MKPP 1213

APPLIED GEOSCIENCE &

GEOPHYSICS
LECTURER:
PROF. DR. RADZUAN JUNIN

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.

Basic Geological Principles

To become a petroleum province, five
ingredients or elements are involved;
the source,
Seal (cap rock),
reservoir, and overburden rock
trap formation, and
timing of petroleum migration (Generation
migrationaccumulation of hydrocarbons).
These elements Petroleum system

Basic Geological Principles

A petroleum system contains a pod of active
source rock and all genetically related oil and
gas accumulations.
It includes all the geologic elements and
processes that are essential if an oil and gas
accumulation is to exist.
Practical application of petroleum systems can
be used in exploration, resource evaluation, and
research.

Basic Geological Principles

Cross Section Of A Petroleum System

(Foreland Basin Example)
Geographic Extent of Petroleum System

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

Petroleum Reservoir (O)

Fold-and-Thrust Belt
(arrows indicate relative fault motion)

Basement Rock
Top Oil Window

Top Gas Window

Basin Fill

Sedimentary

Extent of Play
Extent of Prospect/Field
O

Basic Geological Principles

The source:
A source rock is a
sedimentary rock that
contains sufficient
organic matter, when it is
buried and heated it will
produce petroleum.
Good examples: shale
and claystone/mudstone.

Basic Geological Principles

High concentrations of organic matter tend to
occur in sediments that accumulate in areas
of high organic matter productivity and
stagnant water.
To preserve organic matter, the oxygen
contents of the bottom waters and interstitial
waters of the sediment need to be very low
or zero, and a rapid sedimentation rate.

Basic Geological Principles

The Seal:
Seals tend to be fine-grained
or crystalline, low-permeability
rocks. Typical examples
include mudstone/shale,
cemented limestones, cherts,
anhydrite, and salt (halite).

Basic Geological Principles

Seals to fluid flow can also develop along fault
planes, faulted zones, and fractures.
The presence of a seal or seals is critical for
the development of accumulations of
petroleum in the subsurface.

Basic Geological Principles

Basic Geological Principles

The Trap:
The geometry of the sealed petroleum-bearing
container.
The simplest trapping configurations are domes
(four-way dip-closed anticlines) and fault blocks.

The mapping and remapping of trap geometry is

a fundamental part of petroleum geoscience.

Basic Geological Principles

The Reservoir:
The rock plus void space
contained in a trap.
The petroleum together with
some water occurs in the pore
spaces between the grains (or
crystals) in the rock.
Reservoir rocks are most
commonly coarse-grained
sandstones or carbonates..

Basic Geological Principles

Porous rock and porosity:
Porosity is the void space in the rock, reported
either as a fraction of one or as a percentage.
Most reservoirs contain >0% to <40% porosity.
Permeable rock and permeability:
Permeability is a measure of the degree to which
fluid can be transmitted. The unit for permeability
is the darcy (D), although the permeability of
many reservoirs is measured in millidarcies
(mD).

Basic Geological Principles

Basic Geological Principles

The timing of petroleum migration:
The timing of petroleum migration relative to the
time of deposition of the reservoir/seal
combinations and the creation of structure within
the basin.
In order to determine whether the reservoir,
seal, and trap are available to arrest migrating
petroleum, it is necessary to reconstruct the
geologic history of the area under investigation.

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

2. Critical moment - the time that best depicts the

generationmigrationaccumulation of hydrocarbons in
a petroleum system.

3. Preservation time - begins immediately after the

generation migrationaccumulation process occurs
and extends to the present day.

Prudhoe Bay: Event Timing Favors

Accumulation of Shublik Oil and Gas

Timing of formation of the major elements of a

petroleum system, Maracaibo basin, Venezuela.

From Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary

Basic Geological Principles

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.

The Geologic Timescale

The geologic timescale - a calendar of Earth
history.
The largest defined unit of time shown on the
geologic timescale is the supereon, composed
of eons.
Eon - the greatest expanse of time.
The earliest is the Hadean (beneath the Earth)
Eon, ranging from 4.6 to 3.8 billion yrs ago.
The earliest-known life forms appear in rock from
the Archean (ancient) Eon, about 3.8 to 2.5
billion yrs ago.

The Geologic Timescale

Generalized Stratigraphy of Malay Basin

The Geologic Timescale

The Archean Eon gave way to the Proterozoic
(early life) Eon (2,500-543 mya).
The beginning of the Phanerozoic (visible life)
Eon, 543 mil years ago, marks the first point at
which we find abundant fossil evidence.
Phanerozoic subdivided into three eras: the
Paleozoic (543-252 mya) , Mesozoic (252-65
mya) , and Cenozoic (65 mya-present day) .
The first part of the Paleozoic (ancient life) Era
was dominated by marine invertebrates, such
as corals, clams, trilobites, and later fish and
amphibians.

The Geologic Timescale

The Mesozoic (middle life) Era was dominated
by marines and terrestrial reptiles, including the
dinosaurs.
The Cenozoic (recent life) Era, which continues
today, is distinguished by its rich variety of
mammals.
Eras are subdivided into periods.
Periods are subdivided into epochs.

Plate Tectonic Context of

Petroleum Basins
Basins are generated by plate tectonics, the
process responsible for continental drift.
The Earth's crust is made up of about 20 rigid
plates.
Plates may be stretched and broken or pushed
together, or may rotate past each other. Each of
these processes divergence (extension),
convergence (compression), and strike-slip (or
wrench)can lead to the formation of basins.

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.

Plate Tectonic Context of

Petroleum Basins

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 Context of

Petroleum Basins
The lithosphere (rigid plate) overlies a weaker
region in the mantle known as the
asthenosphere.

Plate Tectonic Context of

Petroleum Basins

Plate Boundaries: there are three basic types

of plate boundaries or margins.
Divergent plate boundaries
Convergent plate boundaries
Transform plate boundaries

Plate Tectonics

Where two plates converge, they produce a

narrow, deep depression as the subducting
plate bends downward into the mantle. Such
depressions are called oceanic trenches.