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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
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A method has been developed to combine sediment thickness, organic carbon content, and thermal maturity data from potential source rock units into a single mappable parameter which can be used to indicate areas of potential hydrocarbon generation. This is accomplished by taking the product of the average percent organic carbon and the effective source rock thickness of a formation to give a richness factor. The richness factor is then multiplied by maturity scaling factors to give source potential ratings for oil and/or gas generation. The rating values can be combined with kerogen-type data, if available, to refine these assessments of generating potential. The resulting ratings provide semiquantitative measures by which the source potential of a single formation can be ompared within an area or the source potential of 2 or more formations can be compared in the same basin or different basins. By using burial history curves and thermal maturity modeling, the rating index can also be used to estimate source potential through geologic time.
Source potential rating index maps in conjunction with structural analysis of a basin can help the explorer explain the occurrence of already discovered hydrocarbon accumulations and point toward new areas for exploration. Examples are given of applications of rating index mapping to exploration problems in the Williston and Illinois basins.
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