Zheng Jian-jing

Ternary geochemical-tracing system in natural gas accumulation

The establishment of geochemical-tracing system of gas generation and accumulation is helpful to re-elucidating the gas migration and accumulation in time and space. To deduce the complex process of gas accumulation, a ternary geochemical-tracing system is set up, according to stable isotope inheritance of source rocks, kinetic fractionation of stable isotopes, time-accumulating effect of noble gas isotopes, mantle-derived volatile inheritance, and organic molecule inheritance of light hydrocarbons and thermally kinetic fractionation in their generation, in combination with the previous achievements of gas geochemistry and geochemical parameters of gas-source correlation. There are tight interactions for the geochemical parameters with much information about parent inheritance and special biomarkers, in which they are confirmed each other, reciprocally associated and preferentially used for the requirement so that we can use these geochemical parameters to effectively demonstrate the sources of natural gas, sedimentary environments and thermal evolution of source rocks, migration and accumulation of natural gas, and rearrangement of natural gas reservoirs. It is necessary for the ternary geochemical-tracing system to predict the formation of high efficient gas reservoir and their distribution in time and space.

Low-mature gases and typical low-mature gas fields in China

No natural gas pool of industrial importance could be formed at the low-evolution stage of organic matter. In the 1980s, on the basis of the development in exploration practice, the hypotheses of bio-thermo-catalytic transitional zone gases and early thermogenic gases were proposed. The lower-limit Ro values for the formation and accumulation of natural gases of industrial importance have been expanded to 0.3%–0.4%. In the light of the two-stage model established on the basis of carbon isotope fractionation in coal-type natural gases, the upper-limit Ro values have been set at 0.8%–1.0%. In terms of the geological practice in the low-mature gas zones and China’s main coal-type gas fields, it is feasible and proper to set the upper-limit Ro value of low-mature gases at 0.8%. Supper-large gas fields such as the Urengoy gas field in western Siberian Basin should belong to low-mature gas fields, of which the natural gas reserves account for more than 20% of the global proven reserves, providing strong evidence for the significance of such a type of resources. The proven natural gas reserves in the Turpan-Hami Basin of China have almost reached 1000 ×108 m3. The main source rocks in this area are the Jurassic Xishanyao Formation, which occurs as a suite of coal series strata. The corresponding thermal evolution indices (Ro) are mainly within the range of about 0.4%–0.8%, the δ13C1 values of methane vary between −44‰ and −39‰ (correspondingly Ro =0.6%–0.8%), and those of ethane are within the range of −29‰–−26‰, indicating that natural gases in the Turpan-Hami Basin should be designated to coal-type low-mature gases. The light hydrocarbon evolution indices of natural gases also fall within the area of low evolution while the precursor type of light hydrocarbons also shows the characteristics of the coal-type. The geological background, carbon isotopic composition and light hydrocarbon index all provide strong evidence suggesting that the proven natural gases in the Turpan-Hami Basin are low-mature gases. In China a gas field with the gas reserves reaching 300 ×108 m3 can be defined as a large gas field, and thus the proven low-mature gases in the Turpan-Hami Basin are equivalent to the reserves of three large gas fields. Its existence is of great significance in research on and exploration of low-mature gases in China.

Carbon isotopic characteristics of hydrocarbon gases from coal-measure source rocks—A thermal simulation experiment

Gaseous hydrocarbon geochemistry research through a thermal simulation experiment in combination with the natural evolution process in which natural gases were formed from coal-measure source rocks revealed that the δ13C1 values of methane vary from light to heavy along with the increase of thermal evolution degree of coal-measure source rocks, and the δ13C2 values of ethane range from −28.3‰ to −20‰ (PDB). δ13C2 value was −28‰ ± (R0 = 0.45% − 0.65%) at the lower thermal evolution stage of coal-measure source rocks. After the rocks entered the main hydrocarbon-generating stage (Ro = 0.65% − 1.50%), δ13C2 values generally varied within the range of −26‰ – −23‰ ±; with further thermal evolution of the rocks the carbon isotopes of ethane became heavier and heavier, but generally less than − 20‰The partial carbon isotope sequence inversion of hydrogen gases is a characteristic feature of mixing of natural gases of different origins. Under the condition of specially designated type of organic matter, hydrogen source rocks may show this phenomenon via their own evolution.In the lower evolution stages of the rocks, it is mainly determined by organic precursors that gaseous hydrocarbons display partial inversion of the carbon isotope sequence and the carbon isotopic values of ethane are relatively low. These characteristic features also are related to the geochemical composition of primary soluble organic matter.

Influences of water media on the hydrogen isotopic composition of natural gas/methane in the processes of gaseous hydrocarbon generation and evolution

The influences of water media on the hydrogen isotopic composition of organic-thermogenic natural gas were tested in three series of experiments on coal pyrolysis, with no water, deionized water (

Aromatic compounds in crude oils and source rocks and their application to oil–source rock correlations in the Tarim basin, NW China

\delta D_{H_2 O}

Geochemical characteristics of organic matter-rich strata of lower Cambrian in Tarim Basin and its origin

=−58‰), and seawater (

Characteristics of Carbon Isotopic Composition of Soluble Organic Components of Deep Source Rocks in Tarim Basin

\delta D_{H_2 O}

Characteristic and Dynamical Mechanism of Post-Collision Extensional Basins

=−4.8‰) added, respectively. The experimental results show that the productivities of H2 and CO2 obviously increased under hydrous conditions and that the productivity of CH4 also remarkably increased in the high-evolution phase of hydrous experiments. Water was involved in the chemical reaction of hydrocarbon generation, and then the hydrogen isotopic composition of methane was affected. There is a linear correlation between the hydrogen isotopic composition of methane and its productivity, as reflected in the three series of experiments. In the case of the same CH4 productivity, the hydrogen isotopic composition of the methane produced in anhydrous experiments was the heaviest, that of the methane produced in seawater-adding experiments came second, and that of the methane produced in deionized water-adding experiments was the lightest. The hydrogen isotopic composition of natural gas/methane is affected by the following factors: 1) the characteristics of hydrogen isotopic composition of organic matter in source rocks, 2) the thermal evolution extent of organic matter, and 3) fossil-water media in the natural gas-generation period. The experimental results show that the influence of the fossil-water medium in the natural gas-generation period was lower than that of the other factors.