North Atlantic Permian–Triassic Plays – Insights from analogues in E and NE Greenland

Abstract

Recent discoveries in the Barents Sea have proven Permian carbonate plays (e.g. 7120/1-3 and 7220/11-1) and Triassic siliciclastic plays (e.g. Goliat, Tornerose and Alke Sør) in the North Atlantic. These plays have only partly been tested on the Mid-Norwegian continental shelf (M-NCS), but have recently attracted renewed attention. One of the main challenges for the M-NCS is that it generally suffers from a lack of offshore core data from this interval. On the conjugate margin in East and Northeast Greenland, excellent outcrops and a large number of shallow fully cored boreholes document the Permian–Triassic interval. Studies of this interval in East and Northeast Greenland provide key elements for establishing new play models on the M-NCS and include evidence for the presence of Late Permian marine (Ravnefjeld Formation), Late Triassic lacustrine (Gråklint Beds) and Late Triassic – Early Jurassic lacustrine (Kap Stewart Group) source rocks. A variety of reservoir analogues include Upper Permian fluvial and shallow marine sandstones and carbonate build-ups (Huledal and Wegener Halvø Formations), siliciclastic shallow marine and turbidite sandstones (Bredehorn Member), Lower Triassic syn-rift Gilbert-type delta, turbidite and alluvial fan conglomerates and sandstones (Wordie Creek Group and Pingo Dal Formation), Middle Triassic aeolian sandstones (Kolledalen Member), Upper Triassic lacustrine carbonates (Gråklint Beds), Upper Triassic – Lower Jurassic lacustrine shoreface deposits (Kap Stewart Group) and fractured basement. Potential seals include Late Permian – Early Triassic marine mudstones (Ravnefjeld Formation and Wordie Creek Group), Upper Triassic lacustrine mudstones and evaporites (Gipsdalen Formation) and Late Triassic – Early Jurassic lacustrine mudstones (Kap Stewart Group). Data from the M-NCS suggests presence of a marine Upper Permian source rock units and carbonate reefs on structural highs as well as Upper Permian – Lower Triassic shallow marine and turbidite sandstones, emphasizing the importance of the East and Northeast Greenland analogues for defining Permian–Triassic plays on the M-NCS. The aim of this presentation is to present observations from East and Northeast Greenland that may help to assist the definition of play models for the Permian–Triassic succession in the M-NCS and place them in a tectono-stratigraphic context.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90325 © 2018 AAPG Europe Regional Conference, Global Analogues of the Atlantic Margin, Lisbon, Portugal, May 2-3, 2018