Characteristics and origin of underpressure system in the Shiwu Fault Depression, south-east Songliao Basin, China |
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| Authors: | He Middleton & Tang |
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| Institution: | Centre of Excellence in Petroleum Geology, School of Applied Geology, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia,;China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China |
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| Abstract: | The vertical characteristics of underpressure, pore fluids and sealing condition in the Shiwu Fault Depression, south‐east Songliao Basin, are investigated. Based on the pore pressure data from drill stem tests collected from 40 wells, the vertical distribution of pore pressure in this depression consists of a shallow hydrostatic pressure system and a deep underpressure system. The observed low pressures range from about 4 to 10 MPa in the depth interval of about 1550–2800 m. The pore water chemistry data document that the ionic evaporite trends of the pore water in the underpressure zone are different from overlying sediments in the hydrostatically pressured section, indicating that the underpressure system is sealed. The study indicates that the depression has undergone rapid deposition in a rift period during the Cretaceous followed by a long‐term slow uplift and erosion in the Tertiary. On the basis of the modelled results of the abnormal pressure evolution in a typical cross‐section using a two‐dimensional numerical flow model, we believe that the predecessor of the underpressure system was an overpressure system. Since the end of the Cretaceous, the observed underpressure system has developed as a result of a geotemperature decrease ranging from 30 to 70 °C, owing to palaeoheat flow reduction and long‐term uplift and erosional cooling. The mudstones below a depth of 1550 m in the deep subnormal pressure system have small measured porosities ranging from 4% to 1.2% with calculated permeability of about 10?21–10?24 m2. The observed underpressure can be modelled if we assign permeabilities below 10?20 m2 with a linear reduction of geotemperature. The geotemperature decrease, in combination with very low permeability in the Lower Cretaceous mudstones, is therefore a possible origin for the formation of the underpressure system in this depression. |
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