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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

GCAGS Transactions

Abstract


Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions
Vol. 41 (1991), Pages 610-610

Abstract: Salt Dynamics: Excess Maturity, Timing and Flow-Previous HitSpeedNext Hit

R. O. Thomsen (1,2), I. Lerche (2)

ABSTRACT

A method for assessing the time of onset of diapirism and salt flow-Previous HitspeedNext Hit is demonstrated. Using vitrinite reflectance measurements from wells drilled on top of a salt structure it is possible to determine the excess maturity caused by the focusing of heat due to the higher thermal conductivity of salt. The method is based on calculation of the thermal anomaly surrounding a rising salt diapir. For a given salt Previous HitspeedNext Hit a time-temperature-integral is calculated and converted into a synthetic vitrinite reflectance value.

The modelled vitrinite reflectance values are compared with the observed values at given depths, and the process repeated with various speeds of the rising salt until consistency of predicted and observed values is obtained. The method can easily be tailored to thermal indicators other than vitrinite reflectance thereby enhancing the resolution of the thermal history and constraining both the onset of salt rise as well as the Previous HitspeedTop. The well, Lulu-1, from the Danish North Sea, is a case history used to illustrate the procedure.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND ASSOCIATED FOOTNOTES

(1) Department of Geological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA

(2) Geologisk Institut, Aarhus Universitet, C. F. Mullers Alle, DK-8000 ^aringrhus C, Denmark

Copyright © 1999 by The Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies