The Zhuozishan coalfield
at the western margin of the
Ordos Basin
is one of the main coal-mining areas in China, and recent explorations
have revealed the great potential for coalbed methane (CBM) resources
in its Carboniferous and Permian strata. In this paper, the controlling
factors of CBM enrichment of the major coals are studied in this coalfield
and the CBM resources are estimated based on the analysis of the coal
petrology and compilation of literature data on the gas content. The
result of the coal petrology analysis of 10 samples shows that the
vitrinite content of No. 16 coal (71.9–77.3%) is higher than
that of No. 9 coal (59.1–65.1%), and the inertinite content
of No. 16 coal (18.9–23.5%) is lower than that of No. 9 coal
(30.1–34.9%). The R
o,max value
of No. 16 coal (1.18–1.35%) is higher than that of No. 9 coal
(1.04–1.13%), and both coals are of medium rank. Due to greater
thickness, deeper burial depth, and better coal petrology characteristics,
the No. 16 coal seam of the Taiyuan Formation is selected as the major
coal seam for CBM resource estimation, which has a thickness of 1–6
m and a present-day burial depth of 200–1100 m. The gas content
of this coal seam varies mostly between 4 and 10 m3/t.
Positive correlation between the coal seam thickness as well as present-day
burial depth and the gas content suggests that the thick and deeply
buried coal seams are favorable for CBM preservation. The ash yield
shows an insignificant negative correlation with the gas content,
indicating that ash yield is not an important factor for CBM enrichment.
The syncline hinges located below the thrust zones show higher gas
content due to greater burial depths. In contrast, the anticline hinges
at shallower depths tend to have lower gas contents. Based on the
combined information about sedimentary environments, structural patterns,
and hydrogeology, two CBM accumulation models are put forward in the
study area that include synclinehydraulic plugging below thrust
nappe and faultconfined aquifer plugging. The volumetric method
is used to estimate the CBM resources, and results indicate that the
CBM resource in the whole coalfield is 428.78 × 108 m3, and the total resource abundance is 0.74 × 108 m3/km2. Two favorable areas for the
CBM exploration are optimized based on the resource amount and resource
abundance. One of the favorable areas is the Kabuqi area in the northern
part of the coalfield, and another is the Baiyunwusu area in the central
part of the coalfield. These two areas will be the CBM priority exploration
areas at the western margin of the Ordos Basin.