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1 Institute for Geophysics, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 4412 Spicewood Springs Road, Building 600, Austin, Texas 78759; paulm{at}utig.ig.utexas.edu
2 Institute for Geophysics, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 4412 Spicewood Springs Road, Building 600, Austin, Texas 78759
3 Department of Geological Sciences and Institute for Geophysics, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, 4412 Spicewood Springs Road, Building 600, Austin, Texas 78759; present address: Enersis S.A (ENI) Caracas, Venezuela
Paul Mann is a senior research scientist at the Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. in geology at the State University of New York in 1983 and has published widely on the tectonics of strike-slip, rift, and collision-related sedimentary basins. A current focus area of research is the interplay of tectonics, sedimentation, and hydrocarbon occurrence in Venezuela and Trinidad.
Alejandro Escalona is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. in geology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2003, where he focused on stratigraphic and structural evolution of the Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela. He is currently interpreting regional seismic and well data subsurface data from offshore Venezuela to link offshore and on-land Cenozoic depocenters.
María Verónica Castillo is a geoscientist at ENI Venezuela in Caracas and a lecturer on three-dimensional seismic interpretation at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas. She obtained her Ph.D. in geology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2001, where she focused on the structural evolution of the Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela. Her current interest is using merged 3-D seismic data sets for regional basin analysis.
This special issue contains eight topical studies on the structure, stratigraphy, and petroleum system of the Maracaibo Basin, a supergiant basin in western Venezuela. Most of the work reported in this special issue is the product of thesis-related research by master's and doctoral-level students at the Jackson School of Geosciences of the University of Texas at Austin during a collaborative relationship with the Venezuelan national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S. A., that was initiated in the late 1980s. This introductory article presents a regional overview of the tectonic setting and geology of the Maracaibo Basin.
With a cumulative oil production of more than 30 billion bbl, since the first production well was drilled in 1914 and estimated ultimate oil reserves of more than 44 billion bbl, the Maracaibo Basin is the most prolific hydrocarbon basin in the Western Hemisphere. Unlike the more extensive Gulf of Mexico giant hydrocarbon provinces, the relatively small size (50,000 km2; 19,305 mi2), relative simplicity in its structure and stratigraphy, and wealth of surface and subsurface data make the Maracaibo Basin an attractive target for basinwide synthesis. The objective of this article is to present a regional compilation of two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) seismic data, wells, and outcrop data at a basinwide scale to reveal the basin's 3-D structure and stratigraphy. Moreover, we show regional tectonic reconstructions, regional geologic maps, and basin subsidence history to better constrain four major tectonic events that affected the basin and that are critical for understanding the timing and distribution of major unconformities and clastic wedges, the distribution of the reservoir rocks, the reactivation of older fault trends, and the timing of maturation for underlying source rocks. Many of these topics are discussed in greater detail in the other eight articles in this special issue.
This article has been cited by other articles:
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  D. Gorney, A. Escalona, P. Mann, M. B. Magnani, and BOLIVAR Study Group Chronology of Cenozoic tectonic events in western Venezuela and the Leeward Antilles based on integration of offshore seismic reflection data and on-land geology AAPG Bulletin, May 1, 2007; 91(5): 653 - 684. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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 P. Mann Global catalogue, classification and tectonic origins of restraining- and releasing bends on active and ancient strike-slip fault systems Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2007; 290(1): 13 - 142. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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A. Escalona and P. Mann Tectonic controls of the right-lateral Burro Negro tear fault on Paleogene structure and stratigraphy, northeastern Maracaibo Basin AAPG Bulletin, April 1, 2006; 90(4): 479 - 504. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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L. Duerto, A. Escalona, and P. Mann Deep structure of the Merida Andes and Sierra de Perija mountain fronts, Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela AAPG Bulletin, April 1, 2006; 90(4): 505 - 528. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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M. V. Castillo and P. Mann Cretaceous to Holocene structural and stratigraphic development in south Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, inferred from well and three-dimensional seismic data AAPG Bulletin, April 1, 2006; 90(4): 529 - 565. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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M. V. Castillo and P. Mann Deeply buried, Early Cretaceous paleokarst terrane, southern Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela AAPG Bulletin, April 1, 2006; 90(4): 567 - 579. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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A. Escalona and P. Mann Sequence-stratigraphic analysis of Eocene clastic foreland basin deposits in central Lake Maracaibo using high-resolution well correlation and 3-D seismic data AAPG Bulletin, April 1, 2006; 90(4): 581 - 623. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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J. I. Guzman and W. L. Fisher Early and middle Miocene depositional history of the Maracaibo Basin, western Venezuela AAPG Bulletin, April 1, 2006; 90(4): 625 - 655. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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A. Escalona and P. Mann An overview of the petroleum system of Maracaibo Basin AAPG Bulletin, April 1, 2006; 90(4): 657 - 678. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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