MESOZOIC THERMAL EVENTS IN CENTRAL LOWER YANGTZE AREA AND IMPACTS ON HYDROCARBON GENERATION OF MARINE SOURCE ROCKS

Abstract

Temperature is a key parameter of controlling hydrocarbon generation of source rocks. Elevated temperature resulted from tectonothermal events may significantly affect hydrocarbon generation. Based on geology, fission track analysis, apatite U-Th/He and volcanic rock isotopic age data, it is found that there existed Indosinian (T₃-J₂) and Yanshanian (J₃-K₁) tectonothermal events in Lower Yangtze area and the sedimentary basins reached their peak heat flow at about 130∼110 Ma. The maximum heat flows obtained from thermal history reconstruction based on vitrinite reflectance are ∼94 mW·m^–2 and ∼78 mW·m^–2 in Jurong and Taixing areas respectively, with an increasing trend from east to west. Hydrocarbon generation history reconstruction based on the EASY%Ro model shows that the dominating gas generation periods of the Cambrian source rock are the Early Permian-Late Triassic and the Late Triassic-Early Cretaceous in Changzhou and Jurong areas respectively. Because of the dual effects from the foreland sediments deposited in T₃-J_1–2 and the magmatism thermal event in the Early Cretaceous, the marine source rocks reached their maximum temperature at the end of Early Cretaceous. The temperature of the marine source rocks was no longer elevated owing to the decreased heat flow since the Late Cretaceous, though, in some parts of the Jurong, Taixing and Changzhou areas, subsidence occurred and burial depth increased during the K2-E period. Therefore, the secondary hydrocarbon generation of the marine source rocks is not a widespread process in central Lower Yangtze area.