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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

DOI: 10.1306/021417DIG17099

Deep-water clastic systems in the Upper Carboniferous (Upper Mississippian–Lower Pennsylvanian) Shannon Basin, western Ireland

Ole J. Martinsen,1 Andrew J. Pulham,2 Trevor Elliott,3 Peter Haughton,4 Colm Pierce,5 Anthea R. Lacchia,6 Simon Barker,7 Arnau Obradors Latre,8 Ian Kane,9 Patrick Shannon,10 and George D. Sevastopulo11

1Statoil, P.O. Box 7200, 5020 Bergen, Norway; [email protected]
2Consultant, 5312 Gallatin Place, Boulder, Colorado 80303; [email protected]
3Deceased
4School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; [email protected]
5School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; present address: School of Geosciences, Meston Building, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, United Kingdom; [email protected]
6Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG), University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; [email protected]
7Statoil, P.O. Box 7200, 5020 Bergen, Norway; [email protected]
8School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; [email protected]
9School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Williamson Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom; [email protected]
10School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; [email protected]
11Department of Earth Sciences, Trinity College, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The Upper Carboniferous Shannon Basin of western Ireland contains a more-than-2300-m-thick (7540 ft) basin-fill succession, shallowing upward from deep-water to deltaic and incised fluvial deposits. The deep-water basin floor and slope succession is world renowned as an analog for hydrocarbon-bearing deep-water sandstones on several continental margins such as the basins in East and West Africa, South America, the Gulf of Mexico, and not least offshore northwest Europe.

The Shannon Basin is frequently visited by both academia and industry for research and training purposes. A series of behind-outcrop research boreholes reveals the subsurface expression of the deep-water rocks and is complemented by seismic-scale cliff exposures. The succession is interpreted as a first-order basin-scale linked sedimentary system. This system can be analyzed using the principles of source-to-sink analysis and leaves the visitor with a complete picture of the basin fill, enhanced by spectacular sedimentological and stratigraphic detail.

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