Sequence Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Oil Shale Deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Implications for the Geological Optimization of In Situ Oil Shale Conversion Processing

The Songliao Basin contains some of the largest volumes of oil shales in China; however, these energy sources are located in areas covered by arable land, meaning that the best way of exploiting them is likely to be environmentally friendly in situ conversion processing (ICP). Whether the oil shales...

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Main Authors: Penglin Zhang, Yinbo Xu, Qingtao Meng, Zhaojun Liu, Jiaqiang Zhang, Lin Shen, Shuaihua Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-06-01
Series:Energies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/11/2964
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author Penglin Zhang
Yinbo Xu
Qingtao Meng
Zhaojun Liu
Jiaqiang Zhang
Lin Shen
Shuaihua Zhang
author_facet Penglin Zhang
Yinbo Xu
Qingtao Meng
Zhaojun Liu
Jiaqiang Zhang
Lin Shen
Shuaihua Zhang
author_sort Penglin Zhang
collection DOAJ
description The Songliao Basin contains some of the largest volumes of oil shales in China; however, these energy sources are located in areas covered by arable land, meaning that the best way of exploiting them is likely to be environmentally friendly in situ conversion processing (ICP). Whether the oil shales of the Songliao Basin in the Qingshankou Formation are suitable for ICP remain controversial. In this paper, through sequence stratigraphic correlations, three main thick oil shale layers (N1, N2, and N3) of the Sequence1 (Sq1) unit in the first member of Qingshankou Formation (K<sub>2</sub>qn<sup>1</sup>) are confirmed as consistently present throughout the Southeastern Uplift region of the basin. The spectral trend attributes reflect that the lake reached a maximum flood surface of the K<sub>2</sub>qn<sup>1</sup> in N2 oil shale layer, and the total organic carbon (TOC) and Fischer assay (FA) oil yield are significantly increasing. The N2 and N3 oil shale layers were deposited in a high lake level environment associated with ingressions of ocean water. The oil shale in these layers with the characteristics of high TOC (maximum of 23.9 wt %; average of 7.2 wt %), abundance of aquatic organic matter (OM) (maximum hydrogen index (HI) of 1080.2 mg/g; average of 889.9 mg/g) and carbonate contents (maximum of 29.5%; average of 15.4%). The N2 and N3 oil shale layers have higher brittleness index (BI) values (generally 40–50%), larger cumulative thicknesses (maximum of 13.3 m; average of 12.0 m), and much higher source potential index (SPI) values (0.92 and 0.88 tHC/m<sup>2</sup>, respectively) than the N1 oil shale layer within Sq1 transgressive system tracts (TST), indicating that the N2 and N3 layers are prospective targets for ICP. In addition, oil shales buried to depths of <1000 m have strong hydrocarbon generation capacities that make them suitable for ICP.
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spelling doaj.art-be02a03cce66461a960be62152855ce12023-11-20T03:20:24ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732020-06-011311296410.3390/en13112964Sequence Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Oil Shale Deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Implications for the Geological Optimization of In Situ Oil Shale Conversion ProcessingPenglin Zhang0Yinbo Xu1Qingtao Meng2Zhaojun Liu3Jiaqiang Zhang4Lin Shen5Shuaihua Zhang6The Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil and Gas Geology, China Geological Survey, Oil and Gas Survey, China Geological Survey, Beijing 100083, ChinaThe Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil and Gas Geology, China Geological Survey, Oil and Gas Survey, China Geological Survey, Beijing 100083, ChinaThe Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil and Gas Geology, China Geological Survey, Oil and Gas Survey, China Geological Survey, Beijing 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory for Oil Shale and Paragenetic Minerals of Jilin Province, College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130000, ChinaThe Key Laboratory of Unconventional Oil and Gas Geology, China Geological Survey, Oil and Gas Survey, China Geological Survey, Beijing 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory for Oil Shale and Paragenetic Minerals of Jilin Province, College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130000, ChinaKey Laboratory for Oil Shale and Paragenetic Minerals of Jilin Province, College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130000, ChinaThe Songliao Basin contains some of the largest volumes of oil shales in China; however, these energy sources are located in areas covered by arable land, meaning that the best way of exploiting them is likely to be environmentally friendly in situ conversion processing (ICP). Whether the oil shales of the Songliao Basin in the Qingshankou Formation are suitable for ICP remain controversial. In this paper, through sequence stratigraphic correlations, three main thick oil shale layers (N1, N2, and N3) of the Sequence1 (Sq1) unit in the first member of Qingshankou Formation (K<sub>2</sub>qn<sup>1</sup>) are confirmed as consistently present throughout the Southeastern Uplift region of the basin. The spectral trend attributes reflect that the lake reached a maximum flood surface of the K<sub>2</sub>qn<sup>1</sup> in N2 oil shale layer, and the total organic carbon (TOC) and Fischer assay (FA) oil yield are significantly increasing. The N2 and N3 oil shale layers were deposited in a high lake level environment associated with ingressions of ocean water. The oil shale in these layers with the characteristics of high TOC (maximum of 23.9 wt %; average of 7.2 wt %), abundance of aquatic organic matter (OM) (maximum hydrogen index (HI) of 1080.2 mg/g; average of 889.9 mg/g) and carbonate contents (maximum of 29.5%; average of 15.4%). The N2 and N3 oil shale layers have higher brittleness index (BI) values (generally 40–50%), larger cumulative thicknesses (maximum of 13.3 m; average of 12.0 m), and much higher source potential index (SPI) values (0.92 and 0.88 tHC/m<sup>2</sup>, respectively) than the N1 oil shale layer within Sq1 transgressive system tracts (TST), indicating that the N2 and N3 layers are prospective targets for ICP. In addition, oil shales buried to depths of <1000 m have strong hydrocarbon generation capacities that make them suitable for ICP.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/11/2964sequence stratigraphyhydrocarbon generation potentialrock brittlenessinsitu conversion processingSongliao Basin
spellingShingle Penglin Zhang
Yinbo Xu
Qingtao Meng
Zhaojun Liu
Jiaqiang Zhang
Lin Shen
Shuaihua Zhang
Sequence Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Oil Shale Deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Implications for the Geological Optimization of In Situ Oil Shale Conversion Processing
Energies
sequence stratigraphy
hydrocarbon generation potential
rock brittleness
insitu conversion processing
Songliao Basin
title Sequence Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Oil Shale Deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Implications for the Geological Optimization of In Situ Oil Shale Conversion Processing
title_full Sequence Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Oil Shale Deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Implications for the Geological Optimization of In Situ Oil Shale Conversion Processing
title_fullStr Sequence Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Oil Shale Deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Implications for the Geological Optimization of In Situ Oil Shale Conversion Processing
title_full_unstemmed Sequence Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Oil Shale Deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Implications for the Geological Optimization of In Situ Oil Shale Conversion Processing
title_short Sequence Stratigraphy and Geochemistry of Oil Shale Deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation of the Songliao Basin, NE China: Implications for the Geological Optimization of In Situ Oil Shale Conversion Processing
title_sort sequence stratigraphy and geochemistry of oil shale deposits in the upper cretaceous qingshankou formation of the songliao basin ne china implications for the geological optimization of in situ oil shale conversion processing
topic sequence stratigraphy
hydrocarbon generation potential
rock brittleness
insitu conversion processing
Songliao Basin
url https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/11/2964
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