The University of The West Indies

Petroleum Geoscience
Year 3
Semester 1
Due: November 8th, 2017
Jessica Julien
815009105

ASSIGNMENT 3
Geology of the South East Caribbean- PGSC 3001
 Background

A mere 2km due east of the Kuglers Salt Spring in the heart of the Guayaguayare forest, in
the vicinity of the WSW-ENE trending Lizard Springs Anticline, Exxon drilled the Iguana River-
1 (IGR-1) well in 1994 to a TD of 12762 ft (MD), 12002ft (SSTVD). This deep test targeting Commented [G1]: Inserted: the
Cretaceous Gautier sandstones encountered the following:

Top Upper Gros Morne - 1300ft

Top Middle Gros Morne - 1800ft
Top Lower Gros Morne - 4291ft
Lower Cruse - 4410ft
Top Gg32 (Early Miocene) - 5310ft
Top Naparima Hill - 5375ft
Top Gautier - 8520ft
Top Cuche - 9910ft
Gautier Repeat - 11745ft
Top Cuche - 12605ft

Diagram Illustrating the Location of the Iguana River-1 Well

(SOURCE: LATE CRETACEOUS PALAEOGEOGRAPHY OF NORTH-EASTERN SOUTH AMERICA:

IMPLICATIONS FOR SOURCE AND RESERVOIR DEVELOPMENT Robert N. Erlich: BP America Inc., 200 Westlake
Park Blvd., Houston, Texas 77210 USA, and John Keens-Dumas: Petrotrin, Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad and Tobago, BWI.
JUNE, 2007 )
 Model 1
Within the early Cretaceous, there exist the beginning of the passive margin and this
continued into early cretaceous resulting in the deposition of shales within this deep water
setting. This resulted in the deposition of the Cuche formation. Overlying the Cuche formation Commented [G2]: Inserted: C
Commented [G6]: Deleted:c
there exist the Gautier formation whereby turbidites and deepwater shales were deposited.
Commented [G3]: Inserted: u
During the Late Cretaceous, the Naparima formation was deposited during a change from slow
Commented [G7]: Deleted:u
subsidence to rapid subsidence and increase in the rise of sea levels. Allowing for thick deposits Commented [G4]: Inserted: ,

to accumulate, which is why the Naparima Hill consists of such a thick section. At the bottom
of the well there exist repeated sections. The Gautier and the Cuche are repeated because the Commented [G5]: Inserted: s

Cretaceous section in which the well has passed through may have thrust faulted due to Commented [G8]: Deleted:the

oblique collision and compression of sediments from NW- SE during the Oligocene to Late
Miocene.
Above the Gautier and Cuche in the well there lies the Naparima Hil, this formation follows the
same trend as the Gautier and Cuche as it has been thrusted by the proposed thrust fault
present. Cutting through the Naparima Hill is and angular unconformity. An angular
unconformity was proposed since the entire Paleogene strata which consisted of the
Chaudiere, Lizard Springs, Point A Pierre , Navet and San Fernando Formations are completely
missing. This unconformity may have formed as a result of shallow slab subduction during the
Paleogene. Shallow Slab Subduction occurred approximately between 65 Ma to 33 Ma
whereby the Southward Proto-Caribbean shallow slab subduction collided beneath the
attenuated northern margin of South America continental crust along the former sutured
boundary with the ProtoCaribbean oceanic crust due to convergence between North America
and South America. The aforementioned Paleogene sediments would have been partially
exposed to subaerial erosion before rapidly subsiding into deepwater conditions due to the
arrival of the continued eastward overriding Caribbean South East directed oblique collision
and as well as the fold and thrust tectonic loading. The Paleogene may have also been missing
as a result deflection due to the migrating forebuldge. Above the unconformity there exist the
Gg32 formation which is also known as the Retrench formation. The retrench in the proposed
model can be seen to be deformed as a result of compression occurring within this time period.
Between the Retrench and Lower Cruse, the Lengua formation is missing. While the Lengua Commented [G9]: Inserted: ,

formation is generally laterally extensive, when comparing the location of the well to the Kugler
Map Cross- Section (2), it can be noted that the Lengua formation is not present. This can be a
result of the sediments being uplifted and a rate which prevented the deposition of the
formation at that specific time. At a depth of 4410 ft, 4291 ft, 1300ft, 1800 ft, the Iguana-1
well penetrated through the Lower Cruse, Lower Gros Morne, Middle Gros Morne, Upper Gros
Morne. These beds are illustrated in the two models to be dipping towards the East. This is a
result of passive foredeep fill occurring during the Pliocene-Pleistocene. This resulted in these Commented [G10]: Inserted: e

sediments dipping towards the east as illustrated in model 1.

Model 2
Within the early Cretaceous, there exist the beginning of the passive margin and this
continued into early cretaceous resulting in the deposition of shales within this deep water
setting. This resulted in the deposition of the Cuche formation. Overlying the Cuche formation Commented [G11]: Inserted: C
Commented [G13]: Deleted:c
there exist the Gautier formation whereby turbidites and deepwater shales were deposited .
Commented [G12]: Inserted: u
During the Late Cretaceous the Naparima formation was deposited during a change from slow
Commented [G14]: Deleted:u
subsidence to rapid subsidence and increase in the rise of sea levels allowing for thick deposits
to accumulate, which is why the Naparima Hill consist of such a thick section. At the bottom of
the well there exist repeated sections. The Gautier and the Cuche are repeated because the
the Cretaceous section in which the well has passed through may have thrust faulted due to
oblique collision and compression of sediments from NW- SE during the Oligocene to Late
Miocene. Above the Gautier and Cuche in the well there lies the Naparima Hil, this formation
follows the same trend as the Gautier and Cuche as it has been trusted by the proposed thrust Commented [G15]: Deleted:h

fault present. In this second model, segments of the Naparima Hill there exist the same
unconformity as mentioned in model 1. However the missing section, may also be a result of
the thrusted Naparima Hill formation causing, the Paleogene sediments to be pinched out on
either sides of the thrust. Therefore, the placement of the well may have completed missed
the pinched out Paleogene sediments resulting in the presence of a missing section between
the Naparima Hill formation and the Retrench. Between the Retrench and Lower Cruse the
Lengua formation is missing. While the Lengua formation is generally laterally extensive, when
comparing the location of the well to the Kugler Map Cross- Section (2), it can be noted that
the Lengua formation is not present. This can be a result of the sediments being uplifted and
a rate which prevented the deposition of the formation at that specific time. Above the missing
section, at depths of 5310 ft, 4410 ft, 4291 ft, 1800 ft and 1300 ft the Retrench, Lower Cruse,
Middle Gros Morne and Upper Cruse respectively, were displaced by a normal fault. This may
have formed during the Pleistocene whereby NW-SE oriented tear faults have been reactivated
as normal faults during deltaic loading.