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Geochemical and isotopic characteristics of fluids in the Niutuozhen geothermal field, North China

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Abstract

Niutuozhen geothermal field is located in the Jizhong graben, belonging to the northern part of Bohai Bay Basin in North China. Chemical and isotopic analyses were carried out on 14 samples of the geothermal fluids discharged from Neogene Minghuazhen (Nm), Guantao (Ng), and Jixianian Wumishan (Jxw) formations. The δ2H and δ18O in water, δ13C in CH4, δ13C in CO2, and 3He/4He ratio in the gases were analyzed in combination with chemical analyses on the fluids in the Niutuozhen geothermal field. The chemical and isotopic compositions indicate a meteoric origin of the thermal waters. The reservoir temperatures estimated by chemical geothermometry are in the range between 60 and 108 °C. The results show that the gases are made up mainly by N2 (18.20–97.42 vol%), CH4 (0.02–60.95 vol%), and CO2 (0.17–25.14 vol%), with relatively high He composition (up to 0.52 vol%). The chemical and isotopic compositions of the gas samples suggest the meteoric origin of N2, predominant crustal origins of CH4, CO2, and He. The mantle-derived He contributions are calculated to be from 5 to 8% based on a crust–mantle binary mixing model. The deep temperatures in the Jxw reservoir were evaluated based on gas isotope geothermometry to be in the range from 141 to 165 °C. The mantle-derived heat fraction in the surface heat flow is estimated to be in the range of 48–51% based on 3He/4He ratios.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 41372257). Sincere thanks are due to Prof. Liwu Li and Prof. Zhongping Li for offering access to gas isotope test instruments. Thanks are also to Dr. Yiman Li and Dr. Tianming Huang for their suggestions on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Jumei Pang, Zhonghe Pang, Min Lv, Jiao Tian & Yanlong Kong

  2. Institutions of Earth Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19, Beituchengxi Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100029, China

    Jumei Pang, Zhonghe Pang, Min Lv, Jiao Tian & Yanlong Kong

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jumei Pang, Zhonghe Pang, Min Lv, Jiao Tian & Yanlong Kong

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  1. Jumei Pang
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Correspondence to Zhonghe Pang.

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This article is part of a Topical Collection in Environmental Earth Sciences on “Subsurface Energy Storage II,” guest edited by Zhonghe Pang, Yanlong Kong, Haibing Shao, and Olaf Kolditz.

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Pang, J., Pang, Z., Lv, M. et al. Geochemical and isotopic characteristics of fluids in the Niutuozhen geothermal field, North China. Environ Earth Sci 77, 12 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-7171-y

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