Thermal evolution and shale gas potential estimation of the Wealden and Posidonia Shale in NW‐Germany and the Netherlands: a 3D basin modelling study

Abstract

Sedimentary basins in NW-Germany and the Netherlands represent potential targets for shale gas exploration in Europe due to the presence of Cretaceous (Wealden) and Jurassic (Posidonia) marlstones/shales as well as various Carboniferous black shales. In order to assess the regional shale gas prospectivity of this area, a 3D high-resolution petroleum system model has been compiled and used to reconstruct the source-rock maturation based on calibrated burial and thermal histories. Different basal heat flow scenarios and accordingly, different high-resolution scenarios of erosional amount distribution were constructed, incorporating all major uplift events that affected the study area. The model delivers an independent 3D reappraisal of the tectonic and thermal history that controlled the differential geodynamic evolution and provides a high-resolution image of the maturity distribution and evolution throughout the study area and the different basins. Pressure, temperature and TOCdependent gas storage capacity and gas contents of the Posidonia Shale and Wealden were calculated based on experimentally derived Langmuir sorption parameters and newly compiled source-rock thickness maps indicating shale gas potential of the Lower Saxony Basin, southern Gifhorn Trough and West Netherlands Basin.

Geological models of gas in place of the Longmaxi shale in Southeast Chongqing, South China

“…A greater pressure is needed for the excess adsorption to approach zero for the adsorption at a higher temperature. All these characteristics of methane adsorption on our samples are consistent with those of coals and shales reported in the literature (e.g., Bae and Bhatia, 2006;Sakurovs et al, 2007;Pini et al, 2010;Rexer et al, 2013;Gensterblum et al, 2014;Bruns et al, 2016). Fig.…”

“…It is should be noticed that the moisture in shales could reduce their capacity of methane adsorption (Chalmers and Bustin, 2008;Busch and Gensterblum, 2011;Gasparik et al, 2014a;Gensterblum et al, 2014), therefore the geological extrapolation based on the dry adsorption data should be regarded as a maximum scenario (Bruns et al, 2016).…”

“…While a single isotherm of methane adsorption provides some basic information on methane adsorption Bustin, 2007, 2009;Chalmers and Bustin, 2008;Weniger et al, 2010;Chareonsuppanimit et al, 2012;Gasparik et al, 2012), multiple isotherms at a range of temperatures are quite necessary to simulate methane adsorption with depth under geological conditions (Zhang et al, 2012b;Gensterblum et al, 2013;Rexer et al, 2013;Gasparik et al, 2014a;Ji et al, 2014;Bruns et al, 2016).…”

Characterization of methane adsorption on overmature Lower Silurian–Upper Ordovician shales in Sichuan Basin, southwest China: Experimental results and geological implications

“…to be 424 or 373 mg/cm 3 , and then assuming that both the ρ ads and n 0 values are constant at different temperatures (e.g., Gensterblum et al (2014b) and Bruns et al (2016)). Compared with the fitting quality when taking absorbed methane density as a variable, a relatively poor fitting was observed in the low pressure range, but a fairly good fitting in the high pressure range (Table 4; Fig.…”

Controlling factors on source rock development: implications from 3D stratigraphic modeling of Triassic deposits in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin

“…In the past decade, with the development of shale plays, there was a renewed interest in describing and characterizing in greater details fine-grained and organic-rich deposits (Bruns et al, 2015;Chalmers and Bustin, 2012;Jarvie 2012a,b;Løseth et al, 2011;Passey et al, 2010). Recent studies show that the location of organic accumulations results from the interplay of three controlling factors: primary productivity, preservation and dilution (Bohacs et al, 2005;Slatt and Rodriguez, 2012) and that these factors are strongly impacted by the regional geodynamic settings (Trabucho-Alexandre et al, 2012).…”