Geodynamics settings

1. Structure Families

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Structure
Families
Sergei Parnachov
Gary Couples

2. Geodynamics Settings

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Geodynamics Settings
Salt Tectonics
Fold and Thrust Belts
Rifting and Passive Margins
Strike-Slip Provinces
Stable interior (epicontinental) basins
Basement/Cover interactions
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3. Salt Tectonics

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Salt Tectonics
Associated with large
HC accumulation in
many basins like US
Gulf Coast, Southern
Mexico, Gabon,
Senegal, Canadian
Arctic, North Sea,
Romania, Zagros
Mountain (Iran),
Caspian Depression
(CIS)
Salt structures in the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent areas (Seni & Jackson, 1983)
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4. Salt Tectonics

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Twiss & Moores, 1992
Salt Tectonics
salt roller
salt anticline
salt pillow
diapiric salt wall
diapiric salt stock
detached diapir
Associated with diapirs – salt intrusions known also as a “salt dome”
(although other morphology distinguished –see below)
May be very big Marchand-Timbalier-Caillou Island Salt Massive
(Louisiana, some 500km2 with 500MMbbl of oil)
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5. Salt Tectonics

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Salt Tectonics
With regional stress field near isotropic normal
faults mainly developed radial pattern of
faults (see Heidelberg structure plain view on the right)
Note listric faults, rollover anticline, sinand antithetic faults, grabens and halfgrabens
Twiss & Moores, 1992
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6. Salt Tectonics

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Tearpock & Bischke, 1991
Twiss & Moores, 1992
Salt Tectonics
Surrounded faults developed
do not penetrate salt dome –
faults should be mapped
terminated opposite the dome
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7. Salt Tectonics

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
With regional stress being more
anisotropic (or salt exhibits
complex growth story) faults tend
to have more preferred
orientation, forming subparallel
peripheral faults
Salt Tectonics
Brown, 1999
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8. Salt Tectonics

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Salt Tectonics
Halbouty, 1989
HC trap types
1. simple domal anticline,
2. graben fault trap over
the dome,
3. porous caprock
(limestone or
dolostone),
4. flank sand pinchout,
5. traps beneath an
overhang,
6. traps against the salt
itself,
7. unconformity,
8. fault traps downthrown
the dome
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9. Salt Tectonics

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Salt
Tectonics
Because of strata dip
beneath the dome
bright spots are highly
visibly sometime
(Gannet-C Oil & Gas
Field 4D seismic
survey)
Macbeth, 2003
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10. Fold and Thrust Belts

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Fold and Thrust Belts
Compressional tectonic settings:
Reverse and thrust faults, forming within a forearc, backarc
and collision belt (accretion prism),
Anticlines in hanging wall – as a:
–
–
–
fault propagated fold,
fault bend folds and
duplex structures
Zagros collision belt in Iran accounted 75% of the world’s foldand-thrust belt HC production
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11. Fold and Thrust Belts

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Fold and Thrust Belts
Wyoming-Utah backarc
fold and thrust belt –
almost all HC are
trapped in hanging wall
of Absaroka Thrust
(Painter Reservoir, Whitney
Canyon, Ryckman Creek,
Anschutz Ranch Fields).
Lamerson, 1982
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12. Fold and Thrust Belts

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Fold and Thrust Belts
Tearpock & Bischke, 1991
Most of the fields are found in asymmetric
anticlinal folds with steep east limb
Lamerson, 1982
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13. Fold and Thrust Belts

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Note:
Autochthon
Allochthon
Window
Klippe
Flat
Ramp
Fold and Thrust Belts
Twiss & Moores, 1992
Thrust fault = надвиг, шарьяж
Allochton = аллохтон
Autochtone = автохтон
Klippe = тектонический останец
Window = тектоническое окно
Tearpock & Bischke, 1991
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14. Fold and Thrust Belts

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Fold and Thrust Belts
Fault-bend
folds (a) form
where thrust surface changes
from steeper dip to shallow in a
up-dip direction
Fault-propagation
folds (b, c)
form as layers fold during
propagation of a thrust
through a sedimentary
sequence. Fault-propagation
folds may evolve aceinto faultbend fold with displacement
increasing
Hatcher, 1995
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15. Fold and Thrust Belts

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Fold and Thrust Belts
Imbricated Thrust (or Imbricated Fan)
formed by the series of subparallel thrust
developing – probably – from the master
detachment
Duplexes forms where subparallel thrusts of
appr. equal displacement are separated by
deformed sequence. Include Horse Blocks,
Roof and Floor Thrust
Couples, 2003
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16. Rifting and Passive Margines

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Rifting and Passive Margines
Mostly extensional environments:
Normal Faults domination
Tarbuck & Lutgens, 1996
Twiss & Moores, 1992
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17. Rifting and Passive Margines

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Rifting and Passive Margines
Listric Faults (may be Growth Fault)
Rollover Anticline
Graben and Half-Graben
Synthetic and Antithetic Faults
Master or Detachment Fault
Couples, 2003
Note
Transcurrent (or Tear) Fault –
what is actually a strike-slip
feature
May be opposite tilting of
hanging walls
Twiss & Moores, 1992
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18. Rifting and Passive Margines

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Rifting and Passive Margines
Bookshelf model: blocks
rotation and new generation of
normal faults
Growth nature of faults
Couples, 2003
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19. Rifting and Passive Margines

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Rifting and Passive Margines
Normal
Faults
Anticlines
Salt Domes
Tearpock & Bischke, 1991
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20. Rifting and Passive Margines

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Rifting and Passive Margines
Couples, 2003
Growth faults
Shale and Salt diapirism
Synthetic and Antithetic
Normal Faults
Buckle Folds (because
of local compression)
on the base
Halbouty, 1989
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21. Strike-Slip Provinces

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Strike-Slip Provinces
Wrench Faults (high-angle or
vertical) forms under horizontal
compression
May have a great linear extend (were
tectonic plates are involved in the
motion – San Andreas fault
complex)
Sinistral or Dextral – depending on
the motion of the relative block’s
direction
HC traps associated with anticlines
– which may be faulted by normal or
reverse faults
Twiss & Moores, 1992
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22. Strike-Slip Provinces

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Strike-Slip
Provinces
Hatcher, 1995
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23. Strike-Slip Provinces

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Tearpock & Bischke, 1991
Strike-Slip Provinces
Different type of deformation of
the adjacent blocks are very
characteristic – Tear Faults
Twiss & Moores, 1992
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24. Strike-Slip Provinces

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Twiss & Moores, 1992
Strike-Slip Provinces
Flow (or Palm Tree)
structure in Pull-Appart
structure:
• normal or negative
(транстенция)
• reverse or positive
(транспрессия)
Pull-appart or
Rhomb-graben basin
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25. Strike-Slip Provinces

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Twiss & Moores, 1992
Strike-Slip Provinces
Strike-Slip Faults termination:
• plainview of extensional dextral (A) and compression sinistral (C) strikeslip faults,
• local extension (B) – listric fault with half-grabens,
• Imbricate Fan or even Duplex zone (D), formed in local compression,
• Horsetail splay (E) of secondary dextral strike-slip faults
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26. Stable interior (epicontinental) basins

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Stable interior (epicontinental) basins
No modern analogue
• Post-rift (past-Triassic) story
of West-Siberian basin
• Middle and Late Cretaceous
episode of North Sea
• Gradual basin infilling by the
sediments (Chalk or clastic)
• From Layercake to Jigsaw
architecture (from the deep to
the margins)
• Main deformation are
sedimentary-induced
(isostatic subsidence, sinsedimentary faults and folds –
deltas etc.)
Roberts et al., 1999
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27. Basement/Cover interactions

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Basement/Cover interactions
Most complex and unpredictable
Mainly vertical basement movements dominate
Basement faulting and cover’ rheology determine folds morphology
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28. Basement/Cover interactions

MSc REM Reservoir Structure ½ Module
Basement/Cover interactions
Most complex and unpredictable
Mainly vertical movements dominate
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