Tertiary Uplift and Erosion in the Barents Sea: Magnitude, Timing and Consequences

Nyland, B.; Jensen, L. N.; Skagen, J.; Skarpnes, O.; Vorren, Tore O.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-88607-1.50015-2

Cited by 95 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Thus, little new oil was available to fill available trapping space. These mechanisms explain the predominance of gas over oil in the Barents Sea (see Nyland et al, 1992, for a fuller description of this phenomenon).…”

Section: Current Exploration Problems and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Barents Sea Geology, Petroleum Resources and Commercial Potential

Doré¹

1995

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. Geologically, the Barents Sea is a complex mosaic of basins and platforms. It underwent intracontinental sedimentation from about 240 million years ago to the early Cenozoic, about 60 million years ago, after which it bordered the developing Atlantic and Arctic oceans.Geophysical investigations began during the 1970s, and the first offshore drilling occurred in the early 1980s. In Norwegian waters, drilling has proven 260 -300 billion cubic meters of gas, with minor oil. Most of the reserves are contained in Jurassic sandstones. Exploration problems include the predominance of gas over oil and leakage of hydrocarbons from traps in recent geological time; both are connected with the intense erosion of the Barents Shelf that took place during the Cenozoic. Exploration efforts currently focus on new targets in areas such as the Finnmark Platform, the Nordkapp Basin, the Western Margin, and the area between 74˚30'N and Spitsbergen. Oil accumulations have been discovered in Russian waters offshore from the TimanPechora Basin. However, major sedimentary basins west of Novaya Zemlya have yielded the most significant results. The largest finds include the Stokmanovskaya and Ludlovskaya supergiant gas fields. Stokmanovskaya alone has gas reserves in the order of 2500 billion cubic meters. Seismic surveys have documented a large inventory of untested structures, and further resources are probably present in the disputed area between Norwegian and Russian waters.Options for commercial development of both Norwegian and Russian discoveries are currently being evaluated. These include the possible export of liquefied natural gas from the Norwegian Snøhvit Field to the European market. A consortium has carried out feasibility studies on the Russian Stokmanovskaya Field, and gas export solutions are being evaluated. In general, economic exploitation is hindered by the low price of natural gas, the distance to potential markets, difficult logistics, restricted drilling seasons and environmental concerns.Key words: Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea, hydrocarbon potential, natural gas, Russia, Norway RÉSUMÉ. Du point de vue géologique, la mer de Barents est une mosaïque complexe de bassins et de plates-formes. Elle a subi une sédimentation intracontinentale depuis il y a près de 240 millions d'années jusqu'au cénozoïque inférieur, il y a environ 60 millions d'années, après quoi, elle a bordé les océans Atlantique et Arctique en formation.Des recherches géophysiques ont débuté au cours des années 1970, et le premier forage en mer a eu lieu au début des années 80. Dans les eaux norvégiennes, le forage a révélé des réserves prouvées de 260 à 300 milliards de mètres cubes de gaz, contenant un peu de pétrole. La plupart des réserves sont renfermées dans des grès du jurassique. La prédominance du gaz par rapport au pétrole et la dispersion d'hydrocarbures à partir de pièges formés au cours d'une période géologique récente comptent parmi les problèmes liés à l'exploration; ils sont tous deux reliés à l'érosion intensive de la plate-for...

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Section: Current Exploration Problems and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The sediments were derived from uplift and erosion of the Barents Shelf immediately to the east. Several kilometers of sediments were probably removed from this area during the Cenozoic (Nyland et al, 1992). Erosion and redeposition are thought to have been particularly intense during the Pleistocene glaciations.…”

Section: Principal Structural Featuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barents Sea Geology, Petroleum Resources and Commercial Potential

Doré¹

1995

ARCTIC

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“…The gas in the reservoirs has expanded as a result of the pressure relief and forced the oil out below the spill point of the reservoirs (Nyland et al 1992). Pressures lower than hydrostatic have also been reported in several of the exploration wells in the Barents Sea causing loss of mud in the wells (Riis 2010).…”

Section: The Deep Biosphere In Pg Faultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postglacial Faults in Fennoscandia: Targets for scientific drilling

Kukkonen

Olesen

Ask

2010

GFF

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During the last stages of the Weichselian glaciation (ca. 9,000-15,000 years B.P.), reduced ice loads and glacially affected stress fields resulted in active faulting in Fennoscandia with fault scarps up to 160 km long and up to 30 m high. These postglacial (PG) faults are usually SE dipping, SW-NE oriented thrusts, and represent reactivated, pre-existing crustal discontinuities. Postglacial faulting indicates that the glacio-isostatic compensation is not only a gradual viscoelastic phenomenon, but also includes unexpected violent earthquakes, suggestively larger than other known earthquakes in stable continental regions. We explore here possibilities and benefits for investigating, via scientific drilling, the characteristics of postglacial faults in northern Fennoscandia, including their structure and rock properties, present and past seismic activity and state of stress, as well as hydrogeology and associated deep biosphere. The research is anticipated to advance science in neotectonics, hydrogeology and deep biosphere studies, and provide important information for nuclear waste disposal, petroleum exploration on the Norwegian continental shelf and studies of mineral resources in PG fault areas.

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“…Surface uplift is mostly related to active tectonics, but crustal uplift can occur simply as the isostatic response to denudation. The term net uplift has been used by several of the 'Norwegian school' of workers to indicate the present elevation of a marker bed above its maximum burial depth (Nyland et al 1992;Riis & Jensen 1992;Dor6 & Jensen 1996). It is a measure of the vertical distance a rock has been uplifted through a thermal frame of reference, and is thus particularly useful in studies of diagenesis and source rock maturation.…”

Section: Upt/ftmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Critically for the petroleum industry, several North Atlantic basins containing commercially significant hydrocarbon resources were both uplifted and exhumed during Cenozoic time, with profound implications for the quantity and nature of the hydrocarbons discovered. These effects have been systematically studied in the Barents Sea (Nyland et al 1992) and to some extent in the east Irish Sea (Cowan et al 1999), but in terms of overall applicability to uplifted terranes are still underestimated.…”

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confidence: 99%