Gas charging and accumulation in deep coal measures of Daning-Jixian Block, Ordos Basin: insights from fluid inclusions and basin modeling

Abstract

Unconventional natural gas in deep coal measures has become an exploration and research hotspot in recent years. The exploration breakthrough of deep coalbed methane and tight sandstone gas in Daning-Jixian Block in the eastern Ordos Basin has revealed huge resource potential and commercial prospects in the deep Upper Paleozoic Carboniferous-Permian coal measures. However, the ambiguity of gas accumulation in deep coal measures has restricted exploration and development. Based on a series of tests for fluid inclusions, including petrographic observation, Raman spectroscopy analysis, and microthermometry, combined with the burial-thermal evolution history recovered from basin modeling, this study aims to clarify the timing of gas accumulation in deep coal measures. The results show four types of secondary fluid inclusions in the deep coal measure sandstone layers of Daning-Jixian Block, including CH₄-rich inclusions, C₂₊ hydrocarbons-bearing inclusions, CO₂-bearing inclusions, and aqueous inclusions. The main formation stage of fluid inclusions corresponded to the mesodiagenesis stage of the deep coal measure sandstone, and the coeval assemblages of fluid inclusions vary due to the recording of gas charging in different maturity stages of coal measure source rocks. This study suggests that tight sandstone gas accumulation in deep coal measures was a continuous charging process with one period-multiple episodes in Daning-Jixian Block, and occurred mainly during the Early Cretaceous (137−127 Ma BP). The results of this study contribute to further understanding of gas accumulation mechanisms in deep coal measures.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

gas accumulation / deep coal measures / fluid inclusions / basin modeling / Daning-Jixian Block

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