Characteristics of bleaching of sandstone in northeast of Ordos Basin and its relationship with natural gas leakage

Bleaching of sandstone has significant applications to tracing hydrocarbon pathways and evaluating the scale of natural gas seepage. Bleaching of sandstones in the northeast of Ordos Basin is mainly distributed in the Mesozoic Yan'an Formation. Studying on petrology, major elements, REEs and trace elements of bleached sandstones and comparing with adjacent sandstones, combining with geologic-geochemical evidences of gas seepage in the northeast of the basin, the bleached sandstones are formed in the acid environment and reducing fluids. Characteristics of petrology show that the contents of kaolinite are high and the color of margin of ferric oxide minerals is lighter than that of the center. Major elements of sandstone samples show high contents of Al2O3 and low ratio of Fe3+/Fe2+. The TFe2O3 content of the bleached sandstone is lower than that of red rock. REE data show that bleached sandstones have low ∑REE contents and Eu-depleted and slightly Ce-enriched. Trace elements show that the bleached sandstones enrich in Co, deplete in Sr, and slightly enrich in Zr and Hf which are close to the values for the green alteration sandstones, and slightly lower than ore-bearing sandstones. Geochemical characteristics of oil-bearing sandstone in the northern basin suggest that the oil-shows are formed by matured Carboniferous-Permian coal bed methane escaping to the surface, and natural gas in field could migrate to the north margin of the basin. The δ13C (PDB) andδ18O(PDB) values of calcite cement in the study area range from -11.729‰ to -10.210‰ and -14.104‰ to -12.481‰, respectively. Theδ13C (PDB) values less than -10‰ imply the carbon sources part from organic carbon. Comprehensive study suggests that the gas leakage has occurred in the northeastern basin, which is responsible for bleaching of the sandstone on top of the Yan'an Formation.