A new genetic mechanism of natural gas accumulation

Natural gas of organic origin is primarily biogenic or thermogenic; however, the formation of natural gas is occasionally attributed to hydrothermal activity. The Precambrian dolomite reservoir of the Anyue gas field is divided into three stages. Dolomite-quartz veins were precipitated after two earlier stages of dolomite deposition. Fluid inclusions in the dolomite and quartz are divided into pure methane (P-type), methane-bearing (M-type), aqueous (W-type), and solid bitumen-bearing (S-type) inclusions. The W-type inclusions within the quartz and buried dolomite homogenized between 107 °C and 223 °C. Furthermore, the trapping temperatures and pressures of the fluid (249 °C to 319 °C and 1619 bar to 2300 bar, respectively) are obtained from the intersections of the isochores of the P-type and the coeval W-type inclusions in the quartz. However, the burial history of the reservoir indicates that the maximum burial temperature did not exceed 230 °C. Thus, the generation of the natural gas was not caused solely by the burial of the dolomite reservoir. The results are also supported by the presence of paragenetic pyrobitumen and MVT lead-zinc ore. A coupled system of occasional invasion by hydrothermal fluids and burial of the reservoir may represent a new genetic model for natural gas accumulation in this gas field.