PONE-D-24-37259Sedimentary and reservoir characterization of wandering braided river: a case of the Xiashihezi Formation 1 Member in Shilijiakhan west zone, Hangjinqi, Northern Ordos BasinPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Li,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

We have now received two reports on the manuscript "Sedimentary and reservoir characterization of wandering braided river: a case of the Xiashihezi Formation 1 Member in Shilijiakhan west zone, Hangjinqi, Northern Ordos Basin" by Hongtao Li et alii, which was submitted to Plos One. Based on these reports, minor revision is required before the manuscript can be reconsidered for publication. Depending on the revision, the manuscript may need to be re-reviewed. Both referees suggest ways in which the paper and figures need to be revised, and one of them suggests that the English needs a careful checking. I agree with this and warm the authors that if they resubmit a revised version with poor quality English, the article will be automatically rejected. Please make sure also that you deal with the scientific criticisms and try to make the article a little bit more accessible to the general reader and to a broader audience (add new international references and expand the discussion by comparing the case study with others elsewhere).

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Vittorio Scisciani

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

Specific comments by reviewers are listed below:

Reviewer 1

1. The grammar/English writing of the manuscript can be further improved.

2. The geographic location and other information description of the area should be added in the "geological background" section.

3. In Section 2.2, "The plane distribution of sedimentary microfacies in the Xiashihezi Formation 1 Member was finally obtained by mutual calibration and constraint between the attribute of maximum trough amplitude and the single well sedimentary microfacies, the connected well sedimentary microfacies [21]." And " These conditions were also conducive to the occurrence of dissolution during the diagenetic stage, ultimately forming high-quality reservoirs with favourable physical properties”, Additional basis is needed, such as more references.

4. The legend text in Figure 1 of the paper needs to be adjusted, some fonts need to be enlarged, and some layouts are not standardized enough.

5.The amplitude attribute in figure 6.a of the paper lacks color legend.

6. Only layer and sublayer information appears in Figure 3. It is recommended to complete the complete System, Formation and other information.

7. The corresponding well number can be marked in the sedimentary microfacies type, logging mode and seismic response characteristics in Figure 4.

8.The reference format is not standardized and consistent. Please revise carefully according to the requirements of the journal.

Reviewer 2

1. In the part of “Regional geological background”, the last part of “Taiyuan Formation and Shanxi formation were the main source rock series, While Shanxi Formation and Xiashihezi formation were important reservoir rock series, and Shangshihezi formation and Shiqianfeng Formation were regional caprocks, which together formed the upper Paleozoic oil system of lower generation, upper reservoir and top sealing [17]” can be deleted because it has no great connection with the sedimentation and reservoir discussed in the article.

2. The article discusses that "based on the above analysis of lithofacies characteristics, it is considered that the HE1 Member in this area is a relatively typical wandering shallow braided river deposit without fixed river channel under partial drought conditions", and it is necessary to add necessary evidence and references to support the viewpoint of the article.

3. Fig. 2 is mainly based on core observation photos. It is not clear how to extend and change laterally with the view of a hole. It is suggested to add field outcrop photos and elaborate on the vertical and horizontal overlap characteristics of sedimentary microfacies in detail based on these photos.

4. Some of the references are relatively old, so a small number of older documents can be appropriately deleted, and references of nearly three years can be added to make the article more convincing.

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: This paper presents a study of the sedimentary microfacies of the Xiashihezi Formation 1 Member in the Shiligahan area, situated in the northern Ordos Basin. By using core, logging, and 3D seismic data, the sedimentary environment and sedimentary microfacies were successfully identified. The study area was thus determined to be a wandering, shallow braided river sedimentary system. Through calibration and verification among lithofacies, logging facies, and seismic facies, a comprehensive characterization of the plane distribution of braided channels and their internal microfacies in the Xiashihezi Formation 1 Member was achieved. Further analysis of core observation, thin sections, physical properties, and mercury injection curves, particularly through the study and evaluation of pore structure, identified the microscopic characteristics of the reservoir. By integrating macro- and micro-level perspectives, this study elucidates the influence of sedimentation on reservoir development. The article's theme is evident, its structure is logical, and its findings are both novel and practically applicable. After minor revisions, it can be published.

Reviewer #2: This manuscript analyzes the sedimentary characteristics of shallow braided river in He 1 Member of northern Ordos Basin by using the integrated research of geology, logging and seismic, and summarizes the response modes of logging facies and seismic facies of different sedimentary microfacies. Through the research idea of single well sedimentary microfacies analysis, sedimentary connected wells microfacies correlation and plane sedimentary microfacies , combining the sedimentary microfacies from wells and seismic facies response modes, the sedimentary microfacies boundary is accurately delineated, which provides the basis for the macro distribution analysis of reservoir. The microscopic characteristics of reservoir lithology, physical property, reservoir space type and pore structure characteristics are analyzed in detail. Through the combination of macro and micro, the controlling factors of sedimentation on reservoir development are analyzed. The paper has rigorous structure, strong logic and sufficient evidence, and has certain innovation and application value, which provides technical support for further fine description and selection evaluation of gas reservoirs.

I suggest that this article can be published, but there are also some problems that need to be further modified and improved:

1. In the part of “Regional geological background”, the last part of “Taiyuan Formation and Shanxi formation were the main source rock series, While Shanxi Formation and Xiashihezi formation were important reservoir rock series, and Shangshihezi formation and Shiqianfeng Formation were regional caprocks, which together formed the upper Paleozoic oil system of lower generation, upper reservoir and top sealing [17]” can be deleted because it has no great connection with the sedimentation and reservoir discussed in the article.

2. The article discusses that "based on the above analysis of lithofacies characteristics, it is considered that the HE1 Member in this area is a relatively typical wandering shallow braided river deposit without fixed river channel under partial drought conditions", and it is necessary to add necessary evidence and references to support the viewpoint of the article.

3. Fig. 2 is mainly based on core observation photos. It is not clear how to extend and change laterally with the view of a hole. It is suggested to add field outcrop photos and elaborate on the vertical and horizontal overlap characteristics of sedimentary microfacies in detail based on these photos.

4. Some of the references are relatively old, so a small number of older documents can be appropriately deleted, and references of nearly three years can be added to make the article more convincing.

**********

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Reviewer #1: Yes:  Wang Jian

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: comments.docx

PONE-D-24-37259R1Sedimentary and reservoir characterization of wandering braided river: a case of the Xiashihezi Formation 1 Member in Shilijiakhan west zone, Hangjinqi, Northern Ordos BasinPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Li,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Apr 19 2025 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org . When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

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• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols . Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols .

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Bappa Mukherjee

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

Additional Editor Comments:

Editorial comments to improve the quality and presentation:

1. Please incorporate the range of the petrophysical parameters in the abstract.

2. The sentences presented in the abstract is too long, break them and make a simple representation.

3. Please add suitable keywords.

4. In Fig. 6a please mention the name of the parameter presented with a color scale.

5. Please check the axis title of Fig. 10a.

6. If possible, kindly add a dendrogram analysis based on the hierarchical cluster analysis. You may follow the article "Mukherjee, B., Sain, K. Vertical lithological proxy using statistical and artificial intelligence approach: a case study from Krishna-Godavari Basin, offshore India. Mar Geophys Res 42, 3 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11001-020-09424-8." Otherwise in the discussion section you can add a few lines and make a recommendation for future researchers to consider this analysis.

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[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org . Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Sedimentary and reservoir characterization of wandering braided river: a case of the Xiashihezi Formation 1 Member in Shilijiakhan west zone, Hangjinqi, Northern Ordos Basin

PONE-D-24-37259R2

Dear Dr. Li,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Bappa Mukherjee

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

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