Petromagnetic Characteristics of Soils in the Affected Area of Stepnovskiy Underground Gas Storage Facility (Saratov Region, Russia)

Abstract

This research is focused on petromagnetic characteristics and features of their spatial distribution in the soil cover in the area of Stepnovskiy underground gas storage facility. Particular attention is paid to the measurement values of the magnetic susceptibility of soil particle size fractions, in parallel to determining the acid-base indicator and the redox potential of the latter. The obtained results led to the assumption of the possible impact on the changes in petromagnetic characteristics of soil cover. Magnetic zonality of soils determined their confinedness either to geological and structural features of Stepnovskiy in Devonian sediments or to spatial boundaries of the current gas content contours. It is possible that such magnetic susceptibility of soils in the grounds of Stepnovskiy is determined by active geochemical processes, which mobilize mineral soil matrix to form a complex of autogenous ferruginous minerals. Emanation methane flows from the geological strata used for gas pumping and underground storage are of particular value in this case. This paper focuses on possible transformation of minerals and their magnetic and mineralogical parameters of different chestnut soil layers under the impact of gas and fluid drainage from the subjacent gas storage facility.