Associate Professor Igor Ognev studies radiogenic heat in the Volgo-Uralia
Ognev's research, conducted in cooperation with Vice-Rector for Earth Sciences of KFU Danis Nurgaliev and colleagues from Kiel University, will determine the influence of the content of radioactive isotopes on the temperature in the Earth's crust and sedimentary cover, as well as assess the influence of radiogenic heat flow on the formation of oil and gas deposits.
Today, the conditions of geological development of the Volga region are considered favorable for the formation of mineral deposits, among which oil is the most important. The study region is located in the east of the Russian platform, which is interesting to geologists with its two-level structure: the upper layer—young sedimentary cover, and the lower layer—ancient crystalline basement, at least 3 billion years old.
Research on the crystalline basement of the eastern Russian platform is being actively developed at Kazan Federal University. Ognev's research is devoted to the study of radiogenic heat of the Volga region. The results of the study have been published in Geophysical Journal International.
"As part of the project, I plan to study the crystalline basement, analyzing changes in the content of radioactive isotopes of uranium, thorium and potassium in its rocks. It is known that the radioactive decay of unstable isotopes in rocks leads to the release of radiogenic heat that increases the temperature inside the Earth's crust," Igor Ognev says.
Given that temperatures in the Earth's crust are a key factor in the formation of oil and gas deposits, the scientist intends to study the relationship between the radioactivity of ancient rocks of the crystalline basement of the Volga region and the oil and gas content of its relatively young Paleozoic sedimentary cover. Igor Ognev is mainly interested in the content of radioactive isotopes of uranium, thorium and potassium in the rocks of the crystalline basement of the Volga region.
In order to achieve this goal, a list of tasks will be solved. The scientist will have to measure the content of radioactive isotopes in the rocks of the crystalline basement of the Volga region of different composition and origin. The scientific work will make it possible to determine the contribution of the radiogenic component to the total heat flow on the Earth's surface and to assess the impact of the radiogenic heat flow on the formation of oil and gas deposits.
"The scientific novelty of the project lies in the direct measurement of radioactivity of rocks of various structural and material complexes of the Volga region using cores from the Minnibayevskaya 20000 ultra-deep well and others drilled in the southeast of Tatarstan. Systematic studies of this kind have not been conducted before," emphasizes the scientist.
The final step of this scientific project will be innovative models of change in radioactivity of rocks of the Volga region with depth and maps of radiogenic heat flux of the region, created on the basis of application of numerical digital approaches to modeling.
This research has great prospects both in terms of fundamental understanding of the influence of rock radioactivity on the heat flow of the Volga region and on the formation of the Volga-Ural oil and gas basin, and in the applied aspect as well. The project will allow to answer questions about the degree of influence of rock radioactivity of the studied region on the temperatures in the Earth's crust and about the significance of this influence for the processes of formation of hydrocarbon deposits. In addition, the measured data on rock radioactivity can be used by the scientific community for their own research, assessments and interpretations.
More information:
The thermal state of Volgo–Uralia from Bayesian inversion of surface heat flow and temperature,
academic.oup.com/gji/article/232/1/322/6678004
Provided by Kazan Federal University