3-D seismic interpretation of stratigraphic and structural features in the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous sequence of the Gullfaks Field,Norwegian North Sea:A case study of reservoir development

The 3-D seismic dataset is a key tool to analyze and understand the mechanism of structural and stratigraphic hydrocarbon(HC)trapping in the subsurface.Conventionally used subsurface seismic characterization methods for fractures are based on the theory of effective anisotropy medium.The aim of this work is to improve the structural images with dense sampling of 3-D survey to evaluate structural and stratigraphic models for reservoir development to predict reservoir quality.The present study of the Gullfaks Field,located in the Norwegian North Sea Gullfaks sector,identifies the shallowest structural elements.The steepness of westward structural dip decreases eastward during the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous deposition.Reservoir sands consist of the Middle Jurassic deltaic deposits and Lower Jurassic fluvial channel and delta plain deposits.Sediment supply steadily prevails on sea-level rise and the succession displays a regressive trend indicated by a good continuous stacking pattern.The key factor for the development of reservoirs in the Gullfaks Field is fault transmissibility with spatially distributed pressure.The majority of mapped faults with sand-to-sand contacts are non-sealing,which provide restriction for the HC flow between the fault blocks.The traps for HC accumulation occur between the post-rift and syn-rift strata,i.e.antiform set by extensional system,unconformity trap at the top of syndeposition,and structural trap due to normal faults.Overall reservoir quality in the studied area is generally excellent with average 35%porosity and permeability in the Darcy range.Our findings are useful to better understand the development of siliciclastic reservoirs in similar geological settings worldwide.

The Langjiexue Group is an in situ sedimentary sequence rather than an exotic block: Constraints from coeval Upper Triassic strata of the Tethys Himalaya(Qulonggongba Formation)

The Upper Triassic Langjiexue Group in southeastern Tibet has long been an enigmatic geological unit. It belongs tectonically to the northern Tethys Himalayan zone, but provenance signatures of the detritus it contains are significantly different from those of typical Tethys Himalayan sandstones. Because the Langjiexue Group is everywhere in fault contact with Tethys Himalayan strata, its original paleogeographic position has remained controversial for a long time. According to some researchers, the Langjiexue Group was deposited onto the northern edge of the Indian passive continental margin, whereas others interpreted it as an independent block accreted to the northern Indian margin only during final India-Asia convergence and collision in the Paleocene. This study compares the Langjiexue Group and coeval Upper Triassic strata of the southern Tethys Himalayan zone(Qulonggongba Formation). Our new provenance data indicate that Qulonggongba Formation sandstones contain common felsic volcanic rock fragments, minor plagioclase, and euhedral to subhedral zircon grains yielding Late Paleozoic to Triassic ages. These provenance features compare well with those of the Langjiexue Group. Because the Qulonggongba Formation certainly belongs to the Tethys Himalayan zone, the provenance similarity with the Langjiexue Group indicates that the latter is also an in situ Tethys Himalayan sedimentary sequence rather than part of an exotic block. Volcanic detritus including Late Paleozoic to Triassic zircon grains in both Langjiexue Group and Qulonggongba Formation are interpreted to have been derived from the distant Gondwanide orogen generated by Pan-Pacific subduction beneath the southeastern margin of Gondwana. The Qulonggongba Formation, deposited above marlstones of the lower Upper Triassic Tulong Group, is overlain by India-derived coastal quartzose sandstones of the uppermost Triassic Derirong Formation. Deposition of both the Qulonggongba Formation and the Langjiexue Group were most likely controlled by regional tectonism, possibly a rifting event along the northern margin of Gondwana.

Constraining the timing of the India-Asia continental collision by the sedimentary record

Placing precise constraints on the timing of the India-Asia continental collision is essential to understand the successive geological and geomorphological evolution of the orogenic belt as well as the uplift mechanism of the Tibetan Plateau and their effects on climate,environment and life.Based on the extensive study of the sedimentary record on both sides of the Yarlung-Zangbo suture zone in Tibet,we review here the present state of knowledge on the timing of collision onset,discuss its possible diachroneity along strike,and reconstruct the early structural and topographic evolution of the Himalayan collided range.We define continent-continent collision as the moment when the oceanic crust is completely consumed at one point where the two continental margins come into contact.We use two methods to constrain the timing of collision onset:(1) dating the provenance change from Indian to Asian recorded by deep-water turbidites near the suture zone,and(2) dating the age of unconformities on both sides of the suture zone.The first method allowed us to constrain precisely collision onset as middle Palaeocene(59±l Ma).Marine sedimentation persisted in the collisional zone for another 20-25 Ma locally in southern Tibet,and molassic-type deposition in the Indian foreland basin did not begin until another 10-15 Ma later.Available sedimentary evidence failed to firmly document any significant diachroneity of collision onset from the central Himalaya to the western Himalaya and Pakistan so far.Based on the Cenozoic stratigraphic record of the Tibetan Himalaya,four distinct stages can be identified in the early evolution of the Himalayan orogen:(1) middle Palaeocene-early Eocene earliest Eohimalayan stage(from 59 to 52 Ma):collision onset and filling of the deep-water trough along the suture zone while carbonate platform sedimentation persisted on the inner Indian margin;(2) early-middle Eocene early Eohimalayan stage(from 52 to 41 or 35 Ma):filling of intervening seaways and cessation of marine sedimentation;(3) late Eocene-Oligocene late Eohimalayan stage(from 41 to 25 Ma):huge gap in the sedimentary record both in the collision zone and in the Indian foreland;and(4) late Oligocene-early Miocene early Neohimalayan stage(from 26 to 17 Ma):rapid Himalayan growth and onset of molasse-type sedimentation in the Indian foreland basin.