A review of feldspar alteration and its geological significance in sedimentary basins: From shallow aquifers to deep hydrocarbon reservoirs

[1] Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar is applied to the coast of the Yellow River delta (YRD) in China. Like many deltas, the coastline of the YRD is dominated by aquaculture. Advanced Land Observation Satellite Phased Array L-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Envisat Advanced SAR data acquired between 2007 and 2011 show that subsidence rates are as high as 250 mm/y at aquaculture facilities, likely due to groundwater pumping. These rates exceed local and global average sea level rise by nearly 2 orders of magnitude and suggest that subsidence and associated relative sea level rise may present a significant hazard for Asian megadeltas.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/grl.50758

Land subsidence at aquaculture facilities in the Yellow River delta, China

Feldspar dissolution and precipitation of clays and quartz cements are important diagenetic reactions affecting reservoir quality evolution in sandstones with detrital feldspars. We examined two sets of sandstone reservoirs to determine whether the sandstone diagenetic systems were open or closed to the mass transfer of products from feldspar dissolution and its impact on reservoir quality. One of the reservoirs is the Eocene fan delta sandstone buried 2.5–4.0 km (1.5–2.5 mi) below sea level (BSL) in the Gaoliu (GL) area of the Nanpu sag, and the other is the Eocene subaqueous fan sandstone buried 1.5–4.5 km (1–2.8 mi) BSL in the Shengtuo (ST) area of the Dongying sag. Both sandstones consist mainly of lithic arkoses and feldspathic litharenites, and have secondary porosity formed by dissolution of feldspars. In the GL sandstones, the absolute amounts of authigenic clays and quartz cements (generally 125°C [257°F]). The low abundance of authigenic clays and quartz cements, and low pore-water salinity indicate that much of the , , and released from leached K-feldspars were exported from the GL sandstone system. And the extensive feldspar dissolution enhanced much porosity and permeability. In contrast, the ST sandstones with secondary pores formed by feldspar dissolution generally contain authigenic clays (kaolinite and illite) and quartz cements with almost identical volume of secondary pores. Kaolinite dominates in the ST sandstones at shallower depth (3.1 km [2 mi] BSL) where temperature exceeds 125°C (257°F). The presence of abundant clays and quartz cements indicates that and released from leached feldspars were retained in the ST sandstone system. The dominance of authigenic illite at greater depth indicates that sufficient should have been retained within the sandstones for occurrence of illitization of kaolinite and feldspars. Secondary porosity in thin sections can be up to 3%, but little porosity ( The diagenetic difference between the GL and the ST sandstones can be interpreted by assessing pore-water evolution in these two areas. The current pore waters with low salinity and negative hydrogen isotopic compositions in the GL sandstone system indicate the significant impact of meteoric water, whereas the current pore waters with high salinity and the paleofluids with positive oxygen isotopic compositions in the ST sandstone system indicate little trace of meteoric water. Access of meteoric freshwater to the GL area probably occurred during the late Oligocene to Neogene through widely developed faults in the Paleogene and Neogene strata. The low-salinity water could have been responsible for flushing of solutes derived from feldspar dissolution. As such, diagenesis in the GL sandstones is considered to have occurred in an open geochemical system, whereas with limited faults and high water salinity, the ST sandstones acted as a closed geochemical system where precipitation of kaolinite, illite, and quartz cements occurred following dissolution of feldspars.

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Feldspar dissolution, authigenic clays, and quartz cements in open and closed sandstone geochemical systems during diagenesis: Typical examples from two sags in Bohai Bay Basin, East China

Diagenesis and reservoir quality evolution of the Eocene sandstones in the northern Dongying Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, East China

Petroleum generation and charge history of the northern Dongying Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China: Insight from integrated fluid inclusion analysis and basin modelling

The Dongying depression in the Bohai Bay Basin is a young, prolific oil-producing basin in China. The gray to black mudstones, calcareous mudstones, and oil shales of the Eocene Shahejie Formation (Es3 and Es4) are the major source rocks that are primarily dominated by type I kerogens with a high total organic carbon of up to 18.6%. The Es3 interval is characterized by a sedimentation rate of up to 500 m/m.y. Widespread overpressures are present in the Eocene Es3 and Es4 intervals in the depression, with pressure coefficients up to 1.99 from drillstem tests. Among the sonic, resistivity, and density logs, only the sonic-log displays an obvious response to the overpressure from which the top of the overpressure can be clearly identified. Acoustic traveltime versus effective vertical stress analysis of more than 300 wells in the Dongying depression suggests that the acoustic traveltime of the normally pressured and overpressured mudstones is reduced with increasing vertical effective stress. Pore pressures are accurately predicted in the Dongying depression using an Eaton (1972) exponent of 2.0 by comparing the predicted pressure coefficients with measured pressure coefficients. Disequilibrium compaction has been previously proposed as the sole cause of the high-magnitude overpressures in the Eocene strata of the Dongying depression because of rapid deposition of fine-grained sediments. However, our data indicate that the overpressures are caused by oil generation from the source rocks within the Es3 and Es4 intervals. The overpressured sediments display a normal compaction as evidenced from the overpressured mudstones exhibiting no anomalously low density, the apparent lack of correlation between mudstone densities and effective vertical stress, and the overpressured reservoir sandstones showing no anomalous high-matrix porosities or anomalous geothermal gradient. The depths to the top of the overpressure intervals range from 2000 to 3000 m (6562–9843 ft) following closely source rock depths. All the overpressured reservoirs and source rocks have a minimum temperature of approximately 87C, and overpressured source rocks generally have vitrinite reflectance (Ro) values of 0.6% or higher. Overpressures are not found in the strata within which the Ro values are less than 0.5%. The overpressured reservoirs in the Es3 and Es4 intervals are predominantly oil saturated or oil bearing. Organic-rich source rocks with overpressures are capable of generating hydrocarbons and thus can maintain an abnormally high pressure. The calcite precipitation in the calcareous mudstones may have caused a significant reduction in porosity and permeability to form an effective pressure seal. The presence of widespread microfractures in the source rocks may relate to episodic expulsion of hydrocarbons or overpressure dissipation. Overpressures in the reservoir rocks are generated by the fluid transmission from the overpressured source rocks through active faulting and fracturing.

Sheng He

Papers

Oil generation as the dominant overpressure mechanism in the Cenozoic Dongying depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China