Basin classification - introduction • About 600 sedimentary basins in the • Many basin classification schemes has world been proposed over the years and below • About 25% of the basins (covering are some examples: about 50% of the area taken up by – Bally & Snelson, 1980 sedimentary basins) are producing – Klemme, 1980 petroleum today – Stoneley, 1981 – Kingston, Dishroon & Williams, 1983 • Basin classification is large scale discrimination of basins based in part • More recent classification schemes tend on: to have fewer classes of basin types and – sedimentation and tectonic regimes incorporate a classification of global – petroleum characteristics source rocks to locate “Mega Petroleum Systems”: • Classification of basin types help in the – Klemme and Ulmishek, 1990 evaluation process prior to acquiring – Klemme, 1994 acreage in new areas and in planning exploration activities: – evaluate what productive horizons a sedimentary basin may contain – evaluate where productive horizons may be broadly located in a sedimentary basin
Klemme, 1980 • Basins are differentiated in terms of their architectural characteristics: – size – shape – effective basement profile or cross section – surface area to volume ratio Then related to: – earth’s crust – tectonic setting – basin evolution in the framework of plate tectonics
(1978, 1980) and Klemme (1980) • 10 basin types are identified: – 2 basin types related to stable continental plates – 2 basin types related to plate divergence – 4 basin types related to plate convergence – 2 basin types that downwarp into small oceans form a separate class
Interior basins Williston Basin Intracratonic sag • Distinguishing features: – simple – single cycle – no uplands – in continental interiors • Depositional history: – mature, shallow water or marine sediments (clastic or carbonate prone) – non-depositional or non-marine late stage • Reservoir: – equally sandstone or carbonate • Source: – shale • Hydrocarbons: • Cap: – low S, high gravity crude – shale - less commonly evaporite – low natural gas • Trap: • Risk: – basement uplift arches and anticlines – adequate traps – combination and stratigraphic traps – presence of shale for source and cap • Geothermal gradient: – low to normal
Rift basins Rift basin • Distinguishing features – downdropped graben over continental crust – dormant divergence • Depositional history – pre-rift rocks sedimentary, metamorphic or granitic – post-rift fill is restricted facies, initially non-marine that may become marine (either clastic or carbonate prone) • Reservoir – equally sanstone or carbonate; of pre- and post-rift cycles • Source – overlying or lateral facies shale • Cap – basinwide evaporites or thick shales • Trap – horst block anticlines – combination traps related to high blocks • Hydrocarbons – tilted fault blocks – highly facies-dependent (paraffinic with sandstones; aromatic with carbonates) • Geothermal gradient – low to average gas – normal to high • Risks – small trap size – too high thermal gradient – source rock development
Pull-apart basin Passive margin, divergent margin • Distinguishing features – coastal half-grabens down-faulted seaward – intermediate crust – result of ocean-floor spreading • Depositional history – non-marine rift stage sediments – restricted facies (carbonates, evaporites, black shale) in early separation – prograding clastic wedge in late separation stage • Reservoir – sandstone in all three stages – some limestine in early separation stage • Source – overlying and interfingering shale • Cap – shale or evaporite • Trap • Hydrocarbons – horst block, salt flow. roll-over and drape – rift stage has parafinic, intermediate gravity crude anticlines – more aromatic, higher gravity in separation stage – stratigraphic and combination – gas-prone • Geothermal gradient • Risks – below average in marine stages – kerogen maturation – biodegradation – pre-separation source rock – post-separation reservoirs
Downwarp basins Downwarp bains A Open - related to pull-apart, passive margins B Closed - related to foreland basins C Trough - related to foreland basins • Destinguishing features – basement and depositional downwarp dipping into small oceans, inland seas or linear suture zones – intermediate crust • Depositional history – mixed, interfingering shallow marine facies, either carbonate or clsatic-prone • Reservoir – carbonate (C) or mixed (A,B) with sandstone (A) or carbonate (B) dominant • Source – overlying, interfingering and basin-center shales – limestone and marls important in B • Cap • Hydrocarbons – mostly shale – intermediate to mixed gravity crudes – both shale and evaporites in B – sandstones more paraffinic, carbonates more aromatic • Trap – average to high natural gas – anticlines • Risks – salt flow – low – combination – similar to pull-apart (A) and foreland (B,C) – reefs, pinch-outs and unconformities • Geothermal gradient – normal to above average
New 40Ar 39Ar, magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic constraints on the termination of the Badenian Salinity Crisis Indications for tectonic improvement of basin interconnectivity in Southern Europe