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Overpressure generation and evolution in a compressional tectonic setting, the southern margin of Junggar Basin, northwestern China

¹ Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, China; present address: Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; luoxr{at}mail.igcas.ac.cn
² Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
³ Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; present address: Faculty of Geo-Resources and Information, China University of Petroleum, Dongying, 257061, China
⁴ Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; present address: Department of Geology, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas 67260
⁵ Research Institute of Exploration and Development, PetroChina Xinjiang Oil, Karamay, Xinjiang 834000, China

Xiaorong Luo is a research scientist in the Chinese Academy of Sciences and has a B.S. degree and an M.S. degree in geology from Northwestern University, China, and a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Montpellier, France. His research in the last 20 years has been in petroleum geology, currently focusing on numerical modeling, geopressuring, and hydrocarbon migration and accumulation.

Zhaoming Wang obtained a B.S. degree from the China University of Petroleum, Dongying, in 1998, and an M.S. degree in petroleum geology at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2004. He has worked in the Shengli oil field. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student with interests in basin analysis, basin modeling, and hydrocarbon migration.

Liqiang Zhang got a B.S. degree in 1994 and an M.S. degree in 1998 from the China University of Petroleum, Dongying, and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2006. He is an associate professor of the Faculty of Geo-Resources and Information, the China University of Petroleum, Dongying. His research interests focus on sequence stratigraphy and sedimentology, as well as their applications in hydrocarbon exploration in continental basins.

Wan Yang obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1995 and is currently an associate professor at Wichita State University, teaching sedimentology and terrigenous clastic depositional systems. He has worked on depositional systems analysis, sequence and cyclostratigraphy, paleoclimatology, and reservoir characterization of marine and nonmarine siliciclastic and carbonate rocks in China and the United States.

Loujun Liu has a B.S. degree in geology from the China University of Petroleum, Dongying. He is now working in the Geophysical Research Institute of Geological Study Division of the Xinjiang Oil Administrative Bureau, conducting geological studies and management of oil and gas exploration. He researched initially on petroleum systems in petroliferous basins in China and has more than 20 years of exploration experience in the Junggar Basin. His research interests focus on geological conditions of hydrocarbon accumulation.

Overpressure is widespread in the southern margin of the Junggar Basin, northwestern China. Pressure measurements in drillstem tests and repeated formation tests and estimates from wire-line logs indicate contrasting overpressure values between permeable sandstones and adjacent low-permeability mudrocks. In addition, excess pressure differs among anticlines with similar depth, lithologies, and geologic age, indicating significant lateral changes of overpressure. Major factors controlling overpressure generation and distribution include rapid sediment deposition, pressure compartmentalization by thick mudrocks, tectonic stress, faulting, and folding. Clay transformation and hydrocarbon generation are believed to be insignificant in overpressure generation in the southern Junggar Basin. Numerical modeling of pressure generation and evolution suggests that faulting and stratal tilting associated with folding are the most significant factors in the overpressure generation of a permeable sandstone. The extremely high overpressure (pressure coefficient up to 2.43) may have been caused by hydraulic adjustment within permeable sandstones associated with structural deformation caused by post-Miocene intense tectonic activities.