Henry's law and accumulation of weak source for crust-derived helium: A case study of Weihe Basin, China

Abstract Crust-derived helium is generated from the radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and other radioactive elements in geological bodies. Compared with conventional natural gas, helium is a typical weak source gas as a result of extremely slow generation rate and absence of helium-generating peak. It is associated with methane or carbon dioxide reservoirs frequently and related to groundwater closely. Helium can meet the industry standard with 0.1% in volume fraction. In order to study the accumulation mechanism of helium, the previous research on Henry's coefficient and solubility of helium, nitrogen and methane are summarized and the key roles of Henry's Law in the helium migration, accumulation and preservation are discussed by simulating calculation taking Weihe Basin as an example. According to the Law, the gas solubility in dilute solution is controlled by the gas partial pressure and the Henry's coefficient. Compared with the carrier gases, the Henry's constant of helium is high, with striking difference at low and high temperature. In addition, the helium partial pressure is greatly different in helium source rocks and gas reservoirs, resulting in the great differences of helium solubility in the two places. The accumulation progresses are as follows. Firstly, helium can dissolve into water and migrate out of helium source rocks due to the high helium solubility, which is caused by high helium partial pressure and high temperature in source rock. Secondly, when dissolved helium is transported to the shallow gas reservoir, it is prone to be out of solution and into reservoir due to the extremely low partial pressure and low temperature. Meanwhile part of carrier gases dissolves into water, as if helium is “replaced” out. Furthermore, the low concentration funnel of dissolved helium is formed near the gas reservoir, then other dissolved helium continues to migrate towards the gas reservoir, which greatly improves the helium accumulation coefficient. Finally, after entering the gas reservoir, helium is difficult to dissolve into the water in cap layers due to its low partial pressure, resulting in the preservation of helium in reservoir. The results show that the helium enrichment mechanism in the aspects of migration, accumulation and preservation, providing theoretical basis for helium resource exploration.