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Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 92, No. 9 (September 2008), P. 1225-1243.

Copyright copy2008. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1306/06050807124

Episodic petroleum fluid migration in fault zones of the northwestern Junggar Basin (northwest China): Evidence from hydrocarbon-bearing zoned calcite cement

Zhijun Jin,1 Jian Cao,2 Wenxuan Hu,3 Yijie Zhang,4 Suping Yao,5 Xulong Wang,6 Yueqian Zhang,7 Yong Tang,8 Xinpu Shi9

1Exploration and Production Research Institute, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (SINOPEC), Beijing 100083, China; [email protected]
2State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research (Nanjing University), Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China; [email protected]
3State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research (Nanjing University), Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China; [email protected]
4Research Institute of Exploration and Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China
5Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, China
6Research Institute of Exploration and Development, PetroChina Xinjiang Oilfield Company, Karamay, Xinjiang 834000, China
7Research Institute of Exploration and Development, PetroChina Xinjiang Oilfield Company, Karamay, Xinjiang 834000, China
8Research Institute of Exploration and Development, PetroChina Xinjiang Oilfield Company, Karamay, Xinjiang 834000, China
9Research Institute of Exploration and Development, PetroChina Xinjiang Oilfield Company, Karamay, Xinjiang 834000, China

ABSTRACT

Hydrocarbon-bearing zoned calcite cements occur widely in Jurassic–Cretaceous fault-zone cores and sandstone outcrops of the northwestern Junggar Basin (northwest China). Hydrocarbon-bearing bands alternate with nearly hydrocarbon-free bands at a micron scale. Analytical results from biomarker organic geochemistry, Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy, and trace-element geochemistry on these zoned cements suggest that at least three different types of fluids have participated in their formation. The first fluid type is probably primary, unmodified lacustrine formation water, from which the hydrocarbon-poor bands are formed and are characterized by Mg-rich calcite. The other two types of fluids include basinal fluids (e.g., hot hydrocarbon-bearing fluids) and meteoric water. The hydrocarbon-rich bands in which the hydrocarbons have been biodegraded and the Mn content is relatively high suggest a mixture of hydrocarbon-bearing basinal fluid and meteoric water. The alternating growth of hydrocarbon-bearing and hydrocarbon-free bands of calcite cements implies that the cement formation is episodic; it is related to alternating episodes of mixed petroleum-bearing fluid and unmodified primary formation waters, respectively. The fault appears to have been a mixing zone where seismic pumping during the movement of associated regional faults occurred. Thus, in the northwestern Junggar Basin, the micron-scale hydrocarbon-bearing zoned structure of the calcite cements is likely a reflection of episodic petroleum fluid migration in fault zones.

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