A.I. Gresov, A.V. Yatsuk
Geological and isotope and gas-geochemical criteria of hydrocarbon accumulation prospecting: continental margin of East Siberian Sea and Arctic Ocean
DOI 10.47148/0016-7894-2025-4-119-135
Key words: seafloor sediments; hydrocarbon gas; geological and gas-geochemical indicators; gas source rocks; criteria; oil and gas occurrence; continental margin; East Siberian Sea; the Arctic Ocean.
For citation: Gresov A.I., Yatsuk A.V. Geological and isotope and gas-geochemical criteria of hydrocarbon accumulation prospecting: continental margin of East Siberian Sea and Arctic Ocean. Geologiya nefti i gaza. 2025;(4):119–135. DOI: 10.47148/0016-7894-2025-4-119-135. In Russ.
Funding: Gas-geochemical and analytic studies were conducted under the state-defined topic No. FWMM-2024-0029 (V.I. Il’ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences): “Geology and geochemistry of natural gases, gas-geochemical indicators of World Ocean geological processes and mineral resources”.
The authors present new and previously acquired data on geological structure and gas-geochemical features of hydrocarbon gases contained in seafloor sediments of East Siberian Sea continental margin, Laptev-Siberian Sea geostructural zone, and south-eastern segment of the Arctic Ocean. The efficiency of prediction of oil and gas occurrence in large, underexplored geostructures of the region was assessed based on geological indicators. As a result of calculating and interpreting the carbon isotopic signature of methane and ethane, weight concentrations, molecular mass, “wetness,” “dryness,” and hydrocarbon fraction conversion coefficients in the seafloor sediments of the study area, 11 groups of gas sources were identified. The individual isotopic and gas-geochemical characteristics of these groups serve as criteria for hydrocarbon accumulation prospecting and as a basis for mapping the distribution of predicted petroleum-series deposits in the region. Isotope and gas-geochemical indicators of the predicted oil and gas accumulations have the following average values: Σ C2–C5 — 277 g/kg of HC fraction, MMHC — 19,48 g/mol, Kwet — 28,0 %, Ktr — 151,1 c.u., δ13C–CH4 and C2H6 (−44,4 and −22,5 ‰); gas-oil and oil — 473–697 g/kg, 22,46 and 27,53 g/mol, 46,8 and 69,7 %, 205,2 and 264,9 c.u., δ13C–CH4 and C2H6 (−40,9…−36,7 ‰ and −20,0 …−17,2 ‰), i.e., maximum gas-geochemical indicators. According to gas geochemical criteria, the most promising oil prospects within the study area are found in the geostructures of the central segment of the region — the eastern part of the Predvostochnosibirsky Basin (Podvodnikov depression), the Lomonosov-Mendeleev flexure-fault zone, the Northern Terrace, the northern part of the De Long uplift, and the north-eastern slope of the Novosibirsk sedimentary basin.
Alexander I. Gresov ORCiD Scopus
Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences,
Leading researcher
V.I.Il`ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute,
43, Baltiiskaya, Vladivostok, 690041, Russia
e-mail: gresov@poi.dvo.ru
Andrey V. Yatsuk ORCiD Scopus
Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences,
Leading Researcher
Sirius University of Science and Technology,
1, Olympic Ave., Krasnodar region, Sirius Federal Territory, 354340, Russia
e-mail: yatsuk.av@talantiuspeh.ru
Researcher ID: I-3720-2017
SPIN: 5704-5884
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