Chemical speciation of redox sensitive elements during hydrocarbon leaching in the Junggar Basin, Northwest China

Bleaching related to seepage of petroleum fluids and subsurface migration of crude oil and natural gas can alter the chemical and mineralogical properties of rocks, while concurrently depleting hydrocarbon reservoirs. Mud volcanoes constitute one type of petroleum seepage present in several areas on the southern margin of the Junggar Basin in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, NW China. The results of XRD, XRF, XANES, and Mössbauer spectroscopy on rock samples collected from areas affected by these mud volcanoes revealed an enrichment of certain minerals and elements, as well changes in mineralogical, molecular, or ionic carrier (“species”). After bleaching, reddish sedimentary rocks showed depletion in silica and enrichment of calcium, magnesium, manganese, and iron. Other elements, including aluminum, potassium, sodium, and titanium, were largely unchanged. Reduced iron and sulfur compounds predominated in the bleached rocks, producing changes in color from the original reddish into green, deep gray, and black. Iron and calcium were associated with carbonates, indicating carbonation of these elements during the bleaching processes. Manganese also appeared to be associated with carbonate, though not with sulfate even though sulfate was present in the bleached rocks. Alkaline conditions were apparently the dominant because reduced manganese would have been absent under acidic condition. The alteration of certain minerals, clay minerals in particular, was also observed in bleached rocks, the alteration of smectite-group minerals to chlorite and muscovite, for example. Mineralogical and geochemical changes in rocks bleached by hydrocarbon fluids could provide a better overall understanding of bleaching processes, and may have applications in surface geochemical exploitation and remote imaging.