Characteristics of China’s oil and gas pool formation in latest geological history

The structural activities took place extensively in the Asia continent during the Cenozoic era owing to the strong continent-to-continent collision and continuous compression between the India Plate and the Eurasia Plate. Huang Jiqing called such structural activities Himalayan movement. China’s sedimentary basins developed and took shape mainly during the Himalayan movement period. It is also the main period for formation and development of the oil and gas reservoirs. Of 366 large and medium-sized oil and gas fields currently found in China, 212 reservoirs were formed in the Neogene-Quaternary period. The proportion is as high as 68.2%. The oil and gas migration and accumulation in the latest geological period, which were controlled by the times, properties, styles and strength of the Himalayan movement, took place mainly in eight regions, such as the low uplift area of Bohai Sea, the onshore faulted sag area of Bohai Bay, anticlinorium zone in Daqing, the foreland fold-and-thrust belt in West China, the tilted structural zone in West China, the cratonic palaeohigh in the Tarim Basin, the zone of fault and fold belt in the East Sichuan Basin, and the biological gas zone in the East Qaidam Basin. The oil and gas pool formations in those regions have their own characteristics. With the great potential and broad prospect, those regions are the main exploration areas in China in the future.     

加蓬海岸盆地南、北次盆成藏特征对比

加蓬海岸盆地属于被动大陆边缘盆地。盆地沉积盖层主要由白垩系、古近系和新近系组成,沉积地层组合具有明显的三分性,包括早白垩世盐下层系、早白垩世晚期阿普特期盐膏层和晚白垩世至新近纪盐上层系。根据目前的油气发现,北加蓬主要富集盐上油气资源,南加蓬主要富集盐下油气资源。从构造沉积背景、油气地质条件、油气发现规模、油气平面分布、油气勘探潜力5方面对南、北次盆进行对比,分析南、北次盆的油气聚集差异,结合勘探现状分析其勘探潜力,并指出南加蓬次盆勘探难点为圈闭识别,北加蓬次盆的勘探难点是砂体预测。     

Mineral provinces and matter provenance of the surficial sediments in the western Philippine Sea: implication for modern sedimentation in West Pacific marginal basin

The characteristics and distribution patterns of detrital minerals (0.063~0.125 mm) in marine sediments provide a significant indicator for the identification of the origin of sediment.The detrital mineral composition of 219 surface sediment samples was analysed to identify the distribution of sediments within the western Philippine Sea. The area can be divided into three mineral provinces: (I) province east of the Philippine Trench, the detrital minerals in this province are mainly composed of calcareous or siliceous organisms, with the addition of volcanogenic minerals from an adjacent island arc; (II) middle mineral province, clastic minerals including feldspar, quartz and colorless volcanic glass, sourced from seamounts with intermediate-acid volcanic rock, or erupting intermediate-acid volcano; (III) province west of the Palau—Kyūshū Ridge, the matter provenance within this province is complex; the small quantity of feldspar and quartz may be sourced from seamounts or erupting volcano with intermediate-acid composition, with a component of volcanic scoria sourced from a volcano erupting on the Palau—Kyūshū Ridge. it is suggested that, (1) Biogenic debris of the study area is closely related to water depth, with the amount of biogenic debris controlled by carbonate lysocline. (2) Volcaniclastic matter derived from the adjacent island arc can be entrained by oceanic currents and transported towards the abyssal basin over a short distance. The weathering products of volcanic rocks of the submarine plateau (e.g.,Benham Plateau) and adjacent ridges provide an important source of detrital sedimentation, and the influence scope of them is constrained by the intensity of submarine weathering. (3) Terrigenous sediments from the continent of Asia and the adjacent Philippine island arc have little influence on the sedimentation of this study area, and the felsic mineral component is probably sourced from volcanic seamounts of intermediate-acid composition.     

北黄海盆地北缘断裂带及其特征

根据最新调查获得的北黄海盆地海洋重力、海洋与航空磁力和多道地震资料,结合以往周边地区的资料,编制了北黄海空间重力异常图、布格重力异常图、磁力异常图。在重磁基础图件的基础上,通过解析延拓、任意方向导数计算、离散小波变换等处理,结合地震和地质资料,对北黄海北缘断裂带进行了综合分析。确定了北黄海北缘断裂带的存在,并对该断裂带的延伸长度、切割深度和性质进行了分析,指出北黄海北缘断裂带是辽东隆起与北黄海盆地的界线,断裂带两侧具有明显不同的地球物理场特征;而且断裂带具有多期活动的特点,对北黄海盆地的形成演化具有重要的控制作用。     

利用Argo 浮标资料研究西北太平洋三维声速分布特征

利用西北太平洋海区2002～2009年的Argo浮标剖面温度、盐度资料构建成0.5°×0.5°水平分辨率的三维声速网格化资料,并据此分析该海区声速的空间分布及季节变化特征。研究表明：该海区10 m层等声速线分布的季节变化较为明显,春、冬季的等声速线几乎与纬线平行,黑潮流经区域等声速线呈现一定的弯曲。100 m层等声速线分布的季节变化较小：北赤道流区,等声速线从外海向近岸延伸;吕宋岛东南部沿海,等声速线向南弯曲;吕宋岛、台湾岛东部等声速线呈现偏北方向的弯曲;琉球群岛附近,等声速线朝北偏东方向弯曲。此外,研究海区存在深海声道,声道轴最深的区域主要在吕宋海峡和日本东南部海区,其中吕宋海峡处的声道轴有显著的季节变化特征。可见,利用Argo浮标资料可以初步得到西北太平洋声速的空间分布及其季节变化特征,随着Argo剖面资料的增多,对该海区的声速场认识将会愈加清晰。     

A control-volume finite-element method for three-dimensional multiphase basin modeling

In this paper we describe a 3D control-volume finite-element method to solve numerically the coupled partial differential equations (PDEs) governing geological processes involved in the evolution of sedimentary basins. These processes include sediment deposition and deformation, hydrocarbon generation, multiphase fluid flow, and heat transfer in deforming porous media.     

北部湾盆地涠西南凹陷C洼烃源岩热史及成熟史模拟

北部湾盆地涠西南凹陷C洼流沙港组烃源岩热史及成熟史研究,对C洼深水油气勘探具有指导意义。在恢复涠西南凹陷C洼地史和热史的基础上,利用EASY%Ro模型计算了流沙港组烃源岩的成熟度史。研究结果表明,在涠西南凹陷发展的裂陷阶段初始期热流值较高,最大值约为77mW/m2,其后热流值逐渐减小,现今热流值约为54mW/m2;涠西南凹陷C洼流沙港组烃源岩开始生烃(Ro=0.5%)时间为51MaBP,达到生烃高峰(Ro=1%)时间为42MaBP,达到高成熟演化阶段(Ro=1.3%)时间为17MaBP;对比涠1井流沙港组烃源岩演化特征,处于C洼深水勘探区的流沙港组烃源岩成熟度较高,生烃能力较强,拥有广阔的油气勘探前景。     

Tectonic evolution of the Cape and Karoo basins of South Africa

The Cape and Karoo basins formed within the continental interior of Gondwana. Subsidence resulted from the vertical motion of rigid basement blocks and intervening crustal faults. Each basin episode records a three-stage evolution consisting of crustal uplift, fault-controlled subsidence, and long periods of regional subsidence largely unaccompanied by faulting or erosional truncation. The large-scale episodes of subsidence were probably the result of lithospheric deflection due to subduction-driven mantle flow. The early Paleozoic Cape basin records the combined effects of a north-dipping intra-crustal décollement (a late Neoproterozoic suture) and a right-stepping offset between thick Rio de la Plata craton and Namaqua basement. Following the Saldanian orogeny, a suite of small rift basins and their post-rift drape formed at this releasing stepover. Great thicknesses of quartz sandstone (Ordovician–Silurian) and mudstone (Devonian) accumulation are attributed to subsidence by rheological weakening and mantle flow. In contrast, the Karoo basin is a cratonic cover that mimics the underlying basement blocks. The Permian Ecca and lower Beaufort groups were deposited in a southward-deepening ramp syncline by extensional decoupling on the intra-crustal décollement. Reflection seismic and deep-burial diagenetic studies indicate that the Cape orogeny started in the Early Triassic. Deformation was partitioned into basement-involved strike-slip faults and thin-skinned thrusting. Uplift of the Namaqua basement resulted in erosion of the Beaufort cover. East of the Cape fold belt, contemporaneous subsidence and tilting of the Natal basement created a late Karoo transtensional foreland basin, the Stormberg depocentre. Early Jurassic tectonic resetting and continental flood basalts terminated the Karoo basin.     

Formation of saddle dolomites in Upper Cambrian carbonates, western Tarim Basin (northwest China): Implications for fault-related fluid flow

The saddle dolomites occur more intensely in cores closely to fault than that in cores far away from the fault in Upper Cambrian carbonate of western Tarim basin, suggesting that formation of the saddle dolomites is likely related to fault-controlled fluid flow. They partially fill in fractures and vugs of replacement dolomite. The saddle dolomites exhibit complex internal textures, commonly consisting of core and cortex. In comparison with the matrix dolomites, the saddle dolomites show lower Sr-content and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios, higher Fe- and Mn-content, and more negative δ¹⁸O values. Combined with high Th (100–130 °C) of primary fluid inclusions, it is suggested that the saddle dolomites precipitated from hydrothermal fluid derived from the deep evaporite-bearing Middle Cambrian strata, and the magnesium source may be due to dissolution of host dolomite during hydrothermal fluid migration. Fault activity resulted in petrographic and geochemical difference of the core and cortex of the saddle dolomites. The cores precipitated from the formation water mixed by deep brines at the early stage of fault activity, and the cortexes precipitated from the deep fluid with higher temperatures through the Middle Cambrian later. In summary, the formation of the saddle dolomites implies a hydrothermal fluid event related to fault activity, which also resulted in high porosity in Upper Cambrian carbonate in western Tarim Basin.     

Molecular and isotopic compositions of bitumens in Silurian tar sands from the Tarim Basin,NW China: Characterizing biodegradation and hydrocarbon charging in an old composite basin

Biodegradation and oil mixing in Silurian sandstone reservoirs of the Tarim Basin, one of the largest composite basins in China, were investigated by analyzing the molecular characteristics and stable carbon isotopic signatures of low-molecular-weight (LMW) saturated hydrocarbons and high-molecular-weight (HMW) asphaltenes. Detection of 25-norhopanes and 17-nortricyclic terpanes in most Silurian tar sands from the Tabei Uplift in the Tarim Basin suggests a much greater degree of biodegradation here than in the Tazhong Uplift. This explains the relatively more abundant tricyclic terpanes, gammacerane, pregnane and diasteranes in tar sands from the Tabei Uplift than in those from the Tazhong Uplift. Hence, care must be taken when assigning oil source correlations using biomarkers in tar sands because of the biodegradation and mixing of oils derived from multiple sources in such an old composite basin. Asphaltenes in the tar sands seem to be part of the oil charge before biodegradation, depending on the relative anti-biodegradation characteristics of asphaltenes, the similarity in carbon isotopic signatures for asphaltenes and their pyrolysates, and the consistent product distribution for flash pyrolysis and for regular steranes in asphaltene pyrolysates, regardless of whether the tar sands were charged with fresh oil. According to the relative distributions of regular steranes and the relatively abundant 1,2,3,4-tetramethylbenzene significantly enriched in ¹³C, the oil sources for asphaltenes in the tar sands might be related to lower Paleozoic marine source rocks formed in euxinic conditions. Nevertheless, the relatively low abundance of gammacerane and C₂₈ regular steranes observed in asphaltene pyrolysates and residual hydrocarbons, within limited samples investigated in this work, made a direct correlation of oils originally charged into Silurian tar sands with those Cambrian source rocks, reported so far, seem not to be possible. Comparison of carbon isotopic signatures of n-alkanes in asphaltene pyrolysates with those of LMW saturated hydrocarbons is helpful in determining if the abundant n-alkanes in tar sands are derived from fresh oil charges after biodegradation. The limited carbon isotopic data for n-alkanes in LMW saturated hydrocarbons from the tar sands can be used to classify oils charged after biodegradation in the composite basin into four distinct groups.