Formation of Hengchun Accretionary Prism Turbidites and Implications for Deep‐water Transport Processes in the Northern South China Sea

Located at the end of the northern Manila Trench,the Hengchun Peninsula is the latest exposed part of Taiwan Island,and preserves a complete sequence of accretionary deep-sea turbidite sandstones.Combined with extensive field observations,a’source-to-sink’approach was employed to systematically analyze the formation and evolutionary process of the accretionary prism turbidites on the Hengchun Peninsula.Lying at the base of the Hengchun turbidites are abundant mafic normal oceanic crust gravels with a certain degree of roundness.The gravels with U-Pb ages ranging from 25.4 to23.6 Ma are underlain by hundreds-of-meters thickness of younger deep-sea sandstone turbidites with interbedded gravels.This indicates that large amounts of terrigenous materials from both the’Kontum-Ying-Qiong’River of Indochina and the Pearl River of South China were transported into the deep-water areas of the northern South China Sea during the late Miocene and further eastward in the form of turbidity currents.The turbidity flow drastically eroded and snatched mafic materials from the normal South China Sea oceanic crust along the way,and subsequently unloaded large bodies of basic gravel-bearing sandstones to form turbidites near the northern Manila Trench.With the Philippine Sea Plate drifting clockwise to the northwest,these turbidite successions eventually migrated and,since the Middle Pleistocene,were exposed as an accretionary prism on the Hengchun Peninsula.     

宁夏固原古近系寺口子组砂岩成因探讨*

宁夏固原寺口子组砂岩是中国古近纪内陆古环境研究的重要载体。通过岩性、沉积构造、石英颗粒表面微结构和粒度分布特征研究,对其成因进行了深入探讨。结果表明,古近系寺口子组砂岩由3个成因段构成:段Ⅰ为河流相沉积;段Ⅱ,即砂岩主体,为典型风成砂岩,沉积环境为风成沙丘和丘间地;段Ⅲ,初步推断其为湖相沉积。结合中国古近纪气候背景、研究区域地形条件及古风向,推断寺口子组砂岩主体风成沉积为行星风系控制下的沙漠沉积。     

Diagenetic history of tight sandstones and gas entrapment in the Yulin Gas Field in the central area of the Ordos Basin,China

The Ordos Basin is a large cratonic basin with an area of 250,000 km² in central China. Upper Paleozoic coals and shales serve as gas source rocks with peak generation and migration at the end of the early Cretaceous. Recent exploration has verified the huge gas potential in the “basin-centered gas accumulation system” (BCGAS). However, the mechanism for the gas accumulation is controversial. With an integrated approach of thin-section petrography, ultra-violet fluorescence microscopy, fluid inclusion microthermometry, Raman microspectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffractometry, we identified diagenetic trapping and evaluated the diagenetic history of sandstone reservoirs in the Yulin Gas Field in the central area, where structural, stratigraphic and/or sedimentary lithologic traps have not been found. It was revealed that three phases of diagenesis and hydrocarbon charging occurred, respectively, in the late Triassic, late Jurassic and at the end of the early Cretaceous. In the first two phases, acidic water entered the reservoir and caused dissolution and cementation, resulting in porosity increase. However, further subsidence and diagenesis, including compaction and cementation, markedly reduced the pore space. At the end of the early Cretaceous, the bulk of the gas migrated into the tight reservoirs, and the BCGAS trap was formed. In the updip portion of this system, cementation continued to occur due to low gas saturation and has provided effective seals to retain gas for a longer period of time than water block in the BCGAS. The mechanism for the gas entrapment was changed from water block by capillary pressure in the BCGAS to diagenetic sealing. The diagenetic seals in the updip portion of the sand body were formed after gas charging, which indicates that there is a large hydrocarbon exploration potential at the basin-centered area.     

Pressure effects on the joint elastic‐electrical properties of reservoir sandstones

We conducted a laboratory study of the joint elastic‐electrical properties of sixty‐three brine‐saturated sandstone samples to assess the likely impact of differential pressure (confining minus pore fluid pressures) in the range 8–60 MPa on the joint interpretation of marine seismic and controlled‐source electromagnetic survey data. The samples showed a wide range of petrophysical properties representative of most sandstone reservoirs. We found that a regression equation comprising both a constant and an exponential part gave a good fit to the pressure dependence of all five measured geophysical parameters (ultrasonic P‐ and S‐wave velocity, attenuation and electrical resistivity). Electrical resistivity was more pressure‐sensitive in clay‐rich sandstones with higher concentrations of low aspect ratio pores and micropores than in clean sandstones. Attenuation was more pressure‐sensitive in clean sandstones with large open pores (macropores) than in clay‐rich sandstones. Pore shape did not show any influence on the pressure sensitivity of elastic velocity. As differential pressure increases, the effect of the low aspect ratio pores and micropores on electrical resistivity becomes stronger than the effect of the macropores on attenuation. Further analysis of correlations among the five parameters as a function of pressure revealed potentially diagnostic relationships for geopressure prediction in reservoir sandstones.     

Joint elastic‐electrical properties of reservoir sandstones and their relationships with petrophysical parameters

We measured in the laboratory ultrasonic compressional and shear‐wave velocity and attenuation (0.7–1.0 MHz) and low‐frequency (2 Hz) electrical resistivity on 63 sandstone samples with a wide range of petrophysical properties to study the influence of reservoir porosity, permeability and clay content on the joint elastic‐electrical properties of reservoir sandstones. P‐ and S‐wave velocities were found to be linearly correlated with apparent electrical formation factor on a semi‐logarithmic scale for both clean and clay‐rich sandstones; P‐ and S‐wave attenuations showed a bell‐shaped correlation (partial for S‐waves) with apparent electrical formation factor. The joint elastic‐electrical properties provide a way to discriminate between sandstones with similar porosities but with different clay contents. The laboratory results can be used to estimate sandstone reservoir permeability from seismic velocity and apparent formation factor obtained from co‐located seismic and controlled source electromagnetic surveys.     

A geometric model for the formation of deformation band clusters

Arrays of closely-spaced (approximately <70 mm) sub-parallel cataclastic deformation bands are common structures in deformed, high-porosity (∼10–35%) sandstones. The distribution of strain onto many small-displacement deformation bands is thought by some to result from strain-hardening of the cataclasite within individual bands. Examination of both normal and strike-slip faults with displacements ≤7 m from southeastern Utah, USA, and the North Island of New Zealand suggests, however, that clusters of deformation bands systematically develop at fault geometric irregularities (e.g., fault bends, steps, relays, intersections and zones of normal drag). The strain-hardening model does not account for clustering of deformation bands at fault geometric irregularities or the associated widespread coalescence of bands, and is not unequivocally demonstrated by post-peak macroscopic mechanical responses in laboratory rock deformation experiments. A geometric model is proposed in which individual bands within clusters develop sequentially due to migration of incremental shear strains at fault geometric irregularities as part of a slip localisation, asperity removal and strain weakening process. The geometric model, which does not require strain hardening of the fault rock, applies for the duration of faulting and a range of rock types in the brittle upper crust.     

塔中西北部上泥盆统东河砂岩与志留系砂岩中重砂矿物特征与地质意义

沉积物中重矿物分布受物源区、构造抬升与剥蚀作用、古地貌以及沉积古气候、古环境等多种因素影响,因此沉积重砂矿物的研究可应用于物源区、沉积环境的分析,阐明构造旋回与沉积作用的响应关系。本文通过对塔中地区中1井等6口探井上泥盆统东河砂岩和志留系柯坪塔格组砂岩中重砂矿物分析,提出了塔中东河砂岩重砂矿物主要来自稳定的基底再沉积及花岗岩来源,但受近源的基性火山岩及岩浆期后热液作用影响较大;志留系下砂岩重砂矿物主要来自下覆碳酸盐岩、花岗岩和搬运再沉积物,总体形成于稳定的、多物源的构造-沉积环境,物源方向可能是东南至西北方向。     

Provenance and source rocks of Riphean sandstones in the Uchur-Maya region (east Siberia): Implications of geochemical data and Sm-Nd isotopic systematics

As is shown based on geochemical data and Sm-Nd isotopic systematics, accumulation of sandy deposits in the Riphean protoplatform cover of the Southeast Siberian platform was controlled by influx of primary and recycled sedimentary material derived from magmatic and metamorphic complexes of the eastern Aldan shield in the course of denudation of the Early Proterozoic accretionary orogen formed prior to 1.9 Ga. First indications of endogenic material influx into sedimentary basins are established in the Totta Formation of the Middle Riphean. They mean contribution to sedimentation of material weathered and eroded from external recycled orogens and synsedimentary volcanics that marked commencement of rifting in the platform marginal zone. Provenances of this material were situated most likely to the east and southeast off the Yudoma-Maya trough.     

坪北油田上三叠统延长组长4+5—长6油组地层基准面旋回及储层物性

针对坪北油田勘探开发特点及其所出现的问题，笔者运用多层次基准面旋回和可容空间变化原理，通过分析由基准面变化导致的沉积地层记录和层序界面类型、规模及地层的堆叠样式的差异，在对长4 5—长6油组基准面旋回层序精细划分和等时对比的基础上，讨论等时地层格架内砂体时空演化规律，并探讨了基准面变化与储层物性的关系。     

Mechanisms of compaction of quartz sand at diagenetic conditions

The relative contribution of cracking, grain rearrangement, and pressure solution during experimental compaction of quartz sand at diagenetic conditions was determined through electron and optical microscopy and image analysis. Aggregates of St. Peter sand (255±60 μm diameter grain size and porosity of approximately 34%) were subjected to creep compaction at effective pressures of 15, 34.5, 70, and 105 MPa, temperatures of 22 and 150°C, nominally dry or water-saturated (pore fluid pressure of 12.5 MPa) conditions, and for times up to one year. All aggregates displayed transient, decelerating creep, and volume strain rates as low as 2×10⁻¹⁰ s⁻¹ were achieved. The intensity of fracturing and degree of fragmentation increase with volume strain and have the same dependence on volume strain at all conditions tested, indicating that impingement fracturing and grain rearrangement were the main mechanisms of compaction throughout the creep phase. The increase in fracture density and decrease in acoustic emission rate at long times under wet conditions reflect an increase in the contribution of subcritical cracking. No quantitative evidence of significant pressure solution was found, even for long-term creep at 150°C and water-saturated conditions. Comparison of our findings to previous work suggests that pressure solution could become significant at temperatures or times somewhat greater than investigated here.