The late Eocene succession of the Dongying Depression forms a highly productive hydrocarbon source. However, due to lack of an unambiguous fine chronostratigraphic framework for the late Eocene stratigraphy, it is challenging to understand the paleolake’s evolution and the driven mechanism of lake-level variation, a limitation which hinders hydrocarbon exploration. In this work, high-resolution gamma-ray logging data were analyzed to carry out the cyclostratigraphic analysis of the third member (Es₃) of the Shahejie Formation in the Dongying Depression. Significant 405-kyr eccentricity cycles were recognized based on time series analysis and statistical modeling of estimated sedimentation rates. We abstracted ~57 m cycles of the GR data in the Es₃ member, which were comparable with the long eccentricity cycles (~405-kyr) of the La2004 astronomical solution, yielding a 6.43 Myr long astronomical time scale (ATS) for the whole Es₃ member. The calibrated astronomical age of the third/fourth member of the Shahejie Formation boundary (41.21 Ma) was adopted as an anchor point for tuning our astrochronology, which provided an absolute ATS ranging from 34.78 ± 0.42 Ma to 41.21 ± 0.42 Ma in Es₃. According to the ATS, sedimentary noise modeling for the reconstruction of lake-level changes was performed through the late Eocene Es₃. The lake-level changes obtained based on sedimentary noise modeling and spectrum analysis reveal significant ~1.2 Myr cycles consistent with global sea level variations which were related to astronomical forcing. Potential driven mechanisms of marine incursion and/or groundwater table modulation were linked to explain the co-variation of global sea level changes and regional lake level changes. Our results suggest global sea level fluctuations may have played an important role in driving the hydroclimate and paleolake evolution of the late Eocene Dongying Depression.

Retained water associated with water-locking can restrict gas production in heterogeneous tight sandstones, and the activity and phase stability of many surfactant treatments are reduced under high-temperature, high-salinity (HTHS) conditions. In this study, a composite surfactant formulation, CSF-1, designed to lower gas–brine capillary resistance and adjust sandstone wettability under representative reservoir constraints, is reported. Its performance was evaluated using thermal aging, surface tension and contact angle measurements, geochemical compatibility tests, laser diffraction, SEM/EDS, and core flooding combined with stagewise low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR). CSF-1 remained macroscopically homogeneous after aging at 170 °C in 188.314 g/L hypersaline brine and retained low gas–brine surface tension when measured at 25 °C after aging. In core flooding tests, CSF-1 increased the apparent gas permeability from 0.203 to 0.388 mD relative to the SFW-saturated water-locked state, corresponding to a 91.1% improvement. One- and two-dimensional NMR measurements provided comparative relaxation domain evidence that CSF-1 promoted the removal and redistribution of relatively mobile and weakly restricted fluid signals and reduced residual signal clustering. The shortest T₂ relaxation domains were less affected. The absence of replicate core flooding and associated LF-NMR runs, together with the non-equivalent Ref-S comparison, precludes a statistically rigorous cross-agent performance ranking. These results support the laboratory water-locking mitigation potential under the tested conditions, without implying calibrated pore-size-resolved removal or field-scale confirmation.