Geochemistry and origins of hydrogen-containing natural gases in deep Songliao Basin,China:Insights from continental scientific drilling

The different reservoirs in deep Songliao Basin have non-homogeneous lithologies and include multiple layers with a high content of hydrogen gas.The gas composition and stable isotope characteristics vary significantly,but the origin analysis of different gas types has previously been weak.Based on the geochemical parameters of gas samples from different depths and the analysis of geological settings,this research covers the diverse origins of natural gas in different strata.The gas components are mainly methane with a small amount of C_(2+),and non-hydrocarbon gases,including nitrogen(N_(2)),hydrogen(H_(2)),carbon dioxide(CO_(2)),and helium(He).At greater depth,the carbon isotope of methane becomes heavier,and the hydrogen isotope points to a lacustrine sedimentary environment.With increasing depth,the origins of N_(2)and CO_(2)change gradually from a mixture of organic and inorganic to inorganic.The origins of hydrogen gas are complex and include organic sources,water radiolysis,water-rock(Fe^(2+)-containing minerals)reactions,and mantle-derived.The shales of Denglouku and Shahezi Formations,as source rocks,provide the premise for generation and occurrence of organic gas.Furthermore,the deep faults and fluid activities in Basement Formation control the generation and migration of mantle-derived gas.The discovery of a high content of H_(2)in study area not only reveals the organic and inorganic association of natural-gas generation,but also provides a scientific basis for the exploration of deep hydrogen-rich gas.

Deep Continental Scientific Drilling Engineering Project in Songliao Basin:progress in Earth Science researcha

The Songke No.2 well (eastern hole)(referred to as Well SK-2),one of the "two wells and four holes"of the Deep Continental Scientific Drilling Engineering Project in the Songliao Basin,is in Anda City, Heilongjiang Province,and was officially completed on May 26,2018.Tlie scientific goals of Well SK-2 cover four aspects:paleoclimate research,resource and energy exploration,primary geological research, and development of deep earth exploration techniques.Since the official commencement of drilling in 2014,the Well SK-2 scientific drilling engineering team has organized and implemented drilling for coring,in situ logging,chemical analysis of core elements,and deep structural exploration around the well.Currently,the following preliminary scientific research progress has been made:4334.81 m in situ core data has been obtained;the centimeter-level high-resolution characterization of the most complete and continuous Cretaceous continental strata ever unearthed has been completed,and the standard profile of continental strata has been initially established;the unconventional natural gas resources and basin-type hot dry rocks in the deep Songliao Basin were found to have good prospects for exploration and development;the climatic evolutionary history of the Cretaceous continental strata was rebuilt for the first time,covering hundreds of thousands to millions of years,and the major events of Cretaceous climate fluctuations have been discovered;all these reveal strong evidence for the subduction and aggregation of paleo-ocean plates,providing a theoretical basis for the re-recognition of the genesis of the Songliao Basin and for deep earth oil and gas exploration.The implementation of the Deep Continental Scientific Drilling Engineering Project in the Songliao Basin is of great significance for exploring the mysteries of the Earth and solving major problems such as those related to the deep energy environment.It is a solid step along the road of "going deep into the Earth".

A mathematical model capable of describing the liquid flow mainly in a blast furnace

The molten liquid flow inside a packed bed is a familiar momentum transportation phenomenon in a blast furnace. With regard to the reported mathematical models describing the liquid flow within a packed bed, there are some obstacles for their application in engineering design, or some limitations in the model itself. To overcome these problems, the forces from the packed bed to the liquid flow were divided into appropriate body and surface forces on the basis of three assumptions. Consequently, a new mathematical model was built to present the liquid flow inside the coke bed in a blast furnace. The mathematical model can predict the distribution of liquid flowrate and the liquid flowing range inside the packed bed at any time. The predicted results of this model accord well with the experimental data. The model will be applied considerably better in the simulation on the ironmaking process compared with the existent models.

A synthesis of the Cretaceous wildfire record related to atmospheric oxygen levels?

The Cretaceous was a significant greenhouse period in Earth's history with higher atmospheric CO_(2) levels and temperatures than today. Although evidence of combustion has been widely described from the Cretaceous deposits, our understanding of the spatiotemporal diversification pattern and process of the Cretaceous wildfires is still limited. In this study, we comprehensively synthesize a total of 271 published Cretaceous wildfire occurrences based on the by-products of burning, including fossil charcoal, pyrogenic inertinite(fossil charcoal in coal), and pyrogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs). Spatially, the dataset shows a distinctive distribution of reported wildfire evidence characterized by high concentration in the middle latitudinal areas of the Northern Hemisphere(30°N-60°N) over the Cretaceous. Temporally, an overall increasing trend of the reported wildfire data from the Early Cretaceous to the Late Cretaceous is coincident with higher atmospheric O_(2) levels. However, the spatial and temporal patterns may result from many types of factors, such as taphonomy, preservation, and researcher biases, instead of a real picture of the Cretaceous wildfire evolution. To better understand the spatiotemporal diversification of the Cretaceous wildfire, more investigations on the record of wildfire occurrences during this period would be necessary in the future.

Intensive peatland wildfires during the Aptian-Albian oceanic anoxic event 1b:Evidence from borehole SK-2 in the Songliao Basin,NE China

The Cretaceous has been considered a“high-fire”world accompanied by widespread by-products of combustion in the rock record.The mid-Cretaceous oceanic anoxic event 1b(OAE1b)is marked by one of the major perturbations in the global carbon cycle characterized by deposition of organic-rich sediments in both marine and terrestrial settings.However,our understanding is still limited on changes in wildfire activity during OAE1b period.Here,we carried out a comprehensive analysis,including organic carbon isotope(δ^(13)C_(org)),total organic carbon(TOC),coal petrology,trace elements,and pyrolytic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(pyroPAHs),of coal seams of the middle Aptian to early Albian Shahezi Formation from borehole SK-2 in Songliao Basin,Northeast China.Two negativeδ^(13)C_(org) excursions in the Shahezi Formation can be corresponded with the 113/Jacob and Kilian sub-events of OAE1b.Moreover,the intensive peatland wildfires have been identified during the sub-event periods of OAE1b based on the co-occurrence of high abundance of charcoal and pyroPAHs at that time.In addition,Sr/Ba,Sr/Cu and Sr/Rb ratios demonstrate that enhanced peatland wildfires were controlled by dryer climate conditions owing to episodic northward migration of arid zones in East Asia related with rising global temperature during the sub-events of OAE1b.The climate-driven extensive wildfire activity in the mid-latitude terrestrial ecosystems can be a contributing factor for OAE1b through the increased flux of nutrients fuelling primary producers in the lake and marine environments and leading to more speculative anoxia to allow the deposition of organic-rich sediments.Our results provide essential understanding of the importance of wildfires in driving mechanism of oceanic anoxic events(OAEs)in Earth's history.