Basin and petroleum system analysis in the southeastern Persian Gulf basin: a 2D basin modeling approach

A regional 2D conceptual model was constructed to study the hydrocarbon systems associated with the Middle Sarvak source rock (Cenomanian) in the southeastern Persian Gulf basin. The 2D cross section used for this purpose was 135 km long and encompassed a total of 17 depositional units with the Late Jurassic Surmeh Formation at the base and the Aghajari/Mishan sequences at the top. Compositional type II-S kinetics was considered for the Middle Sarvak source rock, and the model predictions were calibrated against observe data (corrected bottom hole temperatures and vitrinite reflectance data) coming from 4 wells located on the studied cross section. Our results indicate that hydrocarbons predominantly migrate laterally from east to the west of the study area, thereby sequentially charging potential traps en-route. The interaction between facies patterns and geodynamic evolution controls both the distribution and quality of hydrocarbon accumulations in the study area. The calibrated 2D model reliably predicts most of the present-day hydrocarbon occurrences in the study area and explains the present-day variations in their bulk properties. Our findings provide new insights about the unconventional plays associate with the Middle Sarvak source rock especially in the central parts of the southeastern Persian Gulf basin.

Geometrical Breakdown Approach to interpretation of depositional sequences

Seismic and sequence stratigraphic analyses are important methodologies for interpreting coastal and shallow-marine deposits. Though both methods are based on objective criteria, terminology for reflection/stratal stacking is widely linked to eustatic cycles, which does not adequately incorporate factors such as differential subsidence, sediment supply, and autogenic effects. To reduce reliance on model-driven interpretations, we developed a Geometrical Breakdown Approach (GBA) that facilitates interpretation of horizon-bound reflection packages by systematically identifying upward-downward and landward-seaward trajectories of clinoform inflection points and stratal ter­minations, respectively. This approach enables a rigorous characterization of stratal surfaces and depositional units. The results are captured in three-letter acronyms that provide an efficient way of recognizing repetitive stacking pat­terns through discriminating reflection packages objectively to the maximum level of resolution provided by the data. Comparison of GBA with selected sequence stratigraphic models that include three and four systems tracts and the accommodation succession approach shows that the GBA allows a greater level of detail to be extracted, identifying key surfaces with more precision and utilizing more effectively the fine-scale resolution provided by the input seismic data. We tested this approach using a synthetic analogue model and field data from the New Jersey margin. The results demonstrate that the geometric criteria constitute a reliable tool for identifying systems tracts and provide an objective and straightforward method for practitioners at all levels of experience.

Intra-oceanic submarine arc evolution recorded in an ~1-km-thick rear-arc succession of distal volcaniclastic lobe deposits

International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 351 drilled a rear-arc sedimentary succession ~50 km west of the Kyushu-Palau Ridge, an arc remnant formed by rifting during formation of the Shikoku Basin and the Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc. The ~1-km-thick Eocene to Oligocene deep-marine volcaniclastic succession recovered at Site U1438 provides a unique opportunity to study a nearly complete record of intra-oceanic arc development, from a rear-arc perspective on crust created during subduction initiation rather than supra-subduction seafloor spreading. Detailed facies analysis and definition of depositional units allow for broader stratigraphic analysis and definition of lobe elements. Patterns in gravity-flow deposit types and subunits appear to define a series of stacked lobe systems that accumulated in a rear-arc basin. The lobe subdivisions, in many cases, are a combination of a turbidite-dominated subunit and an overlying debris-flow subunit. Debris flow–rich lobe-channel sequences are grouped into four, 1.6–2 m.y. episodes, each roughly the age range of an arc volcano. Three of the episodes contain overlapping lobe facies that may have resulted from minor channel switching or input from a different source. The progressive up-section coarsening of episodes and the increasing channel-facies thicknesses within each episode suggest progressively prograding facies from a maturing magmatic arc. Submarine geomorphology of the modern Mariana arc and West Mariana Ridge provide present-day examples that can be used to interpret the morphology and evolution of the channel (or channels) that fed sediment to Site U1438, forming the sequences interpreted as depositional lobes. The abrupt change from very thick and massive debris flows to fine-grained turbidites at the unit III to unit II boundary reflects arc rifting and progressive waning of turbidity current and ash inputs. This interpretation is consistent with the geochemical record from melt inclusions and detrital zircons. Thus, Site U1438 provides a unique record of the life span of an intra-oceanic arc, from inception through maturation to its demise by intra-arc rifting and stranding of the remnant arc ridge.

Quantifying competing measures of sediment dynamics on alluvial fans: implications for reconstructing past environmental change

<p>The effects of climate change on eroding landscapes and the sedimentary record remains poorly understood. While sediment routing systems at the Earth’s surface should, in principle, record changes in past environmental boundary conditions, the extent to which landscapes are buffered to high-frequency, high-magnitude climate change is contentious. Mountain catchments and alluvial fans offer one way to address this question, as they are accessible sediment routing systems in which source and sink are closely coupled, sedimentation rates are high, and sediment budgets can be closed. Here we consider the extent to which the granulometry of sediment in stream-flow-dominated alluvial fans records changing environmental conditions. We focus on well-constrained field examples in Death Valley, California, such as the Hanaupah Canyon Fan, which have experienced hydroclimate forcing associated with recent glacial-interglacial cycles. Using field-derived measures of grain size, we compare three complementary methods that have recently been used to reconstruct sediment dynamics on alluvial fans. First, we use a self-similarity analysis of sediment calibre to reconstruct sediment mobility on the fan over time. Second, we use a downstream-fining model to evaluate the extent to which different depositional units on the fans record changing sediment fluxes from source catchments. Finally, we adopt a palaeohydrological approach to reconstruct unit discharges, bed shear stresses and instantaneous sediment transport capacities for fans in the study area, based on field measures of hydraulic geometry and grain size. We evaluate the extent to which these three methods provide consistent results, and we quantify the extent to which grain mobility, water and sediment discharge scale with documented variations in the regional climate. Our work shows that alluvial fans are highly sensitive to palaeo-environmental change, but our findings also illustrate the importance of considering which measures of past climate (particularly averages versus variance) are most relevant for landscape responses and sensitivity to climate change. </p>

Depositional patterns constrained by slope topography changes on seamounts

Slope topography is known to control the spatial distribution of deposits on intraplate seamounts; however, relatively little is known about how slope topography changes constrain those depositional patterns. In this study, we analyse data on four lithotypes found on seamount slopes, including colloidal chemical deposits comprising mainly cobalt-rich crusts, and examine the relationships between the spatial distribution of these lithotypes and current slope topography. We use these relationships to discuss depositional patterns constrained by slope topography changes. Some depositional units in drill core samples are interpreted to have resulted from past topographic changes that created the current slope topography. Two or more types of deposits that accumulated at the same location implies that the slope topography changed over time and that the depositional patterns on seamount slopes are constrained by changes in slope topography.

Refinement of the stratigraphic framework for the Regional C depositional unit of the McMurray Formation and implications for the early transgression of the Alberta Foreland Basin, Canada

ABSTRACT The Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada, comprises a series of depositional units (DUs) consisting of stacked parasequences bounded by flooding surfaces and incised by fluvio-estuarine channel belts. The fluvio-estuarine channel belts of the McMurray Fm have been the focus of numerous studies whereas the regional DUs have received substantially less attention. Of the regional DUs, Regional C (equivalent to the middle McMurray) is the most understudied, yet this interval records the history of the McMurray Formation between deposition of fluvial strata in the lower McMurray and marine facies in the upper McMurray and overlying Clearwater Formation. Determining the history of the Regional C DU is fundamental for accurately reconstructing the stratigraphic evolution of the McMurray Fm and, by extension, the early evolution of the Alberta Foreland Basin. The Regional C is divided into two DUs separated by a regionally mappable flooding surface. This surface occurs 11 to 15 m below the top of the Regional C and is traceable over a 2,550 km2 area. This flooding surface divides the thick interval of undifferentiated Regional C into a lower C2 DU and an upper C1 DU, each with a maximum thickness of < 15 m. The thickness of the C2 and C1 DUs indicates that deposition at this time also occurred in a setting of low to moderate accommodation creation, which is consistent with the rest of the McMurray Formation. The limited available accommodation space was easily surpassed by sediment supplied by the paleo-distributive channel system, leading to a basinward progradation of the shoreline. The C2 and C1 DUs are retrogradationally stacked, with the maximum regressive paleo-shoreline of C1 lying landward of that of C2. This stacking arrangement indicates that the shoreline backstepped during the early stages of transgression of the Boreal Sea. The backstepping of the paleo-shoreline from C2 to C1 time is consistent with previous studies that show continued and stepwise retrogradation and/or transgression of the paleo-shoreline from the onset of deposition in the lower McMurray Formation through to maximum transgression in the Clearwater Formation. Together, these studies demonstrate that the early drowning of the Alberta Foreland Basin was persistent and slow.

GEOMORPHOLOGICAL DYNAMICS OF THE ELEVATED GEOSYSTEMS OF THE BORBOREMA HIGHLANDS, NORTHEAST OF BRAZIL, FROM OPTICALLY STIMULATED LUMINESCENCE DATING OF HILLSLOPE SEDIMENTS

The geomorphological dynamics of the elevated compartments of the Borborema Highlands, northeastern Brazil, were assessed through the analysis of hillslope sediments. The chosen study area was the Baixa Verde massif, in the State of Pernambuco. The main morphostratigraphic features were identified on the basis of their relevance to the reconstruction of the geomorphological dynamics. First hillslope deposits in the shape of colluvial fans, or infills of hollows and zero order catchments were identified. Following field study of the stratigraphic interactions in four sampling areas within the massif, samples were collected for a number of laboratory tests: sedimentological analysis, soil micromorphology and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating. A fragment of charcoal found on the top of a gravel layer was radiocarbon- dated. The sampling procedures were aimed at the characterization of the several depositional units. The results of the dating of 14 sampling sites point to the occurrence of discrete events of hillslope material remobilization within the last 20,000 years as a dynamic response of the geomorphological systems to the following events: the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Pleistocene/Holocene transition, the mid-Holocene climatic optimum and the recent anthropic period and its short term climatic oscillations.

A Geophysical-Geochemical Approach to the Study of the Paleogene Julian—Slovenian Basin “Megabeds” (Southern Alps—Northwestern Dinarides, Italy/Slovenia)

The Paleogene “megabeds” of the Julian-Slovenian Basin are regional, basin-wide deposits, produced by catastrophic carbonate platform collapses. They record the emplacement of a bipartite slide mass behaving as a cohesive blocky/debris flow in the lower part, and as a grain to turbulent flow in the upper part. Several types of primary (sedimentary) soft sediment deformation structures testify fluid overpressure conditions during emplacement. Such structures are identified within a brecciated, fine grained matrix that encloses and intrudes slide blocks and clasts, characterized by NE-, NW- and SW-directed paleo-transport directions, indicating a depositional setting close to the basin margins. Here we present an updated review of some representative megabeds, exposed in the open-pit quarry outcrops of Anhovo (SW Slovenia). In particular, we here discuss new interpretations based on X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), thermo-gravimetry (TG) and electric resistivity tomography (ERT). Our results indicate that basal marly clasts of the megabeds are markedly different from the uppermost draping marls, suggesting two different coeval sources. The relationships with the underlying successions are strongly erosive, with deep localized scouring of the substrate and amalgamations between different megabeds, and the depositional units inside individual megabeds, supporting the geochemical differences.