Genetic types and sources of Lower Paleozoic natural gas in the Daniudi gas field, Ordos Basin, China

The molecular composition, stable carbon and hydrogen isotopes, and light hydrocarbons of the Lower Paleozoic natural gas in the Daniudi gas field in the Ordos Basin were investigated to study the geochemical characteristics. The Lower Paleozoic gas in the Daniudi gas field displays methane contents of 87.41–93.34%, dryness coefficients (C 1 /C 1–5 ) ranging from 0.886 to 0.978, δ 13 C 1 and δ 13 C 2 values ranging from −40.3 to −36.4‰, with an average of −38.3‰, and from −33.6 to −24.2‰, with an average of −28.4‰, respectively, and δD 1 values ranging from −197 to −160‰. The alkane gas generally displays positive carbon and hydrogen isotopic series, and the C 7 and C 5–7 light hydrocarbons of the Lower Paleozoic gas are dominated by methylcyclohexane and iso-alkanes, respectively. The Lower Paleozoic gas in the Daniudi gas field is mixed from coal-derived and oil-associated gases, similar to that observed in the Jingbian gas field. The oil-associated gas in the Lower Paleozoic gas is secondary oil cracking gas and displays a lower cracking extent than that in the Jingbian gas field. The coal-derived gas in the Lower Paleozoic gas in the Daniudi gas field migrated from the Upper Paleozoic gas through the window area where the iron–aluminum mudstone caprocks in the Upper Carboniferous Benxi Formation were missing. The oil-associated gas in the Lower Paleozoic gas in the Daniudi gas field was probably derived from presalt source rocks in the Lower Ordovician Majiagou Formation rather than the limestone in the Upper Carboniferous Taiyuan Formation. It seems unlikely that the marlstone in the Upper Ordovician Beiguoshan Formation and shale in the Middle Ordovician Pingliang Formation on the western and southwestern margins of the Ordos Basin contributed to the oil-associated gas in the Lower Paleozoic gas in the Daniudi gas field.