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Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 99, No. 8 (August 2015), PP. 15751598

Copyright copy2015. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1306/04281411108

Kinematic restoration of contractional basement structures using thermokinematic models: A key tool for petroleum system modeling

Andrés Mora,1 Wilson Casallas,2 Richard A. Ketcham,3 Diego Gomez,4 Mauricio Parra,5 Jay Namson,6 Daniel Stockli,7 Ariel Almendral,8 Wilmer Robles,9 and Badr Ghorbal10

1Instituto Colombiano del petróleo, Ecopetrol S.A., A.A 4185 Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia; [email protected]
2Instituto Colombiano del petróleo, Ecopetrol S.A., A.A 4185 Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia; [email protected]
3Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78759; [email protected]
4Instituto Colombiano del petróleo, Ecopetrol S.A., A.A 4185 Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia; [email protected]
5Instituto Colombiano del petróleo, Ecopetrol S.A., A.A 4185 Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia; [email protected]
6Davis and Namson Consulting Geologists, 222 Trafalgar Lane, San Clemente, CA 92672; [email protected]
7Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78759; Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1475 Jayhawk Boulevard, 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045-7613; [email protected]
8Instituto Colombiano del petróleo, Ecopetrol S.A., A.A 4185 Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia; [email protected]
9Instituto Colombiano del petróleo, Ecopetrol S.A., A.A 4185 Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia; [email protected]
10Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1475 Jayhawk Boulevard, 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045-7613; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we demonstrate a workflow for constructing kinematic restorations in complex foothill areas devoid of growth strata and other indicators for the chronology of deformation. Our initial reconstructions utilize thermochronometric data, a well-documented structural geometry, and a first-order conversion of exhumation rates into tectonic rates. We then utilize models obtained from the new in-house–developed software FetKin to build a first version of the thermokinematic restoration. The FetKin approach is geared primarily toward testing and further calibration and refinement of the kinematic restoration, based on the extent to which the model result agrees with thermochronometric data from the study area in the form of both discrete ages and inverse-modeled time–temperature envelopes. This analysis also provides rates of shortening and time–temperature paths throughout the model space that can be used to make first-order predictions of when different source rocks entered the oil window. These capabilities are demonstrated in a pilot case study along a cross section in the Colombian Eastern Cordillera. The improved confidence in the reconstruction that this technique provides allows us to show increasing shortening rates in this part of the Andes during the Neogene reaching up to 5 mm/yr (0.20 in./yr) by the Pliocene, and constrain the timing of generation from the most important oil kitchens for the Eastern Cordillera-Llanos basin petroleum system. This approach, therefore, proves to be a useful method for creating high-resolution and high-fidelity kinematic restorations.

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