Biostratigraphy,Depositional and Diagenetic Processes in Carbonate Rocks from Southern Lebanon:Impact on Porosity and Permeability

Carbonate rocks contain prolific hydrocarbon reserves all over the world,particularly in the Middle East.For exploration and production strategies,it is essential to understand carbonate reservoirs in terms of their internal characteristics,depositional environment,relative age,diagenetic processes and impact on petrophysical properties.This study has been performed on exposed Cretaceous,Paleocene and Miocene marine carbonate sedimentary sequences in two localities(Maghdoucheh and Qennarit)near the city of Sidon(Southern Lebanon).It represents the first comprehensive study that takes into consideration the carbonate reservoir facies,diagenetic history and reservoir quality in the area.Rocks at Maghdoucheh are mainly dominated by limestone beds showing sedimentary structures and erosive bases alternating with microfossil-rich silty marls,related to a shallowing upward sequence in a restricted marine platform environment.Shells of benthic foraminifera and mollusks dominate the fossil assemblage extracted from the studied rocks.The microfossil and nannofossil assemblage detected in the Maghdoucheh sections indicates a middle Miocene age.Rocks at Qennarit are composed of mudstone/wackestone limestone beds rich in planktonic foraminifera and nannofossils related to open marine conditions.Based on the nannofossil content,rocks from Qennarit 1 and 2 are Paleocene and Cretaceous in age,respectively.Four main types of microfacies have been identified,i.e.(1)microbioclastic peloidal calcisiltite,(2)pelagic lime mudstone and wackestone with planktonic microfossils,(3)grainstone/packstone with abundant foraminifera and(4)fenestral bindstones,mudstones and packstones with porostromate microstructures.The porosity-permeability(poro-perm)analysis of representative samples reveals moderate to good porosity but very low permeability.This is mainly due to the presence of large moldic pores that are isolated in nature.The diagenetic features are dominated by micritization and dissolution(both fabric selective and non-fabric selective).Among all diagenetic features,dissolution in both localities contributes to porosity enhancement,while micritization,cementation,compaction and the filled fractures have negative impacts on permeability;hence the overall reservoir quality.

A seismological evidence for the northwestward movement of Africa with respect to Iberia from shear-wave splitting

Seismic anisotropy and its main features along the convergent boundary between Africa and Iberia are detected through the analysis of teleseismic shear-wave splitting. Waveform data generated by 95 teleseismic events recorded at 17 broadband stations deployed in the western Mediterranean region are used in the present study. Although the station coverage is not uniform in the Iberian Peninsula and north- west Africa, significant variations in the fast polarization directions and delay times are observed at stations located at different tectonic domains. Fast polarization directions are oriented predominantly NW-SE at most stations which are close to the plate boundary and in central Iberia; being consistent with the absolute plate motion in the region. In the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula, fast velocity direc- tions are oriented nearly E--W; coincident with previous results. Few stations located slightly north of the plate boundary and to the southeast of lberia show E--W to NE-SW fast velocity directions, which may be related to the Alpine Orogeny and the extension direction in lberia. Delay times vary significantly between 0.2 and 1.9 s for individual measurements, reflecting a highly anisotropic structure beneath the recording stations. The relative motion between Africa and lberia represents the main reason for the observed NW-SE orientations of the fast velocity directions. However, different causes of anisotropy have also to be considered to explain the wide range of the splitting pattern observed in the western Mediterranean region. Many geophysical observations such as the low Pn velocity, lower lithospheric Q values, higher heat flow and the presence of high conductive features support the mantle flow in the western Mediterranean, which may contribute and even modify the splitting pattern beneath the studied region.

Upper crustal structure beneath Southwest Iberia north of the convergent boundary between the Eurasian and African plates

The 3-D P- and S-wave velocity models of the upper crust beneath Southwest Iberia are determined by inverting arrival time data from local earthquakes using a seismic tomo^raphy method. We used a total of 3085 P- and 2780 S-wave high quality arrival times from 886 local earthquakes recorded by a per- manent seismic network, which is operated by the Institute of Meteorology （IM）, Lisbon, Portugal. The computed P- and S-wave velocities are used to determine the 3-D distributions of Vp/Vs ratio. The 3-D velocity and Vp/Vs ratio images display clear lateral heterogeneities in the study area. Significant veloc- ity variations up to ~6% are revealed in the upper crust beneath Southwest lberia, At 4 km depth, both P- and S-wave velocity take average to high values relative to the initial velocity model, while at 12 km, low P-wave velocities are clearly visible along the coast and in the southern parts. High S-wave velocities at 12 km depth are imaged in the central parts, and average values along the coast; although some scattered patches of low and high S-wave velocities are also revealed. The Vp/Vs rztio is generally high at depths of 4 and 12 km along the coastal parts with some regions of high Vp/Vs ratio in the north at 4 km depth, and low Vp/Vs ratio in the central southern parts at a depth of 12 km, The imaged low velocity and high Vp/Vs ratios are related to the thick saturated and unconsolidated sediments covering the region; whereas the high velocity regions are generally associated with the Mesozoic basement rocks.

Upper crustal Poisson's ratio and coda-wave attenuation beneath Eastern Anatolia

The attenuation of seismic waves reflects the elastic nature of the media within which the waves propagate.In this study,we calculate the Coda-Q(Qc),frequency dependence(η),Vp/Vs and Poisson's(υ)ratios by using 2621 vertical component seismograms generated by 987 earthquakes recorded by 13 seismic stations in Eastern Anatolia,and creat a 2-D seismic tomographic Qc model for the region.The obtained model provides significant information for exploring the boundaries of adjacent tectonic units within the upper crust and interpreting their dynamic characteristics.The 2-D Qc model and the other parameters are consistent with the seismotectonic features of Eastern Anatolia.Highly heterogeneous Qc values are observed in the study area dividing it into north-south directed bands of low and high attenuation.The highestηvalues were obtained beneath the northwestern and eastern parts of the study region.Clear,high and lowυvalues are obtained in the western and eastern parts of the study area,respectively.The spatial variations in the measured parameters are consistent with many geophysical observations including low Pn velocities,efficient Sn blockage,high heat flow,and widespread volcanism.Different upper crustal thicknesses and inhomogeneous stress distribution along the East and North Anatolian Fault Zones may also contribute to the observed heterogeneities.

Constraints on the crustal structure beneath the Sinai subplate,SE Mediterranean,from analysis of local and regional travel times

The Sinai Peninsula has been recognized as a subplate of the African Plate located at the triple junction of the Gulf of Suez rift,the Dead Sea Transform fault,and the Red Sea rift.The upper and lower crustal structures of this tectonically active,rapidly developing region are yet poorly understood because of many limitations.For this reason,a set of P- and S-wave travel times recorded at 14 seismic stations belonging to the Egyptian National Seismographic Network（ENSN） from 111 local and regional events are analyzed to investigate the crustal structures and the locations of the seismogenic zones beneath central and southern Sinai.Because the velocity model used for routine earthquake location by ENSN is one-dimensional,the travel-time residuals will show lateral heterogeneity of the velocity structures and unmodeled vertical structures.Seismic activity is strong along the eastern and southern borders of the study area but low to moderate along the northern boundary and the Gulf of Suez to the west.The crustal V_P/V_S ratio is 1.74 from shallow（depth≤10 km） earthquakes and 1.76 from deeper（depth 〉 10 km） crustal events.The majority of the regional and local travel-time residuals are positive relative to the Preliminary Reference Earth Model（PREM）,implying that the seismic stations are located above widely distributed,tectonically-induced low-velocity zones.These low-velocity zones are mostly related to the local crustal faults affecting the sedimentary section and the basement complex as well as the rifting processes prevailing in the northern Red Sea region and the ascending of hot mantle materials along crustal fractures.The delineation of these low-velocity zones and the locations of big crustal earthquakes enable the identification of areas prone to intense seismotectonic activities,which should be excluded from major future development projects and large constructions in central and southern Sinai.

Analysis and Characterization of Pore System and Grain Sizes of Carbonate Rocks from Southern Lebanon

Carbonate rocks are common in many parts of the world, including the Eastern Mediterranean, where they host significant groundwater supplies and are widely used as building and ornamental stones. The porosity of carbonate rocks plays a critical role in fluid storage and retrieval. The pore structure connectivity, in particular, controls many properties of geological formations, as well as the relationships between the properties of individual minerals and the bulk properties of the rock. To study the relationships between porosity, rock properties, pore structure, pore size, and their impact on reservoir characteristics, 46 carbonate rock samples were collected from four stratigraphic sections exposed near Sidon, South Lebanon. The studied carbonate rocks are related to marine deposits of different ages(e.g., Upper Cretaceous, Eocene, and Upper Miocene). In order to understand the pore connectivity, the MICP(mercury injection capillary pressure) technique was conducted on ten representative samples. Results from the SEM analysis indicate the dominance of very fine and fine pore sizes, with various categories ranging in diameter from 0.1 to10 μm. The MICP data revealed that the pore throat radii vary widely from 0.001 to 1.4 μm, and that all samples are dominated by micropore throats. The grain size analysis indicated that the studied rocks have significant amounts of silt-and clay-size grains with respect to the coarser ‘sand-size’ particles, suggesting a high proportion of microporosity. Obtained results, such as the poorly-sorted nature of grains, high microporosity, and the high percentage of micropore throats, justify the observed low mean hydraulic radius, the high entry pressure, and the very low permeability of the studied samples. These results suggest that the carbonate rocks near Sidon(south of Lebanon) are possibly classified as non-reservoir facies.