Diagenetic Characteristics and Spatial Distribution of Diagenetic Facies in the Linhe Formation, Linhua Well Area, Hetao Basin, China

The Linhe Formation of the Paleogene in the Linhua Well area of the Hetao Basin is a key target interval for hydrocarbon exploration, but strong heterogeneity caused by depositional and diagenetic modification complicates reservoir prediction. This study integrates core observations, thin-section petrography, SEM, clay mineral XRD, vitrinite reflectance (Ro), routine petrophysical data, and conventional well logs to characterize sedimentary microfacies and diagenesis, constrain the diagenetic stage and paragenetic sequence, establish a well-log-based diagenetic facies recognition model, and reveal the spatial distribution of diagenetic facies. The reservoirs are dominated by lithic arkoses and feldspathic litharenites with moderate compositional and textural maturity. Sedimentary microfacies mainly include a subaqueous distributary channel, front sheet sand, and interdistributary bay. The reservoirs are presently overall in mesodiagenetic stage A. Compaction and cementation are the principal destructive processes, whereas dissolution is the main constructive process. Quantitative evaluation shows that COPL ranges from 14.3% to 31.6% (average 25.2%), CEPL from 5.3% to 18.7% (average 12.7%), and ICOMPACT from 0.47 to 0.80 (average 0.66), indicating that compaction contributed more to porosity loss than cementation. Four diagenetic facies were identified: strongly compacted–weakly cemented, moderately compacted–strongly cemented, moderately dissolved–moderately cemented, and weakly compacted–weakly cemented. Fisher’s linear discriminant model based on GR, AC, DEN, and CNL logs achieved an overall recognition accuracy of 80.0%. Spatially, high-quality reservoirs are mainly developed in the central–southern subaqueous distributary channel belts dominated by the weakly compacted–weakly cemented facies and flanked by moderately dissolved–moderately cemented facies. High-quality reservoir development is controlled by the coupled effects of depositional microfacies, differential compaction–cementation, and local dissolution.