Petroleum Geoscience and Geophysics Chapter 1
Petroleum Geoscience and Geophysics Chapter 1
Petroleum Geoscience and Geophysics Chapter 1
MKPP 1213
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
What is Applied Geoscience & Geophysics or
Petroleum Geoscience?
The disciplines of geology and geophysics
applied to understanding the origin and
distribution, and properties of petroleum and
petroleum-bearing rocks.
The importance of petroleum geoscience is to
find petroleum (petroleum province) and help
produce it.
Stratigraphic
Extent of
Petroleum
System
Pod of Active
Source Rock
Essential
Elements
of
Petroleum
System
Overburden Rock
Seal Rock
Reservoir Rock
Source Rock
Underburden Rock
Basement Rock
Top Oil Window
Basin Fill
Sedimentary
Extent of Play
Extent of Prospect/Field
O
Petroleum Systems
Petroleum System Investigation:
Identifies,
names,
determines the level of certainty, and
maps the geographic, stratigraphic, and
temporal extent of a petroleum system.
Petroleum Systems
To identify a petroleum system, the
explorationist must find some petroleum.
Any quantity of petroleum, is proof of a
petroleum system.
An oil or gas seep, a show of oil or gas in a
well, or an oil or gas accumulation
demonstrates the presence of a petroleum
system.
Petroleum Systems
The name of a petroleum system contains
several parts that name the hydrocarbon fluid
system:
1. The source rock in the pod of active source
rock
2. The name of the reservoir rock that contains
the largest volume of in-place petroleum
3. The symbol expressing the level of certainty.
Petroleum Systems
A petroleum system has three important
temporal aspects:
1. Age - the time required for the process of
generationmigrationaccumulation of hydrocarbons
Timescales:
Petroleum maturation, migration and trapping of
oil can occur in a few million years.
Geologic time is divided, using a hierarchical
scheme, into a variety of named units.
The basic unit in this scheme is the period.
The sequence of periods with their attendant
subdivisions and supra-divisions makes up the
stratigraphic column.
Continental Drift
The idea that continents,
particularly South America and
Africa, fit together like pieces of
a jigsaw puzzle.
However, little significance was
given this idea until Alfred
Wegener (1915) proposed a
controversial hypothesis of
continental drift.
Continental Drift
Wegener suggested that the
continents float on a denser
underlying interior and
periodically break up and drift
apart.
Today the concepts of seafloor
spreading and plate tectonics
are firmly established.
Seafloor Spreading
The rates of spreading (from
mid-ocean ridges) on either side
range from 1 to 6 cm/year or
total rate from 2 to 12cm/year.
At this rate it would have taken
about 200 million years for the
present Atlantic Ocean to attain
its present width.
An interesting feature about the
mid-ocean spreading ridges is
that they are sites for both
volcanic and earthquake
activities.
Plate Tectonics
In the 1960s, an exciting new hypothesis
called plate tectonics revolutionized our
understanding on how the outer portion of
the Earth functions.
According to this theory, the uppermost
mantle, along with the overlying crust,
behave as a strong, rigid layer, known as
the lithosphere, which is broken into
pieces called plates and their movement
as plate tectonics.
Plate Tectonics
Plate Tectonics