Sand Tectonics:
a Reservoir-Scale Process Similar to Basin-Scale Salt and Shale Tectonics
Imbert, Patrice1, Marine Perus2
(1) TOTAL CSTJF, 64000
Seismic and outcrop data have highlighted
the role of sand injection as a reservoir-modifying agent, as a thief
zone-maker in exploration or as a help to reservoir communication.
In a more general way, seismic
observations in various basins indicate that sand injection can be just part of
a much larger-scale remobilization of parent turbidite sandbodies after some
burial. Such a deformation can be inferred from the behavior of the overlying
strata in
Sand tectonics in areas of initial thick
and confined sand (e.g. channel fills) results in the development of structures
very similar to those obtained with salt tectonics, like turtle backs and
rollovers (
Sand tectonics may help resolve the old
debate about the geometry of turbidite sands, usually flat-lying at the outcrop
and on the seafloor, and commonly “bumpy” in subsurface. It could provide an
alternative to the contourite hypothesis and the “sandy debris flow” paradigm
that have been proposed to resolve the conflict between analogues and
reservoirs: when and where thick sands are isolated.
AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California