About This Item

Share This Item

The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Special Volumes

Abstract


Pub. Id: A134 (1990)

First Page: 603

Last Page: 632

Book Title: M 51: Interior Cratonic Basins

Article/Chapter: Geologic Evolution and Petroleum Resources of the Baltic Basin: Chapter 31: Part II. Selected Analog Interior Cratonic Basins: Analog Basins

Subject Group: Basin or Areal Analysis or Evaluation

Spec. Pub. Type: Memoir

Pub. Year: 1990

Author(s): G. Ulmishek (1)

Abstract:

The Baltic basin is an oval depression located in the westernmost part of the Russian craton in the area of the eastern Baltic Sea. Since the initial discovery of petroleum in 1962, a modest 350 to 400 million bbl of oil have been discovered. The basin contains more than 16,000 ft (5000 m) of sedimentary rocks ranging from latest Proterozoic to Tertiary in age. These rocks form four stratigraphic sequences deposited during major tectonic episodes of basin evolution. Principal unconformities separate the sequences.

The basin is underlain by a rift filled with Vendian and perhaps Riphean-age rocks. Upper Vendian and Lower Cambrian rocks of the Baikalian sequence form two northeast-trending depressions. The most intense deformations in the basin occurred during the Caledonian tectonic cycle. The Hercynian and Alpine tectonic cycles further modified basin geometry.

Middle-Upper(?) Cambrian sandstones and siltstones are the main reservoir rocks. Poorer reservoir rocks are Middle and Upper Ordovician detrital and oolitic limestones, Silurian reefs, and Devonian siliciclastics. The petroleum potential of younger rocks in the basin appears to be negligible. The major source rock is probably the organic matter-rich shale in the lower part of the Silurian section. This suggests that downward migration possibly accompanied by short-distance lateral migration of oil played the major role in formation of oil fields. Maturation of source rocks, migration of oil, and formation of fields took place largely during deposition of the Hercynian and perhaps the Alpine sequences.

Pay-Per-View Purchase Options

The article is available through a document delivery service. Explain these Purchase Options.

Watermarked PDF Document: $14
Open PDF Document: $24