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Abstract
Chapter from:
AAPG Memoir 67: Seals, Traps, and the Petroleum
System
, Edited
by R. C. Surdam
(Publication Subject: Oil Methodology, Concepts)
AAPG Memoir 67: Seals, Traps, and the Petroleum
System
. Chapter 13: Stratigraphic Controls on the Development and Distribution of Fluid-Pressure Compartments
, by R.S. Martinsen, Pages 223-241
Copyright © 1997 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights
reserved.
Chapter 13
Stratigraphic Controls on the Development and
Distribution of Fluid-Pressure Compartments
R.S. Martinsen
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of
Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT
Studies in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming indicate that
the boundaries of individual fluid pressure compartments commonly correspond to the
boundaries of various stratigraphic elements (e.g., lithofacies and unconformities). This
finding leads to the question: "What, then, is the difference between a stratigraphic
trap
and a fluid pressure compartment?" The fundamental difference is that
conventional stratigraphic and
structural
traps have incomplete capillary seal closure,
whereas fluid pressure compartments (of the type observed in the Powder River Basin) have
complete capillary seal closure. Most
structural
traps and many stratigraphic traps are
not completely bounded by low-permeability rocks and have discrete spillpoints. They
cannot achieve complete capillary seal closure and are incapable of becoming pressure
compartments. Even the many stratigraphic traps (and fewer
structural
traps) that are
enclosed by low-permeability rocks do not all comprise pressure compartments. In order for
a hydrocarbon reservoir to be enclosed by capillary seals, not only must it be enclosed by
low-permeability rocks, it must be either completely filled (lack a hydrocarbon-free water
contact) or enclosed by low-permeability rocks that contain multiple fluid phases. These
conditions are more likely met in reservoirs completely enclosed within, or closely
associated with, mature source rocks. The distribution and characteristics of fluid
pressure compartments observed in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming are discussed within
the framework of these types of stratigraphic variables.
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