--> Abstract: Paris Basin Petroleum Systems Revisited by Two-Dimensional Modeling, by J. M. Gaulier, J. Burrus, J. Barlier, and M. Poulet; #91004 (1991)

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Paris Basin Petroleum Systems Revisited by Two-Dimensional Modeling

GAULIER, J. M., and J. BURRUS, Institut Francais du Petrole, Rueil-Malmaison, France, J. BARLIER, SNEA(P), Pau, France, and M. POULET, Institut Francais du Petrole, Rueil-Malmaison, France

We investigate the history of petroleum generation, expulsion, and migration along two E-W and N-W cross sections in the Paris basin. Source rocks, represented by Liassic marine shales (merely Hetangian-Sinemurian and Toarcian) reach the top of the oil window around 2000 m and begin effective expulsion around 2400 m. Reservoirs are essentially found in the subtle structures in the Dogger (carbonates) and Triassic (sandstones). These levels are normally separated from the source rocks by several hundred meters of impervious marls or shales. Regional faults are often viewed as major conduits that allow both expulsion and migration to the reservoirs. This petroleum system is seen by the use of two-dimensional modeling techniques: (1) The generation history is derived from an investigatio of thermal history and kinetic modeling. We show that the present subsurface temperatures are influenced by regional convective discharge linked to the uplift of eastern and southeastern basin edges

and that this cooling postdates the maturity. We also show that, in the eastern basin, the basement heat flow could have been increased since the Tertiary, at a time when Tertiary erosion had nearly frozen the maturity development. (2) The expulsion and migration are analyzed by coupling numerically the compaction history, the generation history, and the regional hydrodynamics. We show that expulsion efficiency is very much dependent on parameters not well constrained (capillary pressures, regional permeability structure), but a sensitivity analysis confirms the prominent role of vertical faults as well as the influence of regional water flow on the distribution of accumulations.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91004 © 1991 AAPG Annual Convention Dallas, Texas, April 7-10, 1991 (2009)