--> Abstract: Controls on Upper Palaeozoic Buildup Distribution, Development and Connectivity: New Insights from Outcrop and 3-D Seismic, by DW Hunt, J. Thurmond, L. Stemmerik, T. Samuelsberg, and G. Elvebakk; #90039 (2005)

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Controls on Upper Palaeozoic Buildup Distribution, Development and Connectivity: New Insights from Outcrop and 3-D Seismic

DW Hunt1, J. Thurmond1, L. Stemmerik2, T. Samuelsberg3, and G. Elvebakk4
1 Norsk Hydro Research Centre, Sandsli, Norway
2 Geus, Copenhhagen, Denmark
3 Norsk Hydro E&P, Oslo, Norway
4 Arctic Exploration AS, Harstad, Norway

In the Upper Palaeozoic, carbonate buildups were geographically widespread, occupied a wide range of environmental niches and are generally well studied. However, the controls on their distribution and development are rather poorly understood. Here we demonstrate how a full three-dimensional understanding of buildup geometry, gained from 3D seismic and careful outcrop mapping, can reveal significant new insights into the dominant process that control their distribution, development and connectivity.

Recently acquired 3D seismic data from the Norwegian Barents Sea reveal interconnected Carboniferous-Permian carbonate buildup ridges with three trends that intersect to enclose polygonal intrashelf basins. The buildups have a width of 500 m to 2 km, can be traced laterally for 3-25 km and have relief of <400 m. Syndepositional faulting acted to control the main buildup ridge trends. A comparable polygonal buildup ridge system is exceptionally exposed in the Upper Permian Wegener Halvø Formation, east Greenland. Here, antecedent karstic topography was the primary control on the development of buildup ridges with a width of 300-500m, relief of 80-100 m and length >5 km. In contrast, downslope-directed currents were the main control on buildup ridges that are in excess of 3.6 km and 1 km long in the Lower Carboniferous and Permian of the Sacramento and Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, respectively.

The new understanding of buildup distribution, geometry, connectivity and rock volume developed from 3D seismic data and exceptional exposures is quite different from the typical picture of isolated buildups gained from most outcrop studies and 2D subsurface data.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90039©2005 AAPG Calgary, Alberta, June 16-19, 2005