About This Item

Share This Item

The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 98, No. 10 (October 2014), P. 20192055.

Copyright copy2014. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1306/03201413161

Shallow-marine reservoir development in extensional diapir-collapse minibasins: An integrated subsurface case study from the Upper Jurassic of the Cod terrace, Norwegian North Sea

Aruna S. Mannie,1 Christopher A.-L. Jackson,2 and Gary J. Hampson3

1Imperial College London, Basins Research Group (BRG), Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom; [email protected]
2Imperial College London, Basins Research Group (BRG), Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom; [email protected]
3Imperial College London, Basins Research Group (BRG), Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Understanding the factors controlling the development of accommodation above collapsing salt diapirs and their influence on reservoir distribution is critical in reducing exploration risk in salt-influenced sedimentary basins. In this study, we use an integrated subsurface data set (three-dimensional and two-dimensional seismic reflection, wire-line-log, core, and biostratigraphic data) from the Upper Jurassic of the Cod terrace, Norwegian North Sea, to understand the influence of rifting on accommodation creation and shallow-marine deposition during the initial-stage collapse of salt diapirs. We demonstrate that rifting resulted in the rise and fall of salt diapirs, and the formation of supra-diapir minibasin-style depocenters that became sites for deposition and preservation of up to 500 m (1640 ft) thick net-transgressive shallow-marine sandstone reservoirs. Maximum thickness is recorded in the axis of minibasins with a reduction in thickness of up to 65% noted on their flanks. The stratigraphic architecture of individual minibasins is variable. Proximal-to-distal facies variations from shoreface to offshore shelf and commensurate changes in reservoir quality occur over scales larger than individual minibasins. These deposits contain large sand volumes, and are not confined to areas of localized sandstone subcrop. In combination, these features suggest that the minibasins formed a linked network supplied by regional sediment-routing systems. The results of this study provide a new tectono-stratigraphic model for prediction of reservoir presence, thickness, and continuity in diapir-collapse minibasins along salt walls in the Central North Sea, and in other less mature, data-poor basins where reservoirs have been identified in depocenters above salt walls.

Pay-Per-View Purchase Options

The article is available through a document delivery service. Explain these Purchase Options.

Watermarked PDF Document: $14
Open PDF Document: $24

AAPG Member?

Please login with your Member username and password.

Members of AAPG receive access to the full AAPG Bulletin Archives as part of their membership. For more information, contact the AAPG Membership Department at [email protected].