--> Abstract: Regional Structural Styles in the Northeast Netherlands as Expressed on 3-D Data, by H. Goeyenbier; #90990 (1993).

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GOEYENBIER, HANS, Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij, Assen, Netherlands

ABSTRACT: Regional Structural Styles in the Northeast Netherlands as Expressed on 3-D Data

The northeast Netherlands area is a highly prospective gas province, containing the Groningen gas field and a multitude of smaller fields. Some 40 three-dimensional (3-D) seismic surveys have been acquired over the last 10 yr covering a major part of this 15,000-sq km area. These surveys have been combined for the first time on a Landmark workstation to produce time, depth, and horizon attribute maps from six important (overburden and reservoir) levels: base Tertiary, base Chalk, base Cretaceous, base Jurassic, top Zechstein and base Zechstein.

The structural history was reconstructed by analyzing isopach maps of the various units in combination with dip extractions along the mapped horizons to outline the active fault trends. Isopach maps of the Tertiary, Chalk, and Lower Cretaceous sediments reveal the salt movement during this interval with depocenters in the Lauwerszee trough as a result of salt withdrawal and salt diapirism in the areas of structural weakness near existing fault trends. The dip maps at the base of these units show the en-echelon fault pattern and the presence of crestal collapse systems above the salt domes. A comparison between base Cretaceous and base Chalk isopach maps also highlights the presence of inverted Lower Cretaceous basins.

By comparing the overburden fault trends with the pre-Zechstein pattern, late faults can be separated from older trends, which has helped the prediction of sealing faults.

The regional 3-D data provide a powerful and unambiguous tool to unravel the structural history in the northeast Netherlands.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90990©1993 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, The Hague, Netherlands, October 17-20, 1993.