Ancient karsts and hydrocarbon accumulation in the middle and western parts of the North Tarim uplift, NW China

Ordovician karsts are well developed in the Yingmaili and Halahatang areas of the North Tarim Basin. The ancient karsts are an important factor for forming Ordovician hydrocarbon reservoirs in the central and western regions of the North Tarim Basin. They are distributed, like successive broad belts, along the south side of the North Tarim uplift and constitute a large complex ancient karst reservoir system together with the Lunnan bulge. The main controlling factors of the Ordovician karsts are uplift, interlamination parallel unconformity, fault systems, rock physical properties and high-energy sedimentary phases. The Ordovician karsts can be divided into uplift-controlled karst areas, the strata- and fault-controlled karst areas and limited karst areas while karsts of different origins can overlay each other. The ancient karsts are developed mainly in four periods: the Caledonian, Hercynian, Indo-China Yanshan, and Yanshan, and karsts of different periods overlay each other, too. The condition for developing large-scale ancient karst reservoirs exists in the area and the complex ancient karst systems can be rich in oil and gas. Along both sides of the Middle-Upper Ordovician clastic pinch-outs are the more favorable areas for large ancient karst reservoirs.