Geodynamical framework and hydrocarbon plays of a salt giant: the NW Mediterranean Basin

Granado, Pablo; Úrgeles, Roger; Sàbat, F.; Albert-Villanueva, Eduard; Roca, Eduard; Muñoz, Josep Antón; Mazzuca, Nicoletta; Gambini, Roberto

doi:10.1144/petgeo2015-084

Cited by 39 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…A population of minibasins have subsided or are actively subsiding into, and have translated downslope above, the extremely rugose base of the salt canopy. This structural setting differs from the salt‐detached slopes described in prior related studies in three key ways (e.g., Dooley et al, ; Dooley & Hudec, ; Ferrer et al, ; Gaullier et al, ; Granado et al, ; Loncke et al, ). First, rather than having a prekinematic supra‐canopy interval of fairly uniform thickness, the supra‐canopy is instead composed of minibasins of variable thickness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…Salt‐detached gravity gliding/spreading systems with a relatively smooth base‐of‐salt have commonly been interpreted in terms of kinematically linked domains of upslope extension and downslope shortening, which may be connected by a domain of midslope translation (Figure a) (e.g., Brun & Fort, , ; Cobbold & Szatmari, ; Jackson, Jackson, & Hudec, ; Granado et al, ; Hudec & Jackson, ; Peel, ; Rowan, Peel, & Vendeville, ). However, recent work has shown that strain patterns are more complex where translation occurs above base‐of‐salt relief; for at least two reasons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Obstructed minibasins on a salt‐detached slope: An example from above the Sigsbee canopy, northern Gulf of Mexico

et al. 2019

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Salt-detached gravity gliding/spreading systems having a rugose base-of-salt display complex strain patterns. However, little was previously known about how welding of supra-salt minibasins to the sub-salt may influence both the downslope translation of minibasins on salt-detached slopes and the regional pattern of supra-salt strain. Using a regional 3D seismic reflection data set, we examine a large salt-stock canopy system with a rugose base on the northern Gulf of Mexico slope, on which minibasins both subside and translate downslope. Some minibasins are welded at their bases and others are not. We suggest that basal welds obstruct downslope translation of minibasins and control regional patterns of supra-canopy strain. The distribution of strain above the canopy is complex and variable. Each minibasin that becomes obstructed modifies the local strain field, typically developing a zone of shortening immediately updip and an extensional breakaway zone immediately downdip of the obstructed minibasin. This finding is corroborated by observations from a physical sandbox model of minibasin obstruction. We also find in our natural example that minibasins can be obstructed to different degrees, ranging from severe (e.g., caught in a feeder) to mild (e.g., welded to a flat or gently dipping base-of-salt). By mapping both the presence of obstructed minibasins and the relative degree of minibasin obstruction, we provide an explanation for the origin of complex 3-D strain fields on a salt-detached slope and, potentially, a mechanism that explains differential downslope translation of minibasins. In minibasin-rich salt-detached slope settings, our results may aid: i) structural restorations and regional strain analyses; ii) prediction of subsalt relief in areas of poor seismic imaging; and iii) prediction of stress fields and borehole stability. Our example is detached on allochthonous salt and where the base-of-salt is rugose, with the findings applicable to other such systems worldwide (e.g., Gulf of Mexico; Scotian Margin, offshore eastern Canada). However, our findings are also applicable to systems where the salt is autochthonous but has significant local basal relief (e.g., Santos Basin, Brazil; Kwanza Basin, Angola). K E Y W O R D Sbase-of-salt relief, extension, salt tectonics, salt-detached slopes, shortening, supra-salt strain, welding 506 | EAGE DUFFY et al. | 523 EAGE DUFFY et al.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Obstructed minibasins on a salt‐detached slope: An example from above the Sigsbee canopy, northern Gulf of Mexico

et al. 2019

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“…In contrast, the Western Mediterranean basin is a younger though complex system of back-arc basins related to the north-western Tethyan subduction, initiated by continental rifting in the Oligocene with the opening of the Valencia Trough (e.g. Granado et al, 2016). It continued with oceanic spreading in the Algero-Balearic Basin and opening of the Provençal Basin by counterclockwise rotation of the Corsica-Sardinia block.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismic markers of the Messinian salinity crisis in the deep Ionian Basin

Camerlenghi¹,

Ben

Hübscher

et al. 2020

Preprint

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We conduct the seismic signal analysis on vintage and recently collected multichannel seismic reflection profiles from the Ionian Basin to characterize the deep basin Messinian evaporites. These evaporites were deposited in deep and marginal Mediterranean sedimentary basins as a consequence of the "salinity crisis" between 5.97 and 5.33 Ma, a basin-wide oceanographic and ecological crisis whose origin remains poorly understood. The seismic markers of the Messinian evaporites in the deep Mediterranean basins can be divided in two end-members, one of which is the typical "trilogy" of gypsum and clastics (Lower Unit -LU), halite (Mobile Unit -MU) and upper anhydrite and marl layers (Upper Unit -UU) traced in the Western Mediterranean Basins. The other end-member is a single MU unit subdivided in seven sub-units by clastic interlayers located in the Levant Basin. The causes of these different seismic expressions of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) appear to be related to a morphological separation between the two basins by the structural regional sill of the Sicily Channel. With the aid of velocity analyses and seismic imaging via prestack migration in time and depth domains, we define for the first time the seismic signature of the Messinian evaporites in the deep Ionian Basin, which differs from the known end-members. In addition, we identify different evaporitic depositional settings suggesting a laterally discontinuous deposition. With the information gathered we quantify the volume of evaporitic deposits in the deep Ionian Basin as 500,000 km 3 ± 10%. This figure allows us to speculate that the total volume of salts in the Mediterranean basin is larger than commonly assumed. Different depositional units in the Ionian Basin suggest that during the MSC it was separated from the Western Mediterranean by physical thresholds, from the Po Plain/Northern Adriatic Basin, and the Levant Basin, likely reflecting different hydrological and climatic conditions. Finally, the evidence of erosional surfaces and V-shaped valleys at the top of the MSC unit, together with sharp evaporites pinch out on evaporite-free pre-Messinian structural highs, suggest an extreme Messinian Stage 3 base level draw 2 | EAGE CAMERLENGHI Et AL. | 5 EAGE CAMERLENGHI Et AL. 6 | EAGE CAMERLENGHI Et AL. 10 | EAGE CAMERLENGHI Et AL. | 21 EAGE CAMERLENGHI Et AL.

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“…1). The fields are located in the Valencia Trough, a sub-basin that is part of the northwestern Neogene Mediterranean rift system (Roca, 1994;Maillard and Mauffret, 1999;Roca et al, 1999;Granado et al, 2016;Klimowitz et al, 2018;Roma et al, 2018). The Valencia Trough developed under an extensional tectonic regime from the Oligocene to recent times (Roca et al, 1999) and is characterized by northeast-southwest-oriented horsts and grabens.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the impact of the structural uncertainty on the gross rock volume in the Lubina and Montanazo oil fields (Western Mediterranean)

Bárbara¹,

Cabello²,

Bouché³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Abstract. Structural uncertainty is a key parameter affecting the accuracy of the information contained in static and dynamic reservoir models. However, quantifying and assessing its real impact on reservoir property distribution, in-place volume estimates and dynamic simulation has always been a challenge. Due to the limitation of the existing workflows and time constraints, the exploration of all potential geological configurations matching the interpreted data has been limited to a small number of scenarios, making the future field-development decisions uncertain. We present a case study in the Lubina and Montanazo mature oil fields (Western Mediterranean) in which the structural uncertainty in the seismic interpretation of faults and horizons has been captured using modern reservoir modeling workflows. We model the fault and horizon uncertainty by means of two workflows, the manually interpreted and the constant uncertainty cases. In the manually interpreted case, the zones of ambiguity in the position of horizons and faults are defined as locally varying envelopes around the best interpretation, whose dimensions vary according to the diffractions and amplitudes of the seismic data throughout the surface interpretation. In the constant case, the envelope dimensions are kept constant for each horizon and each fault. Both faults and horizons are simulated within their respective uncertainty envelopes as provided to the user. In all simulations, conditioning to available well data is ensured. Stochastic simulation was used to obtain 200 realizations for each uncertainty modeling workflow. The realizations were compared in terms of gross rock volumes above the oil-water contact considering three scenarios in the depths of the contact. The results show that capturing the structural uncertainty in the picking of horizons and faults in seismic data has a relevant impact on the volume estimation. The models predict percentage differences in the mean gross rock volume with respect to best estimate interpretation up to 16 % higher and 22 % lower. The manually interpreted uncertainty workflow reports narrower gross rock volume predictions and more consistent results from the simulated structural models than the constant case. This work has also revealed that, for the Lubina and Montanazo fields, the fault uncertainty associated with the major faults that bound laterally the reservoir strongly affect the GRV predicted. The multiple realizations obtained are geologically consistent with the available data and their differences in geometry and dimensions of the reservoir allows us to improve the understanding of the reservoir structure. The uncertainty modeling workflows applied are easy to design and allow to update the models when required. This work demonstrates that knowledge of the data and the sources of uncertainty is important to set up the workflows correctly. Further studies can combine other sources of uncertainty in the modeling process to improve the risk assessment.

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Geodynamical framework and hydrocarbon plays of a salt giant: the NW Mediterranean Basin

Cited by 39 publications

References 66 publications

Obstructed minibasins on a salt‐detached slope: An example from above the Sigsbee canopy, northern Gulf of Mexico

Obstructed minibasins on a salt‐detached slope: An example from above the Sigsbee canopy, northern Gulf of Mexico

Seismic markers of the Messinian salinity crisis in the deep Ionian Basin

Quantifying the impact of the structural uncertainty on the gross rock volume in the Lubina and Montanazo oil fields (Western Mediterranean)

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