Volgian-Early Berriasian Marginal Filter in the West Siberian Marine Basin and Its Influence on Sediment Distribution

РИНЦ WoS Scopus DOI

A.E. Kontorovich
 L.M. Burshtein
 B.L. Nikitenko
 S.V. Ryzhkova
 E.V. Borisov
 S.V. Ershov
 E.A. Kostyreva
 V.A. Kontorovich
 A.Y. Nekhaev
 E.V. Ponomareva
 M.A. Fomin
 P.A. Yan

: Lithology and Mineral Resources

The West Siberian marine basin of the Volgian-initial Berriasian ages is described. It is shown that a marginal filter (according to A.P. Lisitsyn) functioned in the basin. The main mass of terrigenous sediments was deposited within the eastern margin of the sea. The central part of the basin only received a small amount of the terrigenous material. Water area of the West Siberian Sea was 2 mln 530 thou km2; eastern marginal filter, 535 thou km2; and open epicontinental marine basin, 1 mln 994 thou km2. Depth of the Volgian Sea was 500 m. Mass of sediments in the West Siberian Sea by the end of late diagenesis was 228.4 Tt (recalculated to the anhydrous material), with sediments in the eastern marginal filter accounting for 121.7 Tt. Bioproductivity of the Volgian-Berriasian West Siberian Sea was extremely high. The mass of living matter was composed of archaea, bacteria, and protozoan unicellular eucaryotes (organic-walled), as well as organisms with the siliceous (radiolarians) and carbonate skeleton (foraminifers and others). The rock mass formed from sediments of the central deep-water part of the basin at the stage of diagenesis was 106.7 Tt (recalculated to the anhydrous material), including the mass of organic matter (OM) accounting for 15.8 Tt; mineral (siliceous and carbonate) relicts of organisms, 67.8 Tt; and allothigenic components (clay minerals and iron hydroxides), 23.1 Tt. Analysis of the composition of kerogen (polymerlipids) revealed that the amount of OM transported to sediments was 15-20 times higher than the present-day amount in rocks of the Bazhenov Formation. At the stage of early diagenesis, the OM mass in sediments was as high as 235-320 Tt (recalculated to the anhydrous material). The Bazhenov Sea represented a huge natural ecosystem favorable for the generation, reworking, and accumulation of living matter relicts. At the stage of catagenesis, unique oil-and-gas resources were generated from OM masses deposited in this system.