Paleogeographic reconstruction of the West Siberian basin during the Jurassic is based on a variety of criteria used to evaluate the depositional environments (paleontological, sedimentological, geochemical, etc.). Extensive geochemical data on the hydrocarbon biomarkers in bitumen from organic matter are first used to constrain the depositional setting of this large region over a span of about 45 Myr. The study provides a detailed description of paleogeographic maps compiled for the main epochs of the Jurassic period with the reconstruction of paleorelief and differentiation of potential external and internal sources of terrigenous material. The paleogeographic reconstructions of the basin are considered with implications for the formation of regional seals and reservoir units. A special emphasis is given to interpretation of organic matter type and depositional setting of the major oil and gas source rocks. The study infers a paleogeographic control on the stratigraphic and areal distribution of hydrocarbon accumulations in the basin.

In this study, we propose a new classification of rocks of the Bazhenov Formation based on the proportions of four principal components (siliceous, clay, and carbonate minerals and organic matter (kerogen)) of mostly biochemogenic and, to a lesser extent, allothigenic origin. The classification is based on the results of mineralogical and chemical analyses of more than 400 core samples from 15 wells drilled within the Bazhenov Formation, West Siberian petroleum basin. Four major classes of rocks, divided into 16 subclasses, have been recognized. The terms mixtite and kerogen-rich rock are introduced. Mixtites (biochemogenic mixtites) are defined as a class of rocks containing less than 50% of each component, including kerogen. It was shown that the most common rocks of the Bazhenov Formation are siliceous-argillaceous, kerogen-siliceous, and kerogen-argillaceous-siliceous mixtites and kerogen silicites, which together account for ~65% of all samples analyzed. The proposed approach can be used to study organic-rich black shales in different sedimentary basins worldwide.

We studied the distribution of organic carbon in rocks of the Bazhenov horizon, a unique object of predominantly biogenic sedimentation in the West Siberian sedimentary basin. The contents of organic carbon in the rocks were determined using the data from 4094 core analyses and core-log relationships derived from 48,500 radioactive- and electrical-log measurements. For the Bazhenov and Tutleima Formations, both approaches gave the same results. The average content of organic carbon in the rocks is 7.7%. These data were used to compile a detailed map of the distribution of organic carbon contents in sedimentary rocks of the basin. It was shown that the average organic carbon content in the rocks increases from 2–4% on the periphery of the basin to 10–12% in its central, deepest part. The distribution of Corg values in the basin is highly asymmetric. The highest Corg values are observed in the southwestern part of the basin interior, where beds with > 10% Corg range in thickness from 5 to 12–15 m. In sections, the highest Corg values are observed in their middle and upper parts, composed predominantly of silicites and mixtites enriched in biogenic silica.

This study provides a comprehensive sedimentologic analysis of the J2 prospective horizon (Middle–Late Bathonian) in the central West Siberian Basin. Based on the extensive dataset, it was established that structural complexity of this horizon is largely caused by a variety of depositional environments. Sedimentary facies of this horizon pass upward from widespread continental at the base, through deltaic or coastal-continental, to marginal-marine at the top. Change in the paleohypsometry of the study area reflects the distribution of depositional environments, in terms of the proportions of continental, transitional, and marine deposits. The study also shows that facies variability and change in depositional settings can have a significant control on reservoir quality, as well as its vertical and lateral distribution. Using a combination of detailed GDE reconstructions, structure contour mapping on the top and base of the J2 horizon, analyses of well test data, probability of reservoir presence, distribution of average porosity and permeability within different subenvironments, a composite map showing variations in the reservoir effectiveness in the J2 horizon was generated.

—This is a pioneering study on lateral zoning of groundwater chemistry and authigenic mineralogy in the Oxfordian regional reservoir of the Nadym–Taz interfluve. According to thermodynamic calculations, the nonequilibrium–equilibrium water–rock system lacks equilibrium with primary magmatic minerals, such as albite, anorthite, and microcline, though the water is moderately saline (up to 63.3 g/L) and has been in interaction with rocks for ~165 million years. Authigenic minerals form continuously and successively (kaolinite–montmorillonite–illite–micas–chlorite–albite–microcline) from waters that have certain рH and contents of SiO2, Al, Na, K, Ca, and Mg. The equilibrium of groundwater with primary aluminosilicate minerals impinges on a carbonate barrier, and almost all rocks are more or less strongly carbonatized. Authigenic mineral assemblages from the southern Nadym–Taz interfluve include kaolinite unlike those from the northern part of the region, where albitization is more common. Authigenesis generally decays in the eastern direction.