Deposition and diagenesis of the lacustrine-fluvial Cangfanggou Group (uppermost Permian to Lower Triassic), southern Junggar Basin, NW China: a contribution from sequence stratigraphy

• Published in: Journal of paleolimnology 1994-01, Vol.11 (1), p.67-90
• Main Authors: Tang, Zhaohui, Parnell, John, Ruffell, Alastair H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Freshwater
• ISSN: 0921-2728; 1573-0417
• DOI: 10.1007/BF00683271

The Junggar Basin in NW China contains lacustrine hydrocarbon source rocks which are among the highest quality of hydrocarbon potential in the world. Oil reservoirs in the basin are very substantial: target reservoirs span Carboniferous to Tertiary strata and include Permo-Triassic lacustrine and fluvial sandstones. The Junggar Basin was a foreland basin during the late Permian to Cenozoic, possibly with strike-slip tectonics at the southern margin during Mesozoic time. The Cangfanggou Group, as one of the major reservoirs, is well-exposed in the eastern part of the southern Junggar Basin. A measured outcrop section and a number of borehole logs coupled with resistivity logs were used to attempt sequence stratigraphic analysis. Detailed sedimentological studies on the outcrops and borehole cores have demonstrated that the Cangfanggou Group is characterized by alternating lacustrine and fluvial deposits. Four depositional sequences have been recognized. For each sequence, the basal boundary is marked by erosional truncation of fluvial channel conglomeratic sandstones in sharp contact with underlying lacustrine or floodplain mudstones. The top of each lowstand systems tract is normally overlain by the transition to lacustrine or maximum flooding surface. The transgressive systems tract is normally not identifiable at the basin margin, but was developed in the basinward area and characterized by interbedded fining-upward distal fluvial and shallow lacustrine deposits. The highstand systems tract at the basin margin is characterized by very thick floodplain mudstones or shallow lacustrine deposits, and by typical coarsening-upward parasequences of shallow lacustrine deposits in more basinward areas. Sediment input to the basin was controlled by tectonics and climate. Depositional sequences were probably controlled by fluctuating change of lake level: this was in turn controlled by climate (runoff), modified by tectonics in specific areas.