Structure and Filling Characteristics of Paleokarst Reservoirs in the Northern Tarim Basin, Revealed by Outcrop, Core and Borehole Images

The Ordovician paleokarst reservoirs in the Tahe oilfield, with burial depths of over 5300 m, experienced multiple phases of geologic processes and exhibit strong heterogeneity. Core testing can be used to analyse the characteristics of typical points at the centimetre scale, and seismic datasets can reveal the macroscopic outlines of reservoirs at the >10-m scale. However, neither method can identify caves, cave fills and fractures at the meter scale. Guided by outcrop investigations and calibrations based on core sample observations, this paper describes the interpretation of high longitudinal resolution borehole images, the identification of the characteristics of caves, cave fills ( sedimentary, breccia and chemical fills) and fractures in single wells, and the identification of structures and fill characteristics at the meter scale in the strongly heterogeneous paleokarst reservoirs. The paleogeomorphology, a major controlling factor in the distribution of paleokarst reservoirs, was also analysed. The results show that one well can penetrate multiple cave layers of various sizes and that the caves are filled with multiple types of fill. The paleogeomorphology can be divided into highlands, slopes and depressions, which controlled the structure and fill characteristics of the paleokarst reservoirs. The results of this study can provide fundamental meter-scale datasets for interpreting detailed geologic features of deeply buried paleocaves, can be used to connect core- and seismic-scale interpretations, and can provide support for the recognition and development of these strongly heterogeneous reservoirs.