3D Visualisation of Structure at a Plate-Scale: Significance for Understanding the Palaeozoic Petroleum Systems of North Africa and Arabia

Adam Finn, Duncan Macgregor, and Sarah Williams
Neftex Petroleum Consultants Ltd, Abingdon, United Kingdom

Detailed understanding of the burial histories of source rocks is a critical consideration for Palaeozoic systems. These are most productive where source rocks reached maximum burial during the Mesozoic. We present a new approach towards understanding burial history at a plate wide scale, allowing an analysis of timing of generation to be incorporated in regional screening models. Regional depth maps have been constructed from public sources and then tied to tops of several hundred published wells. Stratigraphic Modelling functionality allows the generation of any intermediate surfaces- whilst following set rules i.e. tie to wells, truncate above/below. By importing these surfaces into a RMS Cube with dimensions of 3000km by 8000km we provide a striking visualisation tool which allows cross-sections, isopachs and 3D views to be produced to support petroleum system analysis.
For example, these views allow a clear visualisation of adjoining basin stratigraphies, from which assessments can be made of erosion on key unconformities. From this, a study of the timing of maximum source rock burial through the whole region has been undertaken. A key conclusion from this is that there exist three main burial phases in the North Africa - Arabia region when source rocks are likely to have reached their maximum burial and maturity: Late Carboniferous, Late Palaeogene and Late Neogene. By comparing a ‘Timing of Maximum Burial' map with a map of timing of trap formation, patterns of exploration success and failure can then be analysed in the three differentiated burial history domains.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90072 © 2007 AAPG and AAPG European Region Conference, Athens, Greece