Impact of salt-related palaeotopography on the distribution of turbidite reservoirs: Evidence from well-seismic analyses and structural restorations in the Brazilian offshore

Albertão, Gilberto A.; Mulder, Thierry; Eschard, R.

doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2010.09.009

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Gervais et al ., ; Moody et al ., ; Prather et al ., ). Instead, several researchers have applied either laboratory (Brunt et al ., ; Lamb et al ., , ; Violet et al ., ) or numerical (Toniolo et al ., ,b; Khan & Imran, ; Aas et al ., ; Albertão et al ., , ; Sylvester et al ., ) modelling approaches to improve understanding of sedimentation processes in minibasins. However, such modelling results can suffer from upscaling issues, and an inability to run enough representative flows to build a minibasin stratigraphy to inform subsurface investigations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Coward & Stewart, ; Kockel, ; Harding & Husse, ). Complex sea floor bathymetries play a significant role in controlling turbidity current behaviour, sediment dispersal patterns and internal architectures of turbidite systems (Kneller & McCaffrey, ; McCaffrey & Kneller, ; Hodgson & Haughton, ; Gee & Gawthorpe, ; Lamb et al ., ; Albertão et al ., , ; Oluboyo et al ., ). Concepts such as the ‘fill and spill’ models (Winker, ; Prather et al ., ), the flow‐stripping model (Sinclair & Tomasso, ) and the silled sub‐basins model and connected‐tortuous‐corridor model (Smith, ) have been proposed to explain and predict the filling history of successive intraslope minibasins.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Turbidite stacking patterns in salt‐controlled minibasins: Insights from integrated analogue models and numerical fluid flow simulations

et al. 2016

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15The seafloor bathymetry of intraslope minibasins on passive continental margins plays a 16 significant role in controlling turbidity current pathways and the resulting sediment 17 distribution. The internal sediment stacking patterns remain poorly constrained due to the 18 diversity of slope and minibasin configurations and the complicated interplay between 19 turbidity current behaviour and evolving seafloor bathymetry. In this study, we combine 20 laboratory analogue modelling of intraslope minibasin formation with numerical flow 21 simulations of multi-event turbidity currents. This approach permits an improved 22 understanding of evolving flow-bathymetry-deposit interactions and the resulting internal 23 stacking patterns of the infills of such minibasins. The bathymetry includes a shelf-to-24 slope channel and an first minibasin separated by a confining ridge from two lower 25 minibasins. The turbidity currents in the upper minibasin follow a series of stages from 26 short initial ponding, filling-and-spilling and an extended transition to long 27 retrogradational ponding. Upon reaching the minibasin floor the currents undergo a 28 hydraulic jump, which greatly reduces their sediment-carrying capacity, and much 29 sediment is deposited in the initial zone of subcritical flow. In the fill-and-spill stage, 30 flow stripping and grain size partitioning allow the finer sediment to be transported 31 across the confining ridge to lower areas that contain other minibasins. Overall, the 32 sequences retrograde upstream with continued sedimentation due to longitudinal 33 compensation accompanied by lateral switching into local depressions. Eventually, the 34 basin infill retrogrades into the channel where cyclic steps with wavelengths of 1-2 km 35 develop as a function of a pulsating flow. The results are at variance with conventional 36 schemes that emphasise sequential downstream minibasin filling through ponding, and 37 Passive continental margins display a great diversity of seafloor bathymetries on their 46 submarine slopes. In diapirically controlled settings, these bathymetries are characterized 47 by numerous ridges and/or mini-basins, for example offshore the Gulf of Mexico (e.g., 48 Diegel et al., 1995;Rowan and Weimer, 1998;Prather, 2000;Lamb et al., 2006; Hudec et 49 al., 2013), offshore West Africa (e.g., Duval et al., 1992;Liro and Coen, 1995; Marton et 50 al., 2000; Hudec and Jackson, 2004; Brun and Fort, 2011), offshore Brazil (e.g., 51 Demercian et al., 1993; Cobbold et al., 1995;Roberts et al., 2004;Mohriak et al., 2012; 52 Guerra and Underhill, 2012) and in the North Sea (e.g., Coward and Stewart, 1995; 53 Kockel, 1998, Harding and Husse, 2015). Complicated seafloor bathymetries play a 54 significant role in controlling turbidity current behaviour, sediment dispersal patterns and 55 internal architectures of turbidite systems (Kneller and McCaffrey, 1999; McCaffrey and 56 Kneller, 2001; Hodgson and Haughton, 2004; Gee and Gawthorpe, 2006; Lamb et al., 57 2006; Albe...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turbidite stacking patterns in salt‐controlled minibasins: Insights from integrated analogue models and numerical fluid flow simulations

et al. 2016

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“…In settings characterized by normal faulting, hangingwall capture of deep-water channel-levee complexes by listric cover faults that sole into salt has been recognized by several authors (Anderson et al, 2000;Broucke et al, 2004;Dutton & Trudgill, 2009;Kane et al, 2010;Albertão et al, 2011). Within compressional and diapiric settings, turbidite channels may be ponded, diverted, deflected, blocked or confined by the growth of salt-cored folds and diapirs (Prather et al, 1998;Kneller, 2003;Prather, 2003;Smith, 2004;Clark & Cartwright, 2009;Mayall et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Where 3D seismic data have been utilized, they have generally focused on detailed analysis of single channel systems around individual structures and thus are generally restricted in temporal and spatial scales (e.g. Anderson et al, 2000;Broucke et al, 2004;Clark & Cartwright, 2009;Albertão et al, 2011). In this study, we have used a regionally extensive 3D seismic data set spanning extensional, translational and compressional structural settings across the southwestern Lower Congo Basin, offshore Angola (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salt tectonic controls on deep‐water turbidite depositional systems: Miocene, southwestern Lower Congo Basin, offshore Angola

et al. 2014

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Regionally extensive 3D seismic data from the Lower Congo Basin, offshore Angola, have been used to investigate the influence of salt‐related structures on the location, geometry and evolution of Miocene deep‐water depositional systems. Isochron variations and cross‐sectional lap‐out relationships have then been used to qualitatively reconstruct the syn‐depositional morphology of salt‐cored structures. Coherence and Red‐green‐blue‐blended spectral decomposition volumes, tied to cross‐sectional seismic facies, allow imaging of the main sediment transport pathways and the distribution of their component seismic facies. Major sediment transport pathways developed in an area of complex salt‐related structures comprising normal faults, isolated diapirs and elongate salt walls with intervening intraslope basins. Key structural controls on the location of the main sediment transport pathways and the local interaction between lobe‐channel‐levee systems and individual structures were the length and height of structures, the location and geometry of segment boundaries, the growth and linkage of individual structures, and the incidence angle between structural strike and flow direction. Where the regional flow direction was at a high angle to structural strike, transport pathways passed progressively through multiple intraslope basins in a fill and spill manner. Segment boundaries and structural lows between diapirs acted as spill points, focusing sediment transport between intraslope basins. Channel–lobe transitions are commonly associated with these spill points, where flows expanded and entered depocentres. Deflection of channel‐levee complexes around individual structures was mainly controlled by the length of structures and incidence angle. Where regional flow direction was at a low angle to structural strike, sediment transport pathways ran parallel to structure and were confined to individual intraslope basins for many tens of kilometres. Spill between intraslope basins was rare. The relative position of structures and their segment boundaries was fixed during the Miocene, which effectively pinned the locations where sediment spilled from one intraslope basin to the next. As a result, major sediment transport pathways were used repeatedly, giving rise to vertically stacked lobe‐channel‐levee complexes along the pathways. Shadow zones devoid of coarse clastics developed in areas that were either structurally isolated from the sediment transport pathways or bypassed as a result of channel diversion.

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“…Tabular sheet sands have been the subject of much research attention as they are regarded as a 8 primary component of high quality hydrocarbon reservoirs, owing to their excellent lateral 9 continuity, predictable geometry and general well sorting (Weimer and Slatt, 2006). Examples 10 of hydrocarbon reservoirs characterised by sheet sands can be found in the intraslope 11 minibasins of the Gulf of Mexico (Prather et al, 1998;Booth et al, 2003) or in the Campos Basin,12 offshore Brazil (Bruhn and Walker, 1995;Albertão et al, 2011). 13 However, despite its academic and applied significance, quantitative characterisation of bed 14 geometries and of their degree tabularity is only rarely attempted (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

Quantifying tabularity of turbidite beds and its relationship to the inferred degree of basin confinement

Tőkés

Patacci

2018

Marine and Petroleum Geology

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Please cite this article as: Tőkés, L., Patacci, M., Quantifying tabularity of turbidite beds and its relationship to the inferred degree of basin confinement, Marine and Petroleum Geology (2018), Abstract 8 Tabular beds and sheet-like deposits in deep-water systems have been the subject of much 9 research attention; they can form high quality hydrocarbon reservoirs, owing to their excellent 10 lateral continuity and predictable geometry. Additionally, deposit tabularity is a piece of 11 evidence used to infer flow confinement in ancient systems and thus to evaluate the suitability 12 of outcrop datasets as reservoir analogues. However, the quantification of tabularity is rarely 13 attempted and a consistent definition on how to describe it quantitatively is lacking. For this 14 study, published data from eighteen well-constrained ancient turbidite systems in outcrop were 15 analysed. A simple and novel methodology for the quantitative calculation of tabularity along a 16 transect from log panels and photo panels was devised, based on: a) subdividing beds into two 17 groups based on their thickness, b) calculating the percentage of beds continuous across a fixed 18 window (500m) and c) calculating the rate of thinning for the continuous beds within the same 19 window. Calculations obtained from multiple locations within individual systems enable the 20 investigation of proximal to distal, and axial to lateral changes in tabularity to be captured, and 21 therefore permits the evaluation of tabularity in three-dimensions. A comparison between 22 tabularity of the considered systems and their inferred degree of basin confinement shows that 23 in the confined systems >90% of beds are continuous over 500m compared to <40% for the two 24 unconfined systems studied. In addition, different bed types were compared: hybrid event bed 1 thinning rates are shown to be up to three times those of classical turbidites. This methodology 2 provides a new tool to compare tabularity within and between systems quantitatively. It is 3 hoped that the quantitative determination of tabularity will become a common workflow when 4 describing ancient turbidite systems. It is suggested that this approach will enhance the value of 5 outcrop data to inform models capturing the architecture of systems analogous to subsurface 6 hydrocarbon reservoirs. 7

show abstract

Impact of salt-related palaeotopography on the distribution of turbidite reservoirs: Evidence from well-seismic analyses and structural restorations in the Brazilian offshore

Cited by 18 publications

References 47 publications

Turbidite stacking patterns in salt‐controlled minibasins: Insights from integrated analogue models and numerical fluid flow simulations

Turbidite stacking patterns in salt‐controlled minibasins: Insights from integrated analogue models and numerical fluid flow simulations

Salt tectonic controls on deep‐water turbidite depositional systems: Miocene, southwestern Lower Congo Basin, offshore Angola

Quantifying tabularity of turbidite beds and its relationship to the inferred degree of basin confinement

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