--> ABSTRACT: Petroleum System--A Classification Scheme for Research, Resource Assessment, and Exploration, by Leslie B. Magoon; #91038 (2010)
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Previous HitPetroleumNext Hit Previous HitSystemNext Hit--A Classification Scheme for Research, Resource Assessment, and Exploration

Leslie B. Magoon

A Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemNext Hit includes all those elements that are essential for an oil and gas deposit to exist in nature. The basic elements include a Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit source rock, migration path, reservoir rock, seal, and trap. All these elements must be placed in time and space such that a Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit deposit can occur.

A Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemNext Hit can be identified in terms of oil-source correlation at three levels of certainty: proved(.), hypothetical(!), or speculative(?). A proved Previous HitidentificationNext Hit includes those Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit systems where successful oil-source rock correlations are obtained. A hypothetical Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemNext Hit is one where oil or gas deposits can be shown to be genetically related and where source rocks can be geochemically identified, but no geochemical correlation presently exists. In a speculative Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemNext Hit only the geological evidence supports a relation between the Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit deposit and its source rock. I propose that a Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemNext Hit name should include the source rock and major reservoir rock and the level of certainty, e.g., Beluga-Sterling(!).

After a Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemNext Hit is identified and named and the level of certainty is established, it must be classified as either a purebred or hybrid Previous HitsystemNext Hit. A purebred Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemNext Hit includes those systems whose elements are all deposited in a single sedimentary basin during a single tectonic cycle; a hybrid Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemNext Hit requires at least two superimposed sedimentary basins and tectonic cycles. For example, the Beluga-Sterling(!) Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemNext Hit, a series of biogenic gas deposits, is a pure-bred Previous HitsystemNext Hit in the Cook Inlet basin, Alaska, where the source and reservoir rock were deposited in a single sedimentary cycle. The Tuxedni-Hemlock(!) Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemNext Hit is a hybrid Previous HitsystemNext Hit also in the Cook Inlet basin where the source rock was deposited in a forearc marine basin and separated by a egional unconformity from the reservoir rock and overburden that were deposited in a nonmarine basin.

By classifying Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit systems using these and other geologic criteria, various elements of each Previous HitsystemNext Hit can be more clearly identified, compared, and contrasted to determine their efficiency relative to the generation, migration, and trapping of hydrocarbons. Characterizing the efficiency of each Previous HitpetroleumNext Hit Previous HitsystemTop and of each element within it will help focus research, resource assessment, and exploration programs.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91038©1987 AAPG Annual Convention, Los Angeles, California, June 7-10, 1987.