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Abstract

DOI: 10.1306/0503171605217075

Reservoir quality and burial model evaluation by kinetic quartz and illite cementation modeling: Case study of Rotliegendes, north Germany

Benjamin Busch,1 Christoph Hilgers,2 Robert H. Lander,3 Linda M. Bonnell,4 and Dirk Adelmann5

1Institute of Reservoir-Petrology, Energy and Mineral Resources Group, RWTH Aachen University, Wuellnerstraße 2, 52062 Aachen, Germany; present address: Structural Geology and Tectonophysics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Adenauerring 20a, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany; [email protected]
2Institute of Reservoir-Petrology, Energy and Mineral Resources Group, RWTH Aachen University, Wuellnerstraße 2, 52062 Aachen, Germany; present address: Structural Geology and Tectonophysics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Adenauerring 20a, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany; [email protected]
3Geocosm, LLC, 10 Town Plaza #233, Durango, Colorado 81301; [email protected]
4Geocosm, LLC, 10 Town Plaza #233, Durango, Colorado 81301; [email protected]
5Wintershall Holding GmbH, Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 160, 34119 Kassel, Germany; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Silicate reaction kinetics provide a complementary means to other established paleothermal indicators such as organic maturation for evaluating thermal reconstructions. In this study we combine the use of an organic maturation model with kinetic models for quartz and illite cementation to evaluate burial history scenarios for five subsalt wells in lithologically and structurally complex Rotliegendes reservoirs. Models for organic maturation are most sensitive to maximum temperature and provide no direct evidence for the time of peak temperature or the overall duration of high temperatures. By contrast, the kinetics of quartz cementation are much more strongly influenced by the duration of exposure to high temperatures compared with organic indicators. Kinetic models for fibrous illite formation similarly are sensitive to time and temperature and provide predictions for the time of illite formation that can be compared with radiometric dates. Used collectively, these organic and inorganic paleothermal indicators provide improved constraints on thermal evolution compared with conventional approaches. In this study we use these indicators to evaluate two alternative burial history scenarios. Scenario 1 incorporates a hypothesized Jurassic heat flow peak together with significant Late Jurassic deposition and subsequent erosion. Scenario 2 omits the Jurassic heat flow peak and omits the deposition and erosion of the Upper Jurassic. Although both of these scenarios are consistent with organic maturation data, scenario 2 leads to a far better match with quartz cement volumes and fibrous illite K-Ar dates.

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