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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
Abstract
AAPG Bulletin, V.
DOI: 10.1306/08022321011
Hypogenic karstic cavities formed by tectonic-driven fluid mixing in the Ordovician carbonates from the Tarim Basin, northwestern China
Lei Jiang,1 Anjiang Shen,2 Zhanfeng Qiao,3 Anping Hu,4 Zhaohui Xu,5 Heng Zhang,6 Bo Wan,7 and Chunfang Cai8
1Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Institutions of Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; College of Resources and Environment, Yangtze University, Wuhan, China; [email protected]
2PetroChina Hangzhou Research Institute of Geology, Hangzhou, China; China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Key Laboratory of Carbonate Reservoir, Hangzhou, China; [email protected]
3PetroChina Hangzhou Research Institute of Geology, Hangzhou, China; CNPC Key Laboratory of Carbonate Reservoir, Hangzhou, China; [email protected]
4PetroChina Hangzhou Research Institute of Geology, Hangzhou, China; CNPC Key Laboratory of Carbonate Reservoir, Hangzhou, China; [email protected]
5RIPED, PetroChina, Beijing, China; Research Institute of Exploration and Development, Qinghai Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Kunlunzhonglu Qilizhen Dunhuang, Gansu, China; [email protected]
6School of Earth Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China; [email protected]
7State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; [email protected]
8Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Institutions of Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Enhanced hydrogeologic circulations promoted by tectonics are commonly linked to karstic cavity formation in carbonate rocks, providing superb reservoirs for hosting energy resources (i.e., hydrocarbon and geothermal) in sedimentary basins. Predicting such cavern reservoirs in the deep subsurface is difficult mainly due to uncertainties in timing the tectonics and characterizing their associated fluids, which hamper the related hydrocarbon exploration. By combining carbonate U-Pb chronology, geochemistry, and seismic data analyses of fracture and cave-filling carbonates in cavern reservoirs from the Ordovician units of the Tarim Basin, northwestern China, the current study sought new evidence for fluid activities related to tectonics. Crucially, carbonate U-Pb ages confirm that these karstification events were closely related to syn- and/or postmineralization faulting by local tectonics. Geochemistry signatures in the authigenic minerals of fractures further suggest that the episodically developed meteoric water mixed with deep basinal brine. The carbonate dissolution rate might have been markedly enhanced by active hydrologic circulation and fluids mixing or even the formation of sulfuric acid, thus promoting the formation of karstic cavities that was closely related to the deep-rooted fractures and faults. This study highlights the indispensable role of hypogenic karstification in the formation of cavern carbonate reservoirs in the Ordovician units of the Tarim Basin and the outcome from this new contribution may provide useful guidelines for hydrocarbon exploration in the basin and other global analogues.
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