Estimation of subsurface formation temperature in the Tarim Basin, northwest China: implications for hydrocarbon generation and preservation

Abstract

to identify the oil window in the source rocks, most of the uplifted areas in the basin are under favorable condition for oil generation and/or preservation, whereas the sags with thick sediments are favorable for gas generation and/ or preservation. We conclude that relatively low presentday geothermal regime and large burial depth of the source rocks in the Tarim Basin are favorable for hydrocarbon generation and preservation. In addition, it is found that the oil and gas fields discovered in the Tarim Basin are usually associated with relatively high-temperature anomalies, and the upward migration and accumulation of hot geofluids along faults as conduit from below could explain this coincidence. Accordingly, this thermal anomaly could be indicative of hydrocarbon exploration targets in the basin.

A Thermal Pulse Induced by a Permian Mantle Plume in the Tarim Basin, Northwest China: Constraints From Clumped Isotope Thermometry and In Situ Calcite U‐Pb Dating

“…(2012) and Liu et al. (2016). The calculated geothermal gradient G (in °C/km) is the average thermal gradient between the studied strata at depth of Z (km) with its current burial temperature T (°C) and the strata at depth of Z0 (km) (0.02 km in the Tarim Basin) with a constant burial temperature T 0 (°C) (12 °C in the Tarim Basin): …”

Thermal Structure Beneath the Tarim Craton and Its Tectonic Implications

“…As shown in Figure 6, the recently published surface heat flow in the Tarim and surrounding environs are sparsely and unevenly distributed with only 80 data numbers (Liu et al, 2016;Jiang et al, 2019). The newest updated heat flow map of continental China is presented by Jiang et al (2019), which shows a referable spatial distribution of heat flow for this study area, although the heat flow data remain scarce.…”

“…A high-resolution lithospheric structure imaged by Rayleigh-wave tomography was performed (Bao et al, 2015). Studies on the response of the lithosphere to tectonic processes, such as the thermal structure (Liu et al, 2016;Jiang et al, 2019) and effective elastic thickness (Chen et al, 2013), were developed. Furthermore, since the entire Tarim aeromagnetic survey was initiated in 1958, many surveys focusing on the Tarim Basin and its surrounding areas have been subsequently conducted to establish a structural framework to understand the hydrocarbon potential within this sedimentary basin (e.g., Wang et al, 2004;Xiong et al, 2013).…”

“…The depth of this surface depending on temperature can be accurately used to infer the regional thermal structure within the lithosphere. Generally, surficial heat flow variations have been used to infer the deep thermal structure (e.g., Liu et al, 2016). However, considering the influence of irregularly distributed measurements, shallow geothermal circulation, and local tectonic activity (e.g., Davies, 2013;Li and Wang, 2016;Andrés et al, 2018), the thermal regime can be better constrained overall via the CPD, which is derived from magnetic anomalies; the CPD is viewed as an alternative to circumvent the thermal configuration of crust and lithosphere (e.g., Tanaka, 2007).…”

Study on Fluid-Rock Interaction and Reuse of Flowback Fluid for Gel Fracturing in Desert Area

“…The target reservoir locates in the piedmont region of Tarim Basin, which is characteristic of desert environment, great reservoir depth (over 3000 m), and high reservoir temperature (approximately 140 ∘ C) [38][39][40]. To hydraulically fracture this reservoir, cross-linked guar was used as the fracturing fluid.…”