Sedimentary basins host, among others, most of our energy and fresh-water resources: they can be regarded as large geo-reactors in which many physical and chemical processes interact. Their complexity can only be well understood in well-organized interdisciplinary co-operations. This book documents how researchers from different geo-scientific disciplines have jointly analysed the structural, thermal, and sedimentary evolution as well as fluid dynamics of a complex sedimentary basin system which has experienced a variety of activation and reactivation impulses as well as intense salt tectonics. In this book we have summarized our geological, geophysical and geochemical understanding of some of the most important processes affecting sedimentary basins in general and our view on the evolution of one of the largest, best explored and most complex continental sedimentary basins on Earth: The Central European Basin System.
The Southern Permian Basin, as its name suggests, is a historical heartland for hydrocarbon production from the Palaeozoic Rotliegend interval. However, in this mature basin the Mesozoic presents further possibilities to offer resource security to NW Europe. Such opportunities include increasing efficiency in the production of discovered hydrocarbons, exploration for further hydrocarbons (both conventional and unconventional) and efficient exploration for, and production of, geothermal energy. All these potential resources require a grounding in technically sound geoscience, via traditional scientific observation and the application of new technologies, to unlock their value. The main aim of this volume is to bring together the work of academics and industry workers to consider cross-border geoscience including contributions on Poland, Germany, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and adjacent areas. The work presented intends to contribute to the development and discovery of further Mesozoic energy resources across the basin.
"The thesis of Philipp Antrett is focused on reservoir properties, petrography, lithofacies and sedimentology, core analysis and nanoporosity studies. It will be of major interest for colleagues involved in the exploration and production of tight gas reservoirs in Northern Europe and elsewhere." - François Roure, August 2012 This thesis describes a multidisciplinary, multiscale approach to the analysis of tight gas reservoirs. It focused initially on the facies architecture of a Permian tight gas field in the Southern Permian Basin (SPB), East Frisia, northern Germany. To improve field development, 3D seismic data, wireline and core data were compared to a reservoir analogue in the Panamint Valley, California, United States. In addition to the large scale approach, a work flow that investigates microporosity by combining Scanning Electron Microscopy-Broad Ion Beam (SEM-BIB) and optical microscopy was developed. For a better understanding of the depositional environment and reservoir rock distribution in the SPB, a sedimentary facies analysis of four cores from the tight gas field in East Frisia was compared to a second study area in northern central Germany. This study demonstrates that tight gas exploration and production requires multidisciplinary, multiscale approaches beyond standard seismic interpretation work flows to better understand the temporal and spatial evolution of these complex reservoirs.
Permo-Triassic Salt Provinces of Europe, North Africa and the Atlantic Margins: Tectonics and Hydrocarbon Potential deals with the evolution and tectonic significance of the Triassic evaporite rocks in the Alpine orogenic system and the Neogene basins in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, and the western Mediterranean. As the nature of the Triassic evaporite sequences, the varied diapiric structures they feed, and the occurrence of hydrocarbons suggest that the Triassic evaporites represent an efficient system to trap hydrocarbons, this book explores the topic with a wide swath, also devoting content to a relatively unexplored topic, the mobilization and deformation of the Triassic salt in the western and northern Tethys (from Iberia and North Africa, Pyrenees and Alps, Adriatic and Ionian) during the subsequent Alpine orogenic processes. The book includes chapters updating varied topics, like the Permian and Triassic chronostratigraphic scales, palaeogeographic reconstructions of the western Tethys since the Late Permian, the petroleum systems associated with Permo-Triassic salt, allochthonous salt tectonics, and a latest revision of salt tectonic processes in the Permian Zechstein Basin, the Atlantic Margins (from Barents Sea, Scotia, Portugal, Morocco, and Mauritania), the Alpine folded belts in Europe, and the various Triassic salt provinces in North Africa. The book is the go-to guide for salt tectonic researchers and those working in the hydrocarbon exploration industry. - Presents the first reference book to cover salt tectonics of Permo-Triassic period rocks - Features case studies of passive margins like the Barents and the North Sea, Greenland, Nova Scotia, offshore Mauritania, Morocco and Iberia, and folded belts like the Betics-Rif, Tell, Pyrenees, Atlas Mountains, Alps, Balkans, Apennines, the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, and the Zechstein Basin in Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland - Integrates field observations, seismic examples, well-log data and models developed in universities with highly technical and advanced subsurface studies developed by the petroleum industry
Published by the Geological Society on behalf of PGC Ltd. (1 hardback volume in slipcase). The 8th Conference on the Petroleum Geology of NW Europe was held in September 2015 and marked the 50th anniversary of the first commercial discovery offshore in the North Sea (West Sole, in September 1965). Its focus was ‘50 Years of Learning – a Platform for Present Value and Future Success’ and its objective was to provide an update on discoveries, developments, technologies and geological concepts from the region. The 39 extensively illustrated technical papers cover the full width of recent activity and are divided into the following sections: Plays and fairways; Play assessment; Recent successes and learnings from failures; Infrastructure-led exploration and development; Late-life fields, re-development and the ‘next life’; Onshore exploration and development. The proceedings volume follows the format of many of the previous conferences since the first in 1974. Collectively these provide a unique documentation of the discovery and development of several NW European hydrocarbon provinces. The volume will be of interest to all geoscientists involved in exploration and development in NW Europe. It provides a fascinating overview of how creativity can continue to reveal hidden resources in an area that has been called ‘mature’ for at least the last 20 of its 50-year history.
Relates the physical and geometric elegance of geologic structures within the Earth's crust and the ways in which these structures reflect the nature and origin of crystal deformation through time. The main thrust is on applications in regional tectonics, exploration geology, active tectonics and geohydrology. Techniques, experiments, and calculations are described in detail, with the purpose of offering active participation and discovery through laboratory and field work.
This volume presents results of a variety of case studies documenting the Late Palaeozoic climate changes and cyclicity of deposition. The collected papers cover many aspects related to palaeoenvironmental analysis with sedimentological, stratigraphic, palaeobiological, geochemical, and palaeomagnetic studies of the fossil record around the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age and soon after. They span a stratigraphic interval from Carboniferous to Permian–Triassic transition around the world. This book comprising results for a range of disciplines, is a valuable source for not only researchers who are actively working on specific aspects of the Late Palaeozoic and looking for an up-to-date reference on this inhospitable time in the Earth’s history. It is also of interest to climate modellers and the wider scientific community with an interest in the latest research on the decline of the Palaeozoic World.
In this timely volume, geoscientists from both industry and academia present a contemporary view of salt at a global scale. The studies examine the influence of salt on synkinematic sedimentation, its role in basin evolution and tectonics, and ultimately in hydrocarbon prospectivity. Recent improvements in seismic reflection, acquisition and processing techniques have led to significant advances in the understanding of salt and sediment interactions, both along the flanks of vertical or overturned salt margins, and in subsalt plays such as offshore Brazil. The book is broadly separated into five major themes covering a variety of geographical and process-linked topics. These are: halokinetic sequence stratigraphy, salt in passive margin settings, Central European salt basins, deformation within and adjacent to salt, and salt in contractional settings and salt glaciers.
