3D seismic geomorphology of a large Plio-Pleistocene delta – ‘Bright spots’ and contourites in the Southern North Sea

Stuart, Jennifer Y.; Huuse, Mads

doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2012.06.003

Cited by 32 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…2), and the directional trend of the iceberg ploughmarks in this data set is consistent with the observations in Stuart and Huuse (2012) and Dowdeswell and Ottesen (2013). In the Central North Sea the Base Naust equivalent horizon is about 2.7 Ma and have been correlated to the 2/4-C-11 well at approximately 700 m depth in Ottesen et al (2014) and 980 m in Eidvin et al (1999) and (Eidvin et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Iceberg ploughmarks illuminated by shallow gas in the central North Sea

Haavik

Landrø

2014

Quaternary Science Reviews

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a b s t r a c tConventional 3D seismic data provides direct evidence for glacial influence during the early Pleistocene sedimentation in the Central North Sea. We identify iceberg ploughmarks as dim linear to curve-linear features in three early Pleistocene horizons that have high reflection amplitude compared to adjacent horizons. The anomalous horizons are interpreted to be reflections from thin sandy layers saturated with gas. The gas acts as a contrast liquid illuminating the thin sand layers. The reason for this is the difference in acoustic properties between water and gas saturated sand layers. The combination of thin bed effects and shallow gas makes the iceberg ploughmarks easily detectable as dim features in seismic reflection amplitude maps. Our interpretation is based on analysis of real seismic data, well logs and modeled seismic response. The methods we use include interpretation of horizons followed by extraction of reflection amplitudes, well log analysis, pre-stack amplitude versus offset analysis of high resolution 2D seismic data and time-lapse analysis of seismic. Seismic modeling is performed to study interactions between thin sand beds, shallow gas and iceberg ploughmarks. A new trapping mechanism for shallow gas is presented and seismic modeling of this trap strengthens our interpretation. The trap is created by iceberg ploughmarks in sandy layers that are covered by finer and less permeable sediments. For this area we find that conventional seismic interpretation is superior to the much used method of studying seismic time-slices for detection of iceberg ploughmarks, both with respect to time and detectability. This study shows that the interpreter should look for high amplitude horizons with amplitude variations laterally when trying to detect iceberg ploughmarks.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Iceberg ploughmarks illuminated by shallow gas in the central North Sea

Haavik

Landrø

2014

Quaternary Science Reviews

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“…The sediment was mostly sourced from the Rhine-Meuse and Baltic river systems of northern Europe and Scandinavia (Bijlsma 1981;Overeem et al 2001;Busschers et al 2007). The timing of onset of glaciation in the Quaternary remains unclear, although there is growing evidence for several ice sheet advances during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, sourced from the UK and Scandinavian landmasses (Graham et al 2011), and evidence for iceberg scouring even in the southern North Sea Basin since the onset of the Quaternary (Kuhlmann et al 2006;Stuart & Huuse 2012;Dowdeswell & Ottesen 2013;Ottesen et al 2014).…”

Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…9). Each clinoform represents a suite of paleo-environmental conditions, from the shallow shelf to the bathyal environment, with associated variations in sediment grain-size distribution (Posamentier & Allen 1993;Stuart & Huuse 2012;Patruno et al 2014Patruno et al , 2015.…”

Section: Northern Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

The early Quaternary North Sea Basin

Lamb

Harding

Huuse

et al. 2017

JGS

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The onset of the Quaternary (2.58 Ma) corresponds to significant paleo-environmental events, such as the intensification and southward extension of Northern Hemisphere glaciation. In the North Sea Basin a significant late Cenozoic succession has been identified as a high-resolution archive of paleo-environmental changes during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. However, the identification of the base of the Quaternary has been a long-standing issue owing to lack of stratigraphic calibration. This study incorporates continuous, regional 3D seismic data with high-quality chronostratigraphic markers to map the base-Quaternary surface at high resolution across the entire North Sea. Depth conversion, backstripping, seismic geomorphology and sedimentation rate calculations are integrated to analyse the paleogeographical evolution of the North Sea Basin and its infill of c. 83 × 10 3 km 3 of northward prograding marine to deltaic sediments. The basin is 600 km long from SSE to NNW and largely localized above residual topography of the Mesozoic graben system. During the earliest Quaternary (2.58 -2.35 Ma) paleo-water depths were c. 300 ± 50 m and solid sedimentation rates (calculated from 0% porosity) c. 32 km 3 ka −1 . The base-Quaternary provides an important marker for further studies of the changing environment of the Quaternary of NW Europe as well as resource and shallow geohazard analysis.Supplementary material: A base Quaternary two-way travel time structure map is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9. figshare.c.3900343

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“…Similar features contain shallow gas in the neighbouring blocks (e.g. Block A; see also Stuart & Huuse 2012).…”

Section: Depositional Sequences In 4d Wheeler Domainmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…These sediments contain shallow gas pockets that are producing in the neighbouring blocks (e.g. F02, A15 blocks of The Netherlands; see also Schroot & Schüttenhelm 2003;Stuart & Huuse 2012). The study aimed to construct an integrated depositional framework of the Pliocene depositional sequences by interpreting the 4D Wheeler diagrams of the area, towards the future identification of further shallow gas pockets.…”

Section: Case Study: North Seamentioning

confidence: 99%

4D Wheeler diagrams: concept and applications

Qayyum¹,

Groot²,

Hemstra

et al. 2014

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The conventional Wheeler diagram aids the construction of a spatiotemporal framework of strata. The diagrams are created manually by studying outcrops, wells, or seismic data. For the latter case, automated methods now exist, which support the construction of 2D, as well as 3D Wheeler diagrams. Seismic data contains information in three dimensions, X, Y and Z, where 'Z' is either two-way time or depth. Seismic horizons are correlated surfaces that often follow geological time lines. In this case, a set of interpreted seismic horizons contains information in four dimensions (X, Y, Z, and Geological Time). In the mapping from the structural domain to Wheeler space, information about Z (thickness) is lost. This means that one dimension is missing in the conventional Wheeler diagram. This paper describes a method to add information from the Z dimension to the Wheeler domain. It is done by computing stratigraphic thicknesses per sequence stratigraphic unit and displaying these as colour-coded overlays in the Wheeler domain. Thus displayed, thickness variations help in understanding changes in accommodation, sedimentation rate, and depositional trends. 3D Wheeler displays with colour-coded thickness information are referred to as 4D Wheeler diagrams. In this article, the method is described and applied to a case study from the southern North Sea.

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3D seismic geomorphology of a large Plio-Pleistocene delta – ‘Bright spots’ and contourites in the Southern North Sea

Cited by 32 publications

References 18 publications

Iceberg ploughmarks illuminated by shallow gas in the central North Sea

Iceberg ploughmarks illuminated by shallow gas in the central North Sea

The early Quaternary North Sea Basin

4D Wheeler diagrams: concept and applications

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