Meso-Neoproterozoic Geology and Petroleum Resources in China

576 Pages·2022·28.626 MB·English

by  Tieguan Wang

Springer Geology
Tieguan Wang
Meso-
Neoproterozoic
Geology and
Petroleum
Resources in China
Springer Geology
Series Editors
Yuri Litvin, Institute of Experimental Mineralogy, Moscow, Russia
Abigail Jiménez-Franco, Barcelona, Spain
Tatiana Chaplina, Institute of Problems in Mechanics, Russian Academy of
Sciences, Moscow, Russia
The book series Springer Geology comprises a broad portfolio of scientific books,
aiming at researchers, students, and everyone interested in geology. The series
includes peer-reviewed monographs, edited volumes, textbooks, and conference
proceedings. It covers the entire research area of geology including, but not limited
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structural geology, geomorphology, paleontology, and sedimentology.
Tieguan Wang
Meso-Neoproterozoic
Geology and Petroleum
Resources in China
Tieguan Wang
China University of Petroleum (Beijing)
Beijing, China
ISSN 2197-9545 ISSN 2197-9553 (electronic)
Springer Geology
ISBN 978-981-19-5665-2 ISBN 978-981-19-5666-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5666-9
Jointly published with Science Press
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Translation from the Chinese language edition: “zhongguo dongbu zhong-xin yuangujie dizhixue yu youqi
ziyuan” by Tieguan Wang, © Science Press 2016. Published by Science Press. All Rights Reserved.
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022
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This monograph is one of a series of
publications dedicated to the celebration of
the one hundredth anniversary of the
Geological Society of the founding of the
Geological Society of China.
The Geological Society of China
The Geological Society of China (GSC) was
founded in Beijing on February 3, 1922. It is
one of the four earliest national academic
societies in China. As a 4A social
organization in China and a member of the
International Union of Geological Sciences
(IUGS), GSC is incorporated under China
Science and Technology Association (CSTA).
The Society is the Chinese national learned
and professional society for geosciences with
a country-wide fellowship of more than
50,000 members, and constituted of 60
specialized commissions, research branches
and working councils, and provides
professional guidance to the 31 provincial
societies across the country.
Preface
Menchikoff (1949) and Pruvost (1951) initially proposed the stratigraphic term
“Infracambrian” involving the strata that underlay the lower limit of known trilobites-
bearing Cambrian formations, but unconformably overlay generally metamorphosed
basement, which includes Meso-Neoproterozoic plus partial Lower Cambrian strata.
Until 1950s, it was generally accepted that sedimentary rocks of Infracambrian or
Precambrian age located within basins, geosynclines and platforms could not contain
hydrocarbon deposits. The absence of pre-Palaeozoic Era life in these Infracambrian
stratigraphic column was the most often presented reason why Precambrian terranes
should be ignored by the petroleum geologist (Dickes, 1986).
For recent more than half a century, along with the research advances on the
Early Earth life, the Meso-Neoproterozoic biodiversity has been verified and the
scientific evidence of material basis provided for the Meso-Neoproterozoic petroleum
prospectivity available. Meanwhile, the global Meso-Neoproterozoic geology has
made a great step forward, and the significant breakthrough discoveries were achieved
in petroleum exploration. As it turns out, the Infracambrian sedimentary strata are
not only indeed rich in organic matter, but also contain numerous oil and/or gas seeps,
bituminous sands/sandstone and asphalt veins. Up to present totally dozens of oil-
and/or gas-fields are found in some areas of the world, such as the Siberia Craton
in Russia, the Chuanzhong Uplift in China, Oman and Indian Basins, etc., where
the geological reserves of oil, condensate and/or gas can be individually up to a few
hundred million tons to thousand million tons of oil equivalent, and the daily output
of individual gas well as high as more than one million cubic meters.
Currently, the Meso-Neoproterozoic oil and gas resources have caused more atten-
tion of international geological circle, so that a series of special international confer-
ences and related workshops on the Meso-Neoproterozoic geology and petroleum
system were held, and the conference proceedings published, which have aroused
more concerns of international petroleum geologists and explorationists on the
Infracambrian geology and petroleum resources.
The Meso-Neoproterozoic sequences are very well developed and more
completely preserved in China, and the Meso-Neoproterozoic stratigraphy was
earlier studied by Chinese geologists in the world; e.g., Lee and Chao (1924) and
vii
viii Preface
Kao et al. (1934) originally investigated and divided the outcropped “Sinian” strati-
graphic sections, respectively, at the Yangtze Gorges in Hubei, South China, and
at the Jixian in Tianjin, North China. Since then, both sections became the impor-
tant reference sections for the international Precambrian stratigraphic correlation
over quite a long period of time. Particularly, since 1960s on, Chinese geologists
have achieved significant progresses in various geoscientific disciplines and inter-
disciplines, such as Meso-Neoproterozoic biostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy,
chronostratigraphy, palaeooceanography, palaeoglaciology, Cambrian biological
explosion event, activistic tectono-palaeogeography as well as petroleum geology
and geochemistry. As far as sedimentary stratigraphic sequences are concerned, a
uniform Chinese Meso-Neoproterozoic stratigraphic framework, including seven
system-level stratigraphic units, i.e., Changchengian (Pt 1), Jixianian (Pt 2), Xiama-
2 2
ling Formation (Pt 3x) (in North China), Qingbaikouan (Pt 1), Nanhuan (Pt 2) and
2 3 3
Sinian (Pt 3) (in South China) in ascending order, as well as the stratigraphic
3
correlation of equivalent formations, are established, which would be favorable
to the research and assessment of oil and gas resources within the new Meso-
Neoproterozoic stratigraphic framework. Moreover, the palaeooceanographic, sedi-
mentopalaeogeographic and regional tectonic studies would also be conducive to the
approach and understanding of the generation, evolution and preservation mecha-
nisms of Meso-Neoproterozoic petroleum resources and of the development setting
of source-reservoir-seal bed assemblages.
Especially, a series of Meso-Neoproterozoic oil and gas have been discovered one
after another, i.e., the Weiyuan Gasfield with gas reserve of 408.61 ×108 m3 (P1) from
1942 to 1965, the large-scale Longmenshan asphaltic veins with prognostic asphalt
reserve ca. 8 × 106 m3 during 1966–2015, the numerous Yanliao “live” oil-seeps,
asphalt, bituminous sands/sandstone and associated fossil-oil-reservoirs in 1978–
1979 and 2007–2010 and the Anyue Gasfield plus associated fossil-oil-reservoirs
containing gas geological reserves of 8488 × 108 m3 (P1) and ca . 1.2× 1012
m3 (3P) during 2011–2016, which have constantly encouraged Chinese petroleum
geologists and explorationists to keep on the exploring of Infracambrian petroleum
resources. Compared with international similar studies, however, the Chinese Meso-
Neoproterozoic research would face not only the older strata and a great geolog-
ical age span over 1.3 Ga, but also quite a large area of stratigraphic distribution
under the complicated tectonic and/or highly thermo-evolutional settings in China,
resulting in more difficulties for indigenous oil and gas preservation and explo-
ration. Consequently, how to evaluate the spatial and temporal distribution of Chinese
Meso-Neoproterozoic petroleum resources would be an immediate problem.
Therefore, the research of Chinese Meso-Neoproterozoic oil and gas resources
would concurrently contain the advantages of more completely developed strata and
previous profound scientific accumulation, the serious challenge of more compli-
cated geological conditions and thus the wider opportunities of scientific innovation.
In such a context, the 444th Xiangshan Science Conference was held in Beijing on
November 13–15, 2012, and its proceeding, entitled Meso-Neoproterozoic Geology
and Petroleum Resources in East China (Chinese version, Sun Shu and Wang Tieguan
eds.), was published by Science Press, Beijing, in 2016. Since then, on the advises
Preface ix
of Chinese colleagues and readers, and in order to facilitate international academic
exchanges, the present editor invited some authors to update, recompile and rewrite
each related chapters of a new monograph entitled Meso-Neoproterozoic Geology
and Petroleum Resources in China (English version), and by comparison with the
Chinese version (2016), the English monograph only involves three Meso- and/or
Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins, i.e., the North China and the Yangtze Cratons as
well as the Tarim Block in China, while the Meso-Neoproterozoic geology includes
the tectonic division, chronostratigraphic framework, stratigraphic sequences and
dividing history, palaeoglaciology, special Neoproterozoic palaeooceanographic
environments and magmatism. In addition, the petroleum geology-geochemistry of
Anyue-Weiyuan Gasfields, the Longmenshan asphaltic veins and the Yanliao oil-
seeps, bituminous sands/sandstone and associated fossil-oil-reservoirs are discussed
in detail.
The publication of this book coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of
the Geological Society of China. As one of the four earliest academic organizations
in China, the Geological Society was founded on the February 3, 1922. Therefore, the
present authors dedicated this monograph to the 100th anniversary of the Geological
Society of China. Meanwhile, the monograph is also in memory of the late academi-
cian Sun Shu (1933–2018) in Chinese Academy of Sciences, who was a celebrated
geologist and the one of two co-editors for the Chinese version.
This monograph would have been very difficult to achieve without the full cooper-
ation of numerous co-authors, and the book is far better for their contributions, thanks,
in no particular order, to Mingguo Zhai, Pingan Peng, Xianhua Li, Maoyan Zhu
(Chinese Academy of Sciences), Linzhi Gao, Pengjiu Liu (Chinese Academy
of Geological Sciences), Shixing Zhu (Tianjin Institute of Geology and Mineral
Resources), Jinhu Du, Keyou Han, Shuichang Zhang [China National Petroleum
Corporation (CNPC)], Li Su (China University of Geosciences), Shunshe Luo
(Yangtze University), Ningning Zhong, Daofu Son (China University of Petroleum-
Beijing) and their research groups.
Beijing, China Tieguan Wang
January 2022 Academician in Chinese Academy
of Sciences; Professor in China
University of Petroleum, Beijing
References
Dickes AB (1986) Precambrian as a hydrocarbon exploration target. Geosci Wisconsin 11:5–7
Kao CS, Hsiug YH, Kao P (1934) Preliminary notes on Sinian stratigraphy of North China. Bull
Geolog Soc China 13:243–288.
Lee LS, Chao YT (1924) Geology of the Gorge district of the Yangtze (from Ichang to Tzeckuei)
with special reference to the development of the Gorges. Bull Geolog Soc China 3(3–4):351–
391