Fold and Thrust Belts: Structural Style, Evolution and Exploration
The outer parts of collision mountain belts are commonly represented by fold and thrust belts. Major advances in understanding these tectonic settings have arisen from regional studies that integrate diverse geological information in quests to find and produce hydrocarbons. Drilling has provided tests of subsurface forecasts, challenging interpretation strategies and structural models. This volume contains 19 papers that illustrate a diversity of methods and approaches together with case studies from Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. Collectively they show that appreciating diversity is key for developing better interpretations of complex geological structures in the subsurface – endeavours that span applications beyond the development of hydrocarbons.
Modelling the evolution of seal integrity in deepwater toe thrust anticlines
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Published:April 14, 2020
Abstract
This paper describes the results of an empirical one-dimensional model for toe thrust structures that enables both fluid pressure expectations and seal integrity to be evaluated. The growth of a deepwater thrust anticline is forward modelled with calibration made to a present-day structure. Two locations are used to describe the structural evolution: the crest of the anticline and the floor of the adjacent syncline. These locations are followed through structural growth and burial. Pore pressures in the evolving toe thrust are modelled by employing a centroid model for a pre-tectonic target reservoir interval, with shale pressures modelled using the concept of a variable fluid retention depth. A shale compaction model based on critical state soil mechanics is used to model top seal porosity and to aid the evaluation of the capillary top seal. Together with mechanical seal analysis this enables the controls on trapped hydrocarbon column heights to be assessed. Application of the model to two recently drilled toe thrusts is discussed, and results compared to model predictions. The model can be used to offer a generic seal integrity scheme for a toe thrust that may help focus attention on the key exploration risks.
- anticlines
- Asia
- Borneo
- burial
- calibration
- capillarity
- clastic rocks
- compaction
- crustal shortening
- deep-water environment
- Far East
- faults
- fluid pressure
- fold and thrust belts
- folds
- geophysical methods
- geophysical profiles
- geophysical surveys
- Malay Archipelago
- one-dimensional models
- overpressure
- permeability
- petroleum
- petroleum exploration
- pore pressure
- porosity
- reservoir properties
- reservoir rocks
- sealing
- sedimentary rocks
- seismic methods
- seismic profiles
- shale
- stress
- surveys
- synclines
- tectonics
- traps