Causes of Variability in Groundwater Salinity of the Lower Jurassic Sediments in the Talinskoye Oilfield of West Siberia

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the nature of variable groundwater salinity from the standpoint of whether natural or man-caused factors have a dominant impact on the modern salinity range of the Lower Jurassic sediments in the Talinskoye oilfield of West Siberia in Russia. As of now, the salinity values of reservoir waters vary from 3.7 to 15.3 g/dm3, with an average of 8.9 g/dm3. Petroleum hydrocarbons are extracted at the oilfield from the Lower Jurassic sediments. The volume of overlying sediments’ waters injected into the pay zones to maintain the formation pressure was more than 8960.3 thousand m3 between 2014 and 2021. In this regard, it is necessary to establish whether anthropogenic factors are critical for the variability in groundwater salinity of the Lower Jurassic sediments, or the complex geologic and hydrogeologic conditions are determinant factors affecting the salinity variability. To achieve this objective, we evaluated the genetic coefficients of various types of waters (inclusive of injected waters) which could contribute to the variability in groundwaters with varying quantities and ratios. The resultant genetic coefficients were compared with those of reservoir waters of the Lower Jurassic hydrogeological complex. This allowed for the conclusion that the major factors currently affecting the variable salinity of the reservoir waters of the Lower Jurassic complex are natural ones. We also assessed the relationship between the groundwater salinity values of the complex under study and basic parameters of the geologic setting, such as porosity, formation pressure, modern temperature and paleotemperature of the basement, and basement depth of burial. A tight association was found between the salinity values and porosity of the sediments (R = 0.87), and a very tight connection between the salinity and formation pressure (R = 0.91), which, we believe, also evidences that natural factors have a dominant effect on the variability in groundwater salinity. The variability in the modern salinity values of the reservoir waters of the complex in question ensues from the continental conditions of the groundwater genesis, expelled-water exchange processes (ingress of the pore waters expelled from argillaceous deposits as geostatic pressure rises), and the intrusion of abyssal fluids along the basement fractures.