--> Abstract: Chukchi Sea Planning Area, Alaska: Basement Motion, Burial History, Thermal Maturation and Hydrocarbon Generation, by S. Cao, J. Tang, J. Liu, and I. Lerche; #90987 (1993).

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CAO, SONG, JIE TANG, JIANCHANG LIU, and * IAN LERCHE, University of South Carolina, Department of Geological Sciences, Columbia, SC

ABSTRACT: Chukchi Sea Planning Area, Alaska: Basement Motion, Burial History, Thermal Maturation and Hydrocarbon Generation

The Chukchi Sea Planning Area (CSPA) encompasses approximately 49,000 sq mi of the northwestern Alaska continental shelf, lying offshore of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA). Even though a few wells have been drilled in the area, the well data are not yet publicly available. The only open-domain data in the area are seismic lines. Publicly available well control data are restricted to the remote western parts of the NPRA.

We apply basin modeling techniques to the CSPA based on available limited data in order to: (1) evaluate the basin evolution of the area in terms of basement motion, burial history, thermal maturation, and hydrocarbon generation; and (2) show how the uncertainty problem is handled when basin modeling techniques are applied to a frontier area like the CSPA with limited data. The study shows that two stages of basement evolution can berecognized: regional subsidence controlled by extensional fault systems from Mississippi to Later Jurassic, and differential subsidence since Early Cretaceous controlled by the progressive thrusting northward of the Brooks Range in the east and the re-activation of the old fault system in the west. Most of the strata in the CSPA are currently thermally mat re to overmature and in the stage of generating gas. The prospective areas for oil are the margins of the central Chukchi Basin, such as the Chukchi platform, Herald Arch and northeast part of the basin.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90987©1993 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25-28, 1993.