A Genetic
Framework for Hydrocarbon Occurrence in the Arctic
Ferderer, Robert J.1, Michael
A. Sullivan1, Steve Creaney1 (1) ExxonMobil Exploration
Company, Houston, TX
Establishing a genetic framework for
Arctic hydrocarbon occurrence and potential is critical when considering the
uncertainty and risk in unexplored areas. A series of primary
tectonostratigraphic phases are recognized.
The middle to late Paleozoic
Caledonian-Ellesmerian Orogeny established the basement upon which the western
Barents, North Slope of Alaska, Sverdrup, and East Siberian Sea were developed.
Subsequent Carboniferous orogenic collapse and/or plate reorganization and
ensuing regional subsidence resulted in deposition of key Triassic and Jurassic
sources and reservoirs. Collision of Baltica-Kazakstan-Siberia during the late
Paleozoic created the heterogeneous accretionary basement of West Siberia-South
Kara. Concurrent erosion of the Urals supplied sediment load that drove
maturity in Timan Pechora and supplied source and reservoir to the Eastern Barents Sea.
Disintegration of the Arctic Ellesmerian
belt during the Jurassic-Early Cretaceous opening of the Canada Basin, together with the
contraction of the Brooks Range, resulted in maturation and hydrocarbon
migration towards the Barrow Arch rift flank and the creation of Prudhoe Bay. Sediments derived from
the Brooks
Range
and Canadian Rockies were drawn to the southern corner of the Canada Basin, forming the MacKenzie
Delta, which was deformed throughout Tertiary time by continued Pacific-driven
contraction. The Lena Delta, derived from erosion of the Verkhoyansk and Far
Eastern Russia, has undergone Tertiary extension due to the North Atlantic seafloor spreading
occurring in the Eurasian Basin. Tertiary intraplate
deformation related to Pacific subduction, the India-Eurasia collision, and the
opening of the North Atlantic played an important role in creating
traps throughout the Arctic.