Depositional Environment and Organic Matter Enrichment of Early Cambrian Niutitang Black Shales in the Upper Yangtze Region, China

Peng Xia, Fang Hao, Jinqiang Tian, Wenxi Zhou, Yong Fu, Chuan Guo, Zhen Yang, Kunjie Li and Ke Wang
Additional contact information
Peng Xia: Resource and Environmental Engineering College, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Fang Hao: School of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao 266580, China
Jinqiang Tian: School of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao 266580, China
Wenxi Zhou: Resource and Environmental Engineering College, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Yong Fu: Resource and Environmental Engineering College, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Chuan Guo: Resource and Environmental Engineering College, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Zhen Yang: Resource and Environmental Engineering College, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Kunjie Li: Huaxin Gas Group Company Limited, Taiyuan 030026, China
Ke Wang: Resource and Environmental Engineering College, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 13, 1-21

Abstract: Natural gas generation is the result of organic matter degradation under the effects of biodegradation and thermal degradation. Early Cambrian black shales in the Upper Yangtze Region are rich in organic matter and have shown great shale gas potentiality in recent years. Nevertheless, the enrichment mechanism and distribution of organic matter in these black shales between different sedimentary settings, such as intra-platform basin, slope, and deep basin, are still poorly understood. In this paper, based mainly on elemental geochemistry, a comprehensive study of the marine redox conditions, primary productivity, sedimentation rate, terrigenous input, hydrothermal activity, and water mass restrictions was conducted on the Early Cambrian Niutitang black shale in the Upper Yangtze Region. Our data showed that an intra-platform basin received a higher terrigenous input and that it deposited under more restricted conditions than the slope and deep basin settings. The primary productivity in the slope and deep basin settings was higher than that in the intra-platform basin setting. In the intra-platform basin, the productivity increased from its inner part to its margin. For the slope and deep basin settings, the high paleoproductivity generated large amounts of organic matter and its preservation was synergistically affected by the redox conditions. In contrast to the slope and deep basin, the preservation of organic matter in the inner part of the intra-platform basin was mainly controlled by redox conditions because the paleoproductivity in it was much lower than in the slope and deep basin settings. The intra-platform basin margin was the most favorable area for accumulating organic matter.

Keywords: Early Cambrian; paleoenvironment; black shale; shale gas; Southern China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/13/4551/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/13/4551/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:13:p:4551-:d:844803

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().