conclude that at Bullwinkle, pressure is reduced due to an underlying salt body and the bowl-shape of the basin. A geometric approach to predict sandstone pressure is to assume that the reservoir pressure equals the area-weighted average of the mudstone pressure. When the mudstone pressure gradient is constant, as at Bullwinkle, the reservoir pressure equals the mudstone pressure at the average depth (centroid) of the reservoir.     

Effects of oil cracking on fluorescence color,homogenization temperature and trapping pressure reconstruction of oil inclusions from deeply buried reservoirs in the northern Dongying Depression,Bohai Bay Basin,China

The effects of oil cracking on fluorescence color, homogenization temperature (T_ho) and trapping pressure (P_t) of oil inclusions from deeply buried reservoirs (DBRs) (3672–4359 m) in the northern Dongying Depression were determined based on fluorescence spectroscopy and homogenization temperatures of oil inclusions, kinetic modeling of crude oil cracking, and petroleum inclusion thermodynamics modeling.The modeling results demonstrate that fluorescence color, T_ho and predicted P_t have strong relationships with the transformation rate via cracking of oil to gas (T_r), and the formation temperature (T_f) that the inclusions experienced. The fluorescence color is hardly influenced at all during the initial stages of oil cracking (T_r < 13%, T_f < 160 °C), but fluorescence color begins to shift toward shorter wavelengths (blue shift) during progressive oil cracking (T_r < 24%, T_f < 190 °C). With further oil cracking, the fluorescence color may either experience no change or continue its blue shift. Eventually the fluorescence color will disappear as the aromatic compounds are completely cracked. The T_ho increases at first (T_r < 24%, T_f < 190 °C), but then decreases or even becomes negative during major oil cracking. The reconstructed P_t values show a corresponding reverse trend.Oil inclusions from DBRs and other shallow reservoirs in the Dongying Depression show an obvious blue shift in fluorescence color at a depth of approximate 4000 m (T_f = 160 °C) and generally contain solid bitumen below 4000 m, supporting the effect of oil cracking on fluorescence variation, consistent with the modeling result. The T_ho from DBRs in the Minfeng area increases with increasing burial depth (T_f < 190 °C), which is also consistent with the modeling results. However, the T_ho of oil inclusions with blue-white fluorescence from DBRs in the Shengtuo area did not show such a trend. Recent trapping, high trapping pressure and higher-maturity oil may have led to a low-degree of oil cracking, and thus less modification of T_ho in the Shengtuo area.Oil cracking results in consistent volume ratios of pyrobitumen to oil inclusions (F_vpy) in the same fluid inclusion assemblage, and the F_vpy value increases with oil cracking level, which can be used to recognize if oil cracking has occurred in oil inclusions and what level of oil cracking they have experienced.As the oil cracking model used in this study did not account for the role of pressure, it is more applicable for oil inclusions that were trapped under normally pressured conditions. Oil inclusions trapped under overpressured conditions will be less influenced by oil cracking.     

Stable carbon isotopic ratios of CH4-CO2-bearing fluid inclusions in fracture-fill mineralization from the Lower Saxony Basin (Germany) - A tool for tracing gas sources and maturity

The stable carbon isotopic ratios (δ¹³C) of methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) of gas-rich fluid inclusions hosted in fracture-fill mineralization from the southern part of the Lower Saxony Basin, Germany have been measured online using a crushing device interfaced to an isotopic ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS). The data reveal that CH₄ trapped in inclusions seems to be derived from different source rocks with different organic matter types. The δ¹³C values of CH₄ in inclusions in quartz hosted by Carboniferous rocks range between −25 and −19‰, suggesting high-maturity coals as the source of methane. Methane in fluid inclusions in minerals hosted by Mesozoic strata has more negative carbon isotope ratios (−45 to −31‰) and appears to represent primary cracking products from type II kerogens, i.e., marine shales. There is a positive correlation between increasing homogenization temperatures of aqueous fluid inclusions and less negative δ¹³C(CH₄) values of in co-genetic gas inclusions probably indicating different mtaturity of the potential source rocks at the time the fluids were released. The CO₂ isotopic composition of CH₄-CO₂-bearing inclusions shows slight negative or even positive δ¹³C values indicating an inorganic source (e.g., water-rock interaction and dissolution of detrital, marine calcite) for CO₂ in inclusions. We conclude that the δ¹³C isotopic ratios of CH₄-CO₂-bearing fluid inclusions can be used to trace migration pathways, sources of gases, and alteration processes. Furthermore, the δ¹³C values of methane can be used to estimate the maturity of the rocks from which it was sourced. Results presented here are further supported by organic geochemical analysis of surface bitumens which coexist with the gas inclusion-rich fracture-fill mineralization and confirm the isotopic interpretations with respect to fluid source, type and maturity.     

Seismic and structural characterization of fluid escape pipes using 3D and partial stack seismic from the Loyal Field (Scotland,UK): A multiphase and repeated intrusive mechanism

The potential for fluid leakage from sub-surface reservoirs has important implications for CO2 storage, hydrocarbon reservoirs and water resources. Understanding the genesis, morphology, fluid flow mechanisms and extent of fluid escape from reservoirs allows for better risking of geological resources and storage potential. Here we describe in detail the structures of fluid escape pipes from the Loyal Field, observed from a 3D full and partial stack seismic dataset. The seismic imagery suggests that the fluid escape pipes are rooted at least in the main Paleocene reservoir and by-pass the reservoir seal to cross the post Lista Formation overburden up to the intra-Neogene units. The pipes extend for a few hundred meters to a few kilometres and show varying shape and structure from blow-out structures to incipient mud volcanoes. A detailed analysis of the seismic characteristics observed both from main baseline and partial stack data allows a division of the pipes into two families: (1) seeps and pipes following structural discontinuities and (2) pipes unrelated to the pre-existing structural features. The pipes internal seismic response, the reflector termination of the main conduits and the distribution of stacked bright reflectors suggest an upward migration mechanism (during pipe birth and development), requiring a cyclic switching from non-Darcy hydrofracturing (during overpressure) to Darcy flow lateral migration (during low-pressure stage).     

Heat-flow regimes and the hydrate stability zone of a transient,thermogenic, fault-controlled hydrate system (Woolsey Mound northern Gulf of Mexico)

This study aims to constrain the base of the hydrates stability field in structurally complexsites using the case of Woolsey Mound, a fault-controlled, transient, thermogenic hydrates system, in Mississippi Canyon Block 118, northern Gulf of Mexico. We have computed the base of the hydrates stability field integrating results from a recent heat-flow survey, designed to investigate geothermal anomalies along fault zones which exhibit different fluid flux regimes. An advanced “compositional” simulator was used to model hydrate formation and dissociation at Woolsey Mound and addresses the following hypotheses:

• 1.Migrating thermogenic fluids alter thermal conditions of the Hydrate Stability Zone (HSZ), so heat-flow reflects fault activity;
• 2.Gas hydrate formation and dissociation vary temporally at active faults, temporarily sealing conduits for migration of thermogenic fluids;
• 3.High salinity and inclusion of thermogenic gases with higher molecular weight than methane produce opposite effects on the depth to the bottom of the hydrate stability zone.

Applications of results include identifying and quantifying hydrate deposits in shallow sediments using an interdisciplinary approach that includes multiple resolution seismic data evaluation, geological and geochemical groundtruthing and heat-flow analyses as a proxy for activity along faults.     

Surficial Hydrocarbon Seep Infauna from the Blake Ridge (Atlantic Ocean, 2150 m) and the Gulf of Mexico (690–2240 m)

Abstract.  Infauna, including foraminifera and metazoans, were enumerated and identified from five types of seep habitats and two adjacent non-seep habitats. Collections were made with the deep submergence research vessel 'Alvin' from three areas of active seepage in the Gulf of Mexico (Alaminos Canyon [2220 m], Atwater Canyon [1930 m], and Green Canyon lease block 272 [700 m]) and on the Blake Ridge Diapir [2250 m], which is located off the southeastern coast of the United States. The seep habitats sampled included four types of microbial mats ( Beggiatoa , Thioploca , thin and thick Arcobacter ) and the periphery of a large mussel bed. Sediments under large rhizopod protists, xenophyophores, were sampled adjacent to the mussel bed periphery. A non-seep site, which was >1 km away from active seeps, was also sampled for comparison. Densities of most taxa were higher in the Gulf of Mexico seeps than in Blake Ridge samples, largely because densities in the thick microbial mats of Blake Ridge were significantly lower. Diversity was higher in the Thioploca mats compared to other microbial-mat types. Within an ocean basin ( i.e. , Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico) we did not observe significant differences in meiofaunal or macrofaunal composition in Beggiatoa versus Thioploca mats or thin versus thick Arcobacter mats. Foraminifera represented up to 16% of the seep community, a proportion that is comparable to their contribution at adjacent non-seep communities. In general, the observed densities and taxonomic composition of seep sites at the genus level was consistent with previous observations from seeps ( e.g. , the foraminifers Bolivina and Fursenkoina , the dorvilleid polychaete Ophryotrocha ).     

Lipid biomarkers in surface sediments from the Gulf of Genoa,Ligurian sea (NW Mediterranean sea) and their potential for the reconstruction of palaeo-environments

A series of molecular organic markers were determined in surface sediments from the Gulf of Genoa (Ligurian Sea) in order to evaluate their potential for palaeo-environmental reconstructions. Allochthonous input can be characterized by the distributions of n-C₂₉ and n-C₃₁ alkanes, n-C₂₆ and n-C₂₈ alkanols and branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs), whose concentrations are generally highest near the river mouths. In the open basin however, terrestrial n-alkanes and n-alkanols may have an additional, eolian source. Autochthonous input is represented by crenarchaeol and isoprenoid GDGTs. Their concentrations are highest in the open basin showing the preference of Thaumarchaeota for oligotrophic waters. Indications of a significant degradation of sterols and C₃₇ alkenones exclude these lipids as reliable productivity proxies. Using terrestrial and aquatic lipids as end-members allows estimating the percentage of terrestrial organic matter between 20% and 58% in the coastal area decreasing to 1–30% in the deep basin. The spatial distribution of sea surface temperature (SST) estimates using the alkenone-based U^K′₃₇ index is very similar to the autumnal (November) mean satellite-based SST distribution. Conversely, TEX^H₈₆-derived SST estimates are close to winter SSTs in the coastal area and summer SSTs in the open basin. This pattern reflects presumably a shift in the main production of Thaumarchaeota from the coastal area in winter to the open basin in summer. This study represents a major prerequisite for the future application of lipid biomarkers on sediment cores from the Gulf of Genoa.