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Abstract


 
Chapter from: M 63:  Unconformities and Porosity in Carbonate Strata 
Edited By
D.A. Budd, A.H. Saller, and P.M. Harris

Authors:
Eva P. Moldovanyi, F. M. Wall, and Zhang Jun Yan

Carbonate Reservoirs

Published 1995 as part of Memoir 63
Copyright © 1995 The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.  All Rights Reserved.

 

Chapter 6

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Regional Exposure Events and Platform Evolution of Zhujiang Formation Carbonates, Pearl River Mouth Basin: Evidence from Primary and Diagenetic Previous HitSeismicNext Hit Facies
 

Eva P. Moldovanyi
Amoco Production Company
Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
F. M. Wall
Amoco Norway Oil Company
Stavanger, Norway
Zhang Jun Yan 
China Offshore Oil Nanhai East Corporation
Guangzhou, People's Republic of China



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ABSTRACT

The concept of chaotic or "diagenetic" Previous HitseismicNext Hit facies is introduced as a tool for understanding factors controlling the evolution of Miocene Zhujiang Formation carbonate platforms in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea. Previous HitSeismicNext Hit data from this basin contain a continuum of chaotic Previous HitseismicNext Hit facies, which are present only within the carbonate interval and range in appearance from simple concave-shaped Previous HitreflectorsNext Hit to highly irregular, high-amplitude chaotic Previous HitreflectorsNext Hit. Diagenetic Previous HitseismicNext Hit facies are significant because they are overprinted on depositional (primary) Previous HitseismicNext Hit facies. The common association between chaotic Previous HitseismicNext Hit facies and other features, such as truncated zones and hummocky carbonate surfaces, supports a model involving karstification of Zhujiang Formation carbonates.

Two contrasting stages of carbonate platform development are recognized from Previous HitseismicNext Hit stratigraphic relationships within the Zhujiang Formation interval: (1) the "lower" platform, a broad and areally extensive low-relief ramp, and (2) the "upper" platform, a narrow and high-relief feature. A regional episode of subaerial diagenesis separating the two stages of platform development is inferred from the distribution of chaotic Previous HitseismicNext Hit facies and from the presence on Previous HitseismicTop of erosional carbonate surfaces. The magnitude of sea level fluctuation is thought to have been on the order of a few 100 m and was likely eustatically controlled. Numerous backstepping events in the upper Zhujiang carbonate suggest this stage of platform development 

 

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