摘要 |
Black shales differ from conventional gas plays in that in most cases there exists minimal geological scale gas migration. Thus, it is difficult to perform accurate reservoir characterization using classic geophysical and geological techniques (i.e. seismic analysis, gravity anomalies, structural geology, etc.). The principal technique that has traditionally been applied to determine the genetic history of gases or other fluids in the Earth's crust is the analysis of carbon isotopic composition of hydrocarbon gases and carbon dioxide, which has significant gaps in differentiating thermal and migrational histories. The present invention describes a method to determine the genetic fingerprint (i.e. identify the source formation and migration histories) of hydrocarbon gases or other crustal fluids of a geological system at lower cost and greater accuracy than existing methods (carbon and hydrogen isotopes) by analyzing the intrinsic, atmospheric and radiogenic (i.e. 4He, 21Ne*, and 40Ar) noble gas composition of the fluids.
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