Discovery and Enrichment Mechanism of Water Soluble Helium Resources in Qaidam Basin

By collecting and testing brine wells and hot spring water samples in the Qaidam basin, the source rock of water-soluble helium and its helium generation intensity have been explored. The results show that the helium source rocks in the Qaidam basin are diverse and open. In addition to granite, Jurassic and Carboniferous shale are indispensable helium-generating parent rocks, and Jurassic shale is helium-generating. The strength is the highest, followed by the Silurian monzogranite, and the Carboniferous shale is the lowest; the water-soluble helium enrichment areas with the Youshashan Formation and Shizigou Formation as the main enrichment layers are distributed in the area north of the Chaizhong fault, and There are three helium-controlling fault zones in the north, middle, and south; the water-soluble helium in the Qaidam basin is basically crust-derived helium, and the mantle-derived helium only accounts for 0.005%~0.42%; “transportation and storage” is the key factors for water-soluble helium resources, in which shale and medium-acid rock mass are the parent sources of helium gas generation, groundwater and faults provide migration carriers and channels, and the Youshashan Formation and Shizigou Formation provide storage space.