Sediment provenance studies in hydrocarbon exploration and production: an introduction

Smyth, Helen R.; Morton, Andrew; Richardson, Nicholas; Scott, Robert A.

doi:10.1144/sp386.21

Cited by 22 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Heavy mineral investigations are important for the industry [123] and not of academic interest only. In unfossiliferous strata, heavy minerals may represent one of the most dependable tools for correlation [6].…”

Section: How To Deal With Ancient Sandstones?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heavy Minerals for Junior Woodchucks

2019

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In the last two centuries, since the dawn of modern geology, heavy minerals have been used to investigate sediment provenance and for many other scientific or practical applications. Not always, however, with the correct approach. Difficulties are diverse, not just technical and related to the identification of tiny grains, but also procedural and conceptual. Even the definition of “heavy minerals” is elusive, and possibly impossible. Sampling is critical. In many environments (e.g., beaches), both absolute and relative heavy mineral abundances invariably increase or decrease locally to different degrees owing to hydraulic-sorting processes, so that samples close to "neutral composition" are hard to obtain. Several widely shared opinions are misleading. Choosing a narrow size-window for analysis leads to increased bias, not to increased accuracy or precision. Only point-counting provides real volume percentages, whereas grain-counting distorts results in favor of smaller minerals. This paper also briefly reviews the heavy mineral associations typically found in diverse plate-tectonic settings. A mineralogical assemblage, however, only reproduces the mineralogy of source rocks, which does not correlate univocally with the geodynamic setting in which those source rocks were formed and assembled. Moreover, it is affected by environmental bias, and by diagenetic bias on top in the case of ancient sandstones. One fruitful way to extract information on both provenance and sedimentological processes is to look for anomalies in mineralogical–textural relationships (e.g., denser minerals bigger than lower-density minerals; harder minerals better rounded than softer minerals; less durable minerals increasing with stratal age and stratigraphic depth). To minimize mistakes, it is necessary to invariably combine heavy mineral investigations with the petrographic analysis of bulk sand. Analysis of thin sections allows us to see also those source rocks that do not shed significant amounts of heavy minerals, such as limestone or granite, and helps us to assess heavy mineral concentration, the “outer” message carrying the key to decipher the “inner message” contained in the heavy mineral suite. The task becomes thorny indeed when dealing with samples with strong diagenetic overprint, which is, unfortunately, the case of most ancient sandstones. Diagenesis is the Moloch that devours all grains that are not chemically resistant, leaving a meager residue difficult or even impossible to interpret when diagenetic effects accumulate through multiple sedimentary cycles. We have conceived this friendly little handbook to help the student facing these problems, hoping that it may serve the purpose.

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Section: How To Deal With Ancient Sandstones?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heavy Minerals for Junior Woodchucks

2019

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“…As identified by Haughton et al (1991), sediment provenance studies seek to identify the location and composition of sediment source areas, the pathways by which sediment is transported, and the controls on the final sediment composition. Sediment provenance studies are often essential in the development stratigraphic correlations and in understanding regional geology and tectonic processes in petroleum exploration (Hurst & Morton 2014;Smyth et al 2014). Furthermore, the characterization of lithological compositions and textures, and the ability to predict changes to these during burial diagenesis, are often key in the success of a petroleum system (Kettanah et al 2014;Tobin & Schwarzer 2014).…”

Section: Sediment Provenancementioning

confidence: 99%

Application of analytical techniques to petroleum systems: an introduction

Dowey

Osborne

Volk

2020

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Cutting-edge techniques have always been utilized in petroleum exploration and production to reduce costs and improve efficiencies. Innovations in analytical methods will continue to play a key role in the industry moving forwards, as society shifts towards lower carbon energy systems. This volume brings together new analytical approaches and describes how they can be applied to the study of petroleum systems. The papers within this volume cover a wide range of topics and case studies, in the fields of fluid and isotope geochemistry, organic geochemistry, imaging and sediment provenance. The work illustrates how the current, state-of-the-art technology can be effectively utilized to address ongoing challenges in petroleum geoscience.

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“…As an indispensable workflow for recovering depositional processes and reconstructing paleoenvironments, sediment provenance studies are concerned with the origin, composition, transportation, and deposition of detritus (Smyth, Morton, Richardson, & Scott, ). Parent rocks derived from different source areas correspond to different mineral species.…”

Section: Sedimentary Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentary characteristics and controls of a retreating, coarse‐grained fan‐delta system in the Lower Triassic, Mahu Depression, northwestern China

Liu

Tan

et al. 2018

Geological Journal

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In recent years, enriched hydrocarbon reservoirs have been largely founded in the Lower Triassic Baikouquan Formation, in the Mahu Depression of Junggar basin, northwestern China. Accordingly, the sedimentologic complexity of associated deposits has been extensively studied, though most of them focused on local oil‐producing fields separately. In this research, a detailed sedimentary study of the entire Mahu Depression has been conducted, which include several aspects of sedimentary characteristics, sediment provenance, evolution, and controls of the coarse‐grained fan‐delta system. According to facies features recognized from cores, thin sections, well logs, and seismic data, three sedimentary facies associations were identified: upper fan‐delta plain, lower fan‐delta plain, and fan‐delta front. Furthermore, four depositional systems (Xiazijie, Haungyangquan, Karamay, and Xiayan fan‐delta) around the Mahu Depression were recognized by the distribution of heavy mineral assemblages and change of ZTR index (percentage of Zircon, Tourmaline, and Rutile in the total transparent heavy mineral assemblage). Based on the analysis of facies and sediment provenance, the temporal and spatial distribution of the fan‐delta system were reconstructed associated with the variation of net/gross ratio. As characterized by decreasing‐upward of net/gross ratios and fining‐upward trend of grain size, the evolution of the fan‐delta succession showed an overall retreating pattern which was mainly controlled by lake level rising and rapid tectonic subsidence. Within the retreating pattern, hydrocarbons were trapped in the middle deposits with reservoir space produced by fan‐delta front and lower fan‐delta plain, which were encased between the top transgressive lacustrine mudstones and the bottom debris‐flow deposits produced by upper fan‐delta plain. These findings of the research throw light on the phenomena that the stratigraphy trap for hydrocarbon accumulation could be constructed by retreating, coarse‐grained fan‐delta systems.

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Sediment provenance studies in hydrocarbon exploration and production: an introduction

Cited by 22 publications

References 26 publications

Heavy Minerals for Junior Woodchucks

Heavy Minerals for Junior Woodchucks

Application of analytical techniques to petroleum systems: an introduction

Sedimentary characteristics and controls of a retreating, coarse‐grained fan‐delta system in the Lower Triassic, Mahu Depression, northwestern China

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