Blackwood, Stuart1, Shuji Yoshida1, Ron Steel1, Robert
Dalrymple2, Allard Martinius3, Rob Gawthorpe4
(1) The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
(2) Queen's University, Kingston, ON
(3) Statoil R & D, 7005 Trondheim, Norway
(4) University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT: Comparative Studies of Modern, Quaternary and Ancient Seaways: Building Depositional Models for Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production - A Review
Ancient seaways, narrow/elongate passageways connecting open marine areas, are
sometimes mistaken for estuaries, inlets or open shelves. There is severe lack of data to
build generic depositional and sequence stratigraphic models for seaways. One of the
reasons for this is that Seaways are often short-lived within relative sea-level cycles,
particularly during ‘icehouse’ times, less so during greenhouse times. During
transgression, estuaries often evolve into embayments, then seaways, and finally open
shelves. This is the case for the evolution of the Mesozoic/Quaternary rift basins in the
North Sea. During sea level falls in narrow basins, some open-marine shelves evolve to
seaways (both ends open). In some instances, further contraction of the seaway leads to
embayment(s) with one end open. The Holocene/Quaternary analog for this is in SE Asia
(e.g. Malacca Strait).
Distinguishing between Seaway and other shallow-marine deposits is crucial in
reconstructing paleoshoreline trends, for example through the use of clinoform geometry
from seismic data, and therefore in hydrocarbon exploration and production, for the
following reasons:
1. The margins are often strongly controlled by tectonic elements
2. The extent and possibly thickness of the sand ridges within the seaway is much greater
than in its estuarine or open shelf counter parts.
3. Offshore sand ridges are rather homogeneous because they form in relatively clean
water, whereas deltaic/estuarine complexes along the seaway margins tend to be
heterolithic.
4. The deltas debouching into the seaway are often severely deflected due to strong tidal
currents, and are often prograding sub-parallel to the shoreline
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90026©2004 AAPG Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas, April 18-21, 2004.