Depositional environment and geochemical characteristics of the Lower Carboniferous source rocks in the Marsel area, Chu-Sarysu Basin, Southern Kazakhstan

There are two sets of carbonate source rocks in the Lower Carboniferous layers in Marsel: the Visean (C1v) and Serpukhovian (C1sr). However, their geochemical and geological characteristics have not been studied systematically. To assess the source rocks and reveal the hydrocarbon generation potential, the depositional paleoenvironment and distribution of C1v and C1sr source rocks were studied using total organic carbon (TOC) content, Rock-Eval pyrolysis and vitrinite reflectance (Ro) data, stable carbon isotope data, gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis data. The data were then compared with well logging data to understand the distribution of high-quality source rocks. The data were also incorporated into basin models to reveal the burial and thermal histories and timing of hydrocarbon generation. The results illustrated that the average residual TOC contents of C1v and C1sr were 0.79% and 0.5%, respectively, which were higher than the threshold of effective carbonate source rocks. Dominated by type-III kerogen, the C1v and C1sr source rocks tended to be gas-bearing. The two source rocks were generally mature to highly mature; the average Ro was 1.51% and 1.23% in C1v and C1sr, respectively. The source rocks were deposited in strongly reducing to weakly oxidizing marine-terrigenous environments, with most organic material originating from higher terrigenous plants and a few aquatic organisms. During the Permian, the deep burial depth and high heat flow caused a quick and high maturation of the source rocks, which were subsequently uplifted and eroded, stopping the generation and expulsion of hydrocarbons in the C1v and C1sr source rocks. The initial TOC fitted by the △logR method was recovered, and it suggests that high-quality source rocks (TOC ≥ 1%) are mainly distributed in the northern and central local structural belt.