Georg Warrlich¹, D.A. Waltham¹, D.W.J. Bosence¹
(1) Royal Holloway University of London, Egham,Surrey, United Kingdom

Abstract: 43d-forward computer modelling and fieldwork: An intregrated approach to understanding the Carbonate platform of Nijar (Upper Miocene), Se Spain

The Miocene Carbonate platform of Nijar, SE Spain, is quantitatively characterised to test the newly developed computer model CARBONATE 3D. This simulates the evolution of carbonate and mixed carbonate-siliciclastic systems in 3 dimensions. At Nijar, a reef-rimmed carbonate platform has prograded from an irregularly shaped shoreline towards an offshore volcano, which develops into an atoll, generating a complex 3D geometry.

Field work at Nijar provides a high resolution, quantitative data set for the forward modelling, including a time surface underlying the reef complex and sequence stratigraphic geometries and facies within the platform. Facies descriptions are based on mapped facies that match the products of sedimentary processes which CARBONATE 3D generates. This 3D field data set is compared with the output from the computer model.

The forward modelling of the Nijar platform with CARBONATE 3D shows the effects and importance of different sea level curves, production rates, initial geometries, current patterns and time of deposition on geometries and facies of the carbonate platform. Thus it allows the user to test different hypotheses that are not resolvable from field evidence alone. The integration of forward modelling with fieldwork provides a better understanding of the Nijar system.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90914©2000 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana