--> Abstract: Energy-Transport Processes in Sedimentary Basins and Their Possible Role in Formation of Petroleum and Mineral Deposits, by John M. Sharp, Jr.; #90968 (1977).

Datapages, Inc.Print this page

Abstract: Energy-Transport Processes in Sedimentary Basins and Their Possible Role in Formation of Petroleum and Mineral Deposits

John M. Sharp, Jr.

Dynamic processes in sediments may be grouped broadly into momentum (viscous flow) transport, energy (heat) transport, and mass (chemical) transport. Theoretical evaluation of energy-transport processes in evolving sedimentary basins can lend insight into the formation of petroleum and other economic mineral deposits. Energy transport in major sedimentary basins occurs by conduction, dispersion, both free and forced convection, and physical and chemical reactions. The predominant transport processes appear to be conduction and forced convection by moving pore fluids caused by compaction, complicated by lithology variation and the decrease of porosity on compaction. The pressure and temperature history of sediments therefore must be considered simultaneously. Delayed compa tion can produce a vast reservoir of high-temperature fluid. Pressure release and subsequent pore-fluid movement into petroleum reservoirs can be predicted. A comparison of the thermal-pressure history of the Gulf of Mexico and the Ouachita geosyncline indicates that petroleum generation in the Ouachitas occurred rather late in basin history and that temperatures may have been insufficient to generate large volumes of petroleum. However, it is possible to account for lead-zinc mineralization in the northern Arkansas-southern Missouri area by discrete pulses of hot pore fluid from the Ouachitas. These pulses are presumed to originate from faulting of geopressured sections in the late Paleozoic.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90968©1977 AAPG-SEPM Annual Convention and Exhibition, Washington, DC