North Viking Graben

Examine geometry carefully can you see evidence of 2 rifting phases?

Breakup unconformity marks the end of the rifting phase (here, it is the
boundary between synrift and postrift deposition)
Gentle anticlines in postrift sequence likely due to differential compaction
No evidence for depositional shelf edge or progradational sequences suggests
postrift deposition in deep water

North Shetland Trough

No evidence for depositional shelf edge or progradational sequences suggests postrift

deposition in deep water

ESCI 426:
Geological Interpretation of 2D Seismic Data

Global Tectonics

Global Tectonics

Theory of Plate Tectonics

The upper mechanical layer of Earth (lithosphere) is divided into rigid
plates that move away from, toward, and along each other
Most deformation of Earths crust occurs at plate boundaries

Compositional and Mechanical

Layering
Compositional Layers
Crust
- enriched in Si and Al

Mantle
- higher Fe and Mg content
Crust-mantle MOHO boundary

defined by:
- seismic velocity discontinuity
- change from non-peridotitic rocks
(crust) to olivine-dominated (mantle)

Mechanical Layers
Lithosphere

- solid, heat transferred by conduction

Asthenosphere

- plastic, heat transferred by convection

Lithosphere-asthenosphere

- boundary defined by 1330C isotherm

( http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/inside.html )

Crustal Thickness

Continental crust

Typically ~30km thick

Quite variable
5-10km thick in highly extended regions
60-70km thick in compressional orogens
Significant radiogenic heat production

Oceanic crust

Typically ~6-km thick

Very little variation
Little or no radiogenic heat
production
(http://mahi.ucsd.edu/Gabi/rem.html)

Age of Ocean Basins

Age of Continents

Plate Boundaries
3 types of plate boundaries
- convergent
- divergent
- transform

Plate Boundaries

Prospectivity
Continental crust hosts prolific hydrocarbon reserves
As ultra-deepwater drilling becomes more commonplace, we are
exploring out into the realm of oceanic crust

Prospectivity
There are very little radio-active isotopes (Uranium, Thorium and
Potassium K40) decaying in oceanic crust creating heat compared to
typical granitic composition, continental crust.
So much less heat, cooler and totally reliant on heat flow though base of
lithosphere from asthenosphere below.
This is not very much, so in general, oceanic crust is too cool to convert
kerogen (if it is deposited in sufficient thickness) into hydrocarbon.
Possible exceptions could be close to submarine volcanic chains.
Usually, issues about getting source, reservoir and seal deposited on the
deep ocean floor, far away from continental provenance areas too.

Plate reconstructions

Basin Formation

Basin Formation

Basins are zones

which accumulate
thick sediment,
usually by infill of
topographic
depressions.
How do basins form?
3 key mechanisms
- Extension
- Thermal Sag
- Flexure

All can be isostatically

deepened by loading
with sediment

The three mechanisms alone or in

combination form Basin Families

Rift Sag Passive Margin

Continental Platform
Fold-Thrust Belt Foreland Basin
Pull-Apart Basins
Forearc-Backarc Basins
Large Deltas

Key 1 : Basin types have common structural styles and HC

habitats!
Key 2 : Basins often have long histories with changes in
basin style!

Models of Extensional Basin Formation

Plate Tectonic Models:

McKenzie Rift Model
Stretching thins crust and lower
lithosphere by pure shear
Brittle thinning of surface creates
initial rift-driven subsidence
Ductile stretching of lower crust
and base lithosphere allows
isostatic uplift of top of hot
asthenosphere (1330) into dome
beneath rift
Subsequent cooling of hot dome
causes a later superposed thermal
subsidence of the rift system
Amount of crustal thinning is
characterized using stretching
factor, .

Crust

Mantle
Temperature

Initial Subsidence

Final Subsidence

Base of Lithosphere

Rift Basin Subsidence

Two mega-sequences
are deposited during
basin development
An earlier syn-rift package
confined to the rift system
A younger post-rift sequence
that extends beyond the
confines of the original rift

Syn-Rift

Peripheral Bulge
Post-Rift 1

Post-Rift 2

Peripheral Bulge

Extensional Rift Basin

Structural Patterns in Rifts

Williams and Eubank, 1995

Thermal Sag Basins: Oceans

Crustal density inversely
proportional to
temperature
Hotter crust = higher
topography
Cooling creates gradual
subsidence
Oceanic Crustal Age
Bathymetry

(NOAA)

Oceanic crustal temperature

proportional to 1/(age)
Ocean bathymetry basically a
function of temperature (crustal
age)except near subduction
zones.

Flexural Basins
Unbroken crust has significant flexural
strength
Loading causes the crust to flex like a rigid
beam
Flexural basins form adjacent to loads (e.g.,
thrust belts, volcanoes)

Pyrenees

Flexure is:
Proportional to weight
of load
Inversely proportional
to crustal strength

Flexural basins
(www.ub.es/ggac/research/piris/piris1.htm )

Flexural Basins: Alberta Foothills,

Canada
2000 m
1000 m
0m

-1000 m
-2000 m
-3000 m
-4000 m

00

Deepest next to load (thrust belt)

Basin floor rises gradually toward
foreland
Foredeep, forebulge, backbulge

50
50 km
km

100
100 km
km

Cretaceous Unconformity

M. Cretaceous

L. Cretaceous

Triassic

Mississippian

Top Devonian

Cambrian

Continental Platform/Sag: West

Siberian Basin

Broad Rift/Sag Basin to the North

Transitions to Russian Platform to the
South
Subsidence may have been assisted
by dynamic mantle effects

Large Deltas: Mississippi and Niger Deltas modification by enormous sedimentary

loading

Line 30: Arkansas to Keathley Canyon

20km

S-N Line through southern Niger Delta

100km

150km

200km

300km

Krueger et al, 2005

Where is the oil?

USGS World Petroleum Assessment, 2000

What types of geological settings contain the oil?

Extensional or compressional?

Oil endowment (cumulative production plus remaining reserves and undiscovered resources) for provinces assessed. Darker green indicates
more resources. United States areas are not included.
1: Former Soviet Union; 2: Middle East and North Africa; 3: Asia-Pacific ; 4: Europe; 5: North America; 6: Central and South America; 7: SubSaharan Africa and Antarctica; 8: South Asia

USGS World Petroleum Assessment, 2000

C?

This area is not very

well understood

E
C

E
C

C
Currently a
convergent margin,
but this area has
had a very complex
tectonic history

E
C

West Africa is
passive margin
formed during
rifting of Pangea,
but thrust faults are
common at shelf
edge

NW shelf formed
during rifting of
Pangea, now
close to
subduction zone

Oil endowment (cumulative production plus remaining reserves and undiscovered resources) for provinces assessed. Darker green indicates
more resources. United States areas are not included.
1: Former Soviet Union; 2: Middle East and North Africa; 3: Asia-Pacific ; 4: Europe; 5: North America; 6: Central and South America; 7: SubSaharan Africa and Antarctica; 8: South Asia

What geological setting contains the most oil?

Tectonic setting of the worlds giant oil fields

Mann et al., 2001, World Oil

Classified 592 giant oil fields into six basin and

tectonic-setting categories
Continental passive margins fronting major ocean basins
account for 31% of giants
Continental rifts and overlying steers head sag basins
contain 30% of the worlds giant oil fields
Collision belts between two continents contain 24% of the
worlds oil giants
Arc-continent collision margins, strike-slip margins and
subduction margins collectively form the setting for 15% of
the worlds giant fields

About 60/40 extensional/compressional

What are we looking for on seismic?

Structural features
Faults
Direction of motion
Deformation zone

Structural highs (anticlines, 3- and 4-way closures)

Structural Traps

Structural Traps

Structural Traps

Interpretation of Brazil Line

Passive Margins
Seaward dipping reflectors (SDRs)
Carbonates/Evaporites
Some sequence stratigraphy
Aggradation
Progradation

Passive Margins
Transition between oceanic and continental
crust without an active plate boundary

Volcanic and Non-Volcanic Passive Margins

Volcanic Passive Margins

Formation of SDRs
Most volcanics emplaced
over cont. crust
Due to influence of hot
spots or upwelling of
partially melted mantle

(after Hinz, 1981)

Formation of SDRs

Formation of SDRs

Non-volcanic Passive Margins

Where is the COB?

Passive Margins
Thermal subsidence caused by cooling and
subsiding of upwelled mantle material

U.S. Margin

Carbonates/Evaporites
Most carbonate deposition occurs in warm shallow
(<100 m) seas
Reef building organisms form the framework of most
of these carbonate buildups (photosynthetic)
Often form at end of rifting
Also associated with evaporite deposits that form in
restricted basins
Often form at end of rifting

Progradation
Sediment supply exceeds accommodation
Growth of river delta farther out into sea over time

Aggradation
Sediment supply balanced by accommodation
Upward growth of sedimentary sequences

Official Birth of Sequence Stratigraphy

1977 Peter Vail and Robert Mitchum coordinated the publishing of AAPG Memoir
#26 based on the assumption that a
seismic relection surface represents a time
line

From Charlie Kerans

Sequence Stratigraphy