Mining Institute of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Perm, Russia

I. I. Сhaikovskiy, Head of laboratory, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences
O. V. Ivanov, Senior Researcher, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, miner200@mail.ru
A. S. Papulov, Engineer

The relevance of the research ensued from the need to develop a geochemical basis for the formation of the gas phase and gas chambers in potassium salts to ensure safe conditions for the development of the Upper Kama deposit. The article is based on more than 400 samples of bound and free gases selected by a single method and determined on a 450-GC gas chromatograph from Varian, Inc. For chemical typing, the ratio N₂–H₂–HCG–CO₂ was used, and for genetic typing, the diagrams of A. Prinzhoffer and E. Pernaton (1997), B. Lewis et al. (2018) were employed. The analysis of the data made it possible to show that during formation of the salt stratum, due to the uneven distribution of organic substances between the salt and non-salt parts of the sediment, two gas systems developed: sedimentation gases of nitrogen composition trapped by salt minerals with an admixture of diagenetic methane and catagenetic hydrocarbon-nitrogen free gases formed due to thermal transformation of clay and sulfate sediments with an admixture of organic matter. It is supposed that the difference in the thermal maturity of free gases is due to more active folded catagenesis in the carnallite zone than in the sylvinite zone. It is shown that the catagenetic gas of non-salt layers is the most mobile in the process of migration and formation of gas accumulations that provoke gas-dynamic phenomena.

The study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Project No. 20-45-596017r_NOC_Permskii krai.

1. Gimm W. Abbauverfahren und Laugengefahr im Kalibergbau. Leipzig, 1959. Iss. 5–48.
2. Morachevskiy Yu. V., Chtrepennikov A. A., Samartseva A. G. Gas content of potassium salt strata at the Upper Kama deposit. Kaliy. 1937. No. 7. pp. 12–21.
3. Savchenko V. P. Formation of free hydrogen in the crust under reducing action of products of radioactive change in isotopes. Geokhimiya. 1958. No. 1. pp. 14–21.
4. Nesmelova Z. N. Gases in potassium salts in Berezniki mine. VNIIGalurgii’s Transactions. Leningrad, 1959. Iss. 35. pp. 206–313.
5. Nesmelova Z. N., Gemp S. D. Probable model of gas formation in salt rocks in potassium deposits. Oil and Gas Contents in Ancient Salt Accumulation Regions. Novosibirsk : Nauka, 1982. pp. 162–171.
6. Andreyko S. S., Galkin V. I., Shamanskiy G. P. Some features of hydrogen gas distribution in the section of the Upper Kama potassium salt deposit. Mining of Salt Deposits : Inter-University Collection of Scientific Papers. Perm : Permskiy politekhnicheskiy universitet, 1980. pp. 82–87.
7. Lidin G. D. Gas content of potassium salts in Belarus. Gotnyi Zhurnal. 1974. No. 12. pp. 55–58.
8. Travnikova L. G., Prasovov E. M. Chemical composition of gases in salt-bearing strata. Geokhimiya. 1985. No. 12. pp 1766–1778.
9. Shanina S. N. Noddles of organic substance in natural salts: Theses of Dissertation of Candidate of Geologo-Mineralogical Sciences. Syktyvkar, 2020. 16 p.
10. Chaykovskiy I. I., Ivanov O.V. New data on the geochemistry of gases in the potash deposits. Bulletin of Perm University. Geology. 2014. Vol. 4(25). pp. 56–65.
11. Сhaikovskiy I. I., Ivanov O. V., Bubnova M. V., Fedorov T. V. On the nature, composition and gas content of epigenetic mineralization in the salt column of the Verkhnekamskoe deposit (on the example of the Usolsky mine). Lithosphere. 2023. Vol. 23(1). pp. 117–132.
12. Saralov A. I. Baslerov R. V., Kuznetsov B. B. Haloferax chudinovii sp. nov., a halophilic archaeon from Permian potassium salt deposits. Extremophiles. 2013. No. 17. pp. 499–504.
13. Andreyko S. S., Ivanov O. V., Lyalina T. A., Nesterov E.A. Free gas content of the rocks of the silvinite and silvinite-carnallite zones at the Upper Kama districts. Gornaya promyshlennost. 2021. No. 4. pp. 125–133.
14. Prinzhofer A., Pernaton E. Isotopically light in natural gas: Bacterial imprint or diffusive fractionation? Chemical Geology. 1997. Vol. 142, No. 3-4. pp. 193–200.
15. Liu B., Yan D., Fu X., Lü Y., Gong L., Wang S. Investigation of geochemical characteristics of hydrocarbon gas and its implications for Late Miocene transpressional strength—A study in the Fangzheng Basin, Northeast China. Interpretation. 2018. Vol. 6(1). pp. 83–96.