An Integrated Quantitative Basin Study of the Northern Part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Northeastern Alaska

YU, ZHIHUAI, and IAN LERCHE, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

Using one- and two-dimensional basin modeling codes, the geological processes of sedimentary deposition, compaction, fluid flow, and paleoheat flux have been simulated in the NAWR, Alaska. To reconstruct the thermal history, the thrusting feature of the area has been allowed for and the thermal indicator (vitrinite reflectance) has been used in an inverse mode to estimate the impact of the thrust development. For the evolution of the coastal plain in the area, an inverse flexural plate model was applied to assess the subsidence of the postrift phase and the deformation and erosion events since Cretaceous.

In this study, both well and seismic data were used, and the results were shown to be consistent with geologic data.

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