Characteristics of geothermal reservoirs in the Wumishan Formation and groundwater of the Middle-Upper Proterozoic and the geothermal status in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region: Implications for geothermal resources exploration

Abstract

Exploration of the geothermal resources in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region has been kept for tens of years, and the recent success of geothermal exploration in the Xiongxian County provides a new model for the utilization of geothermal resources in this area. This research integrates the formation of temperature obtained from hydrocarbon drilling, experiments of reservoirs’ micro-characteristics and physical property, and employs the previous works on the regional geological settings to investigate the geothermal reservoirs and geothermal status. The microphotography indicates that the reservoir space is dominated by supergene karst in the Wumishan Formation which is mainly controlled by the topography when the interval emerged. The groundwater in the Pre-Paleogene has the similar composition of the hydrogen and oxygen isotope with the atmospheric precipitation, and the salinity of the groundwater has an increasing trend from the Taihang Mountain and the Yanshan Mountain to the depocenters, which indicates the groundwater originates from the atmospheric precipitation of the Taihang Mountain and the Yanshan Mountain and transports to the depocenters. The thermal conductivity of the lower carbonate rocks is much higher than the upper clastic intervals. This difference makes the upper clastic intervals of the Paleogene and the Neogene good seals for geothermal reservoirs and leads to the regional anomaly of the terrestrial heat flow: the intrabasin highs have a thicker thickness of the Pre-Paleogene carbonate deposition with high thermal conductivity, which results in high efficient thermal transmission and high terrestrial heat flow. Consequently, this research suggests that the intrabasin highs and slopes are the favourable areas for geothermal exploration with reservoirs of good quality, high terrestrial heat flow and efficient groundwater supply, and several areas were selected to be the potential targets for the Wumishan Formation and the Pre-Paleogene.