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Controls on fluviolacustrine reservoir distribution and architecture in passive salt-diapir provinces: Insights from outcrop analogs

¹ Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom; present address: Exploration and Production Technology Group, BP plc, Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex TW16 7LN, United Kingdom; wendy.matthews{at}uk.bp.com
² Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom; g.j.hampson{at}imperial.ac.uk
³ Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401-1877
⁴ School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, The Kings Buildings, West Main Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG, United Kingdom

Wendy Matthews is currently a sedimentologist with the Exploration and Production Technology Group at BP, where her work involves sedimentary geology research and global technical consulting. She received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Sheffield and the University of Aberdeen, respectively. The research for this article was conducted as part of her Ph.D. at Imperial College London.

Gary Hampson is senior lecturer in sedimentary geology at Imperial College London. He earned his B.A. degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge (1991) and his Ph.D. in sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy from the University of Liverpool (1995). His research interests lie in the understanding of siliciclastic depositional systems and their preserved stratigraphy and in applying this knowledge to reservoir characterization.

Bruce Trudgill received a B.Sc. degree from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and a Ph.D. in structural geology from Imperial College London. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. His current interests are in the growth of fault arrays, salt tectonics, and structural controls on depositional systems.

John Underhill holds a B.Sc. degree in geology from Bristol University and a Ph.D. from the University of Wales. He worked for Shell International before moving to Edinburgh University in 1989, where he holds the Chair of Stratigraphy. John has twice been awarded the European Association of Petroleum Geoscientists Distinguished Lecturer Award, has won the AAPG Matson Award, and has also been an AAPG Distinguished Lecturer. John's current primary research focus is on understanding the function of salt in the tectonic development and evolution of sedimentary basins.

Fluviolacustrine strata host significant hydrocarbon volumes in basins characterized by syndepositional growth of passive salt diapirs. An understanding of salt-sediment interaction is critical to the prediction of reservoir distribution and architecture in these strata. Large-scale stratal geometries and thickness changes resulting from salt movement are commonly apparent on seismic data, but to date, there are few predictive models for facies architecture at subseismic, reservoir scale.

This article uses a high-quality outcrop data set of fluviolacustrine strata in an exhumed salt basin (Upper Triassic Chinle Formation, Paradox Basin, Utah) as an analog for improved understanding of subsurface data sets of similar structural and sedimentological setting. Salt-sediment interaction in the Chinle Formation is expressed by localized lateral variations in stratigraphic thickness, angular stratal relationships, and changes in facies architecture. Based on these criteria, there is evidence for salt-sediment interaction across a series of syndepositional salt structures, including anticlines above buried salt pillows, salt walls exposed at surface, and salt-withdrawal minibasins. Stratigraphy and facies architecture across these structures reflect the following controls: regional subsidence, localized differential accommodation space, and localized paleogeomorphology. Both localized controls were driven by syndepositional salt movement, which exhibited subtle spatial and temporal variations during the deposition of the Chinle Formation. The outcrop data set is used to develop generic predictive models of facies distributions and architectures resulting from different conditions of regional tectonic subsidence and/or fluvial energy. Analysis of stratigraphic expansion across syndepositional passive diapirs suggests that the outcrop-derived models are applicable to many subsurface data sets.

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				M. R. Hudec, M. P.A. Jackson, and D. D. Schultz-Ela The paradox of minibasin subsidence into salt: Clues to the evolution of crustal basins Geological Society of America Bulletin, January 1, 2009; 121(1-2): 201 - 221. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]