AbstractThe Yenisei-Khatanga Composite Tectono-Sedimentary Element (YKh CTSE) is located between the Siberian Craton and the Taimyr-Severnaya Zemlya fold-and-thrust belt. The total thickness of the Mesoproterozoic-Cenozoic sediments of YKh CTSE reaches 20 to 25 km. They are divided into four tectono-sedimentary elements (TSE): (i) Mesoproterozoic-early Carboniferous Siberian Craton continental margin, (ii) middle Carboniferous-Middle Triassic syn-orogenic Taimyr foreland basin, (iii) late Permian-Early Triassic syn-rift, and (iv) Triassic-Early Paleocene post-rift. The last one is the most important in terms of its petroleum potential and is the most drilled part of the CTSE. Its thickness accounts for half of the total thickness of YKh CTSE. The margins of the post-rift TSE and the inner system of inversion swells and adjacent troughs and depressions were shaped by three tectonic events: (i) middle Carboniferous-Middle Triassic Taimyr orogeny, (ii) Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous Verkhoyansk orogeny, (iii) Late Cenozoic uplift. These processes led to more intense migration of hydrocarbons, the trap formation and their infill with hydrocarbons. Triassic, Jurassic, and Lower Cretaceous source rocks are mostly gas-prone, and among 20 discovered fields in Jurassic and Cretaceous plays, 17 are gas or mixed-type fields.
Foreland basin response to Paleocene rejuvenation in the Brooks Range, northern Alaska (presentation): AAPG 3P Arctic, The Polar Petroleum Potential Conference & Exhibition, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, August 30 - September 2, 2011