Geological conditions, genetic mechanisms and accumulation patterns of helium resources

作者：Shizhen Tao, Yiqing YANG, Yue Chen, Xiangbai LIU, Wei Yang, Jian Li, Yiping Wu, Xiaowan Tao, Jianrong Gao, Yanyan CHEN, Xiaobo Wang, Xiaozhi Wu, Xiuyan Chen, Qian Li, Jinhua Jia · 发表于：Petroleum Exploration and Development · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/s1876-3804(24)60039-x · 被引用次数：23 · 研究领域：Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena、Hydrocarbon exploration and reservoir analysis、Geological and Geophysical Studies

Based on the methodology for petroleum systems and through the anatomy and geochemical study of typical helium-rich gas fields, the geological conditions, genesis mechanisms, and accumulation patterns of helium resources in natural gas are investigated. Helium differs greatly from other natural gas resources in generation, migration, and accumulation. Helium is generated due to the slow alpha decay of basement U/Th-rich elements or released from the deep crust and mantle, and then migrates along the composite transport system to natural gas reservoirs, where it accumulates with a suitable carrier gas. Helium migration and transport are controlled by the transport system consisting of lithospheric faults, basement faults, sedimentary layer faults, and effective transport layers. Based on the analysis of the helium-gas-water phase equilibrium in underground fluids and the phase-potential coupling, three occurrence states, i.e. water-soluble phase, gas-soluble phase and free phase, in the process of helium migration and accumulation, and three migration modes of helium, i.e. mass flow, seepage, and diffusion, are proposed. The formation and enrichment of helium-rich gas reservoirs are controlled by three major factors, i.e. high-quality helium source, high-efficiency transport and suitable carrier, and conform to three accumulation mechanisms, i.e. exsolution and convergence, buoyancy-driven, and differential pressure displacement. The helium-rich gas reservoirs discovered follo...