Understanding the provenance and reservoir quality of the Sele Formation sandstones of the UK Central Graben utilizing detrital garnet suites

Kilhams, Ben; Morton, Andrew; Borella, Riccardo; Wilkins, A. D.; Hurst, Andrew

doi:10.1144/sp386.16

Cited by 15 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Most applications of heavy mineralogy to lithostratigraphic correlation are subsurface studies and typically examine stratiform hydrocarbon-reservoir sandstones that are sampled in boreholes (Hurst and Morton 1988;Mange-Rajetzky 1995;Morton and Hurst 1995;Morton et al 2010;Kilhams et al 2014).…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are, however, no outcrop studies of the heavy mineralogy of regionally-developed sand-injection complexes. Because many applications of heavy mineralogy to lithostratigraphy and provenance are concerned with the subsurface, they necessarily examine borehole data (Hurst and Morton 1985;Morton and Hallsworth 1994;Mange-Rajetzky 1995;Morton and Hurst 1995;Kazerouni et al 2011;Kilhams et al 2014;Morton et al 2014). Such studies avoid the potential effects of post-emplacement weathering, but inevitably limit the examination of spatial variations to 1D borehole sections.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Heavy-Mineral Assemblages In Sandstone Intrusions: Panoche Giant Injection Complex, California, U.S.A.

Hurst

Morton

Scott

et al. 2017

Journal of Sedimentary Research

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Excellent exposure from part of the Panoche Giant Injection Complex in the San Joaquin Valley is used to examine provenance characteristics of sandstone intrusions with respect to two parent sandstone units that are known to feed the sand-injection complex. The succession is part of the Upper Mesozoic to Lower Tertiary Great Valley Group, and was deposited in a deepwater part of an evolving deep-water forearc basin. The section examined is mudstone-dominated, and the sand injection is constrained to have occurred in the Danian. Sandstones in the Dosados Member (Moreno Fm) are identified as the main parent unit on the basis of total heavy-mineral-assemblage compositions and varietal studies of selected minerals (tourmaline, garnet, titanite, apatite, and zircon). Fluidized sand is emplaced in turbulent flow conditions creating high-velocity inter-grain collisions. Evidence of comminution and diminution of minerals that are less hard than quartz is documented using indices for the relative hardness (TAH) and durability (TAD) of heavy minerals. Preferential settling of high-density zircon relative to lower-density tourmaline produces density-controlled variations of zircon:tourmaline upward through the injection complex. Heavy-mineral dissolution occurred in the most permeable sandstone intrusions and is believed to record the effects of mid-Eocene deep weathering, when subtropical climate prevailed in the study area. Detrital heavymineral assemblages, which are dominated by titanite and garnet, record erosion of the Sierran metamorphic terrane with mafic and alkaline plutonic rocks. Zircon with U/Pb ages of c. 140 to 160 Ma and c. 90 to 110 Ma, consistent with earlier independent analyses, record erosion of Sierran granitoids. On the paleo-seafloor, enrichment of Ca-amphibole and epidote is indicative of Sierran provenance concurrent with sand extrusion. The presence of Na-amphibole in the Uhalde Sandstone supports earlier work that suggested sediment input from obducted seafloor to the west.

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Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heavy-Mineral Assemblages In Sandstone Intrusions: Panoche Giant Injection Complex, California, U.S.A.

Hurst

Morton

Scott

et al. 2017

Journal of Sedimentary Research

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“…garnets or zircons) might reveal their provenance area (e.g. Morton et al 2005;Kilhams et al 2014b;Nielsen et al 2015), if cuttings/cores of nearby sand source areas are available (e.g. well NO 3/7-1 on the Mandal High and wells NO 3/7-3 and Tabita-1 in the Søgne Basin and Tail End Graben, respectively;Verolles 1982;Bonde et al 1994, Fig.…”

Section: Potential Methods For Further Detailed Reservoir Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lower Cretaceous reservoir development in the North Sea Central Graben, and potential analogue settings in the Southern Permian Basin and South Viking Graben

Zwaan

2018

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Much of the future hydrocarbon exploration potential in the North Sea lies in locating stratigraphic traps and discrete reservoir intervals. This study assesses the potential for Lower Cretaceous reservoirs, with particular focus on the Norwegian Central Graben and proposed methods to identify future prospects over a wider area. Seismic interpretation and well data reveal the structure and sedimentology of the study area. Although the region was isolated from a large hinterland in the Early Cretaceous, potential local sediment sources, sediment transport routes and areas with possible reservoir development are identified. The greater Mandal High area, where Lower Cretaceous shoreface deposits and submarine fan systems are postulated, is suggested for primary focus. Similar deposits may have developed around the other exposed highs in the region, although several were drowned towards the end of the Early Cretaceous. Detailed seismic and stratigraphic analysis will be necessary to identify individual reservoir units. Since similar settings may have occurred in the adjacent South Viking Graben and Southern Permian Basin regions during the Early Cretaceous, further reservoir assessment is recommended for the North Sea in general.

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“…Work by Morton (1979) and Morton et al (2004) has shown that the chemical composition of garnets differs between the lateral (Gannet and Bittern) and axial (Forties and Cromarty) fans of the Sele Formation, allowing them to be distinguished from each other. Based on the geochemical analyses of several cores and cuttings from wells to the east of Scoter Field, Borella (2011) and Kilhams et al (2014b) showed that garnets in the sandstones had a composition similar to that of the axial fan system, suggesting that the outer boundary of the sidefans was located further towards the west (Fig. 16).…”

Section: Basinwards Extent Of the Side-fansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentological evolution of Sele Formation deep-marine depositional systems of the Central North Sea

Eldrett

Tripsanas

Davis

et al. 2015

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The Paleocene -Eocene-aged Sele Formation is developed across the basinal region of the Central North Sea. The section comprises a number of deep-marine fan systems that expanded and contracted across the basin floor in response to relative sea-level changes on the basin margin and fluctuating sediment yield off the Scottish landmass modulated by climate and hinterland uplift. Persistent sediment entry points to the basin resulted in the development of discrete axial and transverse fan fairways with a geometry dictated by an irregular bathymetry sculpted by differential compaction across Mesozoic faults, halokinesis and antecedent fan systems. A high-resolution biostratigraphic framework has allowed the evolution of fan-dispersal systems in response to these effects to be tracked across the basin within four genetic sequences. The proximal parts of the fans comprised channel complexes of low sinuosity, high lateral offset, and low aggradation. The development of these systems in a bathymetrically confined corridor of the Central Graben (c. 65 km wide), combined with high sediment supply, resulted in the eventual burial of any underlying relief. The behaviour of sand-rich reservoirs in this region is dominated by the permeability contrast between high-quality channel fairways and more heterolithic overbank regions, with the potential for early water breakthrough and aquifer coning in the channel fairways, and unswept volumes in overbank locations. Compartmentalization of compensationally stacked channel bodies occurs locally, with stratigraphic trapping caused by lateral channel pinch-outs, channelbase debrites, mud-rich drapes and abandonment fines. Towards the southern part of Quadrant 22, approximately 150 km down-palaeoflow, the systems became less confined and in this region are dominated by channel-lobe complexes, which continued to interact with an irregular bathymetry controlled by antecedent fans, mass-transport complexes and halokinesis in the form of rising salt diapirs. Reservoirs in this region are inherently stratigraphically compartmentalized by their heterolithic lithology and compensational stacking of lobes, and further complicated by structuration and instability induced by the diapiric or basement structures needed to generate a trapping structure in these settings.The Sele S1 Unit contains the most areally extensive and thickest deep-water sandstone member of the Sele Formation, namely the Forties Sandstone Member (FSM). The FSM is restricted to the Central Graben, is over 200 m thick along reaches of the SELE FORMATION DEPOSITIONAL SYSTEMS J. ELDRETT ET AL.

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Understanding the provenance and reservoir quality of the Sele Formation sandstones of the UK Central Graben utilizing detrital garnet suites

Cited by 15 publications

References 43 publications

Heavy-Mineral Assemblages In Sandstone Intrusions: Panoche Giant Injection Complex, California, U.S.A.

Heavy-Mineral Assemblages In Sandstone Intrusions: Panoche Giant Injection Complex, California, U.S.A.

Lower Cretaceous reservoir development in the North Sea Central Graben, and potential analogue settings in the Southern Permian Basin and South Viking Graben

Sedimentological evolution of Sele Formation deep-marine depositional systems of the Central North Sea

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