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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 84, No. 10 (October 2000), P. 1561–1588.

Copyright ©2000. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

The Upper Cretaceous carbonates of the Gargano-Murge region, southern Italy: A model of platform-to-basin transition

J. R. F. Borgomano1

1Shell Research and Technical Services, P. O. Box 60, 2280 AB Rijswijk, Netherlands; email: [email protected]

AUTHORS

Jean Borgomano received his M.S. degree in geology at the University of Orsay, France, in 1981. He obtained a Ph.D. on Late Cretaceous carbonates at the University of Provence, Marseille, France, in 1987. After working one year as well-site geologist with Exlog, he joined Shell International B.V. at The Hague as a sedimentologist, where he worked on core and well evaluation. In 1990 he was assigned to Petroleum Development Oman in Muscat as an exploration geologist. In 1994 he was transferred to Norske Shell in Stavanger, Norway, where he carried out prospect evaluation and basin modeling. He is now senior geologist in a multidisciplinary team working on carbonate reservoir modeling at Shell EP Technology, Rijswijk, The Netherlands.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This article is a summary of my doctoral thesis (1987) supervised by Jean Philip and Jean-Pierre Masse at the University of Provence, Marseille, France. I would like to express here my sincere thanks for their support. I also thank Elf Aquitaine, which sponsored part of this work from 1982 to 1984 and authorized its publication, and Andre Maurin (Total) and Bernard Pierson (Shell) who gave me the inspiration I needed to carry out this study.

ABSTRACT

The outcrops in Gargano-Murge region are good examples of the Upper Cretaceous carbonate systems of the peri-Adriatic area. They enable the architecture and the processes of the platform-to-basin transition to be studied in detail. The platform carbonates are juxtaposed to the deeper marine carbonates by the intermediary of a faulted scarp. The base-of-slope is characterized by bioclastic and conglomeratic aprons interbedded with pelagic mudstones. The outer shelf domain, which was the prolific source of rudistid bioclastic aprons, is not preserved. The platform is mainly built of mud-dominated transgressive systems tracts, whereas highstand systems tracts are developed as bioclastic base-of-slope aprons. The volume of the resedimented bioclasts largely exceeds the volume of missing outer shelf, indicating that carbonate production and sediment bypass are more critical for this stratigraphic response than carbonate erosion. The lowstands, which were controlled by tectonic deformations, are characterized by base-of-slope breccia and blocks eroded from the shelf edge. This erosion resulted in the progressive retreat of the shelf edge. The best potentials for hydrocarbon reservoir are found in the bioclastic base-of-slope aprons formed during the Cenomanian and Maastrichtian highstands. This model is considered as an analog for the hydrocarbon reservoirs formed by the deep marine deposits of Cretaceous Tamabra limestone in the Gulf of Mexico.

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